Chapter 12: A Startling Secret Unveiled – March 6 – 7, 2021
“Appa, did Naru tell you he was taking care of a sick friend a couple of weeks ago and couldn’t come in to work?” Nari’s voice traveled across the telephone line.
“Yes. Another of his excuses,” he murmured.
But privately he was thinking about what his wife had told him a few days ago after she’d visited with Minha, her grandmother, her daughter, and their wayward son. She had been very impressed by the young woman and her daughter. She had also pointed out that she had never before seen their son exhibit such affection for anyone. He truly seemed to adore the entire family. He did, in fact, seem almost to be a part of it.
She hadn’t told her husband, but she had been jealous of that little family and her son’s obvious affection for them all. And several echoes had surfaced to haunt her as well.
“Appa.” Nari sounded like she was losing patience with him. “Did Eomma meet Ajin, Minha’s daughter?”
“Yes, she did.”
“Ajin was the sick friend Naru missed work for. He was taking care of her while her eomma went to work to teach Jungju and his classmates. Ajin was throwing up. Naru stayed with her. She even puked all over his lap. He took care of her the entire day.”
“What? Why?” He drew his eyebrows down towards his nose. This didn’t sound like his son at all.
“Because he loves her, Appa. Naru adores Ajin. Have you not gotten to see them together yet?”
“No, not yet. He hasn’t called me.”
She sighed. “He’s waiting until Yoongi and I can come back to town, but I think you should invite them all out for a treat this weekend. Some place fun.”
“Fun?”
“Yes, Appa. Fun. Something a four-year-old girl would enjoy.”
“Like where?” he asked, completely clueless.
“Take them out for ice cream. Ajin loves ice cream.”
“Ice cream?” He hadn’t eaten ice cream in years.
—
Naru, Minha, and Ajin were investigating Dongbaekseom Island when his appa called him. Unexpectedly. Naru was staring at his phone as Ajin built a sandcastle on the beach.
“Naru? Who is it? Who’s calling you?” Minha asked him suddenly.
“Appa.”
She quirked one dark eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to answer it?”
“I don’t know. Do I have to? It’s not a workday.”
“He’s not just your boss. He’s your appa.”
He heaved a huge sigh. He’d seen his father every day this week – two whole work days – since his eomma had met Minha and her family. His appa had said nothing to him about them. Not one word. He seemed to also be ignoring the fact that his son had moved out of his house. So why was he calling him now?
“Hello?” Naru held the phone up to his mouth.
“Hello, son. Your eomma and I were wondering if you and your girlfriend and her daughter were free to go out for ice cream with us tomorrow night.”
Ice cream?
Naru was baffled. Who was this man, and what had he done with Naru’s appa?
Naru furrowed his brow. Either Nari or his eomma was behind this phone call and its purpose. Most likely, Nari. Although, his eomma had brought Ajin an entire carton of ice cream.
“Naru?”
“Which ice cream shop?”
“You tell me.”
“Get the Scoop. It’s on Main Street near First Street.”
His appa nodded. “What time would you like to meet?”
“How about four o’clock tomorrow?”
“We’ll be there,” his father’s deep voice boomed in his ear.
“All right. We’ll see you then.”
Naru ended the call and locked his phone before turning a quizzical eye on Minha.
“What is it?” she asked, concerned.
“He invited us all out for ice cream.”
“Ice cream?” She was dumbfounded.
He nodded. “He wants to take Ajin out for ice cream.”
The little girl’s head shot up, and a beautiful smile lit up her face. “I LOVE ice cream!” Then her little brow puckered. “Who wants to take me out for ice cream?”
“My appa,” he responded.
“Is your eomma coming too?” she asked excitedly.
He nodded.
“Yay!” Ajin jumped up and spun around.
“You like my eomma that much, Ajin?”
She bobbed her head up and down decisively. “Yessss.” She spun around again.
