Koi No Yokan

Explore Jeju

Hyewon's POV:

It was the following morning, I woke up early and watched Minju as she slept comfortably. I ordered Room Service again for Breakfast. I was already sitting at the coffee table, waiting for our food orders to be served. We had a great first night last night, albeit tired from traveling, we still sat down for Seafood Dinner and watched a K-Movie called Sunjeong or Pure Love a romantic movie might I add. She picked that movie to watch. She was still sound asleep, it was only five in the morning. We usually start at six and we have to wake up like two to three hours early if we wanted to get breakfast, we usually walk a few blocks down from the dorm to eat breakfast, because ever since our dorm parents left, we haven't had time to really make our meals. Aside of course from our lack of confidence in cooking our own meals. I can now make myself a meatball pasta or as Haneul Appa calls it Spaghetti di Polpette which translates to Spaghetti Meatballs, she makes her meat balls tiny not like the giant ones from restaurants.

According to her Papa, Italians call their Fathers Papa. Her Papa taught her that Spaghetti Meatballs are actually tiny meat balls, not giant ones. She makes them cutely too, because of the size of those tiny meatballs, rolled by hand. She loved making things by hand, just like her paternal Haelmoni, who according to Seri Eomma was the sweetest Haelmoni with the way she prepares food for a brood of eight sons and daughters, her grandchildren were a total of ten, two of them already dead, one was murdered and the other was in a Concert Bombing. Her Haelmoni was a silent woman whose love language was to ensure she made meals for her Children. She personally put time and effort to prepare the kids their meals. Snacks were also made from scratch, often Rice Cakes called Biko, Palitaw and Sapin-Sapin, according to Haneul Appa her Lola or Haelmoni makes delicious Rice Cakes, it was one of the things she loved being in the Philippines.

Her Lola's cooking according to her could mobilize a thousand ships at war. I would witness it on occassions where we spent Christmases over there. We will spend time in the Philippines for the rest of our time here on Earth. We always visited on Summers and Christmases. Ever since the sixth year of Haneul Appa's Death Anniversary. Even as we married and had our own kids, these visits were always a constant. We always found time to visit Haneul Appa and her family, we became an extended family, her Papa and Eomma became my kids' Grandparents, they were treated with so much love, like they were Haneul Appa's kids. They are treated especially to wonderful birthdays, because their Birthdays were all December 24th to 29th. All five of my kids are born on December, all five had an affinity with the Christmases we've spent in San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines.

Filipinos could throw a party and really have fun, it was always a ruckus at their ancestral house. They all loved to sing and laugh and be merry. My kids especially loved their Haelmoni Taeyeon and Harabeoji Skyler. I was brought out of my reverie when the door bell rang, I opened the door and ushered in the hotel staff and instructed him to place the food on top of the center table in the living room. He bowed reverently at me and proceeded to place the food on the table. After he left, I closed the door and locked them back. I entered our shared room and found her nowhere in bed, she's probably in the bathroom.

"Min, food's here, come and eat with me!" I called out to her.

"Okay, Oppa! Just brushing my teeth." She replied.

"Okay, Min!" I replied to her.

I went back to the living room and sat on the carpeted floor. My back against the couch. I watched the sun rise through the window. The sun's majestic rays shined at the distance, over the sea. It has been three years and a month since Seri Eomma and Haneul Appa left us, three years of seemingly drowning in a pool of water. That's how it feels and honestly I was better now this third year. I've learned that it was okay if I felt like drowning, it was okay to let myself be submerged in the water and it was okay to slowly heal and recover from the loss, I never truly lost both dorm parents, because I still see them in my dreams. They still come to me whenever I am having a hard time in training or I miss the both of them. Both of them were also around when I am awake, both whispers to me. Both have been very vocal to me, expressing how sorry they are for leaving us. Seri Eomma particularly was just crying in those dreams. I always held Seri Eomma in a hug in those dreams and I whisper words of comfort to her, which causes her to cry even more.