11

“Hello Auntie!” Mi Joo said, popping out from behind her grandmother.

“Mi Joo!” Sam Soon smiled. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed her till she saw her standing there. Was it her imagination or had Mi Joo’s breasts grown?

“You’re looking well,” President Na observed. “Can we come in?”

Sam Soon bowed to her. What exactly did this woman want? “Sure,” she said, nervously stepping aside. “Please come in.” She shut the gate behind her then led them to the house.

“Sam Soonie, who was that?” her mother called from her bedroom.

“Mom, we’ve got guests.”

“Oh? Who?” Her mother walked out of her room.

The two older women bowed to each other. “Good Afternoon, President Na.”

“Good Afternoon, Mrs. Park.”

Everyone stood in silence for about a minute.

“Please sit,” Sam Soon said. When they did, she offered some refreshments. President Na started to shake her head then stopped. “Okay. Water will be fine. What about you, Mi Joo? What would you like?” she asked, looking at her.

“Auntie, can I have orange juice?”

Sam Soon walked back to the kitchen to get the drinks. Her mother was close behind her.
“Did you know she was coming?” her mother whispered.

She shook her head then pulled out a tray.

“So what are they doing here?”

“I don’t know. Omma, go back – we can’t leave them alone.”

Her mother shook her head vehemently. “Why? What am I going to say to the woman that rejected my daughter?”

“I will join you in a minute,” she said, bringing out the drinks. “Please go back.”

Her mother reluctantly left the kitchen.

Okay, so what was going on? A million different thoughts were going through her mind so Sam Soon tried her best to calm down as she served the drinks.

“So is there something we could help you with?” her mother asked.

President Na chuckled nervously. “Mi Joo wanted to come.”

Sam Soon and her mother looked at each other. Huh?

“Mi Joo keeps talking about how much she misses her Auntie, always trying to bribe the driver to drop her at your shop after school so I finally had to give in.”

“Really?” Sam Soon’s mother asked.

President Na nodded. “Of course... You know what we do for the love of our children…. We try to protect them in every way. Sometimes we have to deny them things for their own benefit. But there are a few times we later determine that maybe this thing they want is actually not bad. So we give in.”

Sam Soon’s mother nodded. “That is true.”

President Na smiled. “But we are only human. What’s important is that our children realize that we only do these things because we care about them,” she said, patting Mi Joo’s hair. “That’s why I brought Mi Joo. I think she thinks I am too old,” she said, laughing. “It makes sense, you know… she’s known Sam Soon for a few years now so she’s grown attached to her. It’s good for young girls to be close to older women they can rely on. And I realize that Sam Soon really takes care of her,” she said, smiling at Mi Joo. Then she looked up at Sam Soon. “If you are not too busy and can spare some time, would it be alright for Mi Joo to visit you from time to time?”

Sam Soon was completely confused. She couldn’t digest what was going on. What exactly did this mean? She nodded at President Na. “Yes. I miss her too.”

Mi Joo jumped up and hugged her grandma. “Thank you, Harmoni.”

President Na stood up. “Okay then. Mi Joo, the driver will pick you up in a few hours.”

“Oh… she’s staying over now?” Sam Soon asked. What? She needed some time alone to go through what had just happened.

President Na looked at her. “Oh, do you have plans?”

“No… but--”

“Yes, let her stay,” Sam Soon’s mother said cheerfully.

“Good. I will see you sometime, Sam Soon.”

After President Na left, Sam Soon said, “So Mi Joo, you miss me? I thought you hated being with me because I made you exercise and didn’t give you good food.”

Mi Joo looked surprised. “No. No. Who told you that?”

Sam Soon frowned. “Who do you think?”

“Oh… well….” She started turning red. “Oh, did I forget to tell you? I like exercise now,” she said, obviously lying. “So, yeah, let’s go to the gym.”


***

“Sam Soon. Sam Soon unnie!”

Sam Soon came out from behind the counter to see Hee Jin and Henry beaming at her.

“Hey, what are you guys doing here?”

“I told you,” Hee Jin said to Henry. “I knew it was her shop when I saw ‘Samsuni’ written on it.”

“Wow. How have you guys been? What are you doing here?” Sam Soon was surprised by how pleased she was to see Hee Jin looking healthy. Whoever came up with the phrase that “time healed all wounds” wasn’t a complete idiot.

