Seo Joo Hyun

What just happened?! Did I just get hit by lightning? Or was I electrocuted? Hmmm.. It’s not raining.. Nor am I near any sockets or electrical appliances.. Did I black-out?! The last thing I remember was Yong Oppa and I giving Cherisse butterfly kisses.. And then someone called-out her name.. She turned and—OH MY GOD! Did I just kiss Yo—NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I glanced at Yong Oppa, he looked absolutely horrified! He couldn’t, WOULDN’T even look at me!

Oh my God! I did kiss him! Carp! And he looks ‘horrified’? Did my breath stink? Or did I somehow do it wrong?! Oiii! I’M SUCH A KLUTZ!!!

“Hyun, I—”

“OMOOOOO!!!!!”, I heard the female voice who made Cherisse turn, exclaim in surprise. I felt Yong Oppa tense beside me.

 What?! WHAT?! Oh God, did she see us?! DID SHE SEE US?!

“What?! What happened?!”, Sue Ji asked, looking at us suspiciously as everyone turned in our direction.

Oh, please don’t say anything if you saw us.. Please.. Please.. PLEASE don’t say anything, whoever you are.. PLEASE!!!!

“Her eyes are so blue! She’s so beautiful!!! I can’t believe I have a blue-eyed grandchild! Aigooo, I’m so happy!”, said a familiar-sounding female voice.

OH, THANK YOU, GOD!!!!! Wait.. Grandchild?!

“Imo, uhhh she’s not—”

Imo..?

“Yah, Jong Hyun-ah. Would you like to go home now via the window?”, I heard the voice say threateningly which made everyone burst out laughing.

“Eomma! There are kids listening! Please watch what you say!”, Yong Oppa protested, still chuckling. He winked at me and then seemed to remember something and looked somewhere else.

EOMMA?! Of course! Just my luck.. Haikkks!!!

“Yong Yong-ie!!! So this is why you’re not—Omona! Joo Hyun-ie?! Is that you? So Seohyun-ssi is REALLY Joo Hyun-ie?! Aigooo..”, said the familiar voice, who finally became visible from our perspective. It was one of Soo Jung’s Aunts, the one who I got really close to in Thailand.

SHE is Yong Oppa’s Mom?! Oh gosh.. This is going to be.. Oiii..

“Yes, Eommonim, it’s me..”, I said shyly, trying to keep a straight face.

“EOMMONIM?!”, exclaimed my Eonnies and their husbands and everyone else in the room with her simultaneously, while Yong Oppa looked at me curiously, smiling widely.

“Yes.. Do you all have a problem with that?”, she asked, looking around her, eyebrows raised.

“No..”, they all said as one, some shaking their heads and some scratching theirs.

“Joo Hyun-ie, it’s been too long, hasn’t it?”, she said pleasantly, but I could tell she was trying not to laugh, clearly remembering what happened in Thailand that got us closer to each other.

“Yes, Eommonim.. It has been too hmphh long..”, I managed to say and at the same time hold my laughter in.

Please don’t laugh, Seo Joo Hyun! PLEASE DO NOT LAUGH!

She looked at me, and I looked at her, and the next thing we knew, we were laughing so hard, tears started welling up in our eyes.

“Ahahahahahahahaha-Eommonim-hahahaha! Hahahahahaha-I’m sorry-hahahaha! Ahahahahahaha-Eommonim!”, I tried to apologize while laughter racked my whole body.

Oh God, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, Eommonim!

“Ahahahahahahhahaha! Omona, omona-hahahahahaha! Joo Hyun-ah-hahahahahaha! Omona-hahahahahahaha!”, she laughed, shaking her head. She was laughing so hard that she was clutching her stomach and bending over the chair Soo Jung vacated for her.

“Eihhh?! HYUN! EOMMA! WHAT IS UP WITH YOU TWO?!”, Yong Oppa asked, looking at us back and forth like we’ve both gone insane, as he picked up Cherisse and sat her on his lap who gestured for him to do so.

“WHAT IS SO FUNNY, IMO? I have never seen you laugh like this before!”, Eun Ji exclaimed, amazed at her own Aunt.

"What is going on? Did we miss something?", one of my Eonnies asked curiously, as soon as our laughter subsided a little.

“Did something happen in Thailand? In our wedding?”, Soo Jung inquired which made us laugh again uncontrollably.

Oh, not again!!!

“Stop it! Stop it, Soo Jung-ah!”, Yong Oppa’s Mother cried out, still clutching her stomach.

“Eyng?! What did I do? I just asked if something happened in Thailand—”

“Something DID happen in Thailand! See, they laugh every time Thailand is mentioned! There it goes again! See?!”, Sue Ji observed excitedly.

“Thailand!”, Jong Hyun Oppa exclaimed.

“No more! No More! Please, no more!”, I managed to say in between bursts of laughter.

“Thailand!”, Jin Ri repeated.

“Yah! STOP IT!”, Eommonim ordered, almost falling off her chair, still laughing.

“Tell us what happened in Thailand and we’ll stop saying it, Eomma! Deal?”, Yong Oppa cut in, determined to know what was so funny.

“Yah! Yah—”

“Thai—”

“Arasseo! Arasseo! Just please stop it before an accident happens here!”, Eommonim said, composing herself.

“Yeah and the next magic word will be ‘Busan’—okay, okay, Imo.. I don’t want to go home yet, especially not through the window.. Aishhh!”, Jong Hyun Oppa conceded, throwing his hands up in surrender as he noticed his Aunt’s look on him.

