The twins are back!!!!

 

 

“I’m home,” Gary called out, after returning home from work. Daeyang came up to greet him, as always, but the twins stayed in the living room and didn’t run up to him like they always did.

“Oppa,” Ji Hyo greeted from the kitchen, busy with dinner preparations.

“What’s wrong with the kids?” he asked Ji Hyo as he ruffled Daeyang’s fur. The dog barked in delight, him. He ushered him away as he entered the kitchen to hug Ji Hyo.

“They fought,” she replied. He frowned. The twins fought have been fighting often recently, but most of the times they made up within an hour or two. He and Ji Hyo had discussed about this- the two children were probably fighting more now that they can speak better and have their own opinions. They were a little worried, but it was a phase every siblings have to go through- Ji Hyo fought plenty with her siblings as well. They tried to let the two kids settle it by themselves. Meanwhile, he stayed in the kitchen and played with her hair, pestering her to hurry up.

“Go away, oppa,” she giggled. “You’re slowing me down.”

He laughed, and still stayed beside her. They chatted a little about his work and the kids.

“What are they fighting about this time?” Gary asked.

Ji Hyo shrugged. “I don’t know. They didn’t want to tell,” she sighed. Sometimes, children had a world of their own and they refused to let their parents in. Gary and Ji Hyo respected it, so as long as they don’t cause too much trouble, they wouldn’t force them to tell.

Suddenly, Ji-ohn started yelling at Jiyoung and he started yelling back. They weren’t actually words, just ‘ahhhs’ and ‘urghs’. Then, both of them started to cry.

“Whoa, whoa, they seem serious this time,” Gary chuckled, but Ji Hyo could feel his worriedness too."I'll go talk to them."

She nodded. “Do well,” she laughed nervously.

 

“What happened?” Gary asked, pulling the two children apart.

“I hate you!” Ji-ohn screamed. 

Gary eyes rounded in shock. As far as he remembered, the kids never yelled that they hated each other in the past. But then again, they might not have known the word back then.

Jiyoung screamed again. “I hate you too!”

“Yah! Yah! How can you say that to each other?!” he asked. They cried again. He looked over to Ji Hyo.

This seems like the worst fight ever, he thought.

Ji Hyo sighed. I think we might be getting worst ones in the future.

Don’t jinx it!

 

He carried the two children to their room. It was the standard treatment if they misbehaved.

“Can you tell appa what happened?” he asked again. Neither of them refused to speak, although both of them stopped crying already.

Gary frowned. “Are you not going to tell?”

They looked down, averting his gaze. Gary noticed, with a sting in his heart, that they didn’t hold each other’s hands as usual.

He sighed.

They still aren’t telling? Ji Hyo thought to him.

No…

She sighed. Come out for dinner first, then. Let’s try again later.

 

It was a solemn mood at the dinner table. The kids didn’t play around as usual and ate silently. They didn’t even ask questions.

Gary frowned as he took a bite of his rice.

“Yah… it’s hard…” he told Ji Hyo.

“Ah…” she sighed. “Mian…” She must have been distracted by the kids’ tantrums.

Are you very worried?

Eo... they rarely stayed angry for this long.

Hmm… they didn’t even complain about the food…

Gary and Ji Hyo exchanged worried glances.

 

After dinner, they didn’t request to play either. Gary switched on the cartoon for them, and he went in to help Ji Hyo with the dishes.

“I wonder what’s wrong with them recently,” Ji Hyo sighed.

“How did your parents settle your fights?” Gary asked.

She chuckled. “Yah, how would I remember that?”

“Give them a call,” Gary suggested.

“I doubt they will remember it,” she said.

“Jiyoung ah… can you bring me my phone please?” she asked.

“Ne…” he agreed and scampered off to take her phone.

“Gomawo,” she said, ruffling his hair, but he just nodded moodily.

 

 

She dialled her parent’s house number.

“Eomma…”

“Eo, Ji Hyo? Wae? You need me to send food over? Or do you need me to take care of the kids?”

Ji Hyo chuckled softly. “Aniya… Jiyoungie and Ji-ohnie keeps fighting these days… last time when I fought with Seong Mun and Seong Kyung, what did you do?”

