Forest-Namseok

Chapter 2

Every story has a point where everything fits in place. A catalyst. A series or a single event that causes, the cliche and up to that point, boring story to get interesting.

For this story it's Namjoon's 15th birthday. Living in a small city deep in an unfriendly forest may cause the residents to not have such a broad mind. Of course they had tourists that came in steady waves every year thanks to said forests and the activities that could be done. From canoeing in feisty rivers to picking up wild berries the residents of the small town have managed to keep the interests of the many tourists.

However, it didn't mean they liked every person passing through their town. Or becoming residents of it. Our lovely Namjoon had to deal with that hate since being an infant. He developed a cope mechanism and a sharp silver tongue to get what he wanted from the residents. Since a kid he had to avoid the children and persuade the adults. Buying a loaf of  bread on a normal price or staying on a cafe with his parents for a while more than what the owner could tolerate.The residents came to grow weak on his sharp lines and cute dimples.

"Are you thinking on running for mayor?" Namjoon raised his head to look at his only friend that friend was a middle aged woman, married to a local who had passed away letting get run the local bookstore.

"Mrs Indé you know I am too young for leadership" he replied with a soft smile to the old lady who just scoffed and tapped his head

"You're lucky I like your dad's cookies" she chuckled before turning her back at him and dissappearing at the back of the store for few seconds. Did I forget to mention  she is the Kim's family only ally?

Namjoon loved to spend time with her. When he was only seven he ventured into the bookstore trying to find a new notebook. He could not present this to his parents since it was covered with profanities and drawings of dicks. Seems like his classmates had fun breaking another little boy's mentality. That event lead to him meeting Flor or Mrs Indé, a French lady who married a local.

She, having felt the cruelty or the locals, felt for the boy and even if she did not sell notebooks she offered him books and company. But the boy refused to accept the offer without giving something else back. Hence the cookies.

But let's move to the event that occurred on that fateful birthday.

"Dads" he called as he climbed down the stairs that connected the top floor with the bottom one.

"Kitchen" A soft male voice was heard from said room. As Namjoon approached the room he unfolded a pamphlet he had found on the street. Both of his parents were drinking a cup of coffee having just returned from their respective jobs

"So, I found this pamphlet on the street. Do you think we can go? It's the annual picnic on the Meadow" he said giving them the pamphlet. Both of the males leaned in to look at the details. Jhogwang, one of his dads, raised his brows.

"Joon it's on your birthday" he stated and let his partner, Seunghwan, take the pamphlet and look at it "If we go we'll have to cut the cake either the next day or late at night. The picnic is going to take up all of our day"

"I don't mind dad. We always had to stay home cause it was on my birthday but now I wanna go. I know we can't cut it there but we can invite Mrs Indé the next day and, like you said, cut it then" he said and smiled putting his hands in his pockets

"I mean it's your birthday and if you don't mind that then sure" Seunghwan shrugged and pinned the pamphlet on the fridge "I'm going to call and reserve a picnic table cause I am not sitting on the grass all day" he continued and grabbed the land line to call the reservation number that was written on the paper. The moto of the family was Do It Now so since they wanted to go... Why postpone the planning? They only had to make one call.

The relationship between the three of them was magnificent. They did fight but never to the point of hating one another. They were a normal family. The only difference from other stereotypical families was that there was two dads. But who are we to judge a homosexual family? If love is flowing plenty then the family is normal and in the Kim household love was an unshakable principle.

The day of the annual picnic came. Every family was obliged to cook their own meal and something extra for families in need. As they entered the picnic site they gave the extra food at the organisers who then gave them to  families in need so that everyone can enjoy the picnic.
Knowing that the Kim family prepared a big tray of delicious food for the people in need and as the arrived they gave it to the organisers. Mrs Indé happened to be at the organisation committee and winked at the family as she told them their table. They didn't take long to reach. The picnic table was under the shade yet it didn't matter cause the day was pretty hot.

Oh the terrors that would follow on that sunny, full of smiles, day.

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First of all, I'd like to thank you all for reading this story. I wish my style and writing fits your taste.

One thing I'd like to highlight is the names of the parents. Jhogwhang and Seunghwan are real people. Kim Jhogwhang is a South Korean film director as well as a lgbtq activist in said country. Although being a homosexual is legal in South Korea marriage is not recognised. Thus his marriage with Seunghwan was not approved. I'll link an article you can read about the issue of his marriage in case any of you want to read details.

https://asiancorrespondent.com/2016/05/south-korea-kim-jho-gwang-soo-gay-marriage/