Friends Stay the Same Even as They Age
“Ptooey.”
Luca spat out the candy he’d been sucking on with both cheeks full.
“Aigoo, doesn’t our Luca like the candy?”
At first he’d only thought it was a toy, so the sudden taste had made his eyes go round with wonder. Unfortunately the candy was peppermint. Not exactly a flavor a baby would enjoy—once he’d tasted it, there was nothing to do but spit it out.
I held back a laugh and wiped his drool-slick mouth with a handkerchief. Even as I cleaned him up, Luca kept glaring at the candy in his hand with a look that said, What on earth is this? For such a little one, he wore the face of someone who had already tasted every bitterness the world had to offer.
Right then Reni darted over and plucked the candy from his brother’s fingers.
“Luca, whyyy? Candy not yummy? Is it the sour kind Luca doesn’t like?”
Reni brought Luca’s candy to his own mouth and gave it a curious suck, as if determined to sample it in his brother’s place.
“……Uung.”
A moment later Reni pulled the candy out with the same bewildered expression and looked up at me.
“Daddy, the candy’s gone bad.”
“Hahaha!”
Greg finally burst out laughing. I could barely keep my own twitching lips under control. Maria, sitting beside Reni, stroked the boy’s hair, while Rachel smacked Greg on the back and took the candy from Reni.
“Reni, candy has so much sugar and preservatives it doesn’t really go bad. This is just peppermint—grown-ups like it.”
Rachel explained gently, then rewrapped the candy, snapped it into pieces, and rolled a large chunk around her own mouth.
“……Mawba.”
The toy he’d liked so much had turned into a yucky toy and then been smashed to bits right before his eyes. Luca made a mournful little babble.
“Uung, our Luca. You were sad, weren’t you?”
Even if the taste was awful, the shape must still have appealed to him; he stared at the broken candy with eyes dripping with lingering attachment. Reni immediately dug into his own candy bag, pulled out a lollipop—the one I’d given him earlier—and pressed it into Luca’s hand.
“Luca, big brother will give you this!”
“Auwah.”
Reni had cleared away the bad candy; Luca, once more clutching a brand-new toy, wore a thoroughly satisfied face.
“Jun, the children really do love each other so much.”
Maria swallowed a laugh as she rubbed Reni’s back.
“Yes, don’t they just. Aigoo.”
I gave Reni’s cheek a gentle pinch, then fed fully-awake Luca the mashed potatoes and corn I’d packed from home.
“Reni, once you’ve tried the food here, let’s eat the lunchbox Daddy packed.”
“Yeees.”
Reni answered and, right there on the spot, simply opened his mouth in a wide “Ahh.” On any other day the boy insisted on doing everything himself—“I’ll do it!”—but today he clearly wanted to be fussed over like a baby. So I sat Luca in a chair, settled Reni on my knee, and began spoon-feeding him.
“Nyam.”
He accepted every bite like a baby bird. I planted a kiss on his head and asked,
“Our Reni’s eating so well, isn’t he?”
Reni chewed a mouthful of potato and beamed at me with his eyes alone. Unable to resist that cuteness, I tickled his side; terrified of spilling the food, he twisted and laughed with his whole body without making a sound.
One bite for Luca, one for Reni, another for the second son, another for the first… Taking turns feeding them, I emptied the generously packed lunchbox. Full and pleasantly drowsy, both boys let me scoop them up. I walked back and forth near the candy tree until they fell asleep. Reni’s greedy double handful of candy from the tree was a bonus—though it only amounted to four lollipops.
“Reni, why did you grab so many of those yucky candies?”
“This one’s heart-shaped, so I’m giving it to Jennifer. And thennn, if I don’t give one to Tony hyung he’d be sad, so this is for Tony hyung… One for when Luca gets bored, and one for me.”
“Ah, so our eldest has a whole plan.”
Back at the stroller I laid the half-asleep children down, tucked the blankets snugly, and closed the canopy.
“Is it the children’s bedtime already?”
“It’s almost nine, so actually a little past.”
“Jun, you’ve become a real veteran dad before I knew it. You can’t call yourself a rookie anymore.”
“Thank you, Maria. Your long-distance advice has been a huge help all this time.”
With the boys asleep I ate my own late dinner alone, trading stories we hadn’t managed to share yet. Cassandra and Dimitri, making the rounds of the tables to greet everyone, finally reached ours.
“Congratulations on your marriage!”
Everyone at the table, without exception, offered their blessings. The newlyweds beamed and returned the greetings.
“Thank you all so much! We’re really, truly grateful you came and made the day special.”
With those words they handed each of us a small wrapped gift and moved on to the next table. Inside was a thank-you card and a lovely scented candle.
Greg opened his first, then seemed to remember something. He told us to wait a moment and went upstairs; when he came back down he pressed an extra gift box into my hands.
“This is a special present for the groomsmen. I set yours aside.”
“Thanks.”
The box wasn’t large but it was surprisingly heavy. I tucked it carefully under the stroller to open at home.
After the meal, once Rachel and Maria stepped away to the restroom, Greg quietly sighed.
“What? Don’t tell me you’re tired?”
“It’s not that… I just realized how many things you have to prepare for a wedding.”
