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“About here?”
Joon Jae and Cheong looked at the open scenery in front of them before giving an agreeing answer to Nam Doo at the helm.
It was their second annual trip to the Pacific Ocean. With his inheritance, Joon Jae had wanted to try and form new family traditions. He wanted to be a good father in every sense of the word.
Taking the gang on a prolonged holiday to the beaches of the Pacific Ocean was an integral part of that plan.
Tae Oh and Shi Ah had stayed on land to enjoy each other’s company, and his mother had opted to try out the restaurant in the nearest town, saying that a long trip to the open sea wasn’t her most sought after dream.
(Uncle) Nam Doo had offered to come with them to drive the boat while they would go diving. Cheong had been happy to have the practical issues sorted out; even if she didn’t fully appreciate the fuss her husband was making over the preparations.
Joon Jae got a glimpse of their four-year-old son running past him and towards the helm of the ship, his two years older sister running just behind him. “Hey, what did we say, no running on the ship!”
Joon Jae’s exclamation fell into deaf ears, and Cheong went to fetch the kids, clearly amused by the situation.
“Is the radar clear?” Joon Jae checked from Nam Doo after reaching the helm himself, deep-brown eyes vigilantly surveying the ocean around them. Their plan was to go very well unnoticed by any ship ― leisure or shipping. He wasn’t going to let any outsider catch his wife and kids swimming around as mermaids and a merman. Over his dead body.
“It’s been clear for five miles. It should be good. You okay?” Came the nonchalantly cheeky reply. As a con artist, as well as, as a long-time friend, Nam Doo had learned to read him all too well, spotting his nervousness over the impending dive.
“Why are you asking me that? I’m fine! It’s my second time out here. Cheez!” Joon Jae replied, turning to stare at the surprisingly calm waters. Nam Doo, on the other hand, didn’t transfer his gaze from Joon Jae’s adrenaline coursed presence, his own brows high-up for the silent “If you say so…”
“Just take care of your spot at the helm. And keep an eye on the radar.” The younger of the two men ordered, leaving to find his wife and kids.
“This kid…” Nam Doo muttered. Despite his words, he was left looking after Joon Jae’s back with an odd sense of contented proudness. Joon Jae still reminded him very strongly of the kid who had attacked him from the shadows nearly twenty years back, but even if the half-pretentious agitations still colored the younger man’s language at times, it had become more and more good-natured, paving way for a determined head of the family.
“So, everyone ready to go?” Joon Jae confirmed for the fourth time, the oxygen tank heavy on his back.
The kids’ eagerness to get to the water was held in place with Cheong’s steadfast grip from their shoulders. Yoo Na, on the other hand, was already sitting on the edge of the boat, staying silent and listening to Joon Jae’s talk out of respect.
“Ready, when you are ready.” Cheong replied patiently to her husband’s question, while simultaneously ushering Yoo Na to jump to the sea with the look on her eyes.
Without wasting a second, Yoo Na took the cue and rolled to the water with natural ease, hiding her smile from Joon Jae the best of her ability.
“What! No! Yoo Na!” Joon Jae sprouted, his voice just managing the change from surprised and panicked to authoritarian.
“Mom, can we go too?”
Cheong bit her lip, trying to keep herself from laughing and turned their daughter’s question to her husband. “I don’t know, what does your father think?”
It was an innocent question to the fault and Joon Jae knew Cheong was enjoying this. He was standing arms frozen cacophonously in the air, legs spread as if half of his body had already decided to dive while the other was bolted to the deck, his was wife looking at him with feigned ignorance while Nam Doo glanced at them from his spot, clearly happy for not being in his predicament.
“Honey?”
Joon Jae’s shout to Nam Doo to keep his eyes on the radar stuck to his throat in the light of the children's expectant gazes, both waiting like in front of Christmas presents. Against his will, Joon Jae could feel his happiness escaping to his face and his jaw battling its way into a nod.
The kids jumped and cheered, ecstatic, making Joon Jae shake his head out of good-natured exasperation on how easily he was surpassed.
With the help from Cheong and Yoo Na, the kids soon transferred to the water. Joon Jae could only watch, the clinging wet-suit still feeling slightly idiotic even if much more like a second skin than before.
With no choice but to follow his family, he overacted a slight slipping accompanied by a few playful roars, earning a hearty laugh from the kids over their comical daddy. Not to mention a barely contained laugh from Cheong. After relishing the role of being the fourth best showman in the family, he managed a well-practiced, almost graceful, roll to the water.
It was still a jarring feeling, being in the open sea, kilometer or so water underneath him, kept alive only by the small tank of air-mixture on his back.
Well, the last one wasn’t quite true.
And as Joon Jae watched his family and Yoo Na swim around while he took his first tentative kicks, he felt like he was floating.
Not the kind of floating he could employ with a little hocus pocus and hypnotism, even if, in reality, that was what the situation should have felt like compared to his life ten years back, but no, it was a very palpable, very contented feeling.
He would have smiled if doing so wouldn’t have broken the seal of the mask.
After all, he was a good diver these days.
Or at least, he didn’t need Cheong to rescue him every single time.