Dinner Part 2
After much insisting, I’d finally gotten ShiWon to agree to take me to his house. We both had half a day free this coming Friday, so he called his parents to tell them he wanted to bring me to dinner.
“Hello?” I could hear on the other line.
“Omma… how are you?” ShiWon asked kindly. I could almost see his mother smiling on the other line.
“I’m fine, son, and you? They haven’t been overworking you have they?” She asked her son. ShiWon gave a small laugh before replying, “no”. I moved my hands anxiously as a signal to get him to ask, and he held up a hand to tell me to be patient.
“umm… Omma… I was hoping I could bring over a good friend of mine for dinner on Friday?” He asked her.
“Is it one of your band mates?”
“Ne.”
“Oooo~ Which one? No, don’t tell me, let it be a surprise. I want to see if I can figure out which one it is when I see them.” I held back a laugh. His mother sounded so full of energy. ShiWon smiled and added, “Alright… We’ll be there around 3:30 this Friday. Is that fine?” He clarified.
“Ne. It should be fine. I believe your father gets off early on Friday, so he’ll be able to join us as well.” ShiWon gave a small laugh and simply replied, “Great. See you then.” Before bidding goodbye to his mother and hanging up.
I looked at him confused. “Do you not want your father there?”
ShiWon shook his head, “That’s not it. It’s just he tends to ruin the party, you know?” He replied with a small laugh. I giggled and replied, “I know, my father’s the same way…”
“Don’t I know it…” ShiWon answered, rolling his eyes. I hit him playfully. “What does that mean?!” I asked him with a smile.
-------------------------
Friday came faster than I thought, and once ShiWon got back in the apartment at 1pm, I went over to him (ditching HeeChul as well as the game he was beating me in. By a lot.). “Is your house really that far away?” ShiWon thought a moment.
“It takes about an hour, maybe. But we take traffic into account; we might actually be a bit late.” He explained. I nodded.
“I’m ready to go when you are.” I told him. I had finished my activities an hour ago, and I took the extra time to change into some nicer (yet still casual) clothes.
ShiWon noticed. “You look nice.” He replied with a simple smile.
“Thank you.” I told him. Through a laugh, I explained, “I wasn’t sure how dressed up I should get, so I just put on some nicer clothing than what I was wearing.” ShiWon wrapped his arms around me (shirtless, because he was changing… Enter melting here) and whispered in my ear, “You look fine. Don’t worry, they’ll love you.”
“They’ll love me even though I’m an atheist and in love with their son?” I challenged. ShiWon laughed and rested his head on my shoulder.
“We won’t tell them those things.”
“And if they ask?” I smirked as ShiWon kept his head on my shoulder for a bit before going back to change.
“Does this mean I win?” I asked him teasingly.
“Let’s go.” He replied. I laughed as I let him lead me to his car.
------------
Once we got to his house, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The house was very… American styled. There was a big front yard with the nice porch, a soft glow of sun shining into the kitchen window. I thought I caught a glimpse of his mother working hard in the kitchen.
“Looks… wow… nice…” I replied. ShiWon blushed slightly.
“It’s…” He tried responding, making hand motions in hopes I could decipher those instead. I laughed and brought his hands down to his lap. “I don’t understand hand motions.” I teased, and he pouted at me.
“Come on, let’s go, I want to meet your mother.” I told him, dragging him out of the car.
As we were walking up the pathway, I noticed their mailbox. It was painted a pastel green color, as if to match the grass around it. I thought it was quaint. But then I noticed the writing on it.
“May God Bless you.”
What the hell did I get myself into? I caught up to ShiWon.
ShiWon already had fun teasing HeeChul about religion and stuff, but… I was going to the people that *made* ShiWon. I swallowed hard, finally noticing my excitement was probably really nervousness.
When his mother came to the door, she reminded me a lot of my own mother. Quaint and kind (probably didn’t help ShiWon and I were both over 6 feet tall… most people were short to us).
“Ah~ this must be the band member you were talking about. Hmm…” She surveyed me for a bit. “You don’t look like a native.” She told me. I couldn’t help but laugh nervously. “HanKyung! You’re the Chinese member.” She replied proudly, looking at her son for approval. ShiWon had a smile on his face as he nodded.
“Nice to meet you, Choi-sshi.” I told her with a bow. She let out a small gasp and gave me a hug. “You’re so sweet.” She told me. I laughed again. I like this lady.
“Please both of you come inside.” She told us, ushering us in.
“I see where the hand motions come from…” I teased.
