Chapter 323 - 321: The Panda Family
"Wifey!" Nathan affectionately called out Eunji.
"Yes Hubby?"
"Only for today, okay? But no more next time." He sternly said.
"Thanks husband. You\'re the best!" She cheered with joy.
"Aigoo! Son-in-law, thank you for pampering her. But please tone it down a little bit. Or else she would abuse it." Layla said as she teased her daughter.
In fact, she was not against Nathan\'s pampering for Eunji.. She was even more delighted to find out that her daughter was really loved by her dear husband.
"Mom, it\'s fine. She knew I can\'t resist her when she showed me that pout. She\'s too cute to reject!" Nathan smiled at his wife and then turned his attention back to his mother-in-law.
"Mother, I have vowed to put a smile in her face as long as I could. And it makes me happy seeing my queen happy. But of course, thank you for that kind reminder. I\'ll remember them deligently in my heart. Her health and happiness are both my priority." He added while feeding Eunji the omelet.
"Oishi!(Delicious!)" Eunji said with gusto as she threw two thumbs up to Celine who just shrugged her shoulder as it\'s no big deal.
"Geez! Niichan, it\'s still so early in the morning. Give us some slack. Stop showing off your affection with Eunji-chan, okay? The sweetness is too much that I might not be able to finish my Dalgona coffee." Of course Celine didn\'t waste the opportunity to tease her brother.
"If this will be the start of another round of morning bickering from you both then better stop right now. My grandchildren are more behaved than you both." Mei immediately intervened making everyone to giggle.
"It\'s okay Mom. That\'s how siblings should bond. Friendly bickering and teasing. Nothing physical." Eunji told Mei while looking at Nathan and Celine.
"That\'s right. Ana and you were also like that before." Layla uttered which made everyone to look at her and to Eunji.
Ever since they have reunited, no one dared to mention about Ana. They thought the relationship of the siblings must be not good that\'s why Eunji never brought her up in any conversation.
The Bais were all curious to know the sisters\' story but they knew they\'re in no position to be nosy.
But since Layla brought her up, they immediately looked at Eunji to see any discomfort on her face.
But they were both in relief when they saw that she was calm.
Eunji knew that Layla really missed her other daughter, Ana. And she\'s not the kind of petty daughter and sister. She missed the old them honestly.
She didn\'t like what was happening in their family.
So to comfort her mother, Eunji showed her warmest smile and even tried to reach out for her hand so she could hold them.
"I know Eomma. Ana and I were like them but since I\'m the youngest among us, she\'ll always give in." Eunji reminisced the times she had with Ana.
"I know you missed Anastasia so much. I missed her, too, Eomma. Don\'t worry. I\'ll knock some sense in her head and bring her with me. She better apologize to you for making you worried and sad." She said.
Everyone remained silent as they gave the moment for the mother and daughter. They felt that the topic was very sensitive for them.
Nathan too remained silent. Ever since he had arrived last night, they didn\'t have any conversation about how his meeting with Ana turned out.
"Don\'t push yourself so much, okay? I knew she had her reasons why she decided to not come back. And even if it pains me, as a mother I\'ll respect her decision." That\'s all she could do for her eldest.
She wanted to give Ana the freedom to decide for herself after what she had suffered inside their organization.
To make her mother at ease, Eunji said, "I won\'t Eomma. Don\'t worry."
Then Eunji looked at everyone and smiled to them.
Though she was smiling, everyone in the table could feel and see her pain.
"Alright! We better finish this before the food turns bland in my tongue." She said and looked at her children who were looking at her, too.
Seeing their mother in almost a teary state, they wanted to comfort her but they were stopped by their dad. They decided to finish their food to make their mom happy instead.
"So, how\'s the decoration going on? Do you want any help?" Layla asked as she tried to change the topic.
"Thanks Eomma but everything\'s ready. Just making some minor touches. We have also prepared costumes for everyone to wear if you wanted to wear them." She said.
"Oh, that is so sweet of you! Well of course, I\'m still not too old to wear one, right?" Layla said.
"That\'s awesome!" Eunji beamed.
The kids also took turns to feed their mother. But they were so careful to not feed her another egg dish since she already had one.
"Okay! Better finish your porridges first, okay?" She said.
"Your mom\'s right!" Nathan said while feeding his wife with kimchi fried rice.
"How about you, Appa? You should eat, too." Sophie asked her father.
"I\'m fine." Nathan said but Eunji shoved a spoon of fried rice into his mouth and said, "Fine my foot! Eat some, too."
Everyone decided to pay attention to their food and ignore the couple who unintentionally feeding them their sweetness and affection to each other.
They thought that they would be full even before they finished everything on the table.
After breakfast, the couple and the four kids decided to roam around the shoreline since it was still too early.
They were accompanied by Karina, Celine and Sam, to help out in watching over the adorable children who were laughing while running barefooted on the white sand.
Since Celine was a big international artist she had agreed to wear a disguise before she came out. There were foreigners staying on the neighboring beach resort in the island so they could not risk being recognized.
Even Nathan was wearing a skin mask that Eunji had made for him.
The problem were the kids. Their faces were still very sensitive for any make up or any chemical-based masks so they could not wear any disguise at all except for their big hats and sun glasses.
Her men were also dispersed all over the area to make sure the entire island was secured and safe for the entire family.
"Careful! Don\'t run near the waters okay?" Eunji reminded them.
"Relax!" Nathan said as he wrapped his arm around his wife\'s waist.
The kids were really having fun as they tried to build their very first sand castle together.
The locals of the island who were tending on their fish nets under the shade of the Talisay (Indian-almond) trees could not help but admire the scene not far from them.
