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“Welcome, welcome!” the short woman beams at us, her grin lighting up her dark round eyes. Her glossy black hair swoops over her forehead and stops just below her ears, and with her welcoming nature, it’s clear to see that she is indeed the mother of Taehyung.
“Eomma, let me take those for you,” Eonjin rushes to her mother’s side to alleviate her of the groceries, carrying them away to the kitchen. In the meantime, my mother and I greet her with bows, but she is quick to stop us with a frantic wave of her hand.
“No need for all that, come here!” she hugs us both simultaneously, and I laugh out in surprise, exchanging a look with Taehyung, who sports his classic toothy grin as he witnesses the scene before him with Yeontan lounging contently in his arms.
“You are part of this family now, okay? We will take care of you for as long as you need, maybe even forever!” she laughs, finally releasing us from her surprisingly strong grip.
“Oh, you are too kind, really, but we will not stay for long,” my mother promises, bowing deeply, but Taehyung’s mother shakes her head.
“Don’t you worry about anything, my dear. We are very happy to help, especially since Taehyung told me you are from Daegu too!”
My mother’s eyes widen as she looks between me and her. “Aria never told me that you’re from Daegu!”
“I forgot to,” I admit sheepishly, glancing briefly at Taehyung, who has just set Yeontan down to roam free around our ankles.
“Whereabouts in Daegu? Maybe our families know each other!” his mother presses further, not noticing my mother’s shift in mood. My mother does not exactly have the best relationship with her family back in Korea, especially after going against their wishes for her future. However, we discover that our families have live on opposite ends of the town, and that while we are more known for owning small businesses, their family were more involved in the countryside with farming.
“Ah, well, I’ll have to call my father and see if he knows anyone from your side,” Taehyung’s mother, or Eonjae, as she insists on being called, says. “So when did you come to Australia?”
“Just before Aria was born,” my mother launches into her life story as she sips the tea that Eonjae forced Eonjin to prepare for them. Taehyung and his sister drag me away from the ahjumma tea party to show me around the house, leaving Yeontan with them. I glance back at the fluffy cutie longingly, wishing I could take him with me on the house tour, but the Kim siblings were too excited to notice.
“That’s the kitchen, that’s the laundry which leads to the backyard, there’s the bathroom which also has the toilet, and this…” Eonjin halts before a closed door, through which I can hear the faint sounds of shooting and swearing. “This is the boys’ lair.”
“It’s not a lair,” Taehyung counters. “It’s a cave.“
“Yeah, because that’s where they hibernate and never come out,” Eonjin explains to me. “We have to slide meals under the door so that they don’t starve.”
“Is Jeonggyu in there?” I point to the door, and as if by magic, it swings open, revealing Jeonggyu himself.
“Are you guys doing the tour without me?”
“Of course we are, since you’re so busy,” Eonjin crosses her arms, and I sneak a peek into the ‘cave’ room as Jeonggyu leans against the door frame, looking bored.
“Well, I’ve decided that I’m not busy anymore,” he says, making me laugh unexpectedly. He then looks me in the eye for the first time, and I swear I see the sliver of a smile on his lips, but it’s gone as quickly as it appeared.
“How generous of you, Pingu-head,” Taehyung ruffles his hair, and Jeonggyu cries out.
“Hey! Stop calling me that!” he flushes, embarrassed. He glances at me, and I try not to laugh as I finally see where the nickname came from. His head kinda does look like Pingu.
“Not until you start calling me hyung, Pingu-head,” Taehyung shoots back.
“I ain’t doin that, sorry,” Jeonggyu shakes his head decisively. “I don’t know what your big obsession is with being called hyung. Don’t tell me you make your girlfriend call you oppa or something -“
“Hell no!” I interrupt. “I’m never calling anyone oppa – ever!”
Eonjin raises her hand at me for a high five. “Yas, girl power!” she exclaims. “Screw this oppa/noona shit, am I right?”
“Totally!” I don’t know what it is about this girl, but her enthusiasm is infectious, and I feel like we are going to get along well.
“Wait, are you my noona?” Jeonggyu asks me out of the blue, and I give him a look.
“What do you think?”
I didn’t intend for it to come out so sarcastic, but the reaction I receive is priceless. Jeonggyu’s eyebrows shoot up, not that I can see them since they are hidden behind his bangs, and Taehyung and Eonjin rejoice in laughter, clapping at my ‘sassy’ remark.
“Aria, you’re basically part of the family now,” Eonjin throws an arm around me, hugging me to her side with a bright smile.
“Okay…” I feel overwhelmed as everyone’s eyes are on me, but it doesn’t last long, for Taehyung is back to playing tour guide, leading us all to the last few rooms.
