Don't have much to say besides that I had a lot of fun writing this and parts that will follow with the Yoo family.
A traditional hanbok house, where her parents lived exuded a country charm. Choi Young immediately felt better seeing that it was a regular one story building. "I like this structure." He expertly measured up the sturdy wooden beams from which the house was constructed. A step to leave the shoes ran along the perimeter and 3 sets of doors led inside different parts of the house.
"Is someone chopping wood?" Choi Young's trained ears recognized a distinct sound, "It's coming from the back."
Eun Soo grabbed her companion and hurried around the house to the backyard where a sturdy tanned man was hacking at the thick wood chunks.
"Oppa!" Een Soo ran up to him with the eyes full of terror. "You are sick, are you trying to kill yourself?"
"My daughter!" the man slammed the axe into a thick tree stump, which he used as a base for chopping firewood. Smiling and excited he grabbed his little girl into his large arms and kissed her. "What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here? What are you doing here? Mom said you were sick, in bed and could not even talk to me this morning!"
He laughed wholeheartedly, "Don't you know the old woman by now, it was a cheap trick to lure you in, the bate worked."
"Aish", frustrated Eun Soo hit her father's chest with a small fist. "Health is not something to joke about. How could you let her do this to me?"
"I'm a victim of her schemes myself. How do you think we got married? She lied to me about being pregnant, so I proposed, then oops, false alarm. And now, 40 years later, I'm still a fish caught in her net."
"Oppa, I don't want to hear these crazy stories. I'm just glad you are OK. Just in case, I brought with me a stethoscope, I'll listen to your heart and lungs. Let's go inside."
An incidental observer, Choi Young respectfully kept his distance amused by the shenanigans of the Yoo family. He already loved her father, and he was sure he was going to love her mother, too. Now, he just needed to present his best face so that they let him continue staying by their daughter's side. It was his little scheme that he started methodically plotting ever since he invited himself for the trip this morning. He wanted to ingratiate himself with the parents of his woman, even if this reality seemed more like a fantasy, he wanted to live it to the fullest.
Mr. Yoo noticed a tall handsome man standing on the side, watching them quietly.
"Is he your stocker? Why isn't he coming over, and just staring at us?"
"A stocker?" she made big eyes, which twinkled with mischief. "Me? Who would want to stock me? I'm not a celebrity, I'm just a doctor."
"My beautiful doctor must have a lot of suitors, that's why you are taking so long to pick one. So should I whack him or let him in the house?"
"Choi Young-shi, my dad is ready to meet you."
Choi Young nervously checked his clothes, pulling at the corner of his coat and wishing that he would have an armor to hide behind, feeling suddenly naked to be a civilian. I served kings, how bad can this be?
He bravely stepped forward and announced, "My name is Choi Young, Abonim," and bended in half for a low bow, a sure sign of respect. Still in this position, he was waiting for the elder to direct him to rise, but Mr. Yoo was in no rush. As if Choi Young was not even there, he turned to Eun Soo and whispered very loudly to her "Why is he calling me Abonim? Is he proposing?" She responded in the same loud whisper, as if they were talking in some special family code, "No, Dad, he is just a very polite and respectful man. He comes from a very old fashioned family. He is just a patient that I'm helping. I'll tell you all about it later."
Choi Young's ribs were killing him, he contained the groans, fighting through the pain, still bending over.
"Oppa, please, he is injured, you are hurting him," and she kicked her dad lightly in the shin. "Tell him to get up, pleaaaasee".
"You may rise or whatever, just don't bow any more", grumbled Mr. Yoo.
Choi Young slowly, lifted up, holding his ribcage and swearing in his head at the strange family customs of this even stranger woman he could not imagine his life without. His face reflected an attempt to hide pain, and Eun Soo knowingly rushed to his aid, tenderly looking at his face and holding him up at the elbow.
"I'm sorry, my dad doesn't know when to stop." "He thinks everything is joke," she said loudly, in a feeble attempt to force her dad into apologizing.
Her father frowned, "if he is not proposing, he is at least trying."
"Oma," he called in powerful voice, "come meet your daughter's boyfriend."
"Oppa, I told you, he is not!"
"Of course not, that's why you look at him like this. Never seen this look on your face before."
"What look? Of course, I'm concerned because he is in pain. I told you he is my patient."
"You never brought a patient home before. You never brought a man home before. You can stop with your fairytales, if he is not your boyfriend than I don't know my own daughter."
Eun Soo's carefully developed plan was collapsing with a single blow like a house of cards. She did not count on the fact that her feelings for Choi Young were too big to hide behind a fake façade and it was probably written all over her face how much he meant to her. Should she continue the charade or tell them the truth? What kind of truth would that be?