Everybody laughed while Yong Oppa’s Mother looked at me, dabbing her eyes with the tissue Soo Jung handed her, deciding if she really should tell them what happened in Thailand. I smiled at her, as I wiped my own tears of laughter.

“It’s alright if you don’t want to tell them, Eommonim.. I’ll support y—”

My sentence was cut off as everyone started objecting and complaining, even my Eonnies and their husbands.

“Yah! Why are YOU guys objecting—”

“Eihhh, it’s alright, Joo Hyun-ie.. They’re family now, too.. Hello, girls! Oh, and boys!”, she said as she waved at them, smiling.

“Imonim!”, they all said in return bowing and smiling at her.

She smiled and nodded at me before she started her story.

“Remember our Min Hyuk-ie and Soo Jung-ie’s reception on the beach..?”, she started, while taking each of Min Hyuk and Soo Jung’s hand in hers and squeezing it. They all nodded.

She was smiling as she remembered the night we celebrated my twin’s wedding with her niece, “It was so beautiful that I wished it would never end.. We had so much fun then, didn’t we? With our family.. And Min Hyuk-ie’s.. Dancing and singing together.. I even forgot, my only son wasn’t even there—”

“Eihhh!”, Yong Oppa interjected.

“Well I did! Anyway, we were all dancing and having fun when I suddenly needed to sit down.. Old age, I guess..”, she continued.

“I took a seat on one of the tables of the reception area that was actually deserted at the time. I was admiring the place, when a kind-looking Thai Ahjumma, I think she’s one of the cook there, approached me and gave me a fruit I have never seen before.. At first, I was hesitant to try it, but the Thai Ahjumma was adamant.. She was talking so fast in her native language, while offering me the fruit.. I kept telling her I couldn’t understand her, but I guess she couldn’t understand me, either.. I really didn’t want to offend her so I tried it—”

“It tasted bad? Didn’t it?”, Eun Ji interrupted.

“No, actually it was sweet.. I liked it..”, Eommonim said, smiling.

“There were bugs in it, weren’t there?”, Min Hyuk guessed.

“Did she force feed you a dozen, Imo?”, Jin Ri asked.

“No, nothing like that!”, she objected, frowning.

“Then what, Eomma?”, Yong Oppa asked impatiently.

“Stop interrupting me and I’ll tell you! So anyway, because I liked it, I gave the Thai Ahjumma a thumbs-up and she laughed.. She went away after I thanked her, so I continued my rest.. After a few minutes, she came back.. This time she had another weird-looking fruit with her—”

“Uh-ohhh.. Oh, sorry, Imo, hehehe.. Please continue..”, said Sue Ji smiling sheepishly after getting a glance from her Aunt.

“She said a bunch of words in Thai again.. My guess was she was insisting for me to try the weird-looking fruit she had for the second time.. I looked at the fruit she held and it really didn’t look appetizing, unlike the one before, so this time I said no—”

“She got mad, didn’t she? And she started throwing plates, knocking over tables, throwing chairs, cursing to the high heavens, breathing fire—no windows! No windows! Continue, Imo..”, Jong Hyun Oppa conceded again, stopping his Aunt from turning her chair around to face him, making us all laugh quietly.

“I kept saying no, but she keeps pushing the fruit towards me and giving me a thumbs-up.. So I had no choice, but to try it.. Hep! Nobody interrupt me! And no, the fruit didn’t taste bad.. It was actually more delicious than the first.. I knew the Thai Ahjumma was waiting for my feedback.. I didn’t want to give her anymore thumbs-up for fear of encouraging her more, so I tried just smiling and nodding at her.. She just smiled back and was still waiting for my approval, even giving me a thumbs-up as if she was asking for it back.. So in the end all I could do was give her a thumbs-up!”, Eommonim continued on, which made everyone groan.

“Well, that was the ONLY way I could communicate with her!”, she reasoned out.

“But you just encouraged her more, Imo.. She’ll never stop if you keep doing that..”, Soo Jung said, pouting.

“Ahhh, but you underestimated your Imo, Soo Jung-ie.. I’m not stupid, you see..”, Eommonim countered, tapping her temple and smiling at her audience, while Yong Oppa snorted beside me, trying to stop himself from saying anything.

“What did you do, Imonim?”, Min Hyuk asked, curiosity etched in his face while everybody else nodded.

“When she left, I followed her and found out where she was getting the fruits.. She was trying to pick another one, undoubtedly for me to try again, so I tapped her lightly on the shoulder before she could decide on one.. She was surprised at first, but then she stepped to the side and showed me one of the buffet tables where the desserts and fruits were.. I tried to tell her politely that I’ll pick my own fruit from now on as best as I could to make her understand, hoping she’ll leave me alone, but it was just my luck that she just stood there on the side as if she was the official make-the-foreigners-try-the-fruits ambassador..”, we laughed when we heard what she called the Thai Ahjumma.

“She was still looking at me, saying something in Thai again.. All I could surmise was she was urging me to try the other fruits on the table.. I smiled at her, but when I didn’t move, she put her thumbs-up, so I forced myself to try another one, then told myself that I am getting out of there after that.. I chose a small, simple-looking fruit that looked like a grape.. I thought it would be harmless since the 2 fruits the Thai Ahjumma brought me was delicious and it didn’t even looked good nor did I even know what they were called..