Her mother laughed. “Aiy… it’s normal for siblings to fight, why are you so worried?”

“It just kind of hurts… to see them being moody all day…”

“That was how you were like. Hitting your brother all the time,” she chuckled. “Maybe it’s karma…”

“Eommaa…” Ji Hyo whined.

“They’re grow out of it soon, don’t worry.”

“Ne…”

 

“She just told me it’s normal…” Ji Hyo told Gary.

“I asked Jae Suk hyung too…” Gary said. “He says he just keeps them apart if they fight.”

“What should we do…?”

“Let’s try talking to them again,” Gary suggested.

“But they aren’t even telling us…”

“How about we separate them for a day?”

“Eo?”

Gary shrugged. “I don’t know… ahhh.”

“Eo, good idea, actually.”

“But we’d be separated too,” he whined playfully. Ji Hyo rolled her eyes.

 

 

The next day, Gary woke Jiyoung up before Ji-ohn woke up.

He looked at Gary, confused.

“Today, you will be going out with appa okay?”

“Hmm?” he mumbled something, and instinctively looked over to Ji-ohn.

“It’s just us today,” he told him. “Let’s wash up first, okay?”

“Eo…”

He blankly followed Gary into the toilet, where he helped the boy to wash up and change. As soon as they were done, they left the house using the other car. Gary helped Jiyoung into the passenger seat.

 

“Where are we going?” he finally asked.

Gary shrugged. “Somewhere fun,” he said. “What do you want for breakfast?”

“Cake!”Jiyoung suggested.

Gary nodded and drove to a nearby café.

 

Meanwhile, back at home, Ji Hyo woke Ji-ohn up.

“Ji-ohn ah…” she said, carrying the girl in her arms and rubbing her back.

She mumbled something into her neck.

“Today, you will be going out with me okay?”

“Hmm?”

“Just me and you? Okay?”

“Oppa neun?” she can’t help but ask.

“He’s not coming with us.”

“Wae?”

Ji Hyo ignored the question on purpose. “Let’s wash up first okay?”

 

 

Ji-ohn wanted to eat cake too, so Ji Hyo drove to another café, since Gary was with Jiyoung in the nearest café.

 

 

In the first café, Jiyoung choose a chocolate cake, while Gary bought a chicken pie for himself. He let him eat by himself.

“Why isn’t Ji-ohn coming with us,” he asked. “And eomma too.”

“I thought you hated her,” he tried to say it as matter-of-factly as possible. “The both of you have been fighting a lot recently, isn’t it?”

Jiyoung pouted, but didn’t reply.

 

In the other café, Ji-ohn asked Jihyo the same thing again. She replied the same way as Gary did.

 

Gary brought Jiyoung to a toy-car park, where kids can drive in the mini toy cars.

It was a small car, so only Jiyoung could be inside. He had been tentative about driving at first, but he slowly got used to it. Gary watched him from the side. Jiyoung laughed and giggled as he crash on the barriers and into other people. Gary smiled, and started to wonder if he should have brought him here sooner. Haha had invited him to join Dream, but Gary always rejected him because Ji-ohn couldn’t join the boys.

An hour later, they had a quick lunch at the snack bar nearby. Then, Gary rented a bicycle to teach Jiyoung how to cycle. They had a small tricycle at home, so Jiyoung was familiar with the pedalling, but he found it hard to balance on a bicycle.

Gary held the back of the bicycle to help him.

“Appa… Appa, don’t let go!” he cried when Gary tried to let go.

“’Ok, ok! Look straight! Don’t look at your legs, look straight!”

Jiyoung glanced up in front for a few seconds, but eventually looked at his feet again.

“Yah! Yah! Look straight!” Gary instructed him again. “The pedals won’t move away.”

This time, Jiyoung looked in front, but he instinctively put his feet down to balance himself.

“Yah!” Gary cried exasperatedly.

“Museo wo…” Jiyoung giggled shyly. Gary laughed, pinching his cheeks.

“Do you trust appa?”

