Stay With Us

We get off the plane in Orlando. The flight felt like forever compared to the hour one we took to meet his parents. We got our things off the corral then walked to the entrance to find my mom. Jimin had our bags even though I had insisted I could take mine. I start looking around trying to find her.

“Maranda!” I turn around seeing my mom standing a few yards away from us.

“Mom!” I yelled back taking Jimin’s hand then hurrying over to her giving her a hug. “Mom this is Jimin.” I introduce.

“Hi it’s good to meet you.” She says hugging him.

“It’s good to meet you too.” He says nervously then bowing once she releases him.

We head to the car putting our bags in the trunk. This time I was able to point things out for him to notice as we drove through the city. He hung onto my every word taking it all in. I pointed out my old school, the studio that I went to for dance, everything. We got to the house and I noticed Dad’s car wasn’t in the driveway.

“Mom where’s Appa?” I asked her as we got out of the car.

“He had to work late. He’ll be home for dinner though.”

We walk into the house and I am instantly greeted by my dog. “Moppsie!” I yell picking her up. She started licking my face making me laugh. “Oh I know! I missed you too!” She started making her growl noises clearly upset at how long I had been gone. I put her down and she starts running around the house. “Mom. Where should we put our things?”

“What do you mean? Your room.” She says confused.

“We weren’t sure about Appa.” I said insinuating he may not be happy with us sleeping together.

“I told you. Don’t worry about him. Go put your things away.” She says smiling at me.

We do as instructed and take the bags to my room. Jimin excuses himself to the bathroom while I go to talk to my mom.

“So did you tell him everything?” I ask when I find her in the kitchen.

She looks over at me with a reassuring smile. “I did. He took it well.” She goes back to chopping the vegetables.

“What did he say? Was he mad?” I ask hopping onto the counter.

“Well he wasn’t happy. But he understands what it is like to be your ages.” She puts the vegetables into a pot then turns back to me. “He just worries. You know that.”

“I know.” I say picking up a piece of carrot. “Jimin is just worried he is going to hate him.”

“He doesn’t hate him.” She says smiling at me. “He may be a little rough but it’s only because he loves you.” She starts to lightly laugh. “He would react the same to any other guy.”

“He is just worried about us keeping it a secret for so long and how Tae found out about us.”

“Yeah that wasn’t the best way.” She says rolling her eyes. “As long as he makes you happy and treats you well I don’t see your father disliking him.” Her face then turns serious. “Now get off my counter.”

I hop down as Jimin walks in the room. I could tell by the look on his face he heard our conversation. The two of us go into the living room to watch TV. I was lying on the couch with my legs across his and Moppsie on my stomach when Dad walked into the house.

“Appa!” I yelled jumping up to hug him.

“Hey, ttal.” He says kissing my forehead. He looks over seeing Jimin stand from the couch and his face drops slightly.

Jimin’s POV

I saw the look on his face drop when we made eye contact which made me feel even more nervous than I had been.

“Appa, this is Jimin.” Maranda says bringing him over to me.

I bow to him. “Mannaseo bangawoyo.” (Nice to meet you sir.) I started getting even more nervous when he didn’t say anything in return.

I see Maranda slightly nudge him before walking over to stand by me. He inhales deeply.

“You too.” He then walks off to a room down the hall.

Maranda’s mom Rebecca then poked her head out of the kitchen at us. “Did that just happen?” She asked.

“Yes. Mom?” Maranda said gesturing to the room.

“I’m going.” She says leaving us to go talk to him.

“I told you he was going to hate me.” I say turning to Maranda whispering.

“He doesn’t hate you. He is just rough around the edges. Just don’t let it bother you and be yourself. He’ll warm up to you I promise.” She leans up kissing my cheek.

A few moments later Rebecca walks back into the room. “You guys ready to eat?”

“Starving.” Maranda says to her.

Most of dinner is quiet. I spoke up at one point to complement the food. “Mrs. Kim all of the food is really good. It tastes a lot like my mom’s cooking.”

“Thank you, Dear! You don’t have to call me that though. Mom or Rebecca is perfect.” She says smiling at me.

We go back to the silence for a few more moments. “How is work Appa?” Maranda asks him.

