Chapter 4: The Gift of Family – February 13-14, 2021
“You terrify me too,” he whispered into her hair.
She pulled away from him to gaze up into his eyes. “I do?” she asked, genuinely shocked.
He nodded. “You make me want to give up my wayward path and commit to a life as a staid and faithful married man.”
She giggled. “Never staid. I just can’t picture it. I think even as a married man you’d have a use for that sofa.”
Shocked by her words, he directed his eyes at that well-worn couch. “Not that one,” he murmured. “I’ll buy us a new one. One only you will make use of with me.”
His eyes connected with hers then. And tears filled hers.
“You’re not playing with me?” she asked softly. “You really feel like you want to marry me?”
He nodded as his eyes held hers.
“To me, marriage is forever,” she whispered. “It’s not just a convenient license to get some little girl’s eomma in your bed.”
Her words were meant to test and possibly sting, but they didn’t have that effect on him. “Marriage is forever,” he echoed.
Her eyes were begging him not to toy with her.
“I would never dream of toying with you, precious woman,” he murmured right before his lips brushed hers again before clinging to them. Then he growled against them, “I must take you home. Right now! We need a chaperone. Where is your Harmony when we need her?”
She giggled against his mouth. “Naru.” She was chuckling now. Then she lifted her face to run her nose along his. “Come on. Take me home.” She reached down and intertwined her hand with his own.
“So…did you get everything you were hoping for out of this date?” she asked a few moments later as they sat in his car headed for her house.
“Let’s see. Intimate moments.” His eyes grabbed hers. “Check. I can’t think of anything more intimate than waiting for you to vomit and anticipating rushing you to the bathroom.” He returned his attention to the road. “A first date to remember.” His eyes brushed hers momentarily. “Check. Hmm. Sharing a good meal together. Check. Good conversation with a beautiful woman. Check.” He bobbed his head. “I think so. Except…”
“Except?”
“You’re the only one who can judge whether or not I did.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you want to see me again? Are you willing to give me a chance?”
“Five dates.”
“What?”
“I’m willing to give you five dates. But Ajin has to chaperone us on all five.” Her lips quirked as she stared at him across the semidarkness of his car.
He saw those teasing lips and wanted to kiss her again. “A chaperone is a excellent idea. And I feel like Ajin is the most qualified person for that position. Second only to your grandmother.”
She laughed. “Why?”
“Because she has excellent radar for finding a good man.”
“She does?” Her eyebrows quirked. “How do you know that?”
“Because she likes me.”
She guffawed.
She was still laughing breathlessly twenty-five minutes later when they arrived at her home.
—
He brought her breakfast the next morning. But not just her. He showed up on her doorstep with heart-shaped donuts. An entire dozen of them.
“Happy Valentine’s Day!” he exclaimed as Ajin answered the door.
“Uncle Na-ru!” shouted the delighted, little girl as she lunged at his legs and hugged them tight. “I missed you!”
Minha swallowed as she watched them. Her heart turned over in her chest. It was too late. This man better be all he claimed to be. Because her tiny daughter was already even more in love with him than her eomma was.
He disentangled himself from her daughter then and squatted down to swoop her up in his arm. Cheerfully, he carried her to the kitchen and set the box of donuts on the table.
“Do you like chocolate or sprinkles?” he asked as he bent a smile on the little girl.
“Both!” she declared boldly.
He chuckled. “I thought so.”
He opened the lid of the box to reveal a dozen heart-shaped donuts, four of which were chocolate cake slathered in chocolate frosting and covered in red sprinkles.
“Yay!” giggled the tiny girl as she wiggled her way out of his arm before she reached for her donut.
Naru glanced up at Minha. “Good morning, love. Happy Valentine’s Day!” His eyes caressed hers. “Can I see you on the porch for a moment?”
Her brows knit together suddenly. “On the porch?”
“Mmhmm.”
Still clueless, she responded, “Ohh-kay.”
She followed him outside, closing the door behind her.
Instantly, he swung around towards her, and his arms snaked around her waist, drawing her close to him. Her breath evaporated. He bent his head and brushed his lips across hers. Delicately. Sweetly. Then he breathed on her.
“I’ve been waiting all night for that.”
“For one kiss?” she smiled teasingly up at him.
“You’re right,” he growled and bent his head again to give himself more fully to the task at hand.
