Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
KIJA
“You already kept me up all night, and now you’re making me wear a blindfold? Seems like these activities could have happened at the same time,” Sun grumbles, still cranky from being up earlier than he’d prefer.
“Just trying to keep things spicy,” I tell him, my hands on his shoulders as I gently guide him into the passenger side of the car. My goal was to wear him out enough that he’d sleep for the entire ride and wake up just in time to be surprised when he saw where we were.
“I don’t think we’ve been together long enough to worry about getting bored,” he comments, once we’re both situated and pulling our seat belts on.
I lean over to press a kiss to his cheek. “I can’t imagine that I’d ever be bored with you.”
“Good answer.” He gives me a pleased sort of smile, then sighs. “It’s really weird to sit here and not see anything.”
“Seems like a good opportunity for a nap,” I suggest, starting the car and carefully backing out. “Catch up on all that beauty rest you missed out on last night. Although, I do recall that I definitely did not hear you complaining at the time.”
Sun makes an indignant noise. “Are you saying I need beauty rest?”
“Absolutely not,” I assure him, as I pull out into traffic. “But I see you’re choosing to ignore the rest of that statement in regards to your enthusiastic participation in what was keeping you awake.”
“Hmph.” Sun huffs and squirms around in the seat until he’s comfortable, his head positioned just right so he can attempt to get some sleep. “Wake me up when we get… wherever.”
Reaching over to give his thigh a squeeze, I promise that I will, then turn up the radio a little as I steer into the lane that will take us toward the expressway.
According to my navigation, it should take just about four hours to arrive at our destination, which gives me plenty of time to wonder if this might actually be a terrible idea.
??
“Sachi… psst…” I brush my fingers over Sun’s shoulder and down his arm, trying to coax him awake again.
He’d conked out almost immediately as we were leaving Seoul, his breathing deep and slow for over an hour, until he’d woken up long enough to ask how much further. When I said I guessed we had about two-and-a-half hours left, he’d folded himself up again and gone right back to sleep.
“Huh?” He stirs, his head nearly hitting the window as he comes around. “What? Are we here?”
“Almost,” I tell him. “You can take the blindfold off now.”
Sun yanks the silky black fabric off his eyes and starts blinking, trying to adjust to the bright light outside the car. “Finally.”
The weather is lovely, and the drive was nice, but too long without him to talk to. I watch him as he looks around, scanning our surroundings, brows furrowed as he takes it all in. Then I see the recognition—the moment he realizes.
“Why are we here?” he asks, turning toward me, confused and maybe a little panicked.
Worried that I may have fucked up, I say, “We don’t have to go see your family if you don’t want to. You can show me around the place you lived as Yung-Sun before you came to Seoul. Take me to the spots where you used to hang out, we’ll have dinner somewhere, and go back home.”
His expression changes a bit as I talk, but he doesn’t respond, waiting for me to explain further.
“I know you haven’t been here, or seen your parents, in a long time. But if you want to, I’d like to introduce myself to them, so they know I’m serious about you.” I grab his hand, lace our fingers together, giving him a moment to think.
“They won’t like you,” he whispers, eyes cast down to our joined hands.
I shrug. “I’m not worried about that. Not unless it would change how you feel about me.”
Sun’s head snaps up and he looks horrified. “What? No. Never. Nothing will change that, especially not them. They can barely accept who I am; I don’t know if I can handle them having a problem with you or us being together.”
“I would hope that all any parent would want for their child is for them to be happy. If that’s not enough for them, that’s too bad.” I bring his hand to my lips, pressing kisses across his knuckles. “Let them see you happy. Show them that you have someone who is taking good care of you.”
“You do. You take the best care of me,” he insists, leaning onto my shoulder, wrapping himself around my arm. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, too. That’s why this felt important to me,” I say.
“I know this was a surprise, but meeting the parents is something people who intend to stay together do, and you’ve met mine.
They adore you. No matter what happens with your family, you have mine.
If you decide now isn’t the right time for this, that’s fine.
I’ve never been here before, and I want to see where you grew up.
