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"Your father is waiting for you."
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She turns around and walk towards the hallway probably taking me to the dining room. My legs unconsciously start following her so we're now walking in an uncomfortable pace.
We arrive at the said dining room and we hear muffled talking before opening the door. But when I walk in, the voices I heard earlier toned down and silenced itself upon seeing me.
I sit down on an empty seat, I assumed it was for me based off of where everyone else was sitting.
"Minho...?" I hear someone call out. The voice belonged to one of girls sitting in front of me.
She suddenly jumps out of her chair and rushes around the table. She runs towards me and starts crying on my lap.
"Why did you leave us?" She sobs while lightly punching my forearm. This triggers the other girl to tear up a bit as well.
"Yea...you're the worst brother in the whole wide world!" Wait hold on...brother? In a second, everything started falling into place and make sense.
But this also confused me, "You guys are Sun-hee and Cha-hee? I barely recognized you guys!"
I say as I cup her face and study it. They were probably 8-11 when I left the house for college (well after graduating, I never came back). I'm guessing their around 12-15 now considering Aera's age.
"Why did you leave?" She asks again, this time expecting an answer from me. But unfortunate, I wasn't ready to give her my reasons.
Luckily, her mom dismisses her back to her seat. She nods in return and walks back to her chair, pouting.
Soon, the door opens and the figure reveals themselves. The air became thick and the same anxious feeling returned. It was my grandfather, and he hates my guts.
"Hey grandfa-" Before Cha-hee could even finish her sentence, she gets interrupted harshly by our grandfather.
"What is that doing here?" He says not even sparing a glance, he doesn't even refer to me as a human being.
"Now-now, it's your eldest and only grandson." Cha-hee's mother says, patting my grandfathers hands, "Don't you remember?"
"..."
It was quite for the next few minutes, and there was this long pregnant pause. I had enough of it so I left the room without excusing myself.
"Lee Minho!" She yells out before me, rather angry. If it was going to be the same lecture, same 'talks', then I don't want any of it.
I continue walking down the hallway until I'm met with someone who I was not prepared to see. They don't look happy to see me.
"Ah, father." I say as I look at him in the eye. He also looks very distressed and tired, me being here probably made it worse, "I'll be taking my leave."
As soon as I was about to leave, I felt a pair of arms embrace me. I couldn't help but reciprocate the same gesture since I could feel it was genuine.
"Minho...I missed you, son. So much and I regret everything I ever said to you in the past. I'm sorry." He says while letting me go.
"If you think an apology would bring me back, your wrong. But thanks for the sudden support." Its a miracle for him to finally accept me but it doesn't automatically mean he's forgiven.
"I'm not looking for forgiveness, but I just want you to know that I love you and I apologize for not being there to support you, I'm a horrible father." He says, soon I see his eyes filled with sorrow and regret.
"It's fine...just don't do that ever again." I say, recalling the time when no one stood up for me when I came out, "Still no forgiveness though."
"Is it possible for me to meet, my grandchild?" I look at him very shocked. I didn't tell anyone beside my mother and my stepmom probably didn't even hear me through the phone.
I look at him, very suspiciously, "How do you know?"
"Well, why would you not ever come back here for 6+ years if you didn't have a child?" He replies, "And if you're here for my blessing...then you have it."
I cried.
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We were on the driveway home and I was smiling from ear to ear. There was a small reunion/meet and greet in the old nursery between Aera and my parents. It ended with tears, but it was nice.
I received my parent's blessings and all that matters now is Seungmin. My lovely, darling, one and only Seungmin.
Aera was already sleeping when I looked at her through the mirror. I start playing a song on the radio, it was already dark outside so it made the whole ride even more peaceful.
All that uneasy feeling and weight dropped down by a lot. I'm glad it did because now, even if its not that evident, everything would be a bit better.
Until I realized something, where was my grandmother throughout the whole visit? I didn't even get to speak to her, she would've loved Aera.
