Diem Kieu: I think you'll get the hang of it. :) If you ever get the chance, you should totally watch Goblin; it'll help this make a lot more sense. XD But if not that's not a bad thing; Goblin just happens to be the best-written, angsty, exciting, romantic fantasy since . . . well . . . anything. :D Maybe when I come back and edit I'll add funeral . . . DFTYA!
With Ajhussi's help, the funeral goes on well enough: we don't have any struggles with money at all. Omma and I cry frequently during the service, and she is sad for a long time afterwards. I miss Appa, but Ajhussi reminds us all to smile. Months pass from the funeral. Ajhussi still doesn't ask me to marry him, not yet. I start to grow worried.
He offers to pay for my college, and for Omma's apartment, but she refuses the latter. I accept his willingness to pay for me, though . . . but I'm sad because he makes no romantic move at all.
Omma is busy with my younger brother, Tae-shin, most of the time. I wish I could help her, but I have studies I need to finish; thankfully she understands. But she is so busy, and we spend so little time together, that the new year comes and goes without any recognition from her. Now she has to work, since Appa is gone. She gets a job at Chunwoo Group, for which I am grateful. But now when I come home and say I've arrived, there's no one I can say it to. The house is so empty.
But once, when I walk in there, I find Ajhussi on the other side. He smiles, although he looks a little confused.
"How did you get in?" I ask, happy to see him but sad at how alone I feel all the time now. I only see him once every week or so, as though he doesn't care as much as he used to, or as though he's happy enough to have me back and doesn't want to get married again.
Ajhussi glances back at my bedroom door. "I meant to go to the Jeosang-saja's teahouse and ended up here. Then I couldn't get back out." He shook his head. "But I came to get you. A long time ago you told me about today."
My brow furrows. "What is today?"
"The New Year!" Ajhussi exclaims, reaching for my hand. He smiles and nods to the door; I'm excited to see him this way, unusually occupied as he acted so long ago. He leads me out my door. "Where do you want to go? You'll be an adult in a few hours."
I ponder the idea of drinking again . . . and chances are soju won't taste so bad as it did the first time.
"What do you want to do?" I ask.
He looks startled, but then he glances outside. The sun is setting. "Let's go on a trip," he says. "I haven't seen you enough lately, and I have something I need to tell you."
He doesn't open any doors, although I think he's trying to: he looks confused now, as they aren't working, but he does have his car with him. He already has wine glasses in the back, and I can smell steak. I haven't eaten steak with him since he came back; he always came to eat with my family, but now it's just the two of us.
"How is Omma getting on?" I ask. He drives out of Seoul, up towards an old hill.
He doesn't respond for a moment. "She is a hard worker," he says. "And she loves her work. But I see sadness in her all the time." He glances back at me. "How long do you think it will be before she stops mourning?"
I frown at him. "Well, how long did you take before the rainy season stopped? Omma has only been without Appa for a few months!"
He waffles for a moment, shrugs. "I didn't take too long, as you told me not to. But I suppose mortals mourn longer; I have gotten used to it, after all."
"You say that all the time," I say. "But I think you missed me."
He doesn't answer; he pulls up to a stone temple. My eyes widen when I see my name inside the open building, written in thick ink on a tablet heading a candle. Ajhussi opens the door for me, and when I step out he leads me to a room off to the side, with a set of three couches and a thousand candles.
The candles get me thinking.
"Ajhussi, can I still summon you?"
He shrugs. "You are a Special Case, aren't you?"
I shake my head. "You said I'm a Special Case. I just have the birthmark because you did something to me; I can't see ghosts right now. I recognized a Grim Reaper because I know how to do it, but I can't see them with their hats. Do you think I can summon you?"
He lifts my hair and glances at my birthmark. "It's a character this time," he says. "'Trial.'"
I stiffen. "What does it mean by 'trial'?"
Ajhussi turns away and sets down his sacks of food. "I don't know," he says. "You have it, so even if you can't see ghosts you can probably summon me." He squeezes my shoulders and presses a kiss to my forehead. "You are the Goblin's Bride, after all."
I smile in spite of myself. "Ajhussi, did you bring soju?"
He scoffs. "It isn't midnight yet; you can't drink it." Then he glances at the pile of sacks. "I brought something much better. Come sit down."
He cooks steak outside; while chicken gizzards at a food cart still would have been good enough, I asked what he wanted to do, and now we're doing it. We don't talk much as he cooks, but I don't need it: it's enough to have him there.
After we eat, I sit quietly in his arms. I'm tired . . . but I'm almost an adult for the second time. He checks his watch periodically, as though waiting more than I am for the new year. The hours tick by . . . I fall asleep where I am a few times, but I can't stay asleep for long, waiting for what he has to say.
"Ji Eun Tak," he says finally. "It is midnight now." He braces my face upward, and the light of the candles around us flickers in his eyes like the stars I've never dared to count. "Will you be the Goblin's Bride again? And not just for this lifetime . . . but every lifetime after?"
"You just don't want to ask two more times," I say. But then I smile. He still looks so sad deep down, but there's happiness with it somehow. I reach forward and plant my lips on his, only to be drawn into a lengthy, hopeful kiss; he's so warm, and in spite of how harsh he can be at times, he is only the gentlest of beings right now. His fingers frame my face as they always do, and I indulge in the feeling of them.
Finally he pulls away, but only enough to dot kisses along my jaw, slowly and methodically. I embrace him and lean my head on his shoulder.
"Ji Eun Tak?"
"Yes?"
"You haven't said you will yet," he reminds me.
I chuckle. "Of course I will." I rub his back, squeezing him close to me. My fingers travel up his neck into his hair; it drifts through my hands, escaping my grasp as I move.
He breathes a gentle sigh against me. "Tonight? Right here?"
I smack his shoulder. "Ajhussi! I can't yet! I have to tell Omma, and get a dress. Besides, even a Dokkaebi needs authority from somewhere; you need the holy water first."
"I already talked to In-na. Your wedding dress is still in my room, and the holy water is not hard to find." He pulls away from me and squares my shoulders. "Will you do it tonight? I'm serious about this."
I shake my head. "No. I have to say goodbye to Omma, even if you did tell her. At least wait until this weekend; I still have to get to classes later this week, you know."
His brow furrows, and he looks ready to protest. I shake my head. "Ajhussi, if you rush it too much, the magic goes away." I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss his cheek. "This weekend. We'll do it this weekend, Ajhussi. Saturday evening; then we can have Sunday together."
Ajhussi finally subjects to what I have to say. But I fall asleep too quickly; by the time I wake up I'm home. Omma is already at work; it's late in the day.
"Happy new year," I whisper, thinking of Ajhussi. Then my gaze turns to my window, and my eyes widen. I scramble to my bedside and glance down, disbelieving, at the sidewalk. "Mr. Reaper?! Boss?!"
Last short chapter, I promise. But sadly there will be no updates this Saturday. :( I will be in Wisconsin for an academic competition . . . and there will be no updates the first two weeks of May either. I will be in Couer d'Laine for an orchestra competition and then a writers' conference in Provo on those weekends. Happy reading, and thanks for all the support! :)