“Eo…”

“Appa won’t let go… you won’t fall, okay?”

“Ne…” Jiyoung answered, but still blinked nervously.

Gary held the back of the bicycle until Jiyoung was stable enough, then he lifted his hands slightly but followed closely behind.

“Is it fun?” Gary asked.

He nodded, but his body was still tensed.

“You don’t have to grab the handle so tightly,” Gary said. Jiyoung nodded and relaxed his grip a little.

“Okay now I’ll let go, okay?”

“No, no!”

“It’ll be okay! I will stay behind you!”

“No, appa, no!”

“I won’t let you fall.”

“You must stay behind me…”

“Okay, okay... If you feel unstable just put your legs down!”

Jiyoung cycled for a few minutes before putting his legs down.

He was breathing quite rapidly from the adrenaline rush when he stopped. But he giggled and said, “Again, again!”

Gary laughed and helped him onto the bike again. They repeated this cycle many times. Jiyoung lost balance sometimes, but he didn’t injure himself, thankfully. The afternoon was filled with his giggles and laughter..

Looking at Jiyoung enjoy himself now, he wondered if he had made the boy sacrifice too much for his sister.

 

After a few hours, Jiyoung was tired already, and it was also time to return the bike. Gary bought a popsicle for Jiyoung and cleaned his sweat while he ate.

“Did you have fun today?” Gary asked.

He nodded excitedly.

“But… it would be more fun if eomma and Ji-ohnie was here…” he said, turning sad suddenly.

Gary smiled. “But, you kept fighting with her,” he said, trying not to let his smile show.

He didn’t respond.

“You said you hated her yesterday,” he continued.

Jiyoung blinked. Tears started to form in his eyes.

“So, appa and eomma decided to send Ji-ohn to Dream, will that make you happy?” he asked gently.

“No!” Jiyoung yelled out. “No, appa, no!” And then he burst into tears.

Gary was shocked; he wondered if he took this too far. He picked the child up and patted his back.

“Wae, wae?” he asked. “Then why did you keep fighting with her?”

“Jalmot haesso…. Appa… I shouldn’t have fought… Don’t send her away.”

He dried his tears. “I’m not blaming you, Jiyoungie… okay, okay, I’m not sending her away… stop crying…”

 

 

 

Ji Hyo took Ji-ohn to an indoor playground. There were ball pools and slides and trampolines. Ji Hyo stayed close to her, but because those facilities were for kids only, she couldn’t join her. She asked some of the older kids to help her out, but she was still worried. Jiyoung was always around to help her.

Ji-ohn too, constantly forgot that Jiyoung wasn’t around. She kept asking around for oppa. Even when the others tried to help her, it took a while for her to willingly let them guide her around.

She played in the playground until after lunch, then Ji Hyo bought themselves sandwiches for lunch. After lunch, she brought Ji-ohn to a water park. About a year ago, they brought them to the water park once, but although Ji-ohn liked it, Jiyoung hadn’t liked it then. So now, since Jiyoung was with Gary, she took the chance to bring her there again.

She changed Ji-ohn into a bumblebee swimsuit, while she changed into her own. She got Ji-ohn some arm floats. She giggled and kicked in the water, clutching her mother tightly. Ji Hyo laughed too, watching her daughter being so playful. Ji-ohn had inherited this from her- she was playful and constantly liked to try new things. She and Gary always say that she would be a real daredevil if she wasn’t blind.

By late afternoon, Ji-ohn was visibly tired, so Ji Hyo brought her out of the park and they went to wash up.

“Did you have fun today?” she asked.

She nodded sleepily. “But… I wished oppa and appa were here.”

Jihyo smiled. “So you don’t hate oppa anymore?”

She shook her head. “I love oppa.”

“Really?”

She nodded.

“How much?”

She raised her tired hands and gestured as wide as she could. “Like this.”

“Then why do you keep fighting?”

“Oppa says, you and appa loves me more because I can’t see, and even Daeyang takes care of me more. I told him you love him the same, but he says he’s angry at me and doesn’t want to play anymore,” she broke down crying.