Still, he kept even the second kiss innocent enough. After a few happy moments, he pulled away from her and bent to pick something up off the porch swing. Minha gazed in wonder at the bouquet of crimson roses. They were pristine. Perfect. Stunningly beautiful. Her breath caught in her throat.
“These are for you, my queen,” he murmured as he handed them to her.
That was when she noticed two more bouquets and a tiny heart-shaped box lying on the swing.
“What’s that?” she asked. “Are you courting three women at once still?”
His lips quirked. “In a manner of speaking, yes.”
He bent to retrieve his bounty and preceded her into the house.
He walked up to Ajin, who was still happily chomping on her donut in the kitchen. Her lips were covered in chocolate frosting. So was her chin.
“Hello, my fine pirate, I am looking for the princess, Ajin. Can you tell me where she’s gone?”
Minha giggled at them. Her daughter did look like she was sporting a chocolate beard right now.
“I’m not a pirate! I’m the Princess Ajin!” the little girl exclaimed as she stared irately up at him. She tugged on her dress as proof of her claim.
“In that case, my princess, you need a few things. First,” he pulled a little, gold crown from his jacket pocket and set it on her head, “your crown, my princess.” He bowed to her.
The tiny girl eyed the flowers and the box in his hand as she reached up to grab her crown before it could slide off her head. “What’s that?”
He flourished the bouquet of pink roses under her nose.
“A sweet-smelling offering for you, your royal highness.” He bowed as he handed her the blooms.
She twinkled up at him. “Why, thank you!” She buried her face in them and breathed in deeply.
He glanced sidelong at Minha who was also inhaling the lovely fragrance of her own flowers.
“Ahhh. I see where she learned that behavior.”
Piqued, she quirked one delicate, dark eyebrow at him.
He turned his smile back on her daughter. “I have one more gift for you, my princess,” he informed the tiny girl suavely.
“What is it?” she asked with excitement sparkling in her eyes.
“Open it and find out.”
He handed her the little heart box. She grinned up at him.
“Ooh! Is it chocolates?”
“Clearly, you’ve figured out the way to her heart,” Minha responded dryly.
“Are you jealous?” he asked.
“Actually, I am. No man has ever given me a box of chocolates.”
“Well, then,” he whispered as he pulled a larger box out from underneath the box of donuts, “let me be the first.”
He bowed before her as he held the box up in front of her. She gasped.
“That must be five pounds of chocolate!”
“Precisely,” he grinned wickedly at her.
Her eyes met his. “Chocolate is my weakness,” she admitted.
“Ah! Excellent! I’ve found your weakness.”
She glanced at her daughter. “You’ve found them both,” she murmured.
Her eyes met his again. Something shifted between them. As she stared at him, she realized she might have to admit to a third weakness.
Him.
“Your secrets are safe with me,” he whispered.
Then he reached for the box in her hand and opened the lid. As he peered down at it, he asked, “Which is your favorite?”
“That one,” she pointed at a chocolate heart truffle.
He picked it up and held it up to her lips. “Enjoy it now, then.”
Her lips parted, and she allowed him to press the chocolate against her tongue. His fingertips brushed her lips, and she trembled as the smooth sweetness of the chocolate treat invaded her mouth. His eyes surrounded hers, and she felt enveloped by their embrace. Even as his gift melted on her tongue.
“Naru! Dear boy! What is all this?” came her grandmother’s delighted voice a moment later.
It dragged his attention away from Minha. He turned to smile at the older woman. He bowed before her and held out the last bouquet to her. A dozen white roses.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Harmony!”
“Oh! You darling man!” Her eyes filled with tears. “No one has given me a bouquet of roses in over a decade.”
The tiny woman held her arms out to him and then squealed as he picked her up and twirled her around.
She giggled as she sailed through the air. When her feet were safely planted on the ground again, she addressed Minha.
“If you don’t want this darling man, I’ll take him.”
Minha turned bright red. Naru eyed her with interest. What was that sweet blush about?
—
“So,” he faced her as everyone was enjoying a sweet breakfast. “What can I do to help you get ready for work this week?”
“Naru, you don’t have to help me.” She smiled at him.
“I want to.”
“Well…if you really have nothing better to do on a Sunday…”
“What’s better than spending time with you…all?” he amended as her grandma’s eye caught his.
Maeum twinkled at him. “Cheeky fellow,” she chuckled. “Yep. I’d definitely take him.” She bent to elbow her granddaughter.
