"Bye Kan-Sun, have a good day!" I had been managing just fine for the past week and everyone was still alive, sort of - Chae-Sun woke up really sick this morning so I decided to keep him with me today. Kan-Sun opened her door and closed it right behind her without saying a word. 
*door slams*
“Okay, Chae-Sun first things first is we are getting you to the doctor's office.”
“I don’t want to go!” I could hear him kicking his seat behind me.
“But you have to go if you want to feel better. Don’t you hate feeling yucky?” I looked over my shoulder behind me as we stopped at a red light just as he was nodding head in agreement. “Well how about this after we go to the doctor's office and if you are good and brave, I’ll have a surprise for you.”
“What kind of surprise?”
“A surprise surprise”
“Nonnaaaa!” I smiled to myself. I expected getting him to the doctors would be more challenging but it went quite smoothly if I do say so myself.
…
Miyah sat in the waiting room as Chae-Sun was playing with some of the books and toys laying in displayed in the waiting room. Little dude had woken up that morning sweating, and his cheeks were bright red. When he even tried to eat something for breakfast he couldn’t keep it down for more than 5 minutes, as it sat all over his lap in the car. 
“Chewy...Chae...Sung, Sang” At the sound of Chae-Sun’s name sort of being called Rian stood up stood from the chair, pulled her backpack over her shoulder, and tucked her laptop under her arm. I guess Chae-Sun noticed me preparing to leave because he suddenly appeared holding my hand ever-so-tightly.
“Choi Chae-Sun?” Rian asked again just to make sure she hadn’t butchered some other kids name. The nurse looked at the sheet again, looked at me and then looked at Chae-Sun, paused for half a second and then motioned for us to enter through the doors. 
“Just stop at the scale and make sure to take off his shoes.” I pulled his shoes off and had him stand on the scale. The scale made a noise and then we were guided to our room. “The doctor will be in with you shortly.” She smiled with mild sincerity and closed the door behind her. The room was definitely a child's doctors office. The walls were painted bright green and yellow, while characters like Winnie the Pooh, tiger, and piglet walked along the base. 
“Okay Chae, so far so good right?” I set him on the squish table and he walked around for a little bit. He liked the noise the paper made underneath his feet, I guess. I looked at the clock as I paced the room, and thought of how I needed to update my health insurance plan because this appointment is going to raise a red flag on my account for sure. I looked back at the clock again minding the time. I had classes today but Janelle already said she’d give me her notes, and the other classes I could get from the professors during office hours, or something. I heard a knock at the door and turned around as the knob began to turn. “Hello?”
“Ms. Choi?” I saw the doctor enter in through the door. She was Asian and stood at about 5’5. She looked extremely young, and honestly, a part of me wanted to request someone else but I figured if this was a super last minute resort so it couldn’t hurt right? 
“Actually no Ms., please. Just Miyah is fine.” I shook her hand and started to bow a little bit. I cursed myself for doing that. “And you are?”
“Dr. Park” I sat down in a seat across from her chair with wheels. “What’s bringing you in today?”
“This morning I went to wake him up for the morning and he had sweated through his night clothes, and I took his temperature and it was 105, and he’s been breathing through his mouth, and his cheeks were really red…” Dr. Park stood up from the stool and pulled her stethoscope to her ears as she listened to Chae-Sun breathe from his back and chest. 
“Noona, is she Korean too?”
“I don’t buddy, I didn’t ask.”
The doctor looked between me and Chae-Sun “No I am not Korean but I did live there for a few years.”She removed the stethoscope from her ears and grabbed the light from her pocket. “My family is from northern Japan. Make sure to follow this light, okay?”
“He also threw up his breakfast form this morning.”
The doctor sighed to herself and she began to feel around Chae-Sun’s throat, lifting his head and looking up his nose. 
“Well I can say that his sinuses are the main source fo the issue, there’s significant t mucus in his nose and even in his throat.” She pulled out a thermometer from her other pocket and ran it across his forehead. “And his temperature is 104.7, so it’s gotten a little lower, for his age, I would like to prescribe something to make it go down. Has he had his flu shots?
“Has he ever gotten a shot?”
“No, but isn’t he too young?”