“Why do I think she’s going to have more fun on a date with my parents tomorrow than she is on a date with me today?” He grinned ruefully at Minha.
She leaned over and kissed his lips. “Don’t worry. I’m having more fun with you today. Definitely,” she murmured against his mouth.
He pulled away from her as his eyes grew wide. He threw a sidelong glance at Ajin. “You broke your rule!”
She chuckled. “I did not. I told you that you couldn’t steal a kiss from me in front of Ajin. I never said I couldn’t steal one from you.” Her eyes were teasing him.
He suddenly growled and leapt forward. She jumped up and went running down the beach, squealing. He grabbed her around the waist and hauled her up against his chest as he gazed down at her with adoring eyes. “Please kiss me again. I have to abide by these atrocious rules.”
“Atrocious?”
He nodded definitively. “Atrocious.”
“Well…you have been on your best behavior, so I suppose you deserve a little reward…”
She lifted her face towards his, but before their lips could meet, a tiny, quite indignant voice popped up at his elbow.
“Uncle Naru! You’re supposed to be helping me build my sandcastle!”
He rolled his eyes at Minha. “You took too long,” he blamed her.
She giggled. And grasped his hand to drag him back to the land of sand castle makers.
—
Nervously, Minha fingered her long, sleek skirt. She, Naru, and Ajin were waiting inside the ice cream shop for his parents to arrive. She wasn’t looking forward to this appontment with his appa. What if he said something that caused a rift between her and Naru? Or between him and Naru?
A couple of moments later, the little bell above the door jingled, and a very sophisticated couple walked through the quite ordinary shop door. They looked completely out of place. Both because of what they were wearing and also because of the apprehensive expressions on their faces. But Mrs. Beom’s broke into a delighted smile as Ajin greeted her with joy.
The man glanced down at the little girl’s beaming face, and a smile tugged the corners of his mouth upwards. Then he glanced at Minha, and his whole face relaxed.
“Minha, we meet again.”
“Hello, sir.”
She swallowed. Was he picturing her in that horrid, navy dress? The one Naru had bought her. The one Eunho had ripped off of her. Her face flamed as she remembered that whole evening with embarrassment.
Mr. Beom eyed her curiously. Why was the girl blushing? She looked decidedly uncomfortable. Then she turned her attention from him for a moment as she beckoned her daughter.
“Ajin. Come say hello to Uncle Naru’s appa, Mr. Beom.”
“Hello, Mr. Beom,” the little girl parroted in a tiny voice as she clutched her little dolly close to her heart. Her wide, obsidian eyes gazed up at him solemnly. “Thank you for the ice cream.”
So, she understood this was his idea.
He squatted down next to her. “Why, hello, young lady. What’s your dolly’s name?”
She beamed suddenly. “Jin Jin.”
“Hmm. What a wonderful name! She reminds me very much of a doll I gave my daughter, Nari, when she was your age.”
Her face lit up. “Jungju’s eomma?”
He chuckled. “Yes, that’s right.”
“She is so nice! I love her!” she opined with great glee.
Then she noticed the bag in his hand. “What’s that?” she whispered as she pointed at it.
“This?” He gaze traveled from it to her again. Then he leaned closer to her. “Do you think that Jin Jin would like a friend?”
“A friend?” The tiny girl’s face lit with excitement, and she bobbed her head up and down vigorously.
He held the bag out to her. “Then you had best open this up and see what’s inside.”
She glanced up at her eomma then.
“Well,” Minha responded, “go on.”
Eagerly, Ajin reached for the bag. She shoved Jin Jin under her arm so she could use both hands to pry the bag open. She squealed with delight as she found a beautiful, porcelain doll inside. She pulled it out and ran her fingers down the gleaming, midnight curls on the doll’s head.
“She’s so beautiful!” she cooed. “Thank you, Mr. Beom!”
She glanced up at her eomma then and held both dolls out to her. Minha took them, and Ajin turned to throw herself at Mr. Beom’s chest. He looked quite startled as he caught her. Her tiny arms wound around his neck.
