Empire of the Ring

Youngho woke up early in the morning and Fatima’s arm was on top of his chest, she was still deep in her sleep. He was satisfied to see her peaceful face without worries since the marriage brought her peace and security. Not wanting to wake her up, he stayed still. Fatima soon opened her eyes, it seemed that she felt Youngho’s glance while in her sleep.

“Sleep more. It’s still early in the morning.”

“You should sleep more too.”

“I’m going to work out with the security crew, I’ll wake you up after I’m done working out.”

“Okay, I’m going back to my sleep then.”

Seeing her falling back to sleep, Youngho left the bedroom.

The winter’s cold air in the morning made his body shiver. It was not as cold as Korea since the temperature was only down to 30°F but because of its wind, the wind chill temperature was much lower.

The sound of the security crew running in the Southern part echoed in the farm. Being early birds, Jongil and Insoo must be running with them too. Since Youngho was late today, he would be getting teased by Jongil. As he was about to pass the reservoir, he saw a bunch of men running toward him. He stretched his body to join them and Jongil’s voice burst upon his ears.

“Hey! Does a new groom even have enough strength to run? Just do some stretches there.”

“Man, don’t embarrass me in front of our juniors.”

“They’re old enough to know what I mean. And why would a new groom need to work out? You don’t have enough stamina, huh?”

At Jongil’s teasing, everyone laughed and some even cheered up Younhgo.

“Why are you cheering? I don’t need to be cheered. I’m a man of capability.”

“Boss, you can do it only if you will. Cheer up.”

The crew smirked. It seemed that they were determined to tease him this morning.

“If you say another gibberish, I’ll cancel the three-day break at the beginning of next month.”

His threat did not work since they now started booing at him. Although Youngho was their boss, they had a special bond with each other since they were all from the same Navy Special Forces U.D.T. unit.

The morning running was over after circling half around the farm while singing their former military song together. When Youngho went inside the building, Fatima was waiting for him with honey water. They had been together only for a week as a married couple but they seemed like a couple who had been living together for several years. They were so natural together only because they had been living in the same mansion together as a family. Jongil even made fun of them that they did not look like a newlywed couple but Youngho did not mind.

Youngho also had to postpone the honeymoon trip because of his work. District seven was in the middle of the gas pipe installation process and he planned on going to Southern Europe where it was warmer once the district was secure. They had traveled together a lot, so it did not seem like a big deal. Besides, they could not even dream of traveling alone since they saw that Szechenyi and Zeynep had already packed their luggage to follow them to the honeymoon. It was just so natural since they were used to traveling together. Moreover, Yunsuh was also interested in Southern Europe. It seemed that their honeymoon was going to turn into a family trip.

Youngho had planned on going to a quiet honeymoon alone but when her siblings said that they would be joining them, Fatima was even happier. She knew that Youngho would be boring to travel with, since he never liked crowded places but enjoyed being in the quiet. She thought that group travel would be much more fun and lively.

***

Zeynep whispered something in Fatima’s ear. Although she meant to be quiet, Youngho could hear everything. She said that she would give her all the congratulatory money that she had been saving if her big sister allowed her to buy a puppy with some of the money. The clever girl dared to negotiate with her sister’s money. Youngho interrupted their conversation.

“What kind of dog do you want that you’re bothering your sister?”

“Jeez, you scared me! Did you hear all I said?”

“Yeah, I know everything even by only reading your lips.”

“Huh! I knew that so I spoke in Turkish.”

“I already learned Azerbaijani and now I’m studying Russian.”

Since she could not get him through, she now started nagging using her cuteness as a weapon.

“Oh, come on, oppa. I saw a puppy yesterday and it was shaking because of the cold. That poor puppy needs a home. And if I sleep with a puppy, I won’t have to go to your room at night.”

Her negotiation skill was better than what Youngho had thought it would be. She was offering the serenity of their bedroom, she was truly a cunning little girl.

By all means, she brought a little Shih Tzu puppy. It was so tiny, being only three months old. Zeynep made a fuss about training the little puppy that did not even recognize its name. The house was full of laughter after the puppy came. It was too cute that Youngho automatically looked for it when it was gone from his sight. It was too small and it camouflaged with the carpet’s patterns that he almost stepped on the puppy multiple times. It had become everyone’s routine to play with the puppy in the evening time.

Youngho wondered if the dog is so lovable like that, how much he would love his own child. That night, he paid extra attention to the baby-making process in the bedroom.

***

It was the New Year’s Day.

The wine factory was on a three-day break and the farm and only the farm family and the thirty security crew were gathered to hold a memorial service for their ancestors. Although all of them were far away from their home country and family, as they gathered together for the traditional event, they did not feel lonely anymore.

The service was just a formality and the highlight of the day was performing ‘Sebae,’ New Year’s ritual bows. It did not matter how big people were, they would bow to elders and the elders give a gift of money to the younger ones as they give words of blessing for the new year.

Since Insoo’s parents and Sangchun’s parents did not make money, Youngho prepared four envelopes of money for each the four parents, so that they could give money to people who bowed to them. It was a lot of money because the farm family had grown big in number and everyone would be getting for envelopes of money as gifts from each parent.