“There’s the master bedroom, where our parents sleep, and here is Eonjin’s bedroom,” I get a sneak peek of what looks like the bedroom of my dreams, before we enter the last room in the hall – the guest room.
“Welcome to your room!” Eonjin spreads her arms out as I take in the seafoam walls, the open window bathing the entire room in a soft natural light. There is one large queen bed, as well as a desk, a spacious empty wardrobe and our suitcases which lean against the wooden trunk at the posterior end of the bed.
“Wow,” I breathe out. “It’s really…beautiful.”
“You think so?” Taehyung puts an arm around me, scanning the room again and trying to see it in my perspective. “I guess it is.”
“We really cleaned the room up, since it’s never used,” Eonjin explains.
“We did use it, though, for games and stuff,” Jeonggyu butts in. “But that was back in the good old days.”
“Good old days? What are you, fifty?” Eonjin shoves him teasingly.
“No, I’m sixty-nine,” Jeonggyu retorts, and I snort back my laughter while Eonjin scrunches up her nose in disgust.
“You’re so immature.”
“Hey, look, at least Taehyung’s girlfriend laughs at my jokes,” Jeonggyu points at me, and Taehyung grabs his finger, squeezing it until his brother cries out in pain.
“Pointing is rude, Pingu-head,” he growls.
“So is breathing,” Jeonggyu retaliates, cradling his poor finger.
“You wanna die?” Taehyung widens his eyes at him, and I cover my mouth to stop myself from laughing. He’s using my catchphrase.
“Nah, I’m good, fam,” Jeonggyu steps back, retreating, and Taehyung just snickers.
“Coward.”
Jeonggyu launches forward with a raised fist aimed at Taehyung’s face, but Eonjin, with super-fast reflexes, grabs his arm and twists it back in a matter of seconds. Jeonggyu screams for mercy, but she only releases him after he promises to do the laundry for the next two weeks.
I just stand there, watching these three squabble, wondering how it would feel like to live with siblings.
“Is it always like this?” my question has the three Kim kids snapping their heads to me, and they don’t even hesitate with their answer.
“Yep.”
【★】
Taehyung’s father comes home while our mothers are halfway through cooking our dinner.
Jeonggyu is back in his room, studying, while I am outside with Eonjin and Taehyung, cuddling Yeontan.
“I think Yeontan loves you more than me,” Eonjin jokes beside me. “He hasn’t looked at me since you’ve arrived.”
“That’s because he’s sick of you, Eonjin,” Taehyung pokes her with the stick we used to play fetch with Yeontan, and she chucks a handful of grass at his face in retaliation.
That’s when we hear the deep voice of a man inside, talking to Eomma and Eonjae.
“Is that your dad?” I ask.
“Appa!” Eonjin is the first to get up, dashing through the slide door to greet him. I turn to Taehyung as Yeontan leaps out of my arms, barking at Eonjin’s heels. Taehyung wordlessly gets to his feet, stretching his hand out to me. “Ready to meet my dad?”
I take his hand, letting him haul me to my feet. “Sure.”
His father is a fairly tall man with thick black hair and black framed glasses, his face creased into a friendly smile that resembles Taehyung’s. When he sees me, his eyebrows twitch upward.
“Ah, hello. Aria, right?”
“Yes, hello,” I dip my head forward in a bowing nod. “It’s good to meet you.”
“It’s good to meet you too, we’ve heard a lot about you already,” he winks at his son, who smiles nervously.
“No, they haven’t,” he waves his hands in denial to me, but his father continues.
“Oh, but we have. You’re always talking about Aria, isn’t he, honey?” he looks to his wife, who smiles in agreement as she stirs the pot of kimchi stew while my mother adds some seasoning.
“All the time,” Eonjae says with a weary sigh.
“No I don’t!” Taehyung whines, flicking his eyes to me again. “I swear, they’re just joking, Aria. Don’t believe them!”
“Okay,” I giggle out, but once Taehyung’s dad leaves to go wash up, Eonjin whispers to me, “He totally does talk about you all the time.”
“Yah!” Taehyung pushes her away from me to say, “Don’t believe them, Aria!”
But I do believe them, because after all, I witnessed it first hand already just last week when he was on the phone with his mother, talking about me.
The entire family gathers in the dining room for dinner, an occasion that was never that big of a deal for my mother and I, since we were mostly just sitting in front of the TV with a box of pizza or a cup of instant noodles. However, in this household of five people, dinner seems to be the highlight of the day, and it’s no wonder, for the food we are served is so delicious I almost shed a tear.
“This is so yummy,” Eonjin beams at her mother and mine, while we all murmur our agreement.
“Honestly, it’s all thanks to Chae Ri,” Eonjae gestures to my mother, who waves her away in modesty.
