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2010, February 8th
I turned 10 (Korean age) this year.
Father, am I old enough to understand now?
Am I old enough to understand why you always drink that soup in the mornings?
시원한
As every usual morning, the now older kid woke up, stretched, slipped on his house slippers on, and headed to the restroom to wash his face and brush his teeth.
He was excited for today, it was his birthday after all.
Many thoughts filled his head. I'm 10! He kept repeating in his mind, thinking about previous years and suddenly remembering the brown notebook. He looked for it in his room and finally found it, opening it with a happy sigh. He looked at the years and dates. I'll definitely add more today! He said to himself as he let it down on his night stand and headed out of his room.
He was going to go yell in the kitchen "good morning!" But refrained from doing so upon seeing his ill, red-nosed, sniffing father, who as always was eating a red soup.
Is the soup spicy? Is that why he is sniffing? Must be so, when I eat spicy things my nose gets runny. The kid thought, but before fully jumping into conclusions he decided to ask.
"What's wrong papa?" He asked with big eyes and a pout.
"I just have a cold bub, that's all." He said and smiled ruffling his hair.
"And you're still eating the soup?" He asked another question, voice filled with pure, innocent curiosity.
"It's the one that can melt my cold breaths." He said, wiping his mouth with the white paper napkin and standing up from his seat.
The kid gave him a confused look and the older man smiled, ruffling the kid's hair once more. "You'll understand someday."
There it is. The kid thought. The infamous line he had heard his whole short life.
The man stood up, giving the kid a chance to glance at the bowl and seeing it empty once more he frowned.
"Mama what does he mean?"
"The soup helps with colds sweetie."
"Does that mean he will feel better soon because of the soup?"
"Yes, it helps." She said, smiling softly.
"I don't like seeing him sick."
"I don't either sweetie, but sometimes you can't do anything about it."
"Is it magical? How does it help?"
"Sweetie you'll und-"
--derstand someday, yeah I know. He thought but didn't dare give attitude to his mother.
"Momma, I am ten now! Am I old enough to understand now?" He ask, the pout never leaving his face.
She chuckled. She wasn't one to say when he would understand, she just knew that eventually he would understand, when he was older of course, not at this young age.
"Go get ready Jeonginnie, we're going out." She said and headed to her room too.
It was a Monday, and he had just gotten out of school, enjoying a break until the next school year, so he was lucky to have his birthday land during the break and not still during school.
The day went on and the family of five enjoyed their day, everyone cooing at the 4-year-old youngest whenever he would do something cute. Jeongin never wanted to leave his baby brother's side. He was precious to him and wanted to protect him no matter what.
They laughed until their eyes were tearing up and couldn't breathe anymore, and ate all of the foods they wanted, buying gifts for the birthday boy and overall enjoying the time they spent together. It was a very full day and it created fun memories, memories all of them, or well, at least four of them since no one knows how much the 4-year-old (Korean age) baby would remember, would remember and cherish their entire lives.
Jeongin had been very happy the day his baby brother had been born, as their birth dates were close too.
At first he was a little scared of becoming the middle, or sandwich, child, since most of his classmates that were the middle child said their parents focused more on the eldest and youngest, but when the baby was born, their older brother helped a lot, so his parents always gave equal attention to the three of them, which Jeongin was very happy about.
The company of their parents, and especially the silly baby made the day unforgettable.
Night had fallen by the time they arrived back at their house, and they all headed to their separate rooms.
Upon entering his room, Jeongin saw the brown notebook and decided to write another entry.
2010, February 8th
This morning was different...
Today is my birthday, but today papa has a cold, as it is still winter. I don't like seeing him sick. As always, he drank the red soup in the morning, but momma said that is also helps with a cold.
Is that true? Does the spicy soup really help with a cold? It seems unlikely to me. Why would the spicy red soup help with a cold? There's still so much that I don't understand.
You said "it's the one that can melt my cold breaths."
I still don't understand...
What do you mean it melts your cold breaths? What do you mean with "it brings be comfort"? You said that with time I would understand. I am older now, so will you tell me now? Since I'm older will I be able to understand now why you drink the soup?
I turned 10 this year.
Father, am I old enough to understand now?
Am I old enough to understand why you always drink that soup in the mornings?
cool/refreshing
952 words
16, 23 November, 2018
I feel like this chapter was way too short and it sucked, but it was an essential part of the story (him growing "older" and thinking he could understand more) but I just didn't know what to write... Hoped you enjoyed Anyways...