“I was feeling a little hungry so we decided to come here. Hi, Yi Young unnie,” Hee Jin said, waving at her. She waved back at them from behind the computer.

Hee Jin looked around the shop. “Jin Hun wasn’t exaggerating – you’re really doing well.”

Sam Soon felt herself stiffen. She hadn’t realized that they still kept in contact. “So what are you doing back in Seoul? Are you on vacation?”

Hee Jin and Henry looked at one another. “Have you forgotten about our wedding?” Henry asked in heavily-accented Korean. It was obvious he’d been taking lessons.

“What wedding?”

Their eyes expanded. “Ours. Who else’s?”

“You’re getting married?”

They nodded.

“To each other?”

Hee Jin cracked up. “How can you not know? I sent Jin Hun an invitation last month and when Henry spoke to him yesterday, he assured us he would be there. Didn’t he tell you?”

Sam Soon looked away. “Ehm, well….” She looked back to see Hee Jin starting at her finger.

“You guys are still together, right?” she asked slowly.

“Oh, forget about that,” she said with fake cheer. “What would you guys like to order? It’s on the house.”

Neither Henry nor Hee Jin looked impressed. “You’re going to come, aren’t you?” Henry asked.

Sam Soon thought about it for a second then looked at them and laughed. “Of course I’ll be there. I just knew you were going to end up together. Come, come, sit down and tell me how all of this happened.”


***
“Alright, let me get this straight,” Tae Young said from across the table. “Hee Jin is Jin Hun’s ex-girlfriend?”

“Yes.”

“And when she returned after many years, he dumped you for her?”

Sam Soon slapped him lightly on his hand. “No. He didn’t dump me, we weren’t really together.”

Tae Young rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Whatever. Then this very indecisive Jin Hun turned around and dumped her for you?”

“Jin Hun isn’t indecisive – he was young then. This was like five years ago!”

“Sure. So now you want us to go to her wedding?”

Sam Soon nodded. “Exactly. You want me to draw you a picture to explain this further?”

“Funny.” Then his expression turned serious. “So… have you given any more thought to my proposal?”

Sam Soon looked into his eyes. He’d been waiting patiently for over a week so she knew she had little time to come to a decision. Sam Soon reached into her bag and brought out the ring box.

He smiled. “You’ve been carrying it around?”

She shrugged. She didn’t want to tell him that it was just coincidental that she just happened to be using the bag that she’d initially kept the ring in. “It looks expensive – I wouldn’t want to lose it.”

“So?” he asked. “Have you thought about it?”

She breathed in. “You’re a nice man….”

“Okay….”

“You have a good job. You’re not bad looking. You have a child so I know you’re not impotent…”

“What?” He was taken aback.

“Hey, relax, I’m just kidding.”

“But I am not. This is a serious matter.”

“I know.” She looked at him. He was someone she could marry, wasn’t he? She handed him the box. “Why don’t you put it on my finger so that I can see how it feels?”

She watched him excitedly take the ring out and placed it on her finger. Why did she suddenly wish he’d made a crack about how fat her fingers were? Then she looked at her hands. I guess they are not as fat as they used to be, she thought.

But they are getting fatter. Maybe I should get on a diet. Oh Gosh, I am going to see Sam Shik on Saturday! Maybe he wouldn’t come. No, he won’t be there. But he promised Hee Jin. God! It’s over between us, why am I thinking of this when a nice man is proposing to me? She looked at Tae Young and thought about how great he’d been to her just after she’d broken up with Sam Shik. Besides, it was time for her to get married. Now that I have decided to be with you, I have to be with you and only you. I shall think of you and only you, Tae Young. You’re the most mature man I have ever been with. You’ll make a great husband. Yes, you’ll be a great husband.

“So what do you say?” he asked.

She looked at her fingers again. It really was a pretty ring – it was a diamond studded platinum band with a princess cut stone. “Why don’t you leave it there? It looks nice.” She’d always thought her answer to this question would be ‘Yes’ but she couldn’t bring herself to say it. She smiled up at him, hoping he couldn’t see how nervous she was.

He pulled her into his arms and hugged her. “Really?”

Have I done the right thing? “Really.”