“Oh, stop, I didn’t do anything,” my mother is a master at pretending to reject compliments, but on the inside, I know she is beaming.
“You know, if the food is going to taste this good every time, you can stay with us for a very long time,” Taehyung’s father says with a crinkled smile.
“No, no, we won’t stay long,” my mother insists again. “As soon as we get everything organized again, we’ll be out of your hair.”
“Chae Ri,” Eonjae grabs my mother’s hand and gives her a stern look. “Don’t. Worry. Okay? And we will help you too, if you need anything, like money or -“
“Oh, please, we can’t ask for anything else,” my mother declines politely, but I can see her hesitate underneath. She’s a sucker for free money, which is what got us in this situation in the first place.
“Well, just know that we are here for you,” Eonjae smiles at both of us. “Really.”
“Thank you so much,” I say with the deepest gratitude.
The dinner ends, and I immediately offer to help clean up, but before Eonjae can decline my help, Taehyung puts his hand up and says, “Me too! I’ll help her.”
I notice my mum nudge his, giving her a look that says, let them, so Eonjae nods at us. “Go for it.”
Our parents remain in the dining room to sip tea, my mother in an awfully bubbly mood today, and we can hear their laughter from the kitchen as we rinse the dishes one by one and place them in the dishwasher.
“I can’t believe how easy this is,” I marvel as I pass him a dripping plate, which he slides onto the rack.
“What is?”
“Having a dishwasher!” I exclaim.
“You don’t have one?”
“Dude, you were literally at my house just last week, don’t you remember?” I flick water at him, and he scrunches up his nose, turning his head away.
“I didn’t notice,” he replies, wiping his face with his wrist. “All I did was use the stove to make you soup.”
“Thank you for that, by the way,” I say, switching off the taps and reaching for the towel. “I feel like I didn’t thank you enough for that day.”
“That’s funny, because I feel like you’ve thanked me more than enough, Aria,” Taehyung abandons the dishwasher to approach me with a cheeky smirk.
“How?” I squeak as he backs me against the sink, placing his hands on either side of me. He gazes deeply at me, and even though he does this a lot these days, I still have trouble breathing every time.
“By being mine,” he growls, hands snaking around my waist and roughly pulling me toward him. I gulp, staring up at him, but my eyes can’t quite make their way past his lips…
Until I hear the faint tap tap tap of paws on floorboards accompanied with the sound of panting that only one creature is known for making.
“Hey, Taehyung?” I whisper.
“Yeah?”
“Your dog’s watching us.”
We both turn, and Yeontan barks, wagging his fluffy tail frantically. Taehyung only draws me closer to him, pressing his forehead to mine. “He’ll get used to it.”
“What, no -”
He secures his lips on mine and I swear I can feel his smile, causing me to giggle into the kiss. “This is so weird.”
“Life’s weird, Aria, now just kiss me,” Taehyung grabs my jaw, pressing our mouths together once more, and this time there’s no smiling, until I feel something soft tickle my feet.
“Yeontan!” I laugh at the cute little dog that looks up at me expectantly, so I bend down to scoop him into my arms, stroking his hybrid coat. Taehyung sighs.
“Tannie, stop ruining the moment,” he takes Yeontan from my arms despite my protests, but as soon as he does, Yeontan outright slaps a paw to his cheek, shocking the both of us.
“Tannie, no! Bad boy,” Taehyung pouts at him angrily, but Yeontan just barks at him, while I double over in laughter.
“Did he just slap you?”
“Don’t worry, he does that all the time, especially when I make cute faces at him,” Taehyung says as he sets down his dog, who basically makes a run for it, heading back outside. “He’s a very sassy dog.”
“I can see that,” I laugh out.
“So now that he’s gone…” Taehyung turns back to me with a heavy-lidded gaze, but before he can pull any moves, Jeonggyu suddenly enters the kitchen, causing us to spring apart.
“Not surprised,” Jeonggyu mutters, opening the fridge and grabbing a coke. He clicks it open with a hiss, leaning against the fridge to scrutinize us. “Are you two gonna be making out a lot in this house?”
“Yah, get out!” Taehyung hurls a wet towel at his head, and Jeonggyu barely dodges it as he scoots out, calling back, “Don’t let me stop you!”
Taehyung clenches his jaw as he glares after him, seething. I touch my hand to his cheek, drawing his attention back to me, and he visibly softens, cracking a smile.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he says huskily, pressing his own warm palm to my cheek and pinching it.
“Me too,” I say, and it’s true. Because even though I’ve lost my own house, as well as a few other things, it’s not the end. No, it’s only the beginning.
And I have a feeling that life is about to get a whole lot more interesting from now on.
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