“Thank you so much! I love my new dolly!” the darling, little girl exclaimed. Instantly capturing another heart.
Naru bent and whispered into his appa’s ear. “Now you understand that I never stood a chance.”
Their eyes collided, and his appa smiled at him as he embraced Minha’s daughter.
“Ajin. Do you want lemon ice cream?” Naru asked her a moment later as she reclaimed her dolls.
The little girl nodded.
“Appa, what will you have?”
“Surprise me, son. Put it on the company credit card.”
Naru nodded. He would do no such thing. This was going to be his treat.
“Minha, what would you like?”
She glanced up at him. “Simple vanilla is fine.”
He grinned at her. “Dish or cone?”
“Cone, of course. The crunch is the best part.”
“Naru, I’ll come with you,” his eomma offered as she turned towards her husband. “Darling, why don’t you three find us a booth to sit in while Naru and I order?”
Mr. Beom nodded and ushered Naru’s girls towards an empty table.
—
As Mrs. Beom stood in line with Naru, she observed the touching tableau that his girlfriend and her daughter made at the table with her husband.
Watching Minha with her daughter caused an old ache to arise in Mrs. Beom’s breast. She put her hand up over her heart as the pain intensified when Ajin grinned up at her mother and then transferred her smile to Naru.
“Eomma, I know you don’t understand the change that’s come over me since I met Minha, but I have made my choice. I want her. And her precious, little Ajin.”
“My son, you are more remarkable than I have given you credit for,” she murmured as her gaze settled on his features.
“No. Minha is the remarkable one. That she could love me. A man with my past. With my mistakes. With the way I treated so many girls. Just like she was treated by her ex.”
“No, Naru. You never left a child fatherless.”
“I don’t think I did. I sincerely hope I did not.”
“It’s a terrible thing to have to give up one’s child.”
Her eyes sadly traced the outline of Ajin’s face as the little girl grinned up at her eomma and anticipated devouring her ice cream with zest.
As he watched his mother’s countenance ripple with pain, his voice softened as he queried, “Eomma? What is it?”
Then her eyes met his, and they robbed him of breath. For he could see a vortex of intense despair swirling in her gaze.
“Before I met your appa, I was very much in love with a young man. Unfortunately, he was not as enamored with me as he led me to believe. He left me a few short months after our first meeting. He left me. With child.”
Naru stood up straight. His eyes were intent on her face. “What?”
She nodded, then her gaze shifted towards the front window. “She was the most beautiful, little thing. I got to see her once before they took her away from me. I haven’t seen her since. She would be thirty years old now.”
She paused as she took a painfully deep breath. Something was squeezing the life from her lungs.
“Sometimes, I wonder if Jungju is my only grandchild. Or if I’m missing out on some other little beauty somewhere.”
She sobbed suddenly, and it so shocked Naru that he didn’t know what to do. He had never seen his mother exhibit this much emotion.
“Minha is braver than I ever was. To raise her child by herself. What mettle!”
He reached up and laid his hand on her shoulder. “Eomma. I am so sorry. So sorry you suffered such pain. I cannot imagine having to give up my child.”
His eyes wandered to Ajin’s face. She wasn’t even his flesh and blood. But he would fight for her. He would be devastated if he had to watch her go to someone else. His heart was moved with compassion for his eomma.
He had always believed her to be a cold and unfeeling woman. But it turned out that she was just a very wounded one. Who had buried her pain deep in an effort to keep herself together. No wonder she had been such an unfeeling mother! She had learned that the one she loved could be snatched from her. Why would she risk her heart, loving a child who might grow distant from her someday?
He reached out and pulled his mother into his arms. She was so startled that she began to weep against his chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and gestured to the people behind them to go ahead of them in line.
Just then, Minha glanced up and met his eye.
“Is everything all right?” she mouthed.
He shrugged his shoulders. He would have to fill her in later.