Minha slid her a slightly annoyed glance. “As I was saying, I have to cut out a bunch of shapes for a math activity.”
“Great. Where are the scissors?”
Half an hour later, as he cut out his umpteenth piece of card stock, Naru wondered if he had lost his mind. Because he was enjoying himself more hanging out in this living room with an old woman, her prickly granddaughter, and a tiny girl than he had any time in the last year with any of his various girlfriends. Not even when he’d been doing certain other activities.
“Uncle Naru, can I read you a story?” Ajin asked a while later as she wandered into the living room with a book in her hand.
Minha frowned at her. “But, honey, you can’t read yet.”
She had meant to teach her daughter how to read this semester to prepare her for school next year, but she’d been so swamped with projects for her class that she just hadn’t found the energy to do it.
“That’s not true, Eomma!” Ajin frowned. “Uncle Naru taught me how.” She pouted at her mother before turning a beaming grin on the adorable man.
He chuckled. “Come here, my pet.” He held his arms out to her, and she climbed into his lap. “You know, one of these days I should bring my nephew over to play with you. I think you’d get along famously…So, what are you reading to me today?”
“The Black Cat.”
Minha raised her eyebrows as she watched this little exchange. Naru had taught her daughter how to read in her absence? She squashed a little dart of jealousy as she watched them. She suddenly recalled her dream in which he had stolen her daughter’s heart.
But, really, wasn’t he a godsend? She had wanted her daughter to learn to read, and now she had. And Minha hadn’t had to exhaust herself for it to happen. Was this what it felt like to have a partner? A husband? An appa for her child?
Tears filled her eyes as Ajin began to read.
“The cat is black. The cat is back. The cat sits on the rack. The cat sits in the sack. The cat sits on a tack.”
Her daughter had just read an entire paragraph!
Naru’s eyes met hers. “She’s amazing, isn’t she?” he breathed.
She was. She really was. But so was he.
—
He spent the entire day with them. Thanks to his help, by early evening, Minha was ready for school tomorrow. Naru ate dinner with them before they all watched a drama together while Ajin sat in his lap playing with her dolls. Minha sat next to them.
At one point, he put his arm around her and pulled her close. He was then embracing them both. Minha had to suppress more tears as she sat in the circle of his arm watching her very contented daughter playing with her dolls on his lap. Minha was so tempted to be content too. This was her dream. The one in which she’d been indulging since the night they’d shared their first amazing kiss.
But she knew all too well how easily dreams could be shattered. In a moment of time. So her heart was afraid to put too much faith in this beautiful tableau.
What if Naru tired of her? Of her daughter? Of pretending they were a beautiful family? Of this little game he was playing with them?
What if he began to thirst for his old way of life? What if some beautiful woman caught his eye? And he couldn’t resist taking her to his bed? What would happen to Ajin then? What would happen to Minha?
Later, after they’d tucked Ajin in, and Minha had held back more tears as Naru bent to brush a kiss across Ajin’s tiny brow, Maeum headed for her own bed. Leaving the two of them alone in the living room.
“Naru,” she whispered.
She felt so fragile right now. Like the slightest wrong word from him could shatter her. And the million resultant pieces of her heart would be scattered across Korea.
He turned towards her and smiled. He reached for her hand and drew it to his lips.
“I just adore that little girl,” he murmured against the back of her hand as his lips brushed her skin. Sending a thousand tremors racing along her nerves.
Her eyes gazed up into his. And he read her vulnerability.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” He pulled her close to him, and his arms wrapped around her waist.
“What are we doing, Naru? You barely know me. What if you spend a few days with me and decide I’m not the right girl for you? My daughter’s heart is going to be broken.”
“What about your heart?” he whispered gently.
“I think my heart is already broken,” she admitted quietly.
“I do too. So what can I do to mend it?” He bent his head and nuzzled her neck. His breath was teasing her skin and making her feel weak. She wanted to wrap herself in his comfort.
Oh, reckless heart! Don’t confuse passion with love! Don’t confuse attraction with adoration!
“I don’t know,” she whispered brokenly. “No man has ever stayed. Not with me. Not with Ajin.”
“Then they’re all fools,” he muttered against her temple.
She was trembling now. He wrapped himself tightly around her and simply held her for a while.
“I’m not going anywhere, Minha. I’m not going to change my mind. Your daughter is delightful. You are positively mesmerizing.”