All of the Korean crew was happy to receive the money even though they were big adults. It was also because Youngho also gave them a bonus-payment for their job well done for the past year. Even Gerhardt’s children who were not Koreans came to bow to the adults as they heard about receiving money, they returned home happy with the gifts of money.

It seemed that Zeynep had bragged about receiving the Sebae money to her friends from school. As it turned to afternoon, a lot of cars parked at the farm. Zeynep’s friends who heard about the rumor brought their parents to see if they could join the ritual. Not knowing what was going on, the parents stopped by the farm for their kids. Youngho was acquainted with all of the parents who visited the farm since they came to the farm to swim in the reservoir in the summer and to pick grapes from the trees in the fall. He could just let them go in vain. The Korean crew prepared for a barbecue party, so that everyone could enjoy the New Year’s Day. Youngho had to give more money to the parents since he could not ignore Zeynep’s friends’ eyes of expectation.

It looked like that every New Year’s Day from now on, the farm would be busy with the guests who come to join the Sebae ritual to receive a gift of money. It was a little hectic but it was quite fulfilling to see the crowded farm. The farm had now turned into a little town. Although he would be spending more money for the ritual, it would not seem so wasteful if all could enjoy the day together. Happiness did not seem so far.

It was not sure how people found out about the party at the farm but Korean businessmen and people residing in Baku also came to the farm to join the party. Some of them even brought a karaoke machine and they ended up having a singing competition with a prize. It was a loud party.

After spending the hectic New Year’s Day, Youngho and Fatima discussed holding such a big annual event every year. She suggested having a family trip around Christmas in advance and holding the New Year’s event at the farm afterward. Youngho also agreed to her. Since many Koreans felt lonely being away from their families, it did not seem so bad to invite them over for a traditional event and party. Korean employees in the security company would increase gradually and some of them might get married and settle down in Baku. It would be nice if the farm could be like their hometown.

Since Youngho would be a father of a family in near future, he thought it would be great if he could teach his children about Korea by making the farm the hub for Korean people and events.

***

Finally, Youngho and the family could go on the honeymoon trip. The installation of pipeline and gas valve was finally completed at District seven and the risk element at the field was now gone. There could have been safety accidents at any time but it was lucky that there was none. The pressure from the gas field was especially high in pressure and the company had to hire a world-famous technician from Kuwait to control the pressure since there was no Azerbaijani technician who could handle it. The amount of gas deposits was too much for Azerbaijani standards, although it was not up to the world-level standards.

Anyway, Youngho’s heart was lightened since a big source of anxiety was now resolved. Although he only had 5% of the company’s share, he worked hard as if the company was his own. The Azerbaijani government was also impressed by Youngho’s hard work and his influence over District seven. His way of working was more than enough to have an impact on the officials who were still soaked in the socialistic ways of handling work since he went to the field every single day to prevent any safety accident except for the two days around his wedding. It was not a coincidence that Yaniv gave gold bars for wedding congratulatory money. It was a way to show his appreciation for Youngho and to encourage him to work harder for their business.

At Baku’s airport, there were more people who were going on the trip than who came out to escort them and say goodbye. The honeymoon crew including a little child was seven in total. As they walked through the VIP passage, Yunsuh again repeated her exclamations.

“Oppa, I showed the pictures taken from last year’s trip to my friends and they were so jealous of us.”

“You’re evil. Why would you brag about it?”

“What? I just bragged about my successful brother.”

She was full of pride.

“You must’ve advertised to the whole world about moving overseas this time.”

“Why not. That’s huge news to brag about.”

“Do your friends know that you can’t speak English?”

“Hehe, absolutely not. They’d just think that I’m fluent since I travel a lot.”

Her level of maturity was the same as Zeynep’s. In fact, she was degrading after getting married and becoming a mom. Youngho had nothing to say about her change since his success was one of the causes. Yunsuh was not like this when they used to be poor. She was now even stubborn that it seemed that it would be hard to change her back to her old self. Youngho only wished her to be a little more graceful when she gets old. However, he did not try to stress her out since another baby was growing inside of her. It would be hard to be graceful having two babies. He just wished that she would not be loud all the time. As he was thinking that he would not allow Fatima turning like Yunsuh but Fatima was just raising her voice to Zeynep.

“Zeynep, If you keep acting like this, I’m going to leave your puppy at the airport.”

“Phew, unni! How can I put him in the cargo compartment of the plane? It’s going to be cold in there.”

Zeynep was fighting back, the puppy would be a major troublemaker of this trip.

Although he had expected the trip to be a little hectic, he regretted having a family trip. The trip that was supposed to revolve around the newlyweds was actually revolving around Zeynep and her puppy. There were not a lot of hotels that allowed pets, so they could only visit places where near pet-friendly lodging.

Youngho and Fatima as a couple were taking pictures in front of famous travel spot as backgrounds. Youngho was scolded by everyone since he was not fond of taking pictures.

Everyone was exhausted when they returned to Madrid after visiting Toledo and Granada of Spain. The puppy and Yunsuh’s child had made it difficult for them to have a peaceful trip. The tired child had been nagging and crying and the puppy kept having diarrhea as if it ate something wrong. The gang finally decided to cancel the rest of the trip and returned home.

Youngho and Fatima’s honeymoon had ended flat just like that.