Away from the North

Chapter 19

We stay with my parents for half of the week before we decide to go to Jul's parent's house. We take the rest of the cookies and walk out of the hotel room.
We pile into our rental car and Jul gives us directions to his parents' house. Dali drives off and down the roads. We arrive at a somewhat nice looking apartment, nowhere near as nice as Dali's was before she moved in to the house above the cloth shop with us. 
We get out of the car and Jul knocks on the door while me and Dali hold the containers full of cookies. The door cracks open a bit and someone peers out the door. Then the door swings open and Jul is engulfed in a hug.
His dad stands there for once instead of his mom. His dad pulls back and puts his hands on Jul's shoulders, talking to him quietly. Me, Lilac, and Dali stand there somewhat awkwardly was we wait for them to stop talking.
"Oh I'm sorry! Come in!" He says and let's us through the door. We sit down on the couches in their living room while his dad goes to get his mom. Jul tells us to set the cookies down on the coffee table.
Jul's dad walks back in with his mom in tow. They sit down on the couch across from us. His mom glares at me as I sit next to my girlfriend, holding her hand. His mom never really liked me to begin with.
"We brought you cookies," Dali says from beside Jul. His mom whips her head to look over at her. Dali sits next to Jul with her hands folded on her lap. She smiles at Jul's mom and his mom glares at her.
"So you're dating all these sluts?" His mom snarls. He looks shocked and I feel Lilac tense up next to me. I squeeze her hand and draw circles on the back of it with my thumb. His dad glares at his mom, and frowns.
"For one, none of them are as you said, and two, only she is my girlfriend," he says pointing to Dali. Dali isn't smiling anymore and she looks kind of sad. His mom glares at us while he talks to his dad for a while.
"You're gay?" She asks me with disgust. I smile at her sweetly and tell her that yes I am gay and that if she has a problem with that she can keep it to herself. She starts telling at me and Jul and I see Jul holding back tears.
I walk in front of him and glare at her. She slaps me across the face and I bring a hand up to my stinging face in shock. His dad grabs her arm and pulls her away from me.
"I'm done with you! We are over!" He tells at her. She stares at him in shock as he glares at her with crossed arms. Lilac runs over to me and cradles my still stinging face in her hand. His mom looks around at us and then storms to her room.
"You have twenty minutes to pack and get the hell out!" He yells as she walks up the stairs. I hear her mumble something as she reaches the top of the stairs and then a door slamming. His dad pinches his nose and sighs.
"Are you okay?" He asks me. Lilac let's go of my face and Jul's dad looks over it. He shakes his head and apologizes to me. I tell him it's not his fault that she's a sucky person. He laughs and we sit back down to talk and eat cookies for a while.
Jul's mom appears at the top of the stairs with two huge suitcases. She lifts one up and throws it down the stairs. It hits the walk and leaves a hole. She throws the other one too and then calmly walks down the stairs to go grab them.
She pulls one of the out of the wall and then grabs the other before opening the door and leaving. She slams the door behind her, leaving us all staring at the suitcase sized hole in the wall.
"I'll call the police later. Who wants dinner?" His dad asks us. I slowly raise my hand and everyone laughs. We walk into the kitchen and his dad takes out bowls from the cupboards.
He walks over to a lot and spoons some soup into bowls for each of us. He sets them on the table and puts some bread by each of our soup bowls. We sit down and start eating out food.
We talk about South Korea and he tells us about his time fighting in the war. He made friends with one of the South Korean soldiers and told him that he didn't want to fight.
The South Korean soldier told his commander and got Jul's dad to work for their army instead. It would have been treason if North Korea had won the war.
They exchanged number and talk a lot on the phone, occasionally meeting up when they aren't too busy. Jul looks at his dad and smiles. His dad shakes his head but sheepishly smiles back and I'm left in a little bit of confusion.
"I may or may not like him," Jul's dad says blushing. I smile and Lilac claps her hands in joy. We talk for a while longer before deciding to go back to the hotel and come back to visit tomorrow.
We walk outside and Jul waves to his dad as I drive the rental car out of the driveway. We make it to the hotel and we get out and ride the elevator to our hotel room.
We decide to go swimming because the pool is still open for five hours. We change into swimsuits and walk down to the pool. Jul hands the security guard his key and he lets us through to the swimming area.
We grab towels and walk to the pool. I set the towels down on a lounge chair and jump into the water. I swim over to Lilac and wrap my arms around her.
I swim underwater for while and then come up for air. Jul suddenly splashes me which turns into a call on water fight between the four of us. I have Lilac on my shoulder and he has Dali on his.
I wouldn't have asked for better people to hang out with.