Story Time|That Time My Life Was a K-Drama/Shoujo Manga?

Sup BAYOG Fam~ Today’s gonna be sort of different! Today’s gonna be a Minty story time post! It’s legit a completely true story too.

Ya know, my friends and I watch alot of Asian dramas (mostly K-Dramas). We also read tons of manga and webtoons. We get swept into the story lines and storylines. Often times we’ll be like, “DUUUDE! Why can’t that happen in real life?!”, or “I wish my life were a K-Drama or manga!!”

I mean who doesn’t want to be surrounded by bishies?? I’m sure everyone has imagined experiencing one of those scenarios from a drama or anime before. They just seem so outlandish, yet romantic. and fantastical.

Sