the beginning is always the hardest.
∞
the sun had started to set beneath the crack of earth when there was a knock on the door. since chaeyoung and lalisa were just walking down the stairs — with the two smalls dogs, commes de and garçon — to go to the living room enjoy the movie they were planning on watching, both of them were confused upon hearing somebody knock at the door.
it was the end of the day, and even if they lived quite near the village, rarely would people come over to ask for something.
should they call out to one of lalisa's siblings? or even nichkun as he was the eldest and the head of the house when the father wasn't at home? in the end, they decided to just answer the door themselves.
lalisa looked through the 'magic eye' of the door and gasped softly when seeing her father's smiling face and she was quite quick to open it.
"father!" she exclaimed happily and out of surprised, too. and when looking over his shoulder as she jumped onto him, her eyes would've widened even more if they could. "kibum?"
"kibum?!"
the tall male smiled when settling his eyes on his surprised wife, who then, not even a second later grinned widely and jumped onto her husband, arms and legs wrapped tightly around him — almost making chaeyoung seem like a koala.
"I'm home!" he said happily while holding onto chaeyoung who didn't want to let go — not that it bothered him, he loved having his wife's hugs first thing after coming back from overseas, especially if he'd been gone for over a month and a half longer than he expected to be back.
lalisa enjoyed the sight before her with a wide smile, her father had already walked after saying words she didn't pay attention to. if she were to be honest, she loved to watch over people interact lovingly towards one another.
until they decide to start to kiss each other that is.
lalisa had turned away. "oh, get a room, you two!" she said embarrassed when watching chaeyoung happily place her lips onto kibum's when she finally decided to be placed back down.
a chuckle was heard from the male but their lips did not part, and lalisa eventually decided to let the couple there at the door before making her way back inside to look for her father.
all her siblings and cousins rushed down the stairs the moment she was about to walk into the living room and they rushed past lalisa to welcome back the head of the house.
"welcome back, father!" all the siblings greeted while the cousins stood on the side but bowed their heads.
"where did you go to, this time?!" chonnansorn, or rather she preferred being called sorn, asked excitedly. her body jumping up and down slightly.
"what did you do this time?!" bambam asked while trying not to inch closer than he had already been.
"was it business or adventure?!" chittaphon asked.
all of them were like children and making the elder man laugh in delight of how curious his children were.
his hands were raised, silencing they all at once before dropping onto his lap and he took his time into staring at each and every one of them in the eye, also to take in their appearance.
it had been overly 7 months since he last saw them, they knew their father could barely use a phone so it was either emails or letters.
"my, my..." he starts murmuring. "each and every one of you has changed so much, every time I come back from a trip." he chuckles lowly and his smile widens.
"I went to the united states to deal with our business over there and to meet a few partners, I did kind of explore around too, so it could be considered both business and adventure." he answered all of their questions at once. he then pointed towards the door and their eyes followed his motion.
"now, I brought every single one of you, souvenirs, why don't you go and open them?" they all rushed out in unison again.
∝
lalisa watched as chaeyoung looked so happy in the arms of her one and only. they whispered to each other words of love by the door of his car and didn't think lalisa would be there holding the bag she offered to bring.
her best friend's words rang in her head. love does feel nice to have, but not every love is the same, not ever love will be the same. maybe chaeyoung is right, maybe lalisa isn't ready to find someone, maybe she does feel scared, but she doesn't know why.
"chaeyoung-ah!" lalisa calls out even if she's close, the couple separate from one another and smile.
"ah, thanks for bringing me my bag, lisa!" chaeyoung smiles before taking it and quickly putting it in the boot of the car. she turns around quickly and swiftly hugs her best friend. "oh, I'm going to miss this place!" she hums while looking over the girl's shoulder.
lalisa nods and puts her arms around chaeyoung's waist, sighing out a quiet breath and when her eyes look up, they meet kibum's warm-looking ones.
both smile at one another before lisa tightens her arms around her best friend. even if both were going to see each other soon — as lisa would have to get on a train to seoul in a week's time to go to her apartment as it is near to her campus — it still didn't have the same feeling as to when they were here, in the country side and enjoying the natural landscape.
"hnng, see you in a week — don't forget to facetime me!" says chaeyoung as they part from the hug. lalisa laughs and nods.
"of course I won't."
chaeyoung continued to look at lalisa from over her shoulder as she entered the car and opened the window, looking at her best friend from it with puppy like eyes.
the thai girl lets out a happy sigh before looking at kibum who was also about to enter the car.
"you take care of her, okay!" she says and the male laughs before nodding his head.
"I always do!" he says confidently with a wave of hand before starting the car.
lalisa waved her hand while watching the car drive away into the distance, creating nothing but specks of dirt in the air until becoming one itself and not being seen from where the girl stood.
she quickly jogged back into the house, the smile still on her face as she closed the door behind her and ran into the living room. she jumped onto the couch while her father had been reading the news paper on his seat.
her grins widens before her turns her body over and props her elbows so that she can supports her chin onto the palm of her hand.
"father?" she calls out to him and he hums back with a smile. "why were you really gone for so long this time?" she questions him.
the elder man lets out a laugh, knowing how his youngest daughter was as smart as her other siblings. he places down the newspaper and rolls it before putting amongst many others in a basket by his chair.
he had his glasses at the end of his nose, a smile still curled up softly upon his lips. he raised his hand and pointed to the door while making himself more comfortable on the chair.
"lalisa, dear, would you please close the door?" and that was the sign that she needed to let her know her father wanted to talk to her about something. and she knew it wasn't something she could take lightly, at that.
the girl as she was politely told to do, she stood up and closed the door calmly before settling herself back on the couch but this time, sitting up.
her father leaned forward, staring at her lovingly. "did you have a nice time with chaeyoung over?" he asks his daughter, who eagerly nods her head.
"of course! I always do!" she laughs at the slight flick of memories that she just had of the past weeks. "chaeyoung is a lovely girl to be around."
"of course she is, her parents raised her well." the father says with a gentle smile. "who influenced you to dye your hair that colour?"
"it was chaeyoung herself," lalisa brushed a few of her long strands of amber blonde hair. "do you like it?"
"I've told you before so many times that you look beautiful in any type of hair colour and hair style." he says lovingly and the girl giggles.
"even if I shaved it off and dyed what remained an ugly green?" she jokes.
her father nods. "of course, you are my daughter."
"father!" she laughs.
they were making small talk for a while, but eventually, she knew they would have to get across the point of why lalisa was the only one in the room with her father.
and maybe after a few more laughs and jokes, he decided to get to the main conversation. lalisa knew he was going to get to the point when seeing how he enlaces his fingers together on top of his lap and crossing his legs.
and that was when she had started to feel cold sweat accumulating at the back of her neck.
"lalisa." he calls out her name.
and she nods in return. "yes, father?" even her tone hadn't been a playful one anymore.
"you do know your siblings are in relationships right now, or like chittaphon and chonnansorn, are married." she could feel her heart starting to race inside her chest unknowingly.
lalisa nodded her head, not sure of what of what to think of where this had been going.
"yes, I do know."
"lalisa, I will let you know I love you dearly — I love every single one of you dearly." he says, softening the girl. "and I hope you know that I only do things for the sake of our family — to keep it as strong as it is right now and as it has always been."
"yes, father, of course..." she agrees, but she had been still confused.
he looks deeply into her eyes, not even a single smile was tugging at the corner of his lips.
"lalisa, I want you to get married."
the way those words came out so quickly of his mouth shocked her, she was frozen in her seat, and he did not even give time for her to fully process his first words before he spoke his next ones.
"and you are engaged to someone you will meet very soon."