Chapter 13: On Target – March 7, 2021
His eomma calmed down before they had to order their ice cream. Naru was pretty sure his father was oblivious to their whole conversation.
After they’d placed their order, Naru turned towards his mother and asked in a very quiet voice, “Does Appa know?”
She nodded her head. “Yes. I told him when he asked me to marry him. I didn’t want there to be any secrets between us.”
“That’s good, Eomma.” He paused for a moment. “Have you ever tried to find her?”
“What?” She was dabbing at her eye with a Kleenex. “Noooo.”
“Why not? You have the resources to track her down.”
She glanced at Mr. Beom. “I never wanted to rock the boat, I guess.”
“Appa?” He glanced over his shoulder at his father. “You’re afraid he’ll be upset if you find her?”
“Maybe. And Nari too. She’s my only daughter as far as she knows.”
“Nari? Eomma, I think she would be more understanding than you give her credit for. And Appa? Why don’t you ask him? I’ll talk to him with you if you’d like.”
She glanced up at her son. How had he suddenly matured to this great of an extent?
“She’s changed you,” she murmured suddenly.
He furrowed his brow. “Who? Minha?”
“Ajin.” She took a deep breath. “I never thought you would ever understand this about me. I thought if I told you, it would drive you away from me forever. But you really understand my pain, don’t you?”
He nodded. “I’ve spent long hours thinking about what Minha endured when Beopdung abandoned her and Ajin. I’ve thought about all the girls I could have impregnated. How many children I could have fathered. And I’ve wondered if I did father any, but the mother didn’t tell me because I’d left her. Or she just thought I would if I knew.
“Did I father a new life that the mother snuffed out? It haunts me, Eomma, to think of it. It also disturbs me to think I might have a daughter like Ajin that I don’t even know about out in the world somewhere. Or a son like Jungju.”
His mother didn’t say anything; she simply looked at him sympathetically. The two of them had never dreamed they would find themselves in this position, so perfectly understanding the other. Yet, here they were. All because he had met his nephew’s teacher and discovered she had an adorable daughter. And he’d fallen in love with them both.
They gathered their ice cream and headed for the table where several of the most precious people in their lives were seated.
—
“So you two want to get married?” his appa interjected into the conversation when they were all halfway through eating their ice cream.
Two heads flew up, and their eyes collided before both Naru and Minha turned to gaze at his appa.
“Yes,” Naru responded firmly.
Mr. Beom’s eyes challenged Minha’s. “What about you, young lady? Do you really want to tie yourself to this rapscallion? This troublesome son of mine?”
Minha glanced sharply at Naru. She could see the hurt in his eyes. She reached out and slipped her fingers over his.
“This son of yours is a precious man who takes amazing care of me and my daughter.” She tilted her head slightly to the side as she considered Mr. Beom. “Don’t you realize that most of his antics were his attempt to gain your attention, if not your affection?”
Naru’s eyes grew large, and his gaze flew to her face. She had just uncovered his heart before his father.
“You are mistaken,” came his appa’s cold voice.
“No. Unfortunately, I hit the mark quite squarely on the bullseye. It’s just too uncomfortable for you to accept. But when you’re ready to accept the truth, you can begin to heal the rift between the two of you. So I hope that you decide to do so soon. I don’t like seeing Naru sad.”
His appa’s eyebrows challenged the ceiling. “Naru? Sad? Because he’s not close to me? Young lady, that is absurd!”
Her eyes met Mr. Beom’s. “You really think it’s absurd for a son to want an affectionate relationship with his appa?”
“I never had such a relationship with my own appa!”
“Maybe that’s the problem,” she whispered.
He turned wide eyes on his son. “Is it true? You acted up to get my attention?”
“Everyone knew that Nari was the apple of your eye, Appa. Everyone.”
“Except for Nari,” his appa murmured absently.
“What?” Naru was furrowing his brow.
“Nari told me that I had always favored you. That I’d made it perfectly clear that I would hand my company over to you. That I had never even considered her.”
Naru snorted. “That’s news to me. You never said you’d hand your company over to me. We all know Nari will succeed you.”
“Will she?” his appa murmured.
“No one would argue that I’m the black sheep of the family. The prodigal son. The lazy one. I do only enough to get by,” Naru insulted himself.
His father silently studied him for several long moments. “I don’t think that’s who you are at all, Naru. A lazy man just looking to get by doesn’t take the day off work to care for a sick child. The black sheep of a family doesn’t put the needs of a tiny girl or a single mother before himself. Nor does he buy ice cream for his whole family.” He grinned lopsidedly at his son before taking a bite of his sundae.
Then he continued, “The prodigal son doesn’t weigh how his actions will affect the woman who loves him. It seems to me that you’ve finally grown up, Naru. I might have to start taking you as seriously as I take your sister. And, remember, at the end of the story, the prodigal son came home to his father, and his father embraced him and reminded him that all he possessed already belonged to his son.”
