Yours is the first face that I saw

 "I don't know if I like this," Liv's face tensed. Her mother was coming.

"You have nothing to worry about," Woo followed her around their apartment with bottled water. Fruit and other snacks were within reach, but all Liv could do was cradle her growing stomach.

She sighed and dropped to the couch in the living room as if she needed to meditate, or maybe just nap.

"I can't believe she's coming," she winced as if it could not end well. 

"Well, she is so excited," Woo sat next to her, he reminded her that he heard every word her mother said over the speakerphone, and every time he said something her mother said WHAT?

Liv breathed in and out. She could hardly take it. Why was this happening now?

"We have a few weeks," Woo looked so happy. All Liv could hear in her head were her mother's words, "Stupid foreigner."

Of course, maybe that was what her mother's mother had said about Liv's Dad. She knew her mother though. She knew how she would be around Woo. She would be so smartmouthed.  Liv wasn't sure she could handle it without going in a rage of some kind. But of course, at the moment she didn't want to move from the couch. She just wanted to be alone with Woo.

Liv's phone rang but Woo picked up.

"Hello?" 

Liv looked at him worried. What if they were already on the plane? She thought of how much her mother would say about the economy and why was she still living in Seoul.

But she didn't hear Woo say a thing. He was listening, very carefully. Naturally, Liv thought the worst. Had something happened? Finally, he breathed an "uh-huh." And then clicked the phone off.

"Who was that?"

"Your brother."

"MY BROTHER?" The last person she wanted to see. It felt like the worst holiday ever. And they would be staying here.

"He says your dad is coming and his buddy Kang who grew up here is coming with them," Woo smiled.

"What!" She was even more afraid now. Her Dad and Mom?

"Oh, you are your mother's daughter," Woo grinned.

Liv squeezed her eyes shut and tried to laugh. She wanted to be happy. At least for the baby. Naturally, the baby kicked as if he got the last say in this.

"It's just-" She didn't know where to start. A part of her had felt alienated from her parents for so long. She was used to them not being in her life. After all, they had their worries with Tristan. She hadn't asked for much. She never had.

"They want to meet their grandchild," he said, getting up to cut an avocado. He thought she needed something comforting, and he knew how much she loved avocados. "And they miss you."

She shook her head, no. 

"See you're propagating while your brother is not," he told her.

She looked at him as if he'd lost it this time. He brought over the avocado, some cheese, and even cut mango.

"It's all good. Just relax. You'll see they aren't bears, after all."

He made her laugh then. Yes, she laughed so hard she started to cry.