Ah. Come to think of it, Greg and Rachel had vaguely planned to hold their ceremony once winter passed and spring arrived.
“True—even little gifts like these add up when you match them to the guest list, and then there’s the groomsmen presents…”
In truth such gifts were probably nothing compared to the total cost of a wedding. Dimitri had used his own place as the venue, but Greg and Rachel would have to pay for a hall on top of everything else; every single item would cost money. Greg’s family had already furnished the entire house and everything in it, so he couldn’t very well ask them for more.
“So most of the wedding expenses will fall on Rachel?”
“Yeah, she said she’d take care of it.”
Since Greg’s side had handled the house and furniture, it made sense for Rachel to cover the wedding itself. She was older than Greg and had built a stronger career, so of course she had more money—yet Greg still looked quietly guilty that his new bride would bear that burden. At least he wasn’t letting foolish pride get in the way; that was a relief. Then Greg abruptly turned to me with a serious face.
“My friend.”
“I don’t have money.”
I shut him down cleanly before he could even finish. I truly didn’t have that kind of spare cash. Paying their salaries already stretched me thin.
“No, I’m not asking to borrow money…”
Greg hemmed and hawed, struggling to continue. I prodded him to spit it out before Rachel and Maria came back. He straightened his back as if making up his mind.
“Boss, I’ve been deeply moved by the way you’ve been working so hard for your employees lately.”
“What is this all of a sudden?”
Goosebumps rose; I scooted away and scowled. Greg finally got to the point.
“You made Cassandra’s wedding dress this time, and you even helped with her last-minute diet.”
“Ah…”
I’d braced for something worse. With nothing particular to say I shrugged lightly.
“So?”
“Boss, our studio’s newest hire Rachel seems to want an organza-silk wedding dress.”
“……”
I folded my arms, stared at the ceiling, and let out a long breath. It wasn’t as if the thought had never crossed my mind. Still, making Cassandra’s dress had been such hard work that I’d sworn never to do it twice… But how could I refuse when Greg asked like this? And if what they wanted was a wedding dress, that was actually perfect. It solved a major expense for the couple, and it was the most heartfelt wedding gift I could give.
“I’ve got a little money saved up, so I can cover about half the price of a store-bought dress.”
“Keep the money. It’s a wedding present for the two of you—of course I should do at least that much. I only sighed because sewing all those beads onto Cassandra’s dress one by one nearly killed me.”
At that Greg’s face lit up.
“Then you don’t have to worry! Rachel likes clean styles without beads or anything.”
Really? My expression brightened without my meaning to.
“In that case I could even make two wedding dresses.”
“Two is plenty. Um… any chance you could do something about the tuxedo I’ll wear, my friend?”
Ugh, this child. I finally gave in and smacked Greg lightly on the head.
After the sweet desserts we scattered—some chatting with other guests, some dancing. The people here would probably keep dancing, eating, and drinking until midnight and well into the small hours, but I planned to make a polite exit using the children as my excuse.
It would be chilly outside, so I thought I’d grab a warm coffee before heading to the car. I left the boys with Greg for a moment and went upstairs. There, on the quieter second floor, I ran straight into Lily and Rose chatting with their friends—one of whom, unfortunately, was Dimitri’s mother, Jane.
“Oh my, Jun! Come here.”
“Ah, yes. Hello.”
Turning around and walking away would have been fine, but our eyes had already met, so there was no escape. Ever since that day I tried not to meet the gaze of people who made me uncomfortable. I angled my body toward the barista.
“Um, we’re about to leave, so I was hoping I could take a coffee to go…”
Lily and Rose clearly had no intention of letting me go that easily.
“Leaving early because of the little ones! Of course you are. Still, say hello for a second. This is our friend Jane—the groom’s mother today.”
“Yes, hello.”
Wanting the moment over as quickly as possible, I smiled as if meeting Jane for the first time and offered a greeting. Jane, however, sighed and rose from her seat. Wondering what on earth she was up to, I watched her carefully. She asked the barista to step aside for a moment, slipped behind the bar, and looked at me.
“Do you prefer coffee with some acidity?”
“Pardon…?”
I blinked in confusion. Lily clapped her hands and laughed.
“Oh my, our Jane must have taken a liking to Jun. She’s going to brew the coffee herself!”
“What?”
What was going on all of a sudden? Completely lost, I could only blink. Another grandmother who seemed to share my bewilderment snorted and added,
“What’s gotten into her? Even we don’t get to drink coffee that high-and-mighty lady brews very often.”
“Amanda, why are you always so contrary even at your age? He’s the groom’s best man—Jane might just want to be nice.”
The grandmother called Amanda openly scoffed. From her tone and presence she was clearly a woman with a temper.
“As if. She’s got something on her conscience, mark my words.”
At that Jane heaved a deep sigh and calmly confessed everything that had happened between us to her friends. Their reactions were instantaneous.
“I knew it. That rotten personality of hers wasn’t going anywhere.”
Amanda snorted again and delivered another cutting remark. Lily and Rose were no gentler.
“Oh my god, this girl has lost her mind! Have you already gone senile?!”
“For heaven’s sake, how embarrassing. Where did you leave your age?”
Under the three grandmothers’ fierce barrage, I desperately wanted to flee.