“Work is fine.” He says before going back to his food. I notice Rebecca move slightly. Mr. Kim then looks over at her. She must have done something under the table. She then gestures to us. He breathes in then sets down his chopsticks. “So Jimin is it?” He asks looking at me.

“Yes sir.” I say sitting up straight.

He leans on the table putting his hands together trying to thank of something to say. “You are a band mate of my nephews?”

“Yes sir.”

“What do you do?”

“Lead vocalist and main dancer sir.”

“Don’t call me sir.”

“Yes sir. Umm. Sorry.” I can feel myself failing this test slowly. Maranda then puts one of her hands on mine under the table for reassurance.

“How did you two start dating?” He asks switching to a more important question.

I wasn’t sure how to answer. There were a few different answers but none of them were good. It was either our makeshift date the day she got there, getting drunk at a club, or kissing her after dancing. I decided to just edit the dancing option.

“We were practicing dances at the dorm and we told each other how we felt.” I had no idea if that was the right answer but it was the best one I could think of.

“What was your fist date?”

This was another question that had multiple answers. “After we both got off work we rented a movie and ordered Chinese takeout.”

“Hmm. What movie?”

“Tazza 2: The Hidden Card.”

He slightly laughed at that answer. I slowly started feeling better.

“Some things never change do they Maranda?” He asked looking over at her.

She smiled over at him giving my hand a squeeze. He must have liked that answer.

He then directs his attention back to me. “So you got her a puppy?”

I noticed Moppsie looked up from the couch at us hearing that. I couldn’t help but slightly smile. “Yes a German Shepherd.”

“He is so cute!” Maranda interrupted. “I named him Begae.”

“I got him so she wouldn’t be alone at the dorm anymore. And so she can have protection when he is older.” I explained. “I sometimes work long hours and it worries me.” I feel Maranda squeeze my hand again.

“Well I would hope someone would take better precautions after what happened.” He says leaning back crossing his arms. “How old is this puppy? Is he being trained?”

“He’s only 12 weeks right now. But he starts his guard training in a week.” I tell him. “Maranda will drop him off on her way to work and pick him up on her way home. Unless I go in after her or get home before her. By 4 months he will be full protection trained.” I hadn’t told Maranda that yet so I glanced over to see the look on her face. She seemed more surprised than anything.

“Good. Maranda you look surprised.” He says to her.

“I didn’t know about that yet. Probably because he knew I would object.” She says staying calm about it but gives me a look saying we will talk about this later.

“Well I can appreciate his initiative.” He then turns to Rebecca. “Dinner was great.” He says standing up and kissing her cheek. “Maranda. May I see you in my office?” He says walking away before she can respond.

She quickly stands up to follow him.

Maranda’s POV

I quickly followed him into the office shutting the door behind me.

“Maranda. I need to know what you see in him.” He says to me sitting down but the harsh tone he was using with Jimin was gone and in its place was his normal sweet one.

“Appa, he really is good to me. He takes care of me, makes me laugh, he is so sweet. He wouldn’t do anything to upset me.” I say sitting in the other chair. “He really does love me.”

He pauses for a moment before saying anything else. “How serious are you about him?”

“Very. I love him too.” I say smiling. “I couldn’t ask for a more understanding person.”

“Has he pressured you into anything you didn’t want to do?”

“No!” I say shocked. “Appa, he lets me take the lead on things. And anytime there is something I don’t want to do he doesn’t force me or try to get me to change my mind. If he did I would tell Tae or you.” I say reassuringly.

He doesn’t say anything after that.

“So?” I ask him. “Do you like him?” I start smiling.

He rolls his eyes at me then smiles. “You could have picked worse.” He finally says.

I stand up and walk over giving him a hug. “Thanks Appa.”

I walk out of the office and go back into the living room. Jimin and my mom are both sitting on the couch watching TV but immediately look at me when I walk in the room.

“You pass!” I say excitedly in a whisper.

Jimin however couldn’t contain his excitement and jumped off the couch running over to me to give me a hug spinning me in the air. My mom and I started laughing at him.

“I’m tired.” I say to both of them. “You ready for bed?”

“Sure.” He says releasing me. “Good night, Mrs. Umm. I mean Rebecca.”

“Night Mom.”

“Sleep well kids.” She says as we leave the room.

Notes