Threads and Strings

3. Settled In - January 2019

Emi was rushing to gather all her ingredients for her dinner party. She was nervous about having other people over for the first time since she moved here. That was a bit dramatic. She was nervous that her Auntie Suk Yong, Charles, Mimi, and Trish were visiting her for the first time since she moved here to Toronto.

She had a quaint home that had 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a basement space, living room and kitchen attached to one another, and a small backyard. Her Eomma set this all up for her before she died. Canada was actually the first place her mother immigrated to after Emi's appa passed away. He had wanted to move to Canada for the snow, but also the rich culture. Emi had spent her first 4 years of life here, but moved to America with her mother after Eun Ji had reconnected with her dear friend, Suk Yong.

Tangsuyuk, rice, kimchi, jap chae, and a small KBBQ grill were set up in the middle of the living room. This was the easiest thing she could think of when she initially invited them over. Restaurants on a Saturday night were usually too crowded and she knew Auntie Suk Yong would prefer a more spacious area to talk and ask all the questions she could.

What else was there to update her family on? It had been 6 months since she moved from Kansas. Unpacking was a breeze as she decided to use it as another distraction from her heavy heart. Her days have gotten better and her nights were lighter with the emotion and overthinking. Filling up those scary inner conversations with reading, mostly fantasy and some easy to follow sci-fi [which was hard to come by at least for her]. What has helped her the most is the dog she used to follow around during her trips to Korea. One of the shelters a couple of cities over had a brindle Jindo dog. The dog was unnamed, so when she adopted him she named him, Pabu. Yes, after the red fire ferret from Legend of Korra. Her dog was immediately protective of her, was easy to train as she could tell he was eager to have a home, and eased some weight from her heart.

"Pabu, you think this is enough food for them. Maybe it's a lot. Well we can save it for another day." Pabu just stared at her, moving his head side to side as if he was reacting to what she was saying. As he snuggled into her arm, her door bell rang. Pabu sat straight up as Emi checked her phone. Charles was waving like a mad man at the camera. "Pabu, open door." He listened to her command, something he learned early on in their relationship with one another.

"Em? Are you here? Your dog answered your door," Charles said as he entered.

"Don't act like you aren't impressed with her dog's manners," Emi could hear Mimi retort. Mimi, the youngest of Auntie Suk Yong's children. She was in college already, a powerful politics major with a concentration in international affairs. She was the last one to be messed with.

Emi could hear Trish's response to her siblings, "I doubt Emi would want to hear you two arguing in her threshold. Right, Em?" Trish, the middle child, was the referee and also one that did not want to get into much of her siblings spats. However, if either were bullied by anyone, Trish would not be good news. Well, that person would be surprised at who would be taking the first punch and leaving the last.

"Yeah, you guys are making me rethink this eating at home situation if you two are arguing already," Emi yelled from the living room as she prepared the grill. She got up from the coffee table and hugged each of them as tightly as she could, especially her Auntie Suk Yong.

When in Auntie Suk Yong's embrace, she grabbed Emi's face and looked deeply at her. "You look much happier now. I missed this smile so much." Emi giggled at her remark, but she had not smiled this widely and sincerely for a year or two.

"Please everyone, have a seat and let's eat." Charles was the first to grab the tongs and place the thin strips of galbi (short ribs) on the grill. Auntie Suk Yong passed around the side dishes as they all waited for her to serve herself. "Wow, such polite children of mine."