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Chapter 7: The Tone of Your Voice – February 19-20, 2021

Naru spent the whole day snuggling on a couch with a tiny girl.  Who threw up all over his lap once.  She missed half the bowl when she puked that time.  Maeum witnessed it happening.  And marveled at the man’s gentle reaction.  He didn’t even respond to the puke on his pants at first.  His concerned gaze was bent on Ajin.

“Baby, does your tummy feel better now?”

“No,” she wailed as she shook her head.  

She made a choking noise, so he shoved the bowl under her nose.  Just in time to catch her puke.  At least his pants were saved from further assault.  Once he’d ascertained that she felt better, he used the towel to wipe up his lap.  Then he picked her up in his arms and carried her to the bathroom.  

“Let’s give you a bath.”

He turned on the water and got her settled in the tub.  Then he closed the shower curtain while he took off his slacks and wrapped a towel around his waist.  Finally, he opened the curtain again and cleaned his pants off in the sink while she played in the sudsy water of the bathtub.  

A few moments later, Maeum returned to the bathroom with a pair of worn, denim overalls in her hand.  

“My son was a tall man.  I think these will fit you.”

Naru was tempted to burst out laughing.  He’d never worn a pair of overalls in his entire life.  Not even when he’d fixed her fence.  But the tender expression on her countenance as she slid her fingers lovingly over that article of her son’s clothing drew a tear to his eye instead.

“Thank you, Harmony.  I’m so sorry that you lost him so young.”

When she lifted her gaze to his, his eyes weren’t the only ones shining.  

“Thank you, dear boy.  But God is still good.  After all, He sent us you.”  

She reached up and touched his face gently for a moment before turning and walking slowly down the hallway.

A tear slid down Naru’s cheek.  No one had ever called him a gift from God before.  

Maeum thought he was a godsend?  How could she think that?  After all he’d done in his life, he didn’t deserve redemption, did he?

But as he turned to gaze at the adorable, little girl happily playing in the bath water, he realized how very badly he wanted it.

—

Hours later, he left a sleeping Ajin on the couch to drive to the school to pick up Minha and Jungju.  Then he dropped his nephew off at his house before taking Minha home.  As they were driving through his neighborhood, he glanced at Minha.  

“I’m going to stop at home and pick up a change of clothes before I take you home, okay?”  

Maeum had washed and dried his pants, so Minha hadn’t gotten a chance to see him in the overalls.  

Thank God.

She nodded.  “All right.  I’ll wait for you in the car.”

“You don’t have to.”

“It’s all right.  I want to.”

Mansions made her nervous.

—

They entered her home forty-five minutes later to find a cheerful Ajin sitting at the table coloring.

“Hello, my precious princess.  Are you feeling better?” Naru asked sweetly as he bent to drop a kiss on her forehead.

She beamed up at him.  “Did you bring me any ice cream, Uncle Naru?”

Minha’s face was overcome by surprise.  “How did she know that?”

She didn’t miss the glance that flew from Naru to Maeum then.

“All right, you two.  Spill it.  What was that about?”

He shrugged.

So her grandmother answered her question.

“When Naru was helping me get the house in order, he used to bring Ajin a different flavor of ice cream everyday.  Then she’d have to taste it and guess what flavor he’d bought before he’d let her eat the rest.”

Minha’s eyes traveled to his face.  Was there no end to this man’s sweetness?  She suddenly wondered what other darling things he’d done behind her back.  When he was trying to steal the hearts of her daughter and grandmother.

—

“What flavor is the ice cream tonight?” Naru asked as he smiled down at the beaming face of a happy four-year-old.

“Lemon!” she shouted with glee.

“Is it good?” he asked as his grin spread wider.

“It’s so yummy!” She spun in a circle.

“I’m happy to see you’re feeling better, princess.”  His eyes were alight with his obvious affection for her.

They’d invited him to stay for dinner.  Minha didn’t start feeling bad until an hour after they ate.  As they were watching a light-hearted drama.  She suddenly sat up straight, glanced sharply at him, and dashed for the bathroom.

This was why he’d packed the extra clothes.  He’d had a feeling things might go south tonight.  

She emerged from the bathroom a few moments later.  

“Ugh, I feel just awful,” she moaned.

