It was about an hour’s ride to Jihyo’s mother’s house, so the kids (as well as Jihyo) fell asleep again. Jihyo woke up about 15 minutes before they reached.

She rubbed her eyes groggily. “Should I wake them? Otherwise they’d be grumpy later.”

“Eung, wake them. I think they slept enough,” Gary said. While they were family, he didn’t think it would be very polite to be grumpy for a birthday celebration.

Jihyo turned around and patted their legs lightly. “Jiyoung ah, Ji-ohn ah, we’re reaching. Wake up.”

Jiyoung, the lighter sleeper, woke up easily, but Ji-ohn merely shifted her legs away and continued to sleep.

The boy looked at his mom in a daze and blinked a few times. Jihyo smiled. “Still sleepy?” she asked, rubbing his legs.

He nodded. She passed him his milk, which he stretched out to take.

“Don’t drink too much,” Gary reminded. “It’s almost time for mam ma.”

Jihyo turned her attention to Ji-ohn. “Ji-oh ah~,” she cooed, tickling her soles. She whined, annoyed at being woken up.

“Mianhae,” Jihyo laughed. “We’re reaching soon,” she explained, passing Ji-ohn her milk too.

Gary played some nursery rhymes to wake them up, which it did. Music always works.

“Whose birthday is it today?” Jihyo asked.

“Halmoni,” the children said in union.

“Keulae, so can you sing a song for halmoni later?”

“Ne!” Jiyoung replied. Ji-ohn immediately started singing and clapping her hands.

“Jalhada,” Jihyo said. “And what must you say to her later?”

“Saengil chukka habnida!”

“Keuleohji!” Gary praised them. “Jjinja ddok ddok hae.”

Soon they arrived at their granny’s house.

“Halmoni, harabeoji!” the kids squealed.

“Aigoo, my precious grandchildren,” they said, each picking a child up.

“Aigoo, you’ve grown so much,” Jihyo’s mother commented in her exaggerated voice, reserved only for her grandkids.

“Eomma, appa,” Jihyo bowed, greeting her parents. “Eomma, you just saw the kids a month ago,” she added, laughing.

“Eomonim, abeonim,” Gary greeted them too. They nodded to acknowledge him.

“Kids grow really fast, don’t you know?” she asked rhetorically, pinching her grand-daughter’s cheeks.

Her father just laughed and nodded.

“Don’t you have something for halmoni,” Gary reminded them.

“Ah, we drew this for you,” Jiyoung said, struggling to take the card from his tiny back pack. His grandfather helped him.

He passed it to Jihyo’s mom. It was just a paper full of scribbles, but in her eyes it was a beautiful work of art.

“Aigoo, yeppeo da,” she complimented them. “I’m going to paste it on the wall, gomawoyo,” she said, caressing their cheeks.

Gary passed Jihyo’s mom the cake he was holding. “They made this today,” he smiled. “Tell halmoni where we went this morning,” he encouraged.

“We went to the strawberry farm and picked a lot a lot of strawberries!” Ji-ohn said, stretching her arms out wide to demonstrate.

“And we made the strawberry jam,” Jiyoung added

“And the strawberries cried because it was painful.”

“And then we made the cake. We broke (cracked) the eggs into the white powder and did this,” he demonstrated the dough kneading action.

“Flour, Jiyoung, the powder is flour. And you kneaded the dough,” Jihyo corrected.

“Kneaded the dough,” he repeated diligently.

“Whoa, my grand-children are so smart,” she said, patting their heads.

Jihyo helped her mother to keep the cake, and her mother went into the kitchen to take out the dishes. Gary, Jihyo’s father, and the two kids stayed in the living room.

“Are Sungkyung and Sungmin coming home soon?” Gary asked.

“Eung, I think so. Did Jihyo tell them not to get a cake?”

“Eung, she did.”

“Mmm.”

They didn’t have much to talk, but it wasn’t awkward as they busied themselves by entertaining the children. Ji-ohn sat on her grandfather’s leg, while Jiyoung sat in between Gary and his grandfather.

Before long, the tables were set. Jihyo’s siblings returned just in time for dinner.

“Imo! Samchon!” they kids called excitedly upon theirs return.

“Ji-ohn ah, Jiyoung ah!” they smiled ruffling their hair.Sungmin passed them each a packet of biscuits. Jiyoung immediately looked towards his mom for permission.

“Andwae, eat your dinner first,” Jihyo said. Jiyoung nodded, eyeing the biscuits sadly as he kept it in his bag. Ji-ohn passed him hers.

There were no baby chairs for them there, so Gary stacked up the chairs to make it higher for them. He sat at the edge of the table, opposite Jihyo’s mother and beside her father, who was sitting at the end of the table. On the right side of Gary was Ji-ohn followed by Jiyoung, then was at the other end. Her siblings were on the opposite site.

