The Falling Petals...🌺

A-goodbye-again...

I was walking down to her place in the evening. I think I was two blocks away from her house when I saw two people walking in my direction. One was about three years old, and holding his hand was a man of about sixty. I thought I knew who they were.

Seeing me, the old man halted.

"Come on! Ice Cream," he screamed. The little kid tried to pull him along. The poor kid tried his best but failed.

I looked at the person in front of me, and the old man raised his finger, a few lines appeared on his forehead. He was wondering if I was their guest for the evening.

But before he could speak, I said, "I think I am coming to your place. Am I right?"

"Hoseok?"

"Yeah." I smiled and bowed to him.

He was Dae's father and the kid was Daewon who was pulling his grandfather to the nearest ice-cream parlor.

But now, the cute kid held my hand and shouted on the street asking me, "You are Dae's friend.....Are you not?"

I bent down and kissed his small hands, saying, "Haha....hmm."

Soon he forgot all about the ice-cream and started pulling me towards his house. All the while, he kept shouting, "Come come......Dae is getting ready for you....come on."

He kept pulling me till I entered their house. In no time, I found myself surrounded by Eomma, Nari and Mi-hee unnie (Daewon's mother). Everybody was laughing at the way Daewon was dragging me. I slipped my fingers out of Daewon's grip to greet everyone.

Later, we all settled down in the drawing room. Dae's dad was also back and had joined us.

The questions started- The kind of how-was-your-journey-and-if-everything-is-fine types.

And answering them all I managed to make my space amid all of them.

Meanwhile, Dae too appeared.

The rounds of snacks started, exactly like last time. Of all her family, it was her dad whom I talked to most. He was trying to understand what exactly I did, being a software engineer. In turn, he was also explaining what he used to do as an engineer in the Korean Air Force. (Impressive!).

Later on, he brought up the subject of marriage too, indirectly- how and when Mi-hee unnie got married and then Ami unnie and now it was Dae's turn. He also talked about his married daughters' in-laws, their family and their professions (though I knew everything in detail).

I wondered what the purpose was. I recalled that ad in which a guy's would-be father-in-law asks him, "You are going to marry my daughter. But will you be able to support a family?" To which I answered, in my mind, "I think, in marriage, I will only take your daughter along with me. The rest of your family, you will have to manage on your own."

But, jokes apart, I found her dad to be a real sensible and understanding person. I liked his personality as well.

We all were waiting for Dong-in (Dae's brother) who was driving back home. Eomma was getting impatient and kept calling him up, checking how far he was from home.

Little Daewon was adding to the flavor of our conversation every now and then, making everybody laugh with his childish pranks. He was on my lap when, suddenly, he reacted to a car's horn and rushed to the door. It was Dong-in. Minutes later, he pulled Dong-in into the drawing room, just like he had brought me. I shook hands with Dong-in and he joined us.

He seemed to be the most robust person in their entire family, with a wide chest, broad shoulders and a well-built physique. He was working as a Taekwondo teacher in Seoul and had come back on holiday. So now, from my job the conversation shifted to his.

We sat in the drawing room for a long time and at around 8:30, we had our dinner.

After our meal, Dae took me to the other side of their house to show me the garden, the money plant, and the guava trees which she used to climb sometimes, picking guavas for her mom. Well, I could have got a little privacy with her but Nari and Eomma didn't leave us alone.

The evening at their home passed quite well. By then I had met the people whom I didn't see the last time- her dad, dong-in, mi-hee unnie and cute daewon. I was happy that I was going to be part of a nice family. (And I assume they were happy too!)

By 9:30, I was all set to leave for my hotel.

"I think I should make a move before I get too late," I said to the people around me, but especially to her dad.

"Hmm....Yes, you are at a new place. It's better if you reach your hotel well in time. Dong-in will drop you," he said looking at dong-in, whom daewon was punching, the way he had seen his favorite fighters doing.

After a short while, dong-in was starting his car and I was bidding everyone goodbye. Daewon kept shouting, "Even I wanna go....Even I wanna go with him!" And before he could make a scene, his mother allowed him to get in the car.

Amid all this, I looked at Dae, silently asking her if she too could come. And I think Eomma noticed my look. Maybe that's why she told Dae, "You also go along with them...."

Her dad was probably going to interrupt her, but I changed the topic as soon as I heard her mother giving her a green signal. In a short while, we were in the back-seat of the car. Daewon kept shuffling places between her and me. In those last minutes of being together, we held hands but didn't talk much. Soon we were going to be apart again, for an uncertain amount of time.

We reached my hotel a bit too quickly, and it was time to say goodbye.

Dong-in came out of the car and he took daewon's hand in his. I shook hands with him and gave a kiss to daewon, who asked me when I would come again, and told me that I should not forget to get chocolates for him.

Now was the turn of my sweetheart. She stood beside the car. I looked in her eyes. They were expressing the same feeling which mine were. she came and stood right in front of me. I couldn't say anything but smiled sadly. That one moment, she didn't care about dong-in's presence but kept looking into my eyes. Taking Daewon inside the car, dong-in started the vehicle to let his siter know they were supposed to get back.

she ignored that too and came closer to me and said, "I want to be yours, forever."

"You are mine. A little more than forever," I said.

And we hugged each other this time without caring about the world around us.

Then she sat in the car. I kept waving to her till the car turned out of the hotel's gate.