“Nope, but once he gets older he’ll need other shots especially if once he starts attending school but for now the flu should suffice, and I’ll prescribe him some medicine for the fever.” She quickly wrote something on paper and handed it to me. “As for as his sinuses go, a regular over the counter decongestant will do the trick, if all his symptoms haven’t cleared up in four days give us a callback.”
“That’s it?”
“Yup. It was nice meeting you both and the nurse will be in shortly to give his flu shot, and you can be on your way.” She ruffled his hair a little bit and hand ed him one of her many stickers. “Take care. And get well.”
“Thank you.” She closed the door behind her as I made my way towards Chae. “You’ll be feeling better than ever in no time.” And just on cue a nurse came in with a  colorful afro and drawn on freckles. ‘Is this supposed to make kids feel better about getting shots’ I asked myself. She pulled out the needle and as soon as Chae-Sun saw it all hell broke loose and then some. He ran for me and begged for me to hold him. Eventually, I did but he still wasn’t sad as he dug his nails into my shirt. 
“Run Noona, Run! I don’t want it! I don’t want it!” 
I tried to calm him down by patting his back but he was not having it. Eventually, I just decided to do the thing that seemed fastest. “Okay I’m going to hold him down and you just jab it in his arm and go. He’s just nervous but after it is done, he’ll be fine.”
The nurse looked at me strangely “All kids are like this? Is this his first shot.”
“Yeah, but he is going to wish it were his last isn’t he?”
“That's for sure.”
“Okay, ready? 1-2-” I placed him in his back and held his arm down with both my hands while the nurse quickly cleaned the injection spot and inserted the needle.” If someone were outside looking in I’m sure it looked terrible. Chae-Sun crying at the top of his lungs while we two held him down like a couple of WWE wrestlers. “3!”
As soon as she finished giving the shot she pulled a band-aid out and covered the spot immediately, and just as quickly she left the room. I picked up the kid as he was still hollering and gave him kisses all over his face to try to distract him and make him feel better. “No Noona, you hurt!”
“It wasn’t me it was the nurse!”
“No Noona you too!”
My heart was breaking as he said those words to me. I pulled his jacket on and zipped it up so he’d be less tempted to scratch and rub his band-aid. “Don’t be mad with Noona because I have many surprises for you today.”
“I don't like your surprises?”
“First we’re going to get some Ice Cream”
“For breakfast?”
“Only this once. Then we’re going to go get you some medicine, then maybe go swimming so that we can get a head start on bringing down your fever. And I was thinking that maybe we could even go get you a hair cut. What do you think?”
“Chincha? (Seriously)!”
“You can even choose if you want a design or not. It is up to you as long as it’s cool.” I tried to see him the rear view mirror and remember that I needed to buy car seats. ”I can’t have you walking around just any kind of way.”
…

We had just walked into our third barbershop for today, as all the others were either full, made me uncomfortable, or charged entirely too much. This one was closer to where we actually lived but just a few blocks over. It reminded me of the classic barbershop you see in the moves. Red, blue, and white pole spinning n the window, a few empty chairs, and a ton of laughter coming from the guys cutting hair and getting their hair cut. I walked in with Chae-Sun holding my hand tightly feeling like a lamb in a wolves den.
“The hair salon is through the curtain upstairs.” I wasn’t sure who said it so I just looked between all of them. 
“I’m not here to get my hair done...” I looked down at Chae-Sun who held my leg with his other hand. “...I’m just looking to get his haircut.” 
One of the guys got up from his chair with a lollipop or cigarette in his mouth, knelt down to Chae-Sun’s face and pulled his hands through Chae-Sun’s hair as if he’d never seen straight hair before.
“First Hair cut?”
“Yeah, I think so.” He ruffled Chae-Sun’s hair a little bit and stood up crossing his arms. 
“Yeah, I can cut it and wash it. Give me like 45 minutes, and it’ll cost you 12.”
“Finally.” I knelt down to Chae-Sun “Okay little dude. He’s going to cut your hair and let you choose what kind of design you want. I’ll be sitting right over here, okay.” He nodded slowly. I stood up readjusting my bag on my shoulder as I stood. “Do you have a book of designs he could choose from?”
