Incheon Airport at 7 am.
Charles and Emi sent a commemorative selfie to Auntie Suk Yong after they got their bags from baggage claim. "She is gonna be so jealous that we got to come here," Charles bragged as he captioned the photo, missing my Eomma and hers.
"Well, let's make the most of this trip. Looks like Eomma made it safely to Korea," Emi said as she examined the container her mother's urn was encased in.
The two Korean foreigners stepped out of the airport and headed for Emi's home, one that her parents left for her. The home was in Anyang, a city in South Korea that held her parents' story and parts of her childhood.
The ride into the Gyeonggi Province had some of its usual traffic, but they made it to the front of gated home. The outside had clean brindle bricks, reminding of Emi to check in with Lia and Kai about Pabu. The main gate was a dark grey color that matched the gate door to the front door. "Damn, it has not changed one bit. I have to check in with the neighbor who has been taking care of this place for my family. She's the sweetest. Oh that reminds me, I have some gifts for her."
The home next door was bustling with noise and movement. Charles was in the front yard putting that luggage at the front door before following Emi to the next house. "What's her name?" Charles asked, preparing his Korean in his head.
"I call her Imo Gu Kyung. Let's see if she is here." Emi knocked on the gate door loudly, ensuring they were heard.
"Yes, yes! Coming!" An elderly woman came to gate and greeted the two friends. "Yes, how can I help you?"
"Imo [Auntie] Gu Kyung? I'm Park Eun Ji's daughter, Emi. I own the home you have been looking after for the past few years."
"Ahh! Yes, yes! Emi, you have grown so much. Oh and this man here, is he your husband?" Imo Gu Kyung immediately embraced Charles.
Emi waved her free hand in opposition, "Oh no no, this is my best friend, Charles. He is visiting Korea with me. We just wanted to stop by and give you some gifts from America and Canada. Thank you so much for being there for my mom and me during the past few years." Emi gave a deep bow to her elder. Imo Gu Kyung had Emi lift herself up. The two spoke of Eun Ji for a couple of minutes as well as spoke on the status of the house.
"That's about it. Everything is ready to be lived in. Please come by before you leave. I want to make sure I take care of Eun Ji's daughter." Charles and Emi bowed and headed into her home.
The front yard had a beautiful garden outlining the walls and trees were well trimmed to that they did not grow over the wall. At the front door, the sign read: Min Jun, Eun Ji, Emi. Charles had Emi stand near the sign, taking a picture of the commemorative moment. Emi opened the door to find an empty entry way and a naturally lit living room around the bend.
Emi toured the kitchen, as Charles expected, hoping to find some treats that could only be eaten for breakfast in Korea. As expected though, the kitchen was bare. Thoroughly clean, but still bare.
Charles toured the living room and removed the cover on the couch and rest of the furniture. The furniture was very similar to the style in Emi's Toronto house, black and grey upholstery with dark stained coffee table. Facing the seating area, there were two book cases [one completely empty and the other filled with pictures and photo albums all labeled in hanguel] and in between a matching entertainment center with no television or speaker or media filling the shelves.
"Em, you own this place now, right? Imo Eun Ji left you room to make it your own."
"Yeah, it's been mine for a few months now, since the paperwork went through. Having dual citizenship in Korea and Canada really helps with the turn around period. As long as I visit for a substantial amount of time every year, I keep my dual citizenship status, no hiccups. I also agree, it was always Eomma's habit of leaving room for me to add myself to whatever project she had."
Charles started pulling out the different albums and placing them on the coffee table. Charles' reading skill was very rusty when it came to hanguel. Emi came to the couch and brought over some tea she had in her luggage. "Here, there were a couple of mugs," Emi said handing a filled mug to Charles, whose expression was doubtful of what he was about to drink. "Don't worry I washed them. So read me the titles, C. Let's go. You were practicing for most of the flight over here. Prove me wrong."
"This one says, 'Part 1 of Emi's embarrassing pictures,'" he responded as he handed her the album. She rolled her eyes at his sass.
"Ha ha, smart guy. Well, at least you can read 'part 1'. When I need to know how many parts there are to something, I'll call you first."
"You call me first for everything. So what does it say?"
"Part 1, Before." Emi looked through this particular album. It showed her parents when they were teenagers, a few years before both sets of her grandparents had died. All she knew of her four grandparents were they were local business people and passed on, being loved by the community. Her mom and dad were pictured in several photos holding the food and merchandise from their parents' establishments. Then she found their graduation photos, no smile, just a stern face looking at the camera. She smiled at the serious demeanor of them both, but had more memories of them smiling and laughing.
"C, hand me the one on the edge. That one says 'together' and you can look through this one."
"Here's what you want, but I'm looking through this one. I gotta have these on my phone." Emi was too intrigued by these pictures of her parents together in their university days to be curious about the album Charles was looking at. She looked at her dad with so much curiosity and, from what Charles could see, peace knowing that her parents were reunited.
Charles began narrating, breaking the beautiful silence of Emi going down memory lane, "And this little cute thing has become this wonderful woman right here. Yes, ladies and gentleman, this is Emi Kim, who you will be seeing very soon in her first ever television show." He shoved the camera in her face.
She snatched the camera from his hands, "And this is Charles, who may never be invited to the set, because he's ruining a moment." Charles' expression changed as he heard those words.
"You would never do that to me. I'm gonna be taking you to your first day on set."
"What am I? Starting my first day of kindergarten?"
Charles nodded at her sarcastic response, "And I will be walking you into that filming stage with your lunch all ready for you."
"You're an idiot." The two found pictures of Emi's parents' wedding and newlywed days. Charles revealed the album he was looking at, which was the early years of Emi. There were two albums dedicated to her first two years of life. The albums then slowly lose their numerous photos as the last photo in the chronology was of Emi and her dad laying in bed with one another. Charles checked the date and say it was a few days before Kim Min Jun died in the hospital. Emi looked at the final photo of her and her father. "Appa."
"I think this is a good time to bring Eomma and lay her to rest with Appa." Charles embraced Emi as she looked at the photo. He held her hand and they made their way to the nearby cemetery, where Min Jun had been resting for 22 years.
YOU ARE READING
Threads and Strings
Fanfiction"I know there will be more people in your life that will be become more than someone you pass by." As a speech pathologist working with little kids, Emi Kim had been through enough in her 24 years of life that could have broke her, especially in 201...
