She was a mystery, but I would follow her everywhere just so I could be in her presence. So I could see her eyes light up every time she did something she loved. And how much I wished she looked at me in the same way as she looked at every opportuni...
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“Do you really have to go?” I whispered burying my head in the crook of her neck, where her pulse beat steadily and her skin smelled like jasmine.
My girlfriend.
Amaryllis sighed, “I'm afraid so. It is my grandfather's sixty-first birthday. That's a big deal for us.”
“So? He will be sixty-two next year that doesn't mean that you have to travel back to North Korea to celebrate with him,” I whined knowing I was acting childishly but I was unwilling to let her leave for two weeks.
“Harry,” she scolded, “In Korea some of the most important dates in someone's life are; your 100th day of life, your marriage and your sixtieth birthday by the Korean count of the lunar year or sixty-first birthday by your count. We call it hwangap.”
“Tell me more,” I requested, loving it when she talked and shared things about her Korean side. I lay on my stomach on top of her bed with my hands tucked underneath my chin as Amaryllis got up to get her suitcase ready. She looked over at me with an unmistakeably proud look on her face.
“This birthday is special because it takes sixty years for the Korean zodiac animal and the element under which someone is born to align, so in a way it's the end of a sixty-year cycle and the beginning of another one. Also, in the olden days, without modern medicine it was uncommon for someone to live so long and for that reason, when they did the whole family would get together to celebrate and pay their respects. That is why I have to go and of course a big feast is involved. Plus I haven't seen my grandparents and great-grandparents in so long,” she explained with a smile while folding clothes.
“Wait. Your great-grandparents are still alive?” I asked surprised. I only had a grandmother from my mum's side while both of my mother's parents were alive, we'd never had a good relationship with them because they didn't approve of their life choices so we hardly ever heard from them. I always envied those who were close to their grandparents while I, on the other hand, only received an envelope with a small amount of money from them.
“I just told you that my grandfather is turning sixty-one, why wouldn't they be alive? They are a traditional Korean family who like to keep most of the customs alive and that also means they get married young,” Amaryllis laughed. She came on the bed and lay next to me turning to look me in the eyes. I rolled on my back as well – hair messy by doing so while I never lost my smile and I took her hand in mine.
“My great-grandfather got married at twenty-three – I believe it was arranged but he respects my great-grandma even though they mostly act like best friends do. My grandpa had my appa at the tender age of seventeen – he was madly in love and I think you can still see it. He had influenced dad and told him to marry only when he had found the right one so that was how I came to be. My dad couldn't wait until he finished university to marry my mum. So in the end I was delivered in a hospital room while they were both twenty after they fell deeply in love during their studies in England,” she told me shutting her eyes. I caressed her cheek with my free arm and leaned forwards to peck her nose.