“Mos Def.” He motioned for Chae-Sun to follow him and did just that. He pulled squishy cushion from underneath his barber's table, set it in his chair and picked Chae-Sun up to place him in the seat. I sat in a chair by the window and started on my homework for my editing class and hoped that he didn’t walk out of here bald headed.
I sat in an adjacent chair that wasn’t being used and just watched Chae-Sun get his hair cut. For a while, he looked nervous and just kept staring at me as if we were playing an unofficial starring contest. It was awkwardly quiet as I sat there and eventually I just asked. 
“Should I stay or go?” I motioned towards the door. 
“Go!” they all said in perfect unison. 
I started to chuckle at there unity in getting a female out of their space. “Girl don’t you know that a barbershop is a man’s domain.” A guy who looked to be in his late forties said.
“Well excuuuuuse me,” I said extra dramatically. "I'll be back in when your hair is almost done okay?" Chae-Sun nodded his head slowly. “Sike, I figured since  I’ve never needed to step  into a barbershop until now.”
“Dang! Don’t bite the girls head off.” Said the guy cutting Chae-Sun’s hair.
“Thank you.” I started to make my way towards the back stairs to go and wait upstairs in the hair salon. “I’ll be upstairs whenever you are done.”
“Girl if you don’t get your XX chromosome havin’ self outta this here man cave-” This guy was sweeping the floor and had his hair cut to a smooth fade with an earring in his ear looking like he stepped out of a B5 poster. He motioned as if he were karate kicking me out the room. 
…
“Are you here for an appointment?” said a girl behind the front desk. 
“No I’m just waiting for someone to finish cutting some hair down downstairs.” it was small space and looked smaller than the barbershop below but they seemed to be significantly busier. 
“Thank God because all of these clients are making my head spin.” The lady said as she got up from her chair I sat at one of the seats against the wall and rested my arm on the back and started to watch some judge show that was on TV. I didn’t realize I had even fallen asleep until I was being awakened by the sound of Judge Brown’s gavel. I looked at my watch and figured maybe it had been enough time. I looked around and saw that the shop was still as busy as it was before my nap, and quickly started back downstairs. 
“Ma’am”
I heard someone call over my shoulder, but I knew they weren’t calling for me so I proceeded down the steps and through the beaded curtain. 
Chae-Sun was standing up in the swivel chair touching his hair as he looked at himself in the mirror. His image had improved for the better as he looked at himself in the mirror and brushed his hand over his head. “Nah lil man, from front to back or you’ll mess it up.” Chae-Sun stopped brushing his hair and said something back to him in Korean I’m assuming because his barber looked confused. He took a brush, leaned into the mirror with him and gave Chae-Sun a brush of his own and showed him what he was talking about. He brushed his hair from the back to the front and Chae-Sun started to copy. “There you go.” I took a quick picture and started towards them. 
They both saw me through the mirror and turned in unison to face me. Chae-Sun looked like a little Jay Park with the design he got on the side. “Do you like it noona?”
I started to mess with him a little bit “I’m sorry little boy but do I know you?”
“Noona it’s me, Chae-Sun”
I could see the barber smiling to himself and I could feel a few eyes on us. I leaned back and put my hand t my chin. “Hmm. I’m sorry kid but I don’t think I know you. My Chae-Sun has long bushy hair that practically covers his eyes.”
Chae-Sun started to reach for me from the chair and his lip started to poke out a bit. “I’m right here noona...”
I let my eyes get really big and stepped back a little bit. “Oh snap. It is you!  You look so different and so cool I didn’t even recognize you!” He started to laugh as he finally understood that I was only kidding and he started to climb down from the chair. 
I reached in my wallet and pulled out 18 dollars and handed it to the barber. “Thank you for your services.”
“It’s all good. If he brushes a  little every day it should look clean for a month.” He brushed a few strands off of Chae-sun’s shirt and unplugged his clippers. 
“What’s your name?”
“Dre”
“What do you say to Dre?”
“Kamsahapnida.” Chae-Sun bowed and I wasn’t sure if I should have stopped him or not but I just let it happen. 
“Thanks, Dre.” I waved and took Chae-Sun’s hand as we concluded our adventures for today by picking up his sister Kan-Sun from school.