CHAPTER 4

 

 

 

“D?” Seokjin pulls Dhelcee closer to him on their bed.  Her head is resting on his chest. He puts his hand under her chin to look up at him, “Do you think I’ll be a good father figure to Taehyung and Jimin?  They’re already young men and had their own fathers’ wisdom passed down to them. What will I do now to help them?”  He looks at her with worried eyes.

 

Dhelcee covers his hand over her cheek, “Guide them into manhood.  You’ll finish off what their fathers’ have started.  You will teach them the right way to treat women and elderly people. Their parents’ have already done that we just need to remind them constantly what their parents taught them. Jagiya, you will do a great job.  I trust in you. This heart.” She removes her hand from his and places it over his heart, “Is a very loving and caring hear….together we can work this out as young parents to our teenagers.” She lifts he head and kisses Seokjin on the lips for reassurance then lies back on his chest, “Let’s get some sleep jagiya. See you in my dreams.”

 

“I’ll be there soon, D.”  Seokjin presses his chin on Dhelcee’s head and slowly his eyes drifts closed.

 

 

 

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“Psst, Tae!”  Jimin throws a pillow over to Taehyung across the room.

 

“Yah! What do you want?” Taehyung throws Jimin’s pillow back at him and sits up from his bed, “We need to sleep because if we don’t wake up before Uncle Jin and Noona they might think we’re lazy boys.”

 

“Can we talk seriously for a bit before sleeping? This was a long day but starting tomorrow we are starting a new life without our parents.”  Jimin says sadly while hugging his pillow, “Your Uncle Jin is a nice uncle and Dhelcee noona is caring but I miss my parents. Don’t you?”

 

“I do too.” Taehyung lays his head on his pillow and looks at Jimin with sad eyes. Their lamp between their bed is the only light illuminating the room, “It’s going to be hard when we wake up not seeing our parents greet us ‘Good Morning’ and telling us to behave when we go to school.  I’ll miss my mom’s cooking. Gosh!” He covers his face with his pillow and yells into it, “I’ll miss every moment we always had together. I don’t want to cry anymore.”  Taehyung tries to fight back the tears building at the corner of his eyes.

 

Jimin’s eyes surrender the fight and tears were already flowing down his cheeks, “I feel the same way. Can we talk about her parents’ every night before we go to bed? I think it will help us cope with our loss.  I don’t want to forget them nor do I want to just pretend I’m okay when I’m not.”

 

“We can do that.  I don’t want to bother Uncle Jin and Dhelcee noona about our feelings. And I’m sorry I don’t want us to talk to a counselor. We can handle this together right Jimin?” He turns his head with watery eyes.

 

“Of course we can. We’re tough boys.  No one can put us down.  We’ll make our parents’ proud they raised well behaved young men like us.” Jimin smiles for a bit then frowns, “I’m actually afraid of the new school your Uncle Jin will put us in. No offense but we’re living in Gangnam where rich people live at. Our English isn’t that great. I really hope we don’t get bullied at our new school.”

 

Taehyung sits back up, “So what if we can’t speak good English. We live in Korea. We should be speaking in our own language. If they bully us just ignore them but if they touch us well I’ll try to hold back for the sake of my Uncle Jin’s reputation. But we’ll be fine. Don’t worry too much Jimin.”

 

“Okay…I’ll try not to think about that. At least your Uncle Jin was able to give us a week to rest before entering a new school. He did say he had some paper works to work on for us to transfer to the new school. Maybe we should get used to this neighborhood and take a look around tomorrow or ask Dhelcee noona if we can go outside.” Jimin puts his pillow down and lays his head on it.

 

“Sounds like a good idea but we’ll see what they have planned for us tomorrow. Let’s go to sleep Jimin.”  Taehyung reaches for the lamp and switches it off.

 

“Night Tae…”

 

The two teenagers quickly fall asleep in their new home.

 

 

 

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“Wake up!”

 

Taehyung feels a heavy weight on his back bouncing up and down. He turns over and pushes Jimin off of him. He falls on the floor laughing, “I told you I’m not a bed to bounce on! That hurts you know!”  He sits up rubbing his lower back, “What time is it?”

 

“Breakfast time! Dhelcee noona came in here about fifteen minutes ago and told me breakfast will be ready by then and that we should head down stairs.”  Jimin walks over to his bed and sits down, “I’ve been trying to wake you up since she left the room and only now you woke up.” He laughs.

 

Taehyung jumps onto his feet, “You were bouncing on my back for fifteen minutes?!”

 

Jimin laughs even harder, “I was kidding it was only two minutes. But you should go take a shower so we can go down stairs.  They’re waiting for us. Hurry!”

 

Taehyung dashes to their bathroom and he was out in five minutes with dripping hair.  He pulls Jimin off the bed and they both run down the stairs.

 

 

Their loud footsteps could be head from the dining area.  Dhelcee shakes her head as she puts the last plate on the dining table.  Seokjin looks up to see the boys out of breath standing before the couple.

 

“You guys can sit you know.”  Seokjin chuckles looking at them like their two soldiers waiting for a command, “This is your home too so feel free to act like how you usually do at home but please don’t break anything here.” He jokes.

 

Taehyung and Jimin quickly take their seats in front of Seokjin and Dhelcee takes a seat beside him. She passes the rice over to Taehyung, “You guys just dig in and please do tell me what food you guys like and what foods you are allergic to.”

 

Seokjin nods his head, “I’ll have to bring you guys to the clinic this week to have you guys checked up and make sure you’re healthy under our care.  Dhelcee and I love to cook and we take turns cooking here.”

