WHEN I WAS 15 :: seungjin ✔︎

53

hey, sorry i disappeared — a hurricane passed over where i live and we got somewhat flooded, and i was a bit busy cos school started on the same day as the storm, but updates should be alright now fhsjfb

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When I was fifty-three, the twins graduated high school together.

"Where did you put it?" Minseo screamed at Jungwon, referring to her cap. "Where?"

"I didn't take it, I swear!"

Bickering as usual, my kids were passing the time before we'd leave the house by bonding and showering each other with pride and affection. Not.

Though they didn't show it often, picking a fight wherever possible, their type of relationship was in the 'only I can hurt them' style. When Jungwon had been betrayed by some friends a few years ago, Minseo had been the one to retaliate on his behalf, putting some nasty bug eggs into the ex-friends' lockers and letting them hatch. It had earned her a week of suspension, but Seungmin and I hadn't punished her, only explained that sometimes, bug eggs aren't the right way to go, but we loved her enthusiasm.

"I swear to all the clouds in the sky and every single thing in the world that you love, Hwang Jungwon, give. It. Back. To. Me."

He only looked at her, doe-eyes wide open, and shrugged. "I don't have it." He glanced at me. "Right, Dad?"

"Don't bring me into this," I muttered, standing up. "If anyone knows where it is, Jungwon's possession or not, it'll be Papa." Papa: Seungmin. We'd needed a distinguishing fatherly title for each of us, since 'Dad' wouldn't refer to someone specific, and I'd won the rock-paper-scissors match that allowed me to choose mine first. "He can probably pull a spare one out of thin air for you."

Minseo huffed, her blue-streaked bleached blonde hair bouncing as she spun on her heel in search of Seungmin. Once she'd gone, I put my hands on my hips and stared at Jungwon expectantly.

A wicked grin split his face. "It's in my room," he whispered, as if I couldn't have already guessed.

I sighed. "Wonnie..."

"Noooooo," he groaned. "Don't 'Wonnie' me."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Fine." An exaggerated eye roll, then a reluctant "I'll give it back."

He trudged up to his room at the same time that Seungmin appeared from behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist in a back hug. "Looks like I came just in time," he whispered right into my ear.

I turned around, staying in his arms. "You narrowly avoided Minseo's screaming. I swear, that girl's vocal chords are something else. Eighteen years of screaming and still she hasn't lost her voice a single time." I raised my eyebrows. "Reminds me of you, but make it more than eighteen years."

His ears turned bright red, and he released me from the embrace. "Oh, shut up," he said, batting at the air between us. "We have to leave soon," he added, changing the subject. Louder, he yelled, "Kids, do you have everything you need?"

Jungwon responded, "I'm not a kid!" at the same time that Minseo screamed, "He won't give me my graduation cap back!"

Seungmin and I exchanged a weary glance. "Give it back to her, Jungwon," I yelled. "Don't make me pull the 'Wonnie' card out again."

After a few more minutes of convincing. he returned it to her with a sneaky smile, and we got into the car to head to their graduation. They received their diplomas and congratulations, flowers and small gifts, and promised to see their friends at a post-graduation party that they'd go to after stopping to quickly change clothes at home.

When they left, Seungmin and I were alone, sitting in the kitchen. "Can you believe they're so old, now?" I asked. "It seems like just yesterday that we were crying over how frustrating the adoption process was."

"Oh, don't remind me," Seungmin laughed. "But yeah. I'm so proud of where they are. Where we've helped them be. Despite all the screaming."

I snorted. "There was a lot of screaming."

We kept talking, reminiscing about the twins' childhoods and our own roles in them, eventually sharing dinner and going to sleep, hoping that the twins would know better than to be loud when they came back from the party.

With Seungmin between my arms as we slept, it was almost impossible to imagine that we were in this same position back when we were our kids' ages. I hoped, for their sakes, that they one day find love like ours, if they wanted to.

What I had with Seungmin was truly incredible.