The dreaded day of reckoning had finally come and despite all Ye-Jin's efforts from comforting to downright bribery, her eldest son was having none of it.
Junie was sitting at the bottom step of the stairs with his jacket and backpack on. Spencer was next to him playing with his 3DS, oblivious to his friend's distress.
While Junie knew very well what this move meant, Spencer still thought the other boy was just going on vacation.
Her father hovered unobtrusively beside them, trying to spend as much time with his grandson as possible.
She was wrestling with the buttons of Min-Jung's pink cardigan while her mother tackled Seo-Jin's pants which had to be removed for one last potty trip before getting in the taxi bound for the airport.
The three year old twins had only been on a plane twice on a trip to Hawaii. Her parents, her eonni's family, and Nora had been on hand to help with the two. This time around, she had all three to herself on a twelve plus hours international flight. Joy.
With Junie's current mood, Ye-Jin was completely outnumbered. She usually could trust her oldest to help her out with the twins, but not when he was actually acting his age rather than the poster child for Little Einsteins.
A sharp honk sounded outside followed by Nora opening the door to her parent's house. "Taxi's here."
The luggage was already outside and she could see from the open door that the driver had started loading up the trunk.
Cue Junie's sobbing.
Ye-Jin picked up Min-Jung and handed her over to Nora. "Go with auntie Nora, MJ. She's gonna put you in the car."
"Want come too!" Seo-Jin had broken away from his oe halmeoni and was begging to be picked up by Nora.
"Get up here little man," Nora transferred Min-Jung to her left arm and bent down to pick up Seo-jin.
"I'll be there in a minute," Ye-Jin said as Nora exited the house with the twins.
She'd said her goodbyes to her parents earlier in order to lessen the anxiety for the kids, especially Junie.
"Take your time, Ye-Jin-ah," her mother told her in Korean before following Nora out of the house to help buckle the two kids in.
Junie was now clinging to his Pops. He was red from crying, runny nose and tears covered his face.
Ye-Jin watched her father pull out a handkerchief from his pocket to clean up Junie's face.
"It's time to go, sweetheart."
Junie shook his head in the negative and clung even tighter to his grandfather.
Ye-Jin's father bent down and forced Junie to look at him. "Jun-min-ah, you listen to me now..." the old man leaned down and whispered words to Junie's ear that made the boy cease his crying. "Arrasso?"
"Ne, pop-pops," Junie replied, his back straight as if in a military parade.
Ye-Jin's father ruffled the boy's hair affectionately before giving him another hug.
"Spencer, we're going now," Ye-Jin prompted the older boy playing with his handheld game.
Spencer put down his 3DS and quickly gave Junie a swift hug. "See you later, hermano."
Ye-Jin smiled at the boy's perfect imitation of his dad. Javi sounded exactly like that.
Spencer had been a steadfast friend to her taciturn son. At an early age, she'd been afraid that Junie would be an outcast amongst his peers, but all he needed were a couple of good friends who were older, but were willing to take a chance on a much more mature younger boy. She, more than anyone, understood why her son was so sad to leave his friends behind.
YOU ARE READING
Something About Ye-Jin
Fanfic💬'It felt like a thousand shards of glass had embedded into her chest, making her wonder how she was still breathing. How was it that even though she'd always expected that painful moment, the reality was even more devastating? To the day, she stil...