 

Taehyung smiles his rectangle smile, “I’ve always loved your cooking Uncle Jin whenever we had family gatherings back then.”  His smile falters when a memory of their family gathering flashes in his mind of his parents.

 

“Taehyung?”  Seokjin concern voice reaches Taehyung’s ears.

 

“I’m fine Uncle Jin. I just thought of my parents.  It’s going to be hard but everything is still fresh. I’ll get used to it.” He reaches for another dish on the table and places some of it on his plate.

 

Seokjin looks at Dhelcee then back at the other two, “If ever you guys feel like visiting your parents’ grave we’ll take you guys there right away.  And you guys are always free to talk to us okay?”

 

Taehyung and Jimin both nod their heads. They quietly ate their breakfast.  All four of them quietly ate with the sad atmosphere looming above them.  Suddenly, the doorbell rang startling the teens.  Jimin laughed at Taehyung. Taehyung pushes Jimin to be quiet.

 

Dhelcee stands up to look at who’s at their gate. A smile forms on her face and presses the button for the guest to enter. She heads toward the entrance hall.

 

The two teens were curious who the guest was and Jimin was the first to ask, “Uncle Jin? Who’s here to visit at this time?”

 

Seokjin smiles, “Your noona is very fond of our neighbor. She did mention to me that she wants our baby to look like…” He was cut off when Dhelcee re-entered the dining area.

 

“Jungkook is here!”  Dhelcee’s face was full of happiness with a baby face teenager boy next to her who was smiling at the people sitting at the dining table.

 

“Good morning, Uncle Jin!”  He waves then looks at Taehyung and Jimin, “Cool! There are other boys here too that are my age. New neighbors?”  Jungkook casually sits next to Jimin.

 

Dhelcee returns to her seat, “I guess you can call them new neighbors for you but they’re living with us now. Jimin we adopted.  He’s sitting next to you.” She nods her head towards Jimin.

 

Jungkook still has a smile on his face, “Hi Jimin! I’m Jungkook!” He reaches his hand out to give a handshake and Jimin accepts.  He leans over to look at Taehyung, “I’ve seen your pictures around here. You must be Uncle Jin’s nephew Taehyung. Nice to meet you.” He shakes his hand too.

 

Seokjin could see the confusion in the two teens’ face of how Jungkook is acting so at home in their household, “Jungkook here lives on the right side of our house. When we first moved in he was the first one to welcome us.  We met his parents that were also very kind and welcoming like Jungkook.  The only thing is they’re both very busy parents. So Jungkook is usually left alone with the housekeeper. He asked his parents’ if it is ok for him to have breakfast with us every morning before he heads to school. He doesn’t like being alone and is very happy we moved here because he likes us very much. And my wife here is very fond of him too for some odd reason.” He looks over at Dhelcee who is still staring at Jungkook. He shakes his head.

 

Jungkook pipes into the conversation, “Dhelcee noona is the best noona ever! She’s like my second mom and I love her.”

 

Dhelcee jumps off her seat and pulls Jungkook into a hug, “You’re such a good boy.” She pinches his cheeks, “I want our baby to look cute as you!”

 

Taehyung looks at Jimin with a strange look then they both look at Uncle Jin who is covering his face, “What’s wrong Uncle Jin?”

 

“She does that every morning.  I mean after we moved in she started treating Jungkook like a baby.  I’m used to it now but I’m a little embarrassed as of this moment because you two are here to witness it.” Seokjin stands up and pulls his wife back to sit down.

 

Jungkook still has a smile on his face which is creeping Taehyung and Jimin out.  Taehyung is bothered by the boy’s smile, “Why do you smile a lot?”

 

“I’m just happy to be with a loving happy family. I mean Uncle Jin and Dhelcee noona doesn’t have kids yet but I know for sure it’ll be a loving family with the attention they give to each other and to me. You guys are so lucky to be living with them.”  Jungkook begins to dig in and eat breakfast.

 

“You’ll see Jungkook here later after school. So just pretend he’s another family member living in our household. Also you two will be attending the same school as him next week.” Seokjin drinks a sip of his tea.

 

Jungkook puts his chopsticks down, “No way?! This is going to be so cool! I hope you two are in the same class as me and that would be even better!” He grins at the two other boys before eating again.

 

After a while it was time for Jungkook to head to school. He told the other boys he’ll see them later after school and they’ll have their bonding moments together.  Taehyung and Jimin helped Dhelcee clear out the dishes from the table and offered to wash the dishes.  Seokjin headed upstairs while Dhelcee stayed with the boys.

 

Once Seokjin returned to the kitchen area the boys were already finishing up putting away the dishes.  They saw he was dressed in a suit and thought he took a week off from work from what they remembered he mentioned the other day.

 

“Uncle Jin? You have work?”  Taehyung asked curiously.

 

Seokjin gives them a small smile, “Just for today. Something came up at work and they need me there today. But tomorrow I should be fine to spend time with you guys and get everything settled down.  Take care of my wife okay?” He pulls Dhelcee into a hug and kisses her lips then forehead, “I’ll be home before dinner time.”

 

All three of them wave ‘good bye’ to Seokjin as he exits the front entrance.

 

Dhelcee turns around and faces the boys, “So, what shall we do today?”

 

Jimin raises his hand, “Can we take a walk around the neighborhood?”

 

“Please noona?” Taehyung pleads, “We want to know this neighborhood just in case you tell us to go out and buy something.”

 

Dhelcee laughs at how the two are acting like little boys wanting to out to play. Lucky for her she was dressed comfortably to go outside, “Okay we’ll go outside. Let me just get my wallet and house key.  Can one of you get Jjangu and put a leash on him? We’ll take him for a walk.”  She heads back upstairs leaving the boys to go search for Jjangu.