Newcomers

Dinnertime

When they got down to the dining room almost everybody was there. Namseon was at the head of the table with Kerchek beside her and Kamina in between them in her highchair. Graham sat diagonal to Kerchek with Charlie on his left. The quadruplets were lined up on the other side of Kerchek and Dani was beside them, Kade sat beside Graham, and Jiwoo and Kyree were beside him. Seojun took the seat next to Kyree and Cody sat beside him. As soon as they sat down, the youngest five kids ran into the dining room, nearly trampling each other.

Seojun rolled his eyes at them. “Lucky for us, they sit at the kid’s end of the table.” He said. The kids sat at the other end of the table with Lee at the head, Elodie and Eloho sat on his right, and Alena and Estelle sat on his left. Their seats were six spaces apart for a good amount of separation.

“Why is there a kid’s end?” Cody asked. “Because they don’t know how to act.” Kyree said. “Neither do you, but we still let you in.” Jiwoo said back. “Man dang! you don’t have to do me like that.” He said, folding his arms and pouting. Cody noticed that when they spoke, Kyree also had an american accent, but it was different from Kercheks, and Jiwoo’s was korean.

Should I ask him about that? Nah, maybe he’ll explain it later.

Jiwoo giggled. “Got ‘em!” Lee shouted from the head of the table with his hands cupped around his mouth. “Don’t shout at the table.” Namseon said from the kitchen. “Sorry mam.” Lee said.

The smell of food overtook the room as Charlie and Namseon passed everyone their plates. Cody didn’t recognize anything on his plate except for the rice, so he discreetly whispered to Seojun. “What is this?” He asked. Seojun was already digging into the noodles and held his finger up to tell him to give him a second to swallow. “Jjajangmyeon, Soy sauce crab, and Tteokbokki.” Seojun said. “Oh cool.” Cody said. “Try it, it’s good.” He said, eating another mouthful of noodles.

“Okay.” Cody said. He went for the jjajangmyeon first since it stuck out to him the most. As soon as he had a bite he was surprised by the taste. It was bitter and salty, and had a kick to it, but it was really good. “Wow.” Cody said in astonishment. Seojun smiled. “It’s good isn’t it?” Seojun asked. Cody nodded. “Yeah it is, your mom’s a good cook.” Cody said. Seojun nodded in agreement and went back to his food.

“So, how are you all liking Griffin Rock so far?” Charlie asked. “It’s wonderful! The nature is beautiful, the people are nice, and no one bothers us.” Namseon said. “It’s quieter than Atlanta, that’s for sure.” Kerchek said, feeding Kamina a mouthful of noodles. “You’re from Atlanta?” Graham asked. Kerchek nodded. “Yep, just me and Kamina.” He said. "Cool." Graham replied.

“It’s kinda boring to me, there’s nothing to do here.” Kyree said. Jiwoo nodded in agreement. “That’s not true, there’s plenty of things to do here.” Dani said. “Like what?” Lee asked with a mouth full of food. “You could climb Mount Griffin, visit the library which is made entirely out of recycled materials. Go swimming in the ocean, go to the zoo, city hall, the shops, the lighthouse…” The kids looked excited now. Their eyes were filled with wonder. “Why didn’t we do any of this stuff earlier mam?” Alena asked accusingly. “Slow down guys. We’re still getting used to the island, we don’t want to rush into anything we’re unfamiliar with.” Namseon said. “We could show you guys around if you want, we know where to go so you’d be perfectly safe.” Graham suggested. “I think that’s a good idea. What do you think, Namseon?” Charlie asked.

Shouts from the children rang around the table, they were pleading and begging to go places. Namseon was quickly swayed. “Alright, we’ll go at some point.” She said. “When is some point?” Alena asked. Namseon thought for a moment. “At least during this month.” She said. “Yay!” The triplets shouted. Charlie shook his head. “Kids. Always asking for something.” He said. “Tell me about it.” Namseon replied tiredly.

“Hey Cody.” Kyree said, looking past Seojun. “Yeah?” Cody asked. Are you gonna eat your tteokbokki?” He asked. Cody gave him a look. “Yeah.” He said. “Damn.” Kyree grumbled. “Ky.” Namseon warned. “Sorry mam.” Kyree dragged. Cody made a point to eat all of his tteokbokki after he asked. Even after eating everything on his plate he was still hungry, and it seemed like everyone other than the Burns’ were as well.

Cody went through three servings before he decided that he was done, everyone else sat there until they went through five, with the exception of Kerchek, Namseon, Seojun, and Vashti who went through eight instead.

Seojun leaned back in his chair and Cody looked at him in awe. “How?” He asked. Seojun just shrugged. “It’s not so hard since I’m almost twice as big as you are.” He said quietly so that no one else would hear it. “Oh yeah.” Cody said. He had almost forgotten about that since he had never seen him like that. What made him smaller though?

Everyone helped clean up after everyone was done eating. After a while Cody and Seojun went back upstairs. “Your family’s pretty entertaining.” Cody commented. Seojun chuckled. “Yeah, every other day is a shitshow. It’s always been like that.” He said. “My family is pretty messy too, there just aren’t quite as many of us.” Cody said. Seojun nodded. “I could kinda tell. There’s some kind of trouble you guys are getting in almost every week.” He said. “You know about our missions here?” Cody asked. “I live here don’t I?” He said with a smirk. “Plus, whenever something happens the school doesn’t stop talking about it until the next big disaster.” He sighed with exasperation.

“Oh yeah that’s true.” He paused. “Um. Has anyone talked about me, while I’ve been gone?” He asked. Seojun looked surprised that he asked that question and turned to him with squinted eyes. “Why do you wanna know that?” He asked. Cody bit his lip. “No reason, just curious.” He lied. Seojun raised his right eyebrow. “Uh huh…” He murmured. “Well yeah I guess. I haven’t heard anything negative though. It seems like everyone’s just worried.” He said. “Are you sure.” Cody asked. Seojun opened his room door and gave him a reassuring smile. “Yeah, I’m sure.” He said. Cody smiled back hesitantly. Seojun sat on his bed and grabbed his notes. “Now, where were we the other night?”