“Come here.  Lay down on the couch and put your head in my lap,” he responded sweetly.

“You want to endanger your pants again, Naru?” Maeum murmured.

“What?” Minha asked as she approached him.

“Ajin puked on my pants earlier today,” he answered as he slid down to one end of the couch.  He set Ajin up on the armrest, his arm still around her, so that Minha could pillow her head in his lap.

She stood gaping down at him.  “She did?  Oh, Naru!  I’m so sorry!”

“It’s fine,” he smiled.  “Pants are washable.  Harmony washed them for me.”

“What did you wear in the meantime?”

“A pair of your appa’s denim overalls,” Maeum murmured.

Minha stared down at Naru, a smile teasing the corners of her mouth.  

“R-really?”  

She was trying valiantly not to laugh as she imagined him looking like a model for American Gothic.  Complete with pitchfork in hand.  He was usually dressed to the nines in a crisp, white, button-down shirt, black slacks, and matching black sports coat.

“Go ahead and laugh,” he responded dryly.  “You are completely correct.  I looked absolutely ridiculous in them.”

“You did not!” Maeum responded hotly.  “You looked every bit as handsome as my dear son did in them!”

Ah.  The eyes of love are certainly a miraculous thing, Naru reflected.

Minha groaned then and headed back to the bathroom.  Naru noticed that a certain little someone had leaned her head on his shoulder and fallen asleep.  He smiled tenderly down at her.  Maeum caught sight of the tiny sleeping beauty also and beamed at him.  He glanced her way.  

“I’m going to take this little sweetheart to her bed,” he murmured before gathering her up in his arms and heading to her room.  

He settled her in bed and tucked the covers up around her.  Minha was slipping down the hallway a moment later.  She came level with the doorway as he bent his head and kissed her tiny girl on the forehead.  His whispered words slipped over her and curled around her heart, invading it with joy.

“Sleep tight, princess.  I love you.”

As Minha watched him, her heart flipped over. Just then, he glanced up at her, and it began to thud along at a crazy rate.  He then sent a tender smile her way.  

“Is it time for me to tuck another of my girls into her bed?”

At any other time, she would have found his words provocative, but not tonight.  Her stomach hurt too badly.

“I don’t want to head to bed yet.  I think I’m going to watch more TV to distract myself from how crummy I feel.”

“Excellent.  You can use my thigh as a pillow.  Let’s go.”

She smiled at him.  He made sure the bowl was sitting on the coffee table in front of her.  Ready.  Should she need it.  

Maeum went to bed at eight.  As usual.  But Naru spent the entire night on the couch with Minha.  She fell asleep on his leg an hour after she joined him, and he just didn’t have the heart to move her.  He gazed down at her for a long time, his fingers sliding over her soft hair as his eyes clung lovingly to her face.

“Please, Minha, choose me.”  He paused.  “I promise: I’ll make you happy.”

Eventually, he fell asleep.  Sitting up.  Keeping watch over the woman he had begun to love with all his heart.

—

The next morning as the sun was just beginning to paint the sky in brilliant shades of pink, Naru awoke to a moaning Minha.  

“Minha, does your gut still hurt?” he queried in concern.

She nodded and ran for the bathroom.

He sighed as he set his head on the back of the couch.  He could really use a real bed.  As Minha opened the bathroom door a few minutes later, they both heard her daughter’s scream.  Minha was across the hall in a flash, bursting into Ajin’s room.  The little girl was sobbing in her sleep.  

“Please, Uncle Naru,” she gasped, “don’t leave!  I won’t have an appa anymore if you leave.”

Minha heard another gasp behind her and turned to discover Naru standing inside the doorframe.  He strode quickly into the room and knelt on the other side of Ajin’s bed.  He bent his head and whispered into her ear.

“I’m here, princess.  I promise you: I will never leave you.”

Even in her sleep, the tiny girl turned towards the sound of his voice and threw her arms around his neck.  She pulled him close.  He finally gave up and crawled onto the bed next to her.

“Eomma!  Where’s Eomma?”

“I’m right here, baby.”  Minha climbed into her bed on the other side and bent to whisper in her daughter’s ear.  “Everything is all right, Ajin.  We’re here.”

“Appa, Eomma,” the tiny girl sobbed.  