“Jal meog get subnida,” everyone repeated. After Jihyo’s father started eating, then the rest started to take their dishes.

It was a typical birthday feast, with seaweed soup, galbi (grilled short ribs), lettuce wraps, fried fish, jap-chae, and other side dishes like kimchi and anchovy. As always, Gary and Jihyo deboned the fish for their children before giving it to them. For the galbi, they gave it to them whole as the bone was big enough, so it was safe.

Gary wrapped some grilled pork belly and gave it to Ji-ohn. She liked it and asked for more. Seeing how his sister enjoyed it, Jiyoung wanted some too.

“Appa, nando…” he said.

Feeling cheeky, instead of helping Gary, Jihyo joined in the whining. “Oppa, nando,” she said.

Gary just laughed and gave the one he was wrapping to Jihyo.

“Appa!” the kids whined.

Gary playfully laughed. “You must let your elders first, understand?”

Their grandfather nodded, glad that Gary is teaching his grandchildren well. Jihyo was smiling too, not because she actually agreed, but because Gary just thought to her, Because I love you more.

Shaking her head, she wrapped one for Jiyoung, while Gary made one for Ji-ohn, so they’d stop asking for it.

“Oh, nuna, I watched the show you guys were on, it’s too cute,” Sungkyung laughed. “My niece and nephews are so famous now!”

“If I post our pictures on my Instagram, I’m going to get famous too,” Sungmin chirped in.

Jihyo gave Sungmin a look and the younger made a face. “I was kidding,” he quickly added. He knew how particular his older sister is about social media. Both she and Gary seldom posted pictures of their children online, because they didn’t want to lose all the privacy they had.

“Hm, I watched it too. Did you have fun?” Harabeoji asked Jiyoung.

He nodded, “Ne. I liked the zoo.”

He smiled. “Your eomma liked zoos too. But we couldn’t afford to bring her when she was younger. Children nowadays are so lucky.”

“Appa!” Jihyo said. She knew her father felt guilty for her childhood. When she was young, he was an inexperienced architect, and had to work long hours and earned little.  But it was all in the past now; she led a relatively well-to-do life as she grew older and now, she had everything she could ask for.

They continued to chat about other more light-hearted topics throughout the dinner.

After dinner, it was time to sing the birthday song and cut the cake.

“Whoa, it looks nice,” Halmoni said, as she opened the box. “Gomawo, Jiyoung-ah, Ji-ohn ah,” she said.

“Whoa, they bought the cake?”Sung Kyung asked, surprised. “Ok, no, I’m not surprised,” he added quickly. “They must earn a lot.”

Jihyo rolled her eyes jokingly. “Yah, they made it.”

“Jjinja?!” Sungmin asked. “Now, I am surprised. I didn’t even bake before!”

Gary smiled. “They only helped in the baking process.”

“It’s the thought that counts,” Harabeoji said. “Let’s start the song.”

And so, they sang the birthday song and cut the cake. After that, it was time for presents. Sungkyung and Sungmin bought a necklace for her.

Jihyo looked at her mother shyly. “I didn’t know what to get you, since you already have everything. So… oppa suggested that I make something myself…”

She passed her a letter.

To my dearest eomma, it read.

I remember I used to write you birthday cards when I was younger… but as I grew older and got busier, I stopped… this must be my letter to you in years.

I just want to thank you for everything you have done for me. It is only after I become a mother then I know how you feel like all these years, putting my children before myself, anytime, every time. Is this what they call unconditional love? I thank you for all the love you have showered me, so that I can, too, shower my children with the same amount of love.

I’m now a mother myself, but you still love after me like I’m your baby. I am really thankful for that. I feel secure, knowing that there’s someone there, who will always protect me like I’m a child. For all the times I’ve failed you, made mistakes, or caused you worry, I sincerely apologise. I know you would never hold it against me, I caused you so much pain. I thank you for loving me, despite my flaws and inadequacies.

There are times when we disagreed with each other, and there are times when we fought. But I thank you again for always giving in to me and being so understanding towards me. You always know how I feel, even without me saying a word.

They say they greatest love in the world is a mother’s love, and I can’t say how much I agree with that. I can no longer remember the number of times you sacrificed yourself for me. No amount of words can express my gratitude, and my love towards you.

I love you so much, Eomma.

Towards the end, the writings smudged, because tears fell uncontrollably as she wrote.

When her mom finished reading, she was in tears herself. She hugged Jihyo and, Jihyo started to cry too.

Seeing their mother cry, Jiyoung and Ji-ohn went up to her and hugged her, too.

*note, I made up their names because I couldn’t find it on the net. Heh. Whee thanks to itsrj90 for telling me they names!!!