Over a glass of soju

Candies

Candies

Seri was very excited for the upcoming Halloween. After all, this is the first one her son is big enough to enjoy. And she had the perfect costume for their little family in mind. Last year they dressed up as the incredibles, with Jin Hyeok dressed up as Jack Jack. So she started preparations a month before. She went in her son's room expecting her boys to be almost ready. It was with great disappointment that she sees her son wearing a suit.

"Yeobo, what is he wearing?"

"He doesn't want to wear the costume jagi."

"Baby, i thought you wanted to go trick or treating. You need to wear a costume to go."

"Mommy, I still wear costume."

"A suit is not a costume. It's normal clothes, she said a little exasperated."

"Jagi, you should ask him who he is."

"Okay...", she said rolling her eyes. "Who are you today baby love?"

"I'm daddy."

And with that her disappointment disappears and she pouted and looked at Jeong Hyeok as if asking him to rescue her out of her dilemma.

"So we'll be mommy's bodyguards tonight. Mommy's going to get all dolled up like a movie star and we'll protect her. Sounds like a plan my mini me?"

Jin Hyeok nodded.

Jin Hyeok ended up getting a mountain of candy. Making sure that their child does not consume too much candy, the parents decided that they will let him pick a few favourites and ones that he really want to keep and the rest will be given away. This is the reason there is a giant pile of candy on their kitchen counter. Jin Hyeok was halfway through sorting his Halloween loot with his eomma when he heard his appa arrive.

"Careful baby," she yelled as she looks at the candies and chocolate bars. She spotted a mini pack of sour fuzzy peach gummies and made sure to put all the gummies in her mouth before her son comes back. She doesn't want him eating candies before dinner and she's not really setting a good example.

Jeong Hyeok came to the kitchen, he took her in his arm and gave her kiss.

"Mmmm...that taste good," he said as he licked his lips.

"Where's our son?"

"Nanny Mi Kyung is with him. He had to go to the washroom."

He kissed her again, licking her lips in the process.

"Mmmmm," he said.

She smiled, a mischievous thought came to mind. Would you like to try the candy?

"I thought I already did."

She stuck one of the gummies out of her mouth and Jeong Hyeok took the exposed portion in his, kissing her in the processes. Jeong Hyeok deepened the kiss and Seri reciprocated. They didn't know for how long they were kissing, but their son approached the kitchen yelling "appa", nanny Mi Kyung behind him.

The two broke apart not to get caught and Jeong Hyeok accidentally swallowed the remains of the gummy, choking. Seri helped him with some water and patted his back.

"Appa okay?"

"He'll be okay baby. Go sort your candy and appa and eomma will help you in a minute."

Jing Hyeok followed his mother and resumed picking out the sweets he likes. He was looking for a particular one, he remembered seeing it before he greeted his appa. He was going to ask his eomma if he can have it after dinner.

"Eomma, where's fuzzy peach?"

"What fuzzy peach?"

"Candy. Here." He said pointing in the area where he last saw it.

Seri's eyes widened realizing that what her son is looking for was the candy that she just ate. She quickly scanned the pile and realized that that candy was a rare one.

"Jagi, maybe it's the...," he didn't get to finish his sentence because Seri elbowed him a little hard. He groaned in pain.

"Baby, why don't we eat dinner right now, we'll continue sorting your candies tomorrow."

"But I want to find fuzzy peach."

"We'll look for it tomorrow okay love. Now, go with Nanny Mi Kyung to wash up."

The minute their son left Seri faced Jeong Hyeok and said, "Yeobo, we have to find a replacement for that candy, our baby will be so broken-hearted if we don't."

"Relax, he will probably forget about it by tomorrow."

————————-

Lee Shin Young heard his phone ringing late at night. He checked the clock and found that it was past 8pm. Who could be calling his work phone at this hour, he thought.

He was surprised to see his boss's name on the caller ID.

"Shin young, I'm sorry for calling you this late but I need a favour from you. I am looking for a specific candy and I'm hoping you can help me look for it. I know this can be done tomorrow but I have an upset wife and an equally upset son so I'm hoping we can find it. I know it's late and we don't have any early morning meetings tomorrow so please feel free to walk in late. Just please, help me find this candy."

"Of course, I would be glad to help. But out of curiosity deopyeonim, why is your wife and son upset at you because of a candy."

"My wife ate the candy my son wanted, and I told her that our son will forget about the candy by today and he did not. I've gotten the green light from her to call her assistant after this and see what he can do on his end. I'll be sending you a list of stores to visit."

Jeong Hyeok had it planned. He will divide Seoul into quadrants and assign the quadrants to Shin Young, himself, and Mr. Hong. It will be a long night, he thought, as he dialled Mr. Hong's number. Mr. Hong picked up after a few rings and he explained his dilemma.

"Do you know what the packaging looks like?"

Jeong Hyeok gave the phone to Seri who described the package. Mr. Hong turned on the video call and to the couple's surprise, he has several bags.

"My children did not like these. My wife was going to discard it but she forgot."

"Mr. Hong I will trade you 2 buckets of my child's Halloween candy for a big bag of those sour fuzzy peach gummies."

After they hang up and Jeong Hyeok told Shin Young to stop the search for the gummy, he looked at his wife, "Yeobo, I thought we agreed not to let Jin Hyeok have a lot of candies."

"Who says he's getting all of them. He'll get a few bags at most. The rest is for us," she said with a sly smile.

And he grinned. It looks like his fortune that night changed all because of sour fuzzy peach gummies.