The Falling Petals...🌺

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So this is how it started. With cold drinks and a whole lot of snacks, dry fruits and sweets. Nari and her mom joining us with their chat. Questions from her mom: How was my family doing back in Gwangju? For how long was I going to abroad? And many more.... At times, she talked about their family, which means that I got to know once more, the things that i already knew.

Ami-unnie and her husband would be here in half an hour or so.

Already, there were so many similarities between Dae and me. And, now, I saw so many similarities between our families too. Both were religious-minded and believed in simple living. Her mother, in each and every aspect, appeared just like my mother.

As we talked , I occasionally kept raising my eyebrows looking at Nari, silently asking her about her elder sister's whereabouts.

"Have patience. She is getting ready. All for you," she replied and laughed at me. Then she brought me a plate, "Take one more."

"Yes, dear, have some more," her mom insisted.

And this continued -

"Oh! Have some cashews."

"Thanks."

"Try this."

"No, please. I'm stuffed."

"No, no.....Take some. Alright, try this bun then. You will love it."

"A.....a....alright. But this is the last one."

"Aigoo, you are not at all eating anything....try this na."

"Nope, please. Thanks. This is too much...."

with so much, I feared constipation and, if not that, definitely loose motions.

Almost twenty minutes passed and there was still no sign of the girl I had come there for. Back in that room, the four of us were talking to each other. At times, Nari and Guen were smiling at each other.

Then all of a sudden, a voice traveled from inside, "Nariiiiiiii!"

"there, there, the queen is finally ready," Nari said, getting up from her chair and going to Dae.

Moments later, I heard two different footsteps approaching us.

There she was. My angel in a ravishing pink colored dress with many shiny stones making uneven lines on it. Her hair, long and silky. Glossy lips and those glittering rings.

She looked at me and said, "Hi!"

"Hi!" I responded with a smile, amazed at how beautiful she looked.

There was a different kind of hesitation between us now, to talk to each other in front of everybody. Still, we went ahead.

With her eyes she asked how she looked.

And I said, "You are amazing."

"Thank you," she said and joined us.

She sat right in front of me. She really looked so beautiful in that dress. I wished everybody in that house would vanish for a couple of hours, so that I could keep staring at her that way.

We all started talking. Every now and then, she was adjusting her dress. On her mom's insistence, she picked up a few cashews from the dry-fruits bowl, leaving the other snacks because they would mess her lipstick. At times, she looked at me and noticed how I was looking at her with everyone around and she silently begged me to take my eyes off her. But mean will always be men.

To break her spell on me, she started talking to me.

"What time is your flight tomorrow?"

"7:30 in the morning."

"So you'll have to leave the hotel at around 4:30, then?"

"Yeah, I have to wake up early tomorrow."

And we all kept talking for a while. I was much more comfortable by then, apart from the fear of being offered more food. Guen wanted to leave. He had just risen from the couch when we heard a car arriving at the gate.

"Hey! Ami-unnie is here," Nari almost sang that, rushing to the door and peeping out.

"And Pil-woo?" I wanted to confirm the arrival of another male too.

"He would have come with Ami-unnie," Guen said.

And few seconds later, both Pil-woo and Ami-unnie came in, wiping their shoes on the door-mat. Everyone stood up to welcome them, as if they were the ones for whom we all had assembles. Seeing them, I got up too.

"Wow! Such a warm welcome for the second son-in-law of the house. Hmmm....I'm the next. Tough competition, dude!" I thought to myself.

In her black top and blue denim, Ami-unnie looked like a professional, 21st century lady. Her denim was in the latest, weird fashion - the one in which girls would fold up their jeans' legs a few inches above their ankles, showing the light, inner color of the denim. I don't know what's so exciting about it. We guys used to do that while playing soccer in mud, in our school days. Her glasses had a stylish frame, and she had a different style of tying her hair at the back - of course, a modern one.

Altogether, Ami-unnie appeared a "Yo! Yo!" girl.

Pil-woo appeared very simple to me.

After shaking hands and saying "hi" and "hello", everybody settled down on the sofas and chairs. Conversation started again.

"So how are you, Hoseok?" Pil-woo asked.

"I am fine, thanks. How are you guys doing?" I asked, looking at both of them.

"Pretty good. And how are your parents and sister back there?" Ami-unnie asked this time.

"They are doing well," I replied with a smile.

And so we continues our chitchat on various topics: my office, their office, Dae's office; the different places we visited, which was a chance for me to boast about my trips abroad; CAT, the next idol group and what not.....

And, yes, there was a second round of snacks and, of course, I had to keep the new arrivals company. I felt like I was going to explode.

Meanwhile, Guen got another call on his cell phone and, the way he rushed out to his car, we were sure it was his dad. All I could say to him was "thanks" - for helping me reach this place and, more importantly, for being the only other man with me, among these ladies till Pil-woo arrived. He left.

The conversation really warmed up in a while, and it didn't take me even half an hour to realize that Pil-woo was a cool due. He appeared to be very practical. And the entire female union kept boasting about his greatest asset -

"You know, Pil-woo cooks really good. He has learnt the art of cooking," said Nari proudly, as if her brother-in-law was going to present another cookery show on some channel. But, well, a guy who cooks lovely food, knows how to garnish various dished and how to place the forks and spoons on the dining table is a dream guy for 99.999% of the girls on this planet. (In fact, I'm sure it's same on other planets too....if there are girls on them.)

Nari had just initiated this topic and it didn't take even a couple of minutes for Pil-woo's great hobby to become a threat for me - Dae's mom threw me a bouncer, "Dear, you know cooking?" she asked politely and, unfortunately, with much expectation.

Silence. The sound of someone grinding cashew between their teeth could be heard.....