Taehyung
"I know, but it's not like Yiseo's gonna marry him or something," I said as I put my cup of coffee on the table.
"But who knows? Maybe he's the one for her."
"Well, if he is then it's gonna be another matter in the future. Right now he's just a crush to her."
"Yiseo's an innocent kid, Tae. What if this Namgyu guy is a bad influence to her?"
I chuckled at Jimin's overprotectiveness toward my kid. "Yah, she's my daughter. Why are you the one who's worried?"
"Because I have a son, Tae. I have a kid who went through the rebel teen phase and befriended naughty kids. Trust me, I know how bad teen boys can be sometimes," he said. "And we ourselves have also been to high school and met with a bunch of naughty kids. Why are you acting like you've never been a teen before?"
"Okay, fine. I'm gonna pay more attention to them and watch more closely to whatever they're doing," I said.
"That's the spirit."
As we were just chatting and talking more about our kids, someone we knew walked into the cafe and went to the cashier to order something.
Jimin didn't see the woman as he was back-facing her, but I got a clear vision of who the woman was.
"Hey, isn't that your ex-wife?"
He widened his eyes and turned around. "Mijoo?"
Jimin looked at me as I looked at him as if we knew that we were questioning the same thing. Should we say hi?
Before we could get the answer, Mijoo saw us and called us from the cashier. "Taehyung! Jimin!"
We awkwardly turned to her and waved our hands. She smiled brightly, then she brought her coffee to our table. "Hi guys! Long time no see."
I saw Jimin shifting his seat awkwardly, so I had to be the one continuing the conversation. "Hey, Mijoo. How are you?"
"I'm really good, how about you guys?"
"We're good too," I said. "You should sit with us, if you don't have anything going on right now."
"Oh, I'm free right now," she said as she took a seat. "So, what are you guys talking about?"
"We were just talking about Yiseo and her crush."
"Ah, Yiseo. Wow, it's been so long since the last time I saw her," she said. "How is she?"
"She's good. She's currently in a camp right now to help boost her college application," I said. "Last night she called me about how nervous she was because her crush is also there with her."
"Aw, that's so cute."
"It's not cute!" Jimin decided to speak up. "What if this guy is a bad influence to Yiseo? What if he's the reason on why she couldn't get into Harvard? What if-"
"I've met this Namgyu guy, Jimin," I said. "I know he's a good kid."
"Yeah, but do you know how he acts when he's not in public? How he acts around girls? How he-"
"Oh thank God I don't have a daughter," Mijoo said. "Jimin would terrify her to death."
"Yah, why is it my fault now? I'm just looking after our girl Yiseo. She's an innocent 17 years old kid."
"God, I can't imagine you having a girl," I said while chuckling. "You would definitely be those kinds of dads who spoil their daughters and protect them from everything."
"Isn't that what a father should do? Especially if you have a daughter."
"I mean yeah, but you should also be aware that it's their life. You should give them more freedom and let them make mistakes, so they could grow up and learn from their bad decisions in order to know better what they should and shouldn't do," I said. "But that's my parenting style. Maybe yours is different than mine, but Jihae would totally agree with me."
As soon as I mentioned Jihae, I saw the gloomy look on Mijoo's face. Yeah, after her funeral, none of us mentioned her name or brought up anything related to her, except if Jimin and I were together. Maybe because we were too busy taking care of Yiseo when she was still a baby, but that was the first time I mentioned her name in front of Mijoo.
"Must be tough without Jihae, mustn't it?" she said. "Growing up without a mom, I couldn't possibly imagine what Yiseo felt."
"It's hard, but I have you guys."
"Yeah, but the three of us have our own lives now," she said. "Jihae was probably the rock and the core of our group. Ever since she passed away, we only had one more chance to be together and that was when Yiseo was born. After she grew up, we'd gotten loose and eventually separated."
It was probably a few minutes that the three of us didn't say anything. We all loved Jihae as much as she loved us. Without her, everything fell apart.
"Alright, enough with the sadness," Jimin said after a while. "Sure, we've separated and lived our own lives, but we're still happy, aren't we? I've been remarried, Mijoo has gotten really successful with her career, and Taehyung lives happily with her daughter, not to mention he's seeing another person now."
"Ooh, who is she?"
I chuckled. "Yah, Jimin. Why did you say it like that?"
"Because you are!"
"Come on, tell me! Who is she?"
"Her name is Ogawa Aiko," I said. "But we're not into anything serious. We're just hanging out casually."
"Ogawa Aiko? Isn't that like... a Japanese name?"
"She's Japanese."
Mijoo's expression was quite indescribable as soon as I said that. She looked like she wanted to tease, but also worried, but also playfully smirk.
"I know what you're thinking," Jimin said. "She's nothing like her, alright."
"Well, we don't know, right?" she said. "History can repeat itself."
"Believe me, she's a friend of Hyemin's. She's really nice and easygoing. You'll love her!"
"Well, how does she know Hyemin?"
"She works in the same industry as her."
"And who else works with Hyemin's industry?"
Jimin wanted to argue back but he pouted instead. I just chuckled while seeing them argue like little kids. "I don't think she's like her. And even if she is, it's not like I have a girlfriend other than her."
"Well maybe you have a Kaori to your Aiko."
"Wow, Mijoo must really hate you, Tae," Jimin said as he bursted into laughter.
"Yah, yah. Are we really going to have another argument about this?"
Mijoo laughed at how serious I took her words. "Calm down, I'm just joking. Let's meet up again soon and next time you should bring Aiko!"
"Yeah, yeah. Sure."
"Alright, guys. I'll be going now," she said as she stood up and picked up her bag before she left.
