Beyond Us [Bangchan] [Finished]

Chapter 9

A week passed by. I tried my best to set a schedule for working at home but it was difficult; grandma would constantly go to my room and complain I spent too much time at the computer. I was like, what else do you want me to do? I'm working. For starters, I loved to work in bed the whole morning but I couldn't; even if I was at the desk she would complain.

On the other hand, grandpa, with the intention to help me with the stress, would interrupt me quite often. He would invite me to grab some cake after lunch or for a walk in the evening and stop by for some barbecue.

At first, I tried to please both. I would stop working every two hours and watch TV with grandma, do some cleaning, or go out with her if she had something to do. And I would go out with grandpa every time he wanted to; I even got to know some of his friends. But because of that, I had to stay up until late and night to keep up with work, I had to meet so many deadlines that I was getting worried. That's why I decided to work that weekend too, I had to send some things on Monday and prepare for the meeting. I needed extra time.

I was working at the kitchen table. The moment I notice grandma was starting to prepare lunch; I closed the laptop and got up to help her.

"You know..." She started. I was cutting some onions. "You should stop eating out so much, you can say no to your grandpa".

"Ah, I don't mind".

"But you should mind". She was talking quietly but her tone was heavy and dry. "If you want to stay here, you will have to take care of the way you look. It will be already hard for you to not stand up since you don't even look Korean". I just looked at her, puzzled. "You're skinny but your thighs are too thick, you should stop doing so much exercise in the mornings, you will end up looking manly". I didn't know what to say. I strongly disagreed with everything she said, but if I said something, I would be disrespectful, I knew that much. "And take some Korean lessons".

"Ah, I understand". I just said while nodding. I was annoyed.

The rest of the weekend she would serve me less food and take away my snacks every time. I was so pissed! But I couldn't say anything; it was her house at the end of the day, and having over 50 years between us was meaningful at the moment of wanting to have a conversation with her. So I started to put maximum effort into finding a place to stay.

The only thing that helped me to deal with what was going on was Chan's messages. We would talk a little every day, usually at lunch or late at night. I found it funny how he would always send me a photo of what he was eating, at some point, I started doing it too, and the servings he had were so big! Like... I knew he ate huge amounts in one sat but facts were hitting me differently every time.

"Hey, how has been your weekend?" I wrote on Sunday night right after finishing some work. I got up from my desk and went to the kitchen to grab some water.

"Mia", my grandpa called me getting out of his room.

"Did I wake you up?" I asked. It was quite late.

"I was reading," He said after shaking his head from side to side. "You're going to Seoul tomorrow morning, am I right?"

"Yes", I nodded.

"Let me go with you".

"Are you sure? I'll be probably moving around a lot".

"You don't know the city well, and you don't know the neighborhoods; let me be of some help and go with you". I was going to visit some apartments.

"Thank you, grandpa". I swear... he was so sweet.

"Do you want to have a beer with me before going to sleep?" He asked making a gesture with his hand.