Side Story: Picnic
Side Story: Picnic
A moan nearly slipped out on its own as soon as I submerged myself in the hot bath.
How great a pleasure it is, every time I step into the tub, to feel the stress accumulated throughout the day bid me farewell?
Well, not that the stress I have is anything special.
The worst of it was the odd lewd comment I'd have to shake off when reading Qtube comments.
"Refreshing. So refreshing."
It had become a phrase engraved deep in my body.
It was a phrase that popped out so automatically that I almost suspected someone had programmed it in.
"Refreshing! So refreshing!"
Arini, who had gotten into the bath with me, beamed as she mimicked me.
Does a Tiny who's only five years old know what refreshing means?
"Does our little one know what refreshing means?"
"Yeah! After I do stretching, my body feels sore but then it goes cool!"
What the.
How does a Tiny know that?
Do they teach that sort of thing in kindergarten these days?
I thought it was the exclusive domain of old people.
"Who told you that? Don't tell me they taught you in kindergarten?"
"Mommy!"
What in the world was our A-ra teaching our daughter?
Was it normal to teach your daughter things like that?
A wry smile came out automatically.
My wife hadn't changed one bit from how she used to be.
She was clearly our daughter, but they were so close, as if they were sisters.
It wasn't a bad thing, it was a good thing.
"Then do you know what 'cool and refreshed' means?"
"Umm...... something cold?"
"As I thought, you still don't know that one, huh."
When A-ra and I soak in hot water, we say refreshing, not cool and refreshed.
It's just a difference in word choice, but it was only natural that a child who learns by watching wouldn't grasp a word that isn't used by the people around her.
"Should I say that 'cool and refreshed' is a higher level of refreshment?"
"Higher... level?"
"Level. It means a higher state."
"State....?"
No, what was I saying in front of a five-year-old Tiny.
Arini was splashing the water and tilting her head as if she hadn't understood, so I stroked her head.
"Hoo, who did our Arini take after to be this cute?"
"Daddy!"
Arini brightened with a full smile, as if I'd asked the most obvious question, and then threw herself into my arms.
This was the joy of raising a daughter!
Aigoo aigoo, my little baby!
Daddy will buy you a toy tomorrow!
Of course, since there was a different answer I wanted to hear, I swallowed my goofy grin and gave a dry cough.
I was hoping for a different answer from the one she just gave, so I tried to nudge her toward it.
"Nah, if you took after Daddy, you'd be sturdy and cool."
"That's Mommy!"
"............"
Tch.
Sure enough, this was a gender-reversed world.
***
"Yay~"
"Yay!"
After a thorough wash, we got out and I dried her off meticulously from head to toe.
Because little kids have such sensitive skin that even a bit of leftover moisture can cause skin trouble.
Anyway.
Speaking of sensitive people, there was another one over there.
A woman was sitting on the bed, sighing repeatedly for a while now.
She had taken a call from somewhere earlier and had been doing nothing but sighing ever since.
Had something happened?
"Noona, why have you been sighing like that since earlier?"
"Arini's kindergarten had a picnic planned, but it got canceled all of a sudden."
"A picnic? Now that you mention it, you told me about that before. When was it supposed to be again?"
"Next Wednesday...."
"Ah.... Well, that can't be helped."
Next Wednesday, a typhoon was coming up the Korean Peninsula.
One might wonder what kind of typhoon shows up in late autumn, but these days, with climate anomalies, things that were once unimaginable happen all the time.
".....Can't go on the picnic?"
Arini, who had been quietly listening beside us, pouted her lips and looked up at me.
She had been really looking forward to it; her expression was full of disappointment.
And for good reason.
Wasn't this her first picnic trip going out to play with her kindergarten friends?
"But instead of canceling, couldn't they just postpone it until later..."
"There must be a reason. More than that, what do we do about our poor Arini."
A-ra pouted her lips and looked at Arini as she opened her arms wide.
Arini threw herself into her mother's embrace.
I even heard a soft little sniffle.
But she was holding it in so hard, it was just too precious.
"My little baby, were you looking forward to the picnic a lot?"
"Yeah..."
"But Mommy told you, right? A woman cries only three times in her whole life?"
What was the saying again.
Once when you're born, once before you go to the army, once when your parents pass away, was it?
I could let the others slide, but the last one was a bit much.
If it was Arini's parents, that meant me and A-ra.
I hoped Arini would only cry twice in her life.
....Well, actually, I think she'd already cried over a thousand times.
"What should we do..."
"What do you mean, what should we do? We can just go on a family picnic tomorrow, can't we?"
Conveniently, tomorrow A-ra had the day off and I had nothing to do.
The fried food shop ran just fine without me, so there was no need for me to be there.
But A-ra was wearing a slightly worried expression.
It was a look in her eyes that anyone could see was concern for me, and it made my heart feel warmer than when I was soaking in the hot water.
"Are you really okay? You've been pretty busy lately."
"Come on, it's a picnic, just like the word says. All we do is pack a lunch box in the morning, get some fresh air in a field, and come back. How hard could it be?"
She must have been suggesting it'd be better to just rest up at home over the weekend.
I'm not such a fool that I didn't understand what she meant.
But still, what good is a husband, a dad, who just stays cooped up at home?
Times like this called for some family service.
"Lunch box! Lunch box! Picnic!"
Seeing her chance, Arini squirmed in her mother's arms.
I took Arini from A-ra, held her in my arms, and stroked her head.
"Our Arini. Is there something you want to eat?"
"Chicken!"
"What else? Daddy will make you everything our Arini wants to eat."
And so, our family made the very spontaneous plan to go on a picnic the next day.
Packing a lunch box would be a little hard, but if the two of them were happy, what couldn't I do?
***
It was tough preparing the lunch box from the morning, but...
Still, I prepared it with care.
This was all because, when I imagined the food going into my wife and daughter's mouths, a smile would automatically spread across my face.
And A-ra and Arini, who were sleeping in that morning............ No, I thought they were sleeping in, but as soon as I got up, it turned out they had already washed up, changed their clothes, and were waiting.
Arini was one thing, but had my wife also been unable to sleep because she was so excited?
She had been like that when we went out to play before.
"Seong-hwan. Can I take the Chiron when we go?"
"Well, I don't mind, but..."
Our wife had recently modified the Bugatti Chiron completely and installed a child seat in the center.
I'd been a little shocked when I saw her crazily modding a 6 billion won car like it was nothing.
"Is that thing really okay?"
"Of course. I coordinated with the Bugatti headquarters to modify it and even got safety tests done."
"Well, if that's the case..."
Honestly, when we go out somewhere, just taking the Cayenne is the best.
But since we were trying to enjoy ourselves, taking the Bugatti Chiron, drawing some attention, and then going to a quiet place to relax wasn't bad either.
*
"As expected, people's eyes..."
"You drive a hypercar like this for the sheer thrill of getting out and about!"
A-ra snorted with pride as she stopped the car and lowered the side brake.
This place was a location in Gyeonggi Province with a collection of large hills, a famous spot for families to come on picnics.
It was so wide that if you let cows or sheep loose, you could probably run a ranch.
The sky was so clear and crisp that you couldn't possibly imagine a typhoon was going to hit in five days.
The scent of grass blowing in the breeze was soothing and caressing me, as if slowly melting away the stress I'd stored in my heart.
"Haa... I think we made a good choice coming here."
"Right?"
A-ra opened the small trunk and took out the picnic mat and the lunch box.
People were recognizing them, and I could hear a murmuring buzz around us.
For the record, A-ra had retired from being an idol after giving birth to Arini.
She was now continuing her entertainment career under various titles like singer-songwriter, actress, MC, etc.
So she didn't really wear a mask or sunglasses much anymore.
"Daddy! I want to get out!"
"Just wait a moment. Daddy has to put on his mask and sunglasses."
"But Mommy's not wearing any!"
"Ah. Right."
Would there be any man next to A-ra and Arini other than me?
My thinking was less mature than my daughter's.... tsk tsk....
In my case, my Qtube subscribers kept climbing nonstop, and I'd already surpassed 15 million.
It was an overwhelming number for a personal channel, not just in the Republic of Korea but in all of Asia.
Well, there were still a few above me, though.
"That's true. We came here to play, so what's the point of sunglasses and a mask?"
"Daddy, please let me down now."
"Unbuckling your seatbelt... Eutcha!"
I unbuckled the seatbelt and picked Arini up to set her down outside the car.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, I watched Arini running around the car like a freed puppy and scolded her with a wry smile.
"Arin. Daddy told you, you mustn't run near the car, right?"
"Yes... I'm sorry."
"Good, good. That's my daughter. When we get to that field over there, you can run around all you want, so let's stay still here, okay?"
"Okay!"
Arini followed my words well because if she didn't, my wife would turn into a goblin.
Tiny ones always run around at all times, so you always have to be careful.
Especially in a parking lot like this, because they can get seriously hurt in a split second.
When I was at the orphanage, a younger kid had been running around the parking lot and got hit by a car and was badly hurt, so I'm always cautious.
Should I call this a trauma?
"Anyway, where did Mommy go?"
"Bathroom!"
"She did? Then let's wait until Mommy comes back."
Slipping off to the bathroom at a time like this was just so typical of A-ra.