Palace to Plunder (AMBW)

5 DDU

"Eomma!" Joon rushed into their bedroom, stopping me in my tracks. "Look! Look!" He shoved a picture that he drew in my face.

"Hold on, Joon." I pulled up Jiyun's new diaper and strolled past him into their bathroom and washed my hands. Once I dried them, I took his artwork and smiled.

My son was very artistic and good at drawing. It was a coloring of our family, all four of us. "This is amazing!" I stroked his curly brown hair. "When did you do this?"

"After school." He grinned and took the photo out of my hands. He rushed out and Jiyun ran after him, calling his name because she wanted to play. I left the bathroom and strolled towards the living room, but stopped when I saw someone I wasn't expecting.

"Qi Tai?" I gasped, "You're home early."

"Mhmm.." He hummed and unbuttoned his shirt a little. He fiddled in his bag and raised his head to me. "I know that we talked about this before.." He started, "but I went ahead and made a decision."

"Huh?" I tilted my head and walked over to see what he was searching for in his bag. He pulled out 4 strips of paper. "What are those?"

"Flight tickets." He wiggled his eyebrows at me with a smug look.

"You didn't." I snapped at him. A few weeks ago, he told me he wanted to go to America with the entire family, but I told him we should wait. "Levi, I told you to wait until we thought this through more!"

"I know.." He lowered the tickets. "But I don't want to leave you in Korea for a month. You still don't even speak the language."

"I'm learning." I interjected.

"You're still not fluent." He shot back. "Anything could go wrong while I'm not here."

"Jiyun doesn't even have a passport!"

"Already got one." He smiled and pulled out a small booklet from his bag. "Paid for it before I bought the tickets."

"I..." I raised a hand to my forehead and let out an exhale I've been keeping in. "I can't believe you." I plopped onto the couch, truly at a loss for words. It pissed me off whenever he went off to make decisions like this, knowing about how stressed out I was about making them.

"Are you mad at me?" He sat beside me and swooped in for a kiss, but I leaned away.

"Of course I am!" I sneered at him and nudged him away from me. "Oh god.. I have to call my Mom. When do we leave?" I took the flight tickets out of his hand to see the date and time.

My heart almost dropped. He reserved them for the day after tomorrow. "We only have one day left to pack!" I groaned. "And what are we going to say to Joon's school?"

"I already took care of that, and enrolled him into a class in America to make up for his studies." He crossed his arms.

"You do know that he still has trouble reading in English, right?" I huffed. "He reads Korean very well, but English is challenging. He hasn't been back in so long."

"Have faith in me, Char." He kissed my cheek.

"I hate you sometimes," I grumbled.

"Want some Ramyeon?" He smirked and pulled me closer.

"Not the time, Qi Tai."

~

"Hold your sister's hand, Joon." I looked at our boarding pass and searched around the airport for our destination. Joon grabbed Jiyun's hand and pulled her closer, following after me as we walked around the airport. Qi Tai was still at the TSA section, checking in our bags. Once he finished, he jogged over to me.

"I haven't been here in so long, I don't know where to go." I sighed. Qi Tai grabbed Joon's hand and picked up Jiyun using his other.

"I know where, let's go."

After 20 minutes of walking through, we finally found where we were supposed to board our flight. I sat down next to Joon, and Qi Tai sat in front of us with Jiyun in his lap.

"And you thought this would be stressful." He snorted. I narrowed my eyes at him, waiting for Jiyun to start her theatrics so the smug look on his face would disappear. And start, she did. She started whining about food and wanting to go pee.

"Jiyun, you didn't use it before we left?" Qi Tai groaned.

"But have to go again." She frowned, and hopped off his lap, before bolting in another direction. Qi Tai swore and ran after her. I laughed as he called out to her in Korean, trying to catch up to her.

They eventually came back, and the look on Qi Tai's face was not a happy one. He placed Jiyun on the seat next to him and sat, slouching in his seat when he did.

"You're not stressed, are you?" I scoffed at him. He put on his hoodie and crossed his arms in response.

We waited for about 45 minutes before we were called to board. Jiyun was fast asleep, so Qi Tai lifted her into his arms, and I grabbed Joon's hand and we all went off to board the plane.