“No, Naru, I’m not. I’m just a woman. A normal woman. An eomma. I’m not one of the sexy young things you’re used to dating. I’m not from your world. I can’t fit into high society. I tried that once. It was a disaster. It’s not my world. It won’t ever be. I’m a preschool teacher. Not a runway model.”
“I don’t want a runway model. Or a high society chit. I’ve had all the foolish girls I can stomach. I want you. I want a preschool teacher. I want an eomma.
“Don’t you understand? That’s what attracted me to you in the first place. I recognized in you the home I never had growing up. The thing I’ve searched dozens of girls to find. And when I wasn’t looking – in a place I never would have thought to look for it – I found home. I found you.”
She was staring at his chest.
“Please look at me, Minha.”
She dragged her eyes upward. They connected with his. She nearly fainted at the intensity she saw there.
“Please. Please don’t give up on me. I know I don’t deserve your faith, but I love you. I really do. I was terrified you were going to die yesterday. And I would lose you.
“I absolutely adore your daughter. I love holding her in my arms and listening to her tiny voice sound out words while she sits in my lap. I love carrying her on my shoulders and feeding her chocolate. And wiping chocolate mustaches off her mouth,” he grinned in a way that made her stomach flip upside down. There was such a light of love in his eyes. “And I love listening to Harmony’s stories from the old days while I eat her cookies.
“I want a place here. In your family. In your home. But I can only be here if you let me in.”
His eyes were beseeching her. To let him in.
She was trembling from fear. And heartache. And something else.
“I know Beopdung broke your heart. I know he left you for another girl. Probably many other girls. That was his problem. Not yours. It wasn’t a deficiency on your part.”
He had just struck a chord in her soul. She gasped, and tears began to invade her eyes. Eventually, they overflowed to spill down her cheeks. But Naru wasn’t done speaking.
“He rejected your daughter too. And you and I both know that she’s absolutely perfect. So his rejection of you is no sign that you’re worthless. It doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve love.”
He paused a moment to frame her face with his hands as he peered down into her wide, obsidian eyes.
“Minha, you deserve a great love. And I’m hoping I can be it. That I can become worthy of you. If there’s anyone lacking in this relationship, it’s me. Not you.”
She blinked to dispel the flood that was overtaking her eyes. Several fat teardrops fell to race each other to the bottom of her face.
“I know these words are hard to accept. But I want you to try really hard to accept them, okay?” He took a deep breath. “I love you, Minha. I love you. I love you. I’m going to keep saying it – a million different ways – until you believe me.
“I said it through roses and donuts and chocolates this morning. Through my fingers – which are now aching, by the way – as I cut out a thousand pieces of paper today. I said it while I held your daughter in my arms and gently corrected her misreading. I said it while I held you both in the circle of my arms on the couch. I said it yesterday when I stayed up all night to make sure you were safe. And I’m saying it now too.”
He bent his head and kissed her. So gently. On her lips. She was trembling again. But this time, it wasn’t from fear.
She surrendered to that sweet embrace as she wound her arms around his neck and buried her fingers in that glorious hair. His mouth moved over hers with sweetness. Then his lips went off course and loved on her cheek. All the way to her ear. Then he whispered into that waiting organ.
“And I’m saying I love you now as I resist my baser instincts in order to shield you from some pretty strong feelings. I will take my leave of you now. I love you, Minha. I really do.”
His mouth traveled back to hers via her cheek. His lips pressed into hers for a few moments as she clung to him. She didn’t want him to leave. But she knew wisdom dictated that he must. She sighed loudly. Right into his mouth. He chuckled.
“Glad to know I’m not the only one who’s going to be disappointed tonight,” he murmured as he pulled away to gaze down at her.
She blushed.
“May I come see you tomorrow night, Minha?”
She loved the way he said her name. She blinked and nodded her head.
“Until tomorrow then,” he bowed to her before heading out the door.
That’s when she realized she’d given him nothing for Valentine’s Day. She hurried after him and apologized.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything for Valentine’s Day,” she called quietly after him as he headed for his car.
He turned around, and his eyes twinkled at her like two stars in the darkness surrounding them as his answer was borne on a chill breeze.
“Oh! But you did!”
Puzzled, she frowned. “What? What did I give you?”
She could see the flash of his white teeth as he responded, “A family.”