Naru just stared at his appa as tears filled his eyes. His appa had never spoken to him like this. Not once in his whole life.
Minha hid her smile as she wetted a napkin before wiping her daughter’s face off. But her eyes collided with Mrs. Beom’s a moment later, and that earlier understanding that had at the beginning of their acquaintance flourished between them suddenly surfaced once again.
“When can we take you all out for a proper dinner?” Mr. Beom suddenly asked.
Naru and Minha just looked at each other.
“Yes,” Mrs. Beom added, “we have wedding plans to discuss.”
Minha’s eyebrows ascended her forehead. “Do you both approve of us getting married?”
Mr. Beom’s eyes challenged hers. “Does it matter?”
Minha stared him squarely in the eye. “Very much.”
A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he returned her stare, but when he spoke, he addressed his son. “Naru, I will completely change my mind about you if you ever let this young woman get away.”
Naru glanced up sharply at him. “What does that mean?”
“Only an idiot wouldn’t walk her down the aisle,” his appa murmured before taking the last bite of his sundae and smiling down at Ajin, who was seated next to him.
She slipped her little hand into his. “Can I call you Grandpa?” she asked suddenly.
And the startled man nearly choked on that last bite of ice cream. Operation Charm Mr. Beom was a complete success. The man was a total goner.
“I rather think you can, Ajin,” he murmured softly.
“Does that mean that you’ll call me Grandma?” Mrs. Beom asked suddenly.
Ajin beamed up at her and nodded.
Minha glanced sideways at Naru. Wondering what he was making of all this. His eyes met hers, and he grinned from ear to ear. Then he bent to whisper into her ear.
“See? I told you that you had nothing to worry about.”
“Are you kidding me?” she whispered back into his own ear. “Your parents are terrifying.”
“Why do you think I rebelled so hard for so many years?”
“I don’t know. You liked being caned?”
He snorted then.
“All right, you two. Stop whispering sweet nothings into each other’s ears. You have a little audience, you know,” Mr. Beom pointed out as he glanced down at a certain little girl.
“So,” Mrs. Beom then asked, “when’s the wedding?”
—
Naru and Minha were still discussing the answer to that question the following Saturday as they took turns pushing Ajin on a swing at the park.
“So,” he asked Minha, “does today’s date count as number five?”
“Five? I count three. The aquarium, the beach, and today, the park,” she counted off on her fingers.
“You forgot two,” he murmured.
Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “I did? Remind me.”
“Dinner with my sister and her family at your house. Ice cream out with my parents.”
“Wait. Those count as dates?”
“I think so,” he asserted. “We did an activity together with Ajin and my family.”
Minha smiled at him. “But if that’s five dates already, then I might have to marry you next Saturday.”
His eyes lit up, but then he frowned. “Much as I would love that, we’ve still had only one fight. I failed to bait you into four more in time to finish before our fifth date,” he pointed out.
She laughed. “Hmm. In that case, I think we should wait until the beginning of August to marry.”
“August? Why?”
“School finishes up in mid-July. And I’d like time to prepare for the wedding. And to enjoy a long honeymoon before the next school year.”
“Ahhh. But don’t you know, my love?”
“What?”
“You’re marrying a wealthy man. You don’t have to work. Unless you want to.”
For a moment, something sad shifted in her gaze.
“What is it, my love?” he asked as he reached for her hand.
He drew it to his lips and turned her palm face up so that he could plant a kiss in its center.
“I was just wishing I’d met you when Ajin was younger. She starts school in the fall. There’s no reason for me to stay at home with her anymore.”
He heard the sorrow in her voice. “I know, but, Minha…”
She glanced up into his eyes.
“She’s not going to be your last baby, you know.”
She smiled suddenly. Quite brightly. “How many children do you want, Naru?”
“With you? As many as you like, my love.”
“Hmm. I’m thinking an even dozen,” she replied teasingly.
“You want your own classroom full of them, eh?”
She chortled.
He sobered. “If you marry me, can you enroll Ajin in your school and work there next fall? That way you’d be close to her during the day, at least.”
She blinked. “I’d have to admit that she was mine.”
“Did you ever fill out any paperwork that said you had no children?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Then you didn’t lie.”
“But I did break my word,” she murmured, disheartened.
“When?” he frowned, furrowing his brow.
“I got drunk on our first date. I signed an agreement not to drink alcohol.”
“Those were extenuating circumstances.”
“What extenuating circumstances?”
“You were trying to get a committed rake to leave your daughter alone.”
“How did that turn out for me?”
“Not so well. He’s still committed. To her – and you – for life now. No matter how hard you tried, you failed to get rid of him. He’s still lurking about.”
“Mmm. Whatever shall I do with a reformed rake?”
He grinned suddenly. “I have several excellent ideas.” He leaned towards her, bent on kissing her lips.
But they were suddenly interrupted by…what else?
A tiny voice. But a beautiful one. One that did, in fact, delight both of their souls.