“Shut up.” ShiWon retaliated, hitting me playfully. I laughed in response.
“Please, make yourself at home. ShiWon’s father should be here soon, and dinner should be ready by then.” She told me more so than her son. I nodded and sat on the couch. ShiWon joined me.
I thought a moment. “Wait… your father…” ShiWon looked up at me, eyebrows furrowed.
“Like… the same guy that saw you working and you quit the same day?” I asked him. ShiWon nodded.
“And you were afraid of my father?” I asked him incredulously. I added, “Your father sounds downright terrifying.”
ShiWon let out a small laugh. “He’s not. He’s just strict. The reason I quit so fast back then was because I had gone against my parents’ wishes and got a job. It’s against-“
“Your religion, right?” I interrupted him. He looked at me, as if wondering how I knew.
“You’re always spouting off the ten commandments. If I haven’t memorized them by now, there must be something wrong with me.” I complained. He let out a laugh. I added, teasingly more than anything, “”thou shall not disobey their father and mother,” Or something, right?”
ShiWon nodded. “Are you sure you’re not Christian?” He teased back. I hit him with a pillow.
And his father walked in. ‘Great,’ I thought, ‘his first impression of me contains hitting *his* son with *his* pillows…’ I leaned back, suddenly feigning shy.
ShiWon stood up. “Hello Father. It’s nice to see you again. Surely you heard that I was bringing a band mate with me to visit for dinner?” He told his father.
“I heard. Your mother’s been excited this whole week to get to see her son again. Stand up boy!” He suddenly demanded to me. I did so without making a sound.
“What’s your name?”
“HanKyung.” I replied.
“Why are you here?” He almost asked it rudely.
“Well… I took ShiWon on a trip with me to China a couple weeks ago, and in the process he met my family. I asked him to let me meet his family one day and… here we are.” I replied, thankful my Korean didn’t decide to fail. Not like I could remember exactly what I just said.
I swore ShiWon was smiling. Was this his way of getting revenge?
“Why would you do that? You’re just friends, aren’t you?” His father narrowed his eyes at me.
“Of course sir, but even friends meet the parents when two friends are close enough.” I told him.
“Enjoy your dinner then.” He scoffed at me. He then left, probably to change out of his work clothes.
ShiWon came over to me as I was regaining a heartbeat.
“hmm… He likes you. That’s awesome.” He told me. He sighed, “at least he didn’t ask your religion though…” He added.
“What would happen if he did?” I asked, curious.
“Depends.” ShiWon replied. “He’s gotten better at it, But I was once banned from seeing a girl because she identified herself as Agnostic.” I raised an eyebrow.
--------
During dinner, I was asked to perform a rather daunting task.
“HanKyung,” ShiWon’s father suddenly called, a big grin on his face, “Can you say prayer before we eat?”
Was this the religion question asked in a much more intimidating way? I think I would have preferred to just get asked what religion I was. I gave a nervous nod before getting an idea.
“If you don’t mind, I only know it in Chinese. Can I speak it in Chinese instead of Korean?” I asked. ShiWon nodded to give me the hint it would be okay-he was the only one in the family to know Chinese. I get the feeling he’d also be the only one to be saying a prayer in his mind as well.
After speaking random gibberish in my home language for a couple minutes, we began eating. ShiWon excused himself to the bathroom soon after the prayer was done, probably to get out all the laughter of me talking about chickens flying north for the winter or something.
Once the dinner was over, ShiWon helped his mother clean up the dishes and I was left in the living room with his father. Was this payback as well?
His father glared at me as if I was Satan himself (which was really saying something considering the family).
“Can… I help you sir?” I asked him, nervousness showing through as I stutter out Korean.
He glared at me in response. “No.”
“Then may I ask why you keep looking at me?” I asked as politely as possible.
“There’s just something about you I don’t like.” He replied coldly.
“May I ask why, sir?” I asked him curiously.
“Just… you don’t display anything I like.” He replied back.
I held back a scoff. “What don’t you like?” I replied angrily.
“You.” He replied honestly.
The rest of the time was silent.
------
Heading back to the SuJu dorms, I remained quiet.
“What is it?” ShiWon asked me.
“Your father’s a jerk.” I replied, still angry.
“Surely he’s not that bad?” ShiWon asked, worried.
“Your father hates me.”
“Yours’ hates me, we’re even.” ShiWon replied honestly.
“Fine…” I replied, my bad mood pretty much vanished from his simple words.