I want to know every part of who you are. ”
He blinks up at me, lower lip trembling as he tries not to get too emotional. “Thank you,” he says, softly. Inhaling a shaky breath, he seems to pull himself together. “Let’s go see them.”
???? ???
The Ahn family house is both everything and nothing like I expected. It feels a little out of place with the homes around it somehow—like it doesn’t quite belong in this neighborhood.
“This isn’t the house I lived in as a kid,” Sun says, peering out the passenger side window of the car.
“It was farther away from the city and was in really bad shape, so when I signed my contract with TFE I started sending money back to my parents so they could either try to fix things or move. I think something happened with the landlord, so they moved to this one. I’ve actually only been to this house, like, three times.
My sister and I don’t even have rooms here. ”
My heart drops a little, hearing him talk this way about his family, but I know their relationship is strained.
It makes me more grateful for my own parents, and not just because of their uncomplicated acceptance of Sun and encouragement of our relationship.
I reach to rest my hand on his shoulder, rubbing in light, affectionate circles.
“So, what do you think? Do we go knock and see what happens? Or do we go for a drive and find somewhere to get some food?”
His head lolls back against the seat and he closes his eyes.
“I know I need to see them. It just feels easier to keep them at a distance on the phone. I send money, they say ‘thank you,’ and then we all just go our own ways.” Sitting up, he grabs the door handle.
“Let’s go. I want my parents to meet you. ”
I smile, getting out of the car to open his door, then give him a quick kiss on the forehead. “We leave whenever you want to,” I promise.
I’m a little nervous as we walk to the door hand-in-hand. I’ve never met anyone’s parents before, and knowing they’re probably not going to react well makes it even more nerve-wracking.
Sun takes a deep breath and knocks twice. There’s a long silence, neither of us speaking as we wait to see if anyone will answer. Finally, the dark brown door opens just enough for someone to peek their head out.
An older woman appears, looking startled as she realizes who she’s looking at. She has the same sort of old-world beauty my mother possesses, but carries it in a different way—tired and a little less elegant. It’s immediately evident, though, who Sun got all of his features from.
“Hello, eomma,” Sun says in an entirely different tone of voice than I’ve ever heard him use. “Surprise.”
“Yung-Sun? This is certainly unexpected.” Her gaze travels from him over to me and her eyes narrow for a moment before she seems to slip into polite hostess mode and step aside. “Come in.”
I squeeze his hand and follow him inside, both of us stopping to toe off our shoes.
A quick glimpse around doesn’t tell me much.
The furniture is nondescript, and there’s hardly any decoration, which seems odd to me.
My parents have pictures everywhere—of the family, of me, and even a couple with Jase in them.
I know without a doubt that if I were famous, my parents would have wallpapered every available surface with articles and photographs of me and my accomplishments.
I don’t see anything that suggests they have children, let alone a celebrity for a son.
Everything about this place makes me want to turn my own apartment into a domestic paradise for Sun, to give him a home full of warmth and so much love it’s practically tangible.
He doesn’t look comfortable here, either, but I guess that makes sense for a place he’s never lived.
“Yeobo, come in here,” Sun’s mother calls, beckoning his father to join us. She looks at Sun and tells him, “Your grandmother isn’t feeling well. She’s sleeping.”
Sun nods, then turns to me. “This is my mother, Hyein, and my father, Bokyun.”
I bow to both of them as his dad moves to stand next to his mother, but I’m unsure of how to address them. I think it would be traditional to address them as mother and father, using formal language, but I get the feeling that would not go over well, even with honorifics.
“Were we supposed to know you were visiting, Yung-Sun?” Bokyun questions, sitting down on the low-profile couch.
“No, abeoji. We just decided to make the trip today,” Sun answers, giving them a version of the truth, which is fine by me.
Hyein takes her place next to her husband. “Are you going to introduce your… friend?”
The very intentional pause seems to suggest she has already made an assumption about the status of our relationship.
“This is Kim Kija,” he says, looking at me like he needs to bolster himself and then back at them. “He’s my boyfriend.”
His mother and father exchange a loaded glance, an entire conversation passing silently between them.