“I love oppa a lot. I don’t hate him… I wish I could see like normal people…”

Ji Hyo looked at her daughter, stunned for a moment. Then she carried her up and hushed her. As much as it was Jiyoung who started this, she knew it wasn’t his fault. He was just a baby, still. Barely 4 years old (5 in Korean age). Yet, for most of the time he patiently looked after his sister.

“It’s not your fault for not being able to see, do you understand?”

She nodded her head, but still cried.

“Even though you can’t see, you can do many other things also, right?” she encouraged her. “You’re brave, kind and smart, right?”

Ji-ohn was indeed intelligent for her age. She could memorise the general layout of her house by the time she was 3 years old (or 4 in Korean age), and she spoke a lot better than many kids her age.

“You know that oppa loves you a lot right?”

She nodded.

“It’s normal for him to be jealous of you, since we all have to take care of you. And sometimes, he can’t understand how you feel. But it doesn’t mean he hates you, you understand?”

She nodded again.

“But when you yell at him, it makes him sad, so can you promise not to do it anymore?”

“Ne…”

“Good girl…” Ji Hyo said and kissed her cheeks.

 

 

She told (thought to) Gary about what Ji-ohn told her. He sighed. Like Ji Hyo, he knew he couldn’t blame the boy. Who could blame him, when he bawled his eyes out when Gary joked about sending Ji-ohn away.

“Jiyoungie, are you upset that we always have to look after Ji-ohn?”

He didn’t reply.

“Appa’s not going to scold you for that, okay? I just want to understand you better.”

Finally, he nodded.

“But you still love Ji-ohn right?”

He nodded. “A lot…” he whispered.

Gary ruffled his hair.

“Hmm… Appa and eomma love her too. And we love you too, equally. Do you understand?”

He nodded a little.

“Say, do you love appa or eomma more? Or do you love us the same?”

If it were in the past, he would have answered eomma without hesitation. But he had spent so much time with Gary, especially when Ji Hyo went to work. And today was spent entirely with Gary. So how would he answer eomma?

“Same,” he answered softly.

“And that’s the same for eomma and I, alright? We love you two the same, just differently. In the past, you didn’t want to stay with me right? You always wanted eomma, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t love me right? And I didn’t fight with eomma because of that, right?

“That’s because you’re grown up,” he said.

Gary chuckled. “Yea, that, and also because I understood you. So will you act like a grown up and understand us too? Ji-ohn can’t see, so we’d have to look after her more. Just like how we looked after you more when you were sick, right? Do you want to be sick again, so we’d look after you more?”

Jiyoung shook his head.

“That time, Ji-ohn was really sad, but she hadn’t been mad at you, right?”

He nodded this time.

“See? So sometimes, we look after one of you more, but that doesn’t mean we love you any lesser, do you understand?”

He nodded again.

“But when you refused to play with Ji-ohn and started being mad at her, she’s really sad, you know?”

He pouted.

“So, can you apologise to her for making her sad?”

He nodded.

“And next time, when you are feeling sad, can you tell us too? It makes us sad when we see you being sad you know, just like how you don’t like to see us sad.”

He nodded again.

“Mianhae appa,” he said.

Gary hugged him and kissed his cheeks.

 

Ji Hyo and Ji-ohn reached home first. She started cooking ramen for dinner, while Ji-ohn waited in the hall for Jiyoung.

 

Not long later, the father and son returned home. Ji-ohn ran up to greet them. Jiyoung ran up to hug her.

“Mianhae,” they said to each other at the same time.

“Saranghae,” they said to each other at the same time (again).

 

Gary and Ji Hyo looked at each other in relief. It had been a long day, but they had learnt a lot about the two kids. They started to realise that they should have let Jiyoung tried more things, and not just things that both the twins can do. It was Ji-ohn who was blind, not Jiyoung. They shouldn't have made Jiyoung sacrifice so much. 

The kids may be twins, but they are very different. Jiyoung is more reserved, while Ji-oh is more daring. They have their own strengths and weaknesses, and likes and dislikes as well. The couple realised that just because they are twins, doesn't mean they have to always to the same thing. 

Because even i they can't do the same stuff, they still love each other the same.