“So then I guess we’ll never be able to tell our parents?” ShiWon joked.
I laughed. “No, I get the feeling we won’t.”
“Hello?” I could hear on the other line.
“Omma… how are you?” ShiWon asked kindly. I could almost see his mother smiling on the other line.
“I’m fine, son, and you? They haven’t been overworking you have they?” She asked her son. ShiWon gave a small laugh before replying, “no”. I moved my hands anxiously as a signal to get him to ask, and he held up a hand to tell me to be patient.
“umm… Omma… I was hoping I could bring over a good friend of mine for dinner on Friday?” He asked her.
“Is it one of your band mates?”
“Ne.”
“Oooo~ Which one? No, don’t tell me, let it be a surprise. I want to see if I can figure out which one it is when I see them.” I held back a laugh. His mother sounded so full of energy. ShiWon smiled and added, “Alright… We’ll be there around 3:30 this Friday. Is that fine?” He clarified.
“Ne. It should be fine. I believe your father gets off early on Friday, so he’ll be able to join us as well.” ShiWon gave a small laugh and simply replied, “Great. See you then.” Before bidding goodbye to his mother and hanging up.
I looked at him confused. “Do you not want your father there?”
ShiWon shook his head, “That’s not it. It’s just he tends to ruin the party, you know?” He replied with a small laugh. I giggled and replied, “I know, my father’s the same way…”
“Don’t I know it…” ShiWon answered, rolling his eyes. I hit him playfully. “What does that mean?!” I asked him with a smile.
-------------------------
Friday came faster than I thought, and once ShiWon got back in the apartment at 1pm, I went over to him (ditching HeeChul as well as the game he was beating me in. By a lot.). “Is your house really that far away?” ShiWon thought a moment.
“It takes about an hour, maybe. But we take traffic into account; we might actually be a bit late.” He explained. I nodded.
“I’m ready to go when you are.” I told him. I had finished my activities an hour ago, and I took the extra time to change into some nicer (yet still casual) clothes.
ShiWon noticed. “You look nice.” He replied with a simple smile.
“Thank you.” I told him. Through a laugh, I explained, “I wasn’t sure how dressed up I should get, so I just put on some nicer clothing than what I was wearing.” ShiWon wrapped his arms around me (shirtless, because he was changing… Enter melting here) and whispered in my ear, “You look fine. Don’t worry, they’ll love you.”
“They’ll love me even though I’m an atheist and in love with their son?” I challenged. ShiWon laughed and rested his head on my shoulder.
“We won’t tell them those things.”
“And if they ask?” I smirked as ShiWon kept his head on my shoulder for a bit before going back to change.
“Does this mean I win?” I asked him teasingly.
“Let’s go.” He replied. I laughed as I let him lead me to his car.
------------
Once we got to his house, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The house was very… American styled. There was a big front yard with the nice porch, a soft glow of sun shining into the kitchen window. I thought I caught a glimpse of his mother working hard in the kitchen.
“Looks… wow… nice…” I replied. ShiWon blushed slightly.
“It’s…” He tried responding, making hand motions in hopes I could decipher those instead. I laughed and brought his hands down to his lap. “I don’t understand hand motions.” I teased, and he pouted at me.
“Come on, let’s go, I want to meet your mother.” I told him, dragging him out of the car.
As we were walking up the pathway, I noticed their mailbox. It was painted a pastel green color, as if to match the grass around it. I thought it was quaint. But then I noticed the writing on it.
“May God Bless you.”
What the hell did I get myself into? I caught up to ShiWon.
ShiWon already had fun teasing HeeChul about religion and stuff, but… I was going to the people that *made* ShiWon. I swallowed hard, finally noticing my excitement was probably really nervousness.
When his mother came to the door, she reminded me a lot of my own mother. Quaint and kind (probably didn’t help ShiWon and I were both over 6 feet tall… most people were short to us).
“Ah~ this must be the band member you were talking about. Hmm…” She surveyed me for a bit. “You don’t look like a native.” She told me. I couldn’t help but laugh nervously. “HanKyung! You’re the Chinese member.” She replied proudly, looking at her son for approval. ShiWon had a smile on his face as he nodded.
“Nice to meet you, Choi-sshi.” I told her with a bow. She let out a small gasp and gave me a hug. “You’re so sweet.” She told me. I laughed again. I like this lady.
“Please both of you come inside.” She told us, ushering us in.
“I see where the hand motions come from…” I teased.
“Shut up.” ShiWon retaliated, hitting me playfully. I laughed in response.