They wondered who these visitors were since they looked unfamiliar for them.
But as they were informed that they were staying at Safe Haven, they decided to help in watching over the family, too.
"Hello!" They started greeting them.
"Kumusta po!" Eunji and Nathan greeted them as they walked closer to them.
The fishermen were considerate enough to give them a chair to sit on.
"Are they your children?" One of the friendly fishermen asked.
"Opo. (Yes.)"
"Wow! God blessed you. They\'re handsome and beautiful!" He really tried to communicate with the couple in English.
"Thank you, po. But it\'s okay. Nakakaintindi po ako ng tagalog.(I understand tagalog.)"
"Eh, marunong maman pala!(They know how to speak!) Good!"
The couple got the chance to talk (while not disclosing their identities) to them and knew about what had happened in the island while they were away.
Nathan and Eunji learned that when they were away, a group of armed people came in the island and started looking for Jake.
Good thing Manong Popoy was prepared and had told the owner of the resort where he had stayed beforehand. Should there be unknown men or guests who tried to ask for Jake\'s whereabouts they have to tell them, as natural as possible, that Jake had left the island safe and sound. And they didn\'t know where he was heading next.
Nathan had also instructed his men to look for his phone and then sent it far away to mislead those people looking for him.
And it somehow worked. But those people were not easy to fool. They guarded the resort for a month to make sure that they were really telling the truth before they left the island completely.
Thankfully, there were no disturbance afterwards.
After that incident with Jake, they were so careful on to whom they would be allowing to enter the island as per Nathan\'s instruction.
Of course, before their conversation came to an end, the couple didn\'t forget to invite their children for the birthday celebration later on.
The couple had also arranged a boodle feast dinner for the locals in the island to enjoy. And they would be holding it on the exact same spot where they were sitting.
A tent would be put up later on for that together with long tables covered with banana leaves where the dishes would be placed for everyone to enjoy.
"Thank you so much, Maam! Sir! I hope God will bless you more. And we wish your children to have a happy birthday and good health for the whole year." They expressed.
"Salamat po mga Manong!"
And so, the time for the birthday party finally came. The kids on the island have gathered to enjoy and celebrate with the triplets\' birthday. Mona who was wearing a bear outfit was going to be the EMCEE of the party.
The kids were having fun looking at the decorations as they felt like they were really in the jungle.
Their tables were made from slab of big trees. While their chairs were designed to look like a cut tree trunk.
The floor were covered with fake grasses and there were hanging plants on the ceilings with the beams being painted to look like a real tree with fake branches and leaves attached on them.
There were also ferns attached on the walls.
And they also enjoyed the papermacheted animals designed on each side of the stage and the sides.
A big screen was also installed and was playing \'Dora the explorer with his cousin Diego\'.
Flickering lights which looked like fireflies were also present.
Different sounds of animals were also played in the background.
They were also given cute cupcakes to eat while waiting for the birthday celebrants to arrive.
The staffs who volunteered to serve in the party were also wearing their animal costumes and they were interacting with the kids to not make them bored.
They acted as baby sitters for them.
There were almost two hundred and eighty children aged three to nine years old in the island and they all fitted inside the big pavilion.
As for those aged below one year to two years old and also ten and above, Eunji had decided to separate them together with the adults later on.
Of course, they would be given gifts and tokens just like their siblings who were able to join the kids party.
The main door of the pavilion opened and everyone looked at the people standing by the door.
Wearing their cute outfits, the kids shyly looked at their guests when they arrived at the entrance of the pavilion.
This was the first time that the triplets had seen a lot of children like them. Most of the time, they were surrounded with adults.
At first, Eunji wanted them to wear their jungle ranger outfits but as they saw their parents wearing a cute panda outfit, they had decided to wear one too.
Good thing Eunji came prepared and had baby panda costumes for them to wear.
Of course, they had their ranger shorts and sleeveless undershirt just in case they got tired of wearing their cute costume.
"Kids let\'s welcome the birthday celebrants with their parents in their Panda Family outfit!" Mona announced and the kids stood up to welcome them.
"Cute!" They all agreed that they looked so cute with their costume.
One by one, the triplets walked on the middle like a boss with their parents also walking behind them.
Nathan and Eunji had also drawn the black circles around their eyes and even draw the panda nose and mouth.
This served as their disguise for the event.
Mona asked the kids to introduce their names for everyone and they were thankfully okay with it after they had seen the kids happily smiling at them.
"Hello everyone, I\'m Panda Midori."
"I\'m Panda Sopie"
"And I\'m Panda Aoi. Together, we are the panda triplets." Li Jun introduced and everyone laughed because of how witty he was.
To make sure that the triplets and their guests could understand each other, Mona had become their interpreter.
Games also started after their short introduction.
Nathan and Eunji were also proud watching their kids loosening up and was now interacting and having fun with fellow children.
The couple wanted them to enjoy their childhood as long as they could. They want them to enjoy being a child before they grew up and embrace adolescence and adulthood later on in their life.
So that at the end of the day, they won\'t have any regrets in life.
(A/N: It\'s a common scene in the Philippines where in the locals will try their very best to converse in English to a foreigner even if they\'re not very fluent or their vocabulary in English is very limited. We also tend to call foreigners especially with blonde hair or any caucasian white or black foreigners who speaks English as Americans even if they\'re of a different race or from different country. But of course it is not happening now as we are already educated about it. We can at least differentiate them based on the country they\'re from and what they\'re called. But regardless, we will welcome you all with warm smiles and laughter with the intention of wanting your stay or visit in the country comfortable and to have more fun.)