Family

It was Christmas Eve, and Gi-hun had been very excited to spend his first Christmas with his daughter. Secretly, In-ho had been too. He didn’t know why, but he felt like Christmas would be different this year, apart from the fact that they had a child now.

The three of them were cooking. In-ho had taught Sae-byeok the basics of cooking, and even though she was still learning, she wasn’t a bad cook.

Sae-byeok was explaining to them a funny story of how three of their cats had come running to greet her when she opened the door to have breakfast that morning.

That was one of the things she loved the most about her new home: her cats. It was shocking for her, she had never thought she would love animals this much; she had never been in contact with one for that long. She had found out that she loved them, and she enjoyed their company so much.

Everything was going great so far. But, when they were about to finish cooking, Sae-byeok had gone running to the bathroom, leaving the two men confused.

They didn’t really give it much thought at first, thinking it was just a normal emergency, but 15 minutes later, Sae-byeok was still in there. Neither Gi-hun nor In-ho knew why.

“Sae-byeok?” Gi-hun asked, once she had been there for half an hour. “Are you ok?”

Sae-byeok didn’t answer.

“Sae-byeok?” In-ho tried. “I swear to god, if you don’t reply now, I will break this door,” he threatened.

“No!” she finally said. “Don’t do that…”

Gi-hun and In-ho exchanged glances.

Sae-byeok opened the door slowly with tears on her face.

“What happened? Are you ok?” Gi-hun said as soon as he saw his daughter crying, extremely worried.

When the door was finally opened, they found blood everywhere. On the bathtub, on the floor (which was full of bloody sheets), everywhere they could imagine.

Gi-hun took a moment to understand what had happened, but In-ho understood immediately.

“I’ll go buy some tampons at the store.”

That was all that In-ho said before closing the door and leaving Gi-hun and Sae-byeok alone.

“I’m sorry,” Sae-byeok said. “I made a mess…”

Gi-hun was a bit surprised. He hadn’t really thought about the whole period experience Sae-byeok would have to deal with; wasn’t she still super young? She was about to turn 11: there was no way she had to deal with it at her age.

He sighed and turned to look at her. He hadn’t realized Sae-byeok was still silently crying.

“Oh, darling, it’s ok. I’m not mad. In-ho’s not mad. This is normal; I’m just shocked, I wasn’t expecting this so soon.”

“What do you mean this is normal?!” Sae-byeok said, angrily. “I’m dying, and you’re saying you weren’t expecting it to be so soon?” She was clearly mad at this point. “You already knew I was going to die? That’s why you adopted me?”

“What?” Gi-hun said, not really understanding what she meant. Suddenly, it hit him. She didn’t know what was going on. “Oh, Sae-byeok, this is not what you think it is,” he said, trying his best to sound calm, but somehow, he always found a way to sound nervous. “This happens to women. Well, not all women. Trans women and women who have some issues… Oh! And not only women: trans men too! Oh! And don't forget non-binary people who were born with-”

Before he could finish, Sae-byeok interrupted him.

“I ALREADY UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU MEAN! CAN YOU GET TO THE POINT?”

Sae-byeok was rightfully upset. How had she not been taught how periods work? Gi-hun, not wanting to annoy her more, said:

“It’s part of puberty, Sae-byeok. You’re not dying. You’re just getting your period. Does your stomach hurt? I have painkillers, if you want.”

Sae-byeok was now a bit more relaxed, but still confused, since Gi-hun had started explaining what she was dealing with. She felt relieved, and at the same time, she hated the fact that she was going to have to deal with this pain every month from now on.

When In-ho arrived, Gi-hun appreciated that he had bought not only tampons, but also pads.

“I called Jun-hee,” In-ho explained. “Her and Se-mi are spending Christmas with Young-mi and Hyun-ju, they all wish us a merry Christmas. I asked her which type of tampons I should get, but she recommended to also buy pads. Since it’s Sae-byeok’s first period, she probably didn’t know how to put a tampon on. She said she’ll talk to her about how periods work and how to deal with them, once Sae-byeok feels like talking about it.”

To make Sae-byeok calm down, they turned the TV on. It always made her feel better, for some reason. Especially when they were watching shows in the original version, where she didn’t understand the language but could read subtitles. She liked the fact that she wasn’t only enjoying a show; she was also reading and learning vocabulary.

Hours later, when dinner was already made, the three of them sat down and started eating.

The couple were the only ones speaking; their daughter didn’t feel like it. They were chatting about how their work was going. They were lucky, they both mainly worked at home, so they were able to pay attention to Sae-byeok as much as they could.

The 10-year-old was debating if she should tell them what had been on her mind for a while now. She had never thought Christmas was important, but now that she had a family, she felt like it was. So, she decided to go for it.

“Thank you,” Sae-byeok said.

“For what?” Gi-hun said while continuing eating as usual.

“For everything,” she said, and gained looks from her parents. “I’m grateful you adopted me. I’m grateful you chose me. I don’t know what I did to deserve it, but I’ll be forever grateful. You have changed my life, and I can’t imagine going back there, to the orphanage.”

They were all silent for a few seconds, until Gi-hun got up and hugged Sae-byeok as hard as he could. “You’ve become extremely important to me. To us. We’re so lucky to have you here.”

Sae-byeok, surprisingly for everyone, even herself, hugged him back. Gi-hun spread his arms so In-ho would join too, and when he did, Gi-hun said:

“I love you, my family.”