“Please, make yourself at home. ShiWon’s father should be here soon, and dinner should be ready by then.” She told me more so than her son. I nodded and sat on the couch. ShiWon joined me.
I thought a moment. “Wait… your father…” ShiWon looked up at me, eyebrows furrowed.
“Like… the same guy that saw you working and you quit the same day?” I asked him. ShiWon nodded.
“And you were afraid of my father?” I asked him incredulously. I added, “Your father sounds downright terrifying.”
ShiWon let out a small laugh. “He’s not. He’s just strict. The reason I quit so fast back then was because I had gone against my parents’ wishes and got a job. It’s against-“
“Your religion, right?” I interrupted him. He looked at me, as if wondering how I knew.
“You’re always spouting off the ten commandments. If I haven’t memorized them by now, there must be something wrong with me.” I complained. He let out a laugh. I added, teasingly more than anything, “”thou shall not disobey their father and mother,” Or something, right?”
ShiWon nodded. “Are you sure you’re not Christian?” He teased back. I hit him with a pillow.
And his father walked in. ‘Great,’ I thought, ‘his first impression of me contains hitting *his* son with *his* pillows…’ I leaned back, suddenly feigning shy.
ShiWon stood up. “Hello Father. It’s nice to see you again. Surely you heard that I was bringing a band mate with me to visit for dinner?” He told his father.
“I heard. Your mother’s been excited this whole week to get to see her son again. Stand up boy!” He suddenly demanded to me. I did so without making a sound.
“What’s your name?”
“HanKyung.” I replied.
“Why are you here?” He almost asked it rudely.
“Well… I took ShiWon on a trip with me to China a couple weeks ago, and in the process he met my family. I asked him to let me meet his family one day and… here we are.” I replied, thankful my Korean didn’t decide to fail. Not like I could remember exactly what I just said.
I swore ShiWon was smiling. Was this his way of getting revenge?
“Why would you do that? You’re just friends, aren’t you?” His father narrowed his eyes at me.
“Of course sir, but even friends meet the parents when two friends are close enough.” I told him.
“Enjoy your dinner then.” He scoffed at me. He then left, probably to change out of his work clothes.
ShiWon came over to me as I was regaining a heartbeat.
“hmm… He likes you. That’s awesome.” He told me. He sighed, “at least he didn’t ask your religion though…” He added.
“What would happen if he did?” I asked, curious.
“Depends.” ShiWon replied. “He’s gotten better at it, But I was once banned from seeing a girl because she identified herself as Agnostic.” I raised an eyebrow.
--------
During dinner, I was asked to perform a rather daunting task.
“HanKyung,” ShiWon’s father suddenly called, a big grin on his face, “Can you say prayer before we eat?”
Was this the religion question asked in a much more intimidating way? I think I would have preferred to just get asked what religion I was. I gave a nervous nod before getting an idea.
“If you don’t mind, I only know it in Chinese. Can I speak it in Chinese instead of Korean?” I asked. ShiWon nodded to give me the hint it would be okay-he was the only one in the family to know Chinese. I get the feeling he’d also be the only one to be saying a prayer in his mind as well.
After speaking random gibberish in my home language for a couple minutes, we began eating. ShiWon excused himself to the bathroom soon after the prayer was done, probably to get out all the laughter of me talking about chickens flying north for the winter or something.
Once the dinner was over, ShiWon helped his mother clean up the dishes and I was left in the living room with his father. Was this payback as well?
His father glared at me as if I was Satan himself (which was really saying something considering the family).
“Can… I help you sir?” I asked him, nervousness showing through as I stutter out Korean.
He glared at me in response. “No.”
“Then may I ask why you keep looking at me?” I asked as politely as possible.
“There’s just something about you I don’t like.” He replied coldly.
“May I ask why, sir?” I asked him curiously.
“Just… you don’t display anything I like.” He replied back.
I held back a scoff. “What don’t you like?” I replied angrily.
“You.” He replied honestly.
The rest of the time was silent.
------
Heading back to the SuJu dorms, I remained quiet.
“What is it?” ShiWon asked me.
“Your father’s a jerk.” I replied, still angry.
“Surely he’s not that bad?” ShiWon asked, worried.
“Your father hates me.”
“Yours’ hates me, we’re even.” ShiWon replied honestly.
“Fine…” I replied, my bad mood pretty much vanished from his simple words.
“So then I guess we’ll never be able to tell our parents?” ShiWon joked.
I laughed. “No, I get the feeling we won’t.”