A moment later, she was sound asleep again in the semidarkness of early morning.  But those first few rosy rays of the dawn were creeping into her room to illuminate them.  In that soft light, Naru and Minha locked eyes over her slumbering body.  They had both felt her cry spiraling all the way down into their cores.

“This is what I was talking about, Naru.  She’s already attached to you.”

She had, in fact, just called him, “Appa.”

It terrified Minha.  But Naru’s heart was exultant.  This little girl adored him as much as he loved her!

“As I am attached to her,” he murmured, a sweet smile lighting up his face.

“Will you always feel thus, Naru?  An appa cannot turn off his love.  Not if his daughter is to thrive.  It’s a twenty-four seven kind of relationship.  If you decide to take that role, it’s for life.  There is no turning back.”

He could feel the weightiness of that responsibility; oddly enough, it didn’t scare him.

“Don’t I know it,” he murmured as he thought of his own appa’s coldness towards him.

Was it simply easier to love little girls?  

Appa had always doted on Nari.  Even when she decided to defer college a year and move into her own apartment, their appa had agreed to it and subsidized her efforts to pay her rent each month.  When Naru suggested his appa rent him his own apartment too, his father had simply scoffed at him and declared he’d never be able to keep a job outside his company long enough to pay for the first month’s rent.  But even his father’s callous attitude then had not been enough to motivate Naru to prove him wrong.  

It had always been so much easier to prove his father’s low opinion of him right.  And he had known he had it good at home.  He lived the high life in his parents’ house.  He could bring whatever girl he wanted home with him and just sneak up the back staircase to his room with her.  The pantry and fridge were always stocked with food.  The chef was available at all hours to cook for him.  The maids kept his room clean and his laundry done.  He never had to lift a finger to do anything for himself.  

He had never seen any reason to give that up.  The only requirement his appa had made for him to keep living the good life had been for him to pass his college classes each semester and take a job with him when he graduated.  Naru had found those requirements easy to fulfill.  With little effort.  

Truthfully, he was as brilliant as his sister.  He had to work hard to fail a class.  School came easy to him.  But when he was younger, he had skipped his homework in an effort to garner his appa’s attention.  By the time he entered college, however, he realized how fruitless such efforts were.  And his appa had promised him some spending money each semester that he passed his classes with a grade higher than average.  That was enough incentive for him to put in the minimum effort required to do well.  

When he’d graduated, he had headed into the military to complete his required twenty-odd months of service to his country.  Now he’d been working for his appa for nearly a year.  Doing a job he was pleasantly surprised to discover he really enjoyed.  He had saved enough money to move out on his own, but why would he?  His appa worked around the clock, and his eomma was always busy with one project or another.  Their house was so massive that he rarely ran in to either of them.  So he continued to live off of their generosity.  

He hadn’t had a single desire to escape from the lap of luxury until he’d begun to spend his days with Ajin and Maeum.  When he had learned what a real home felt like.  A home where you were welcomed and loved on.  Where people waited eagerly at the door to greet you.  And baked you cookies.  And begged you for piggyback rides.  And kissed your cheek.  And called you “darling boy” or “dear boy” or “Uncle Naru.”  And threw their arms around you and hugged you close like you were the most precious thing in their world.

He had also belatedly discovered how good he felt when he accomplished something around the house instead of calling a handyman.  To be able to fix the creak in a floorboard or the leak in a sink or the break in a fence made him feel good about himself.  It was an odd feeling having a little girl and an old woman gaze at him like he was some kind of superhero simply because he’d fixed something that had been bugging them for months.  Something they were incapable of fixing themselves.

He wouldn’t give up the treasure he’d discovered in this home for all the riches in the world.  He had spent his whole life looking for one thing.  Love.  To be loved for himself.  He had never found it until he’d found Ajin and Maeum.  And now, Minha.

“I swear to you, Minha, I’m not going anywhere.  You are all stuck with me.  I’m home.”

He closed his eyes and relaxed his body.  And fell asleep.  

Minha lay sleepless with an aching belly.  But as the light of the sun fully illuminated her daughter’s bedroom, she could clearly see the faces of two of the three people she loved most in all the world.  And she knew she was in very deep trouble.  Because she loved that man with all her heart.  Simply because of the way he looked at her daughter.  And the tone of his voice when he spoke to her.