My mother had five siblings, and they all had children. We all grew near each other, and slept in the same room on family events, like puppies. We grew up as we were siblings, not cousins. After reaching adulthood, many, many of my cousins left Seoul, and even South Korea. Some of them got married, some of them left Seoul to attend school in the Chungchungnam-do (Where my aunts, my uncles and my mother is from!), and one got married to a foreigner and spends some of her time in Indonesia and some of her time in South Korea. All that's left in South Korea is a young female cousin. All of my cousins, and myself were bestowed with the same single letter in the name - Dong. My name is Dong Yi, and her name is Dong Yoon.
Her siblings left Seoul, too. Her older sister left to Tokyo to study industrial art, and her older brother is in Chungchungnam-do to attend school in Cheongju. "I don't mind," she always says. She attends a girls' high school in Songpa-gu, and since the nearest Starbucks cafe to my home is just a short walk away from her home, she visits me randomly during my work, wearing shorts and school uniform shirts and a pair of Monster University slippers. Her hair messed up, she often says 'nah, the dinner at school's nasty. Why don't we have dinner?" She sometimes tosses a small bag of Haribo jellies, and sometimes ask, "can I buy a cup of dolce latte for myself with your Starbucks account?".
My aunt has often quoted, "I'm your mama when your mama passes away." Teasingly, I often called her 'honorary mom', and since my little cousin piped in, "then can I be your honorary sister?" I am treating her like one, like my own sister. I had always wanted an older sister, and secretly, I felt pitiful of the little girl. I knew too well that my aunt and uncle were having financial problems, and I knew that her older siblings were draining the household of money, with their expensive tuition. My younger cousin, only 16, had to realize that her parents couldn't afford art classes for her anymore. She proudly wears her hoodies from art classes though.
"I just want delicious things, and a photo book of Kai, and that's all", she quoted while sitting back. She had been a big fan of idol groups, and recently, a 21-year old idol prince had caught her eye. Also, since she loved devouring delicious foods, she was always intrigued in gastronomy. During my summer vacation, while she had to still attend Yaja(self-study sessions at schools), we had family dinners three or four times a week. I had wanted to provide her with the best meals. Carefully she selects the menu for the day, and often she chooses not to choose when the dinner at school is wonderful. With the beautiful, hard dough that I had earned at Starbucks while translating numerous materials I cannot recall, she had the joy of having Galbi, sukiyaki, hamburgers, beautiful cinnamon pancakes, and all the other beautiful foods.
I know that blood is thicker than water. I also realize while looking back at the photos that we had taken together that we look much alike, like how I resemble my mother, and how my mom resembles my aunt, and how we all look alike. I know too well that I ought to tend for her, as my aunts had tended for me, and that that would be one of my responsibilities of being adult.
Your cousin Dong Yoon is a high school student who actually loves delicious food and idol groups, and to whom you (and your whole family) are really close, responsible and look alike. The evidences are in the paragraph just before the last one and in the final paragraph. For instance, there were for the first part “She had been a big fan of idol groups, and recently, a 21-year old idol prince had caught her eye.” and “since she loved devouring delicious foods, she was always intrigued in gastronomy.” while for the second part “blood is thicker than water” or “I ought to tend for her, as my aunts had tended for me, and that that would be one of my responsibilities of being adult.” Concerning the methods used to reveal the person’s character, there were briefly what the person looked like “we look much alike, like how I resemble my mother, and how my mom resembles my aunt, and how we all look alike”, what the person said with direct quotations such as "I just want delicious things, and a photo book of Kai, and that's all" and what the person did “She attends a girls' high school in Songpa-gu”. Unfortunately, it was a bit difficult to understand clearly the second part of your fourth paragraph. As you said “During my summer vacation, while she had to still attend Yaja(self-study sessions at schools), we had family dinners three or four times a week. ”, it might have been better to insert a conjunction like “So” before “I had wanted to provide her with the best meals.”
ReplyDeleteIt was also a bit awkward to suddenly change the tense into present in the following sentence “Carefully she selects the menu for the day, and often she chooses not to choose when the dinner at school is wonderful.” Moreover, it would have been better to avoid the repetition of the same word “choose”. Neither could I understand the global meaning of this phrase “With the beautiful, hard dough that I had earned at Starbucks while translating numerous materials I cannot recall, she had the joy of having Galbi, sukiyaki, hamburgers, beautiful cinnamon pancakes, and all the other beautiful foods.” I think that you chose her because she is an important person for you, being one of the family members you should take care of. Maybe in the next draft an answer to the question “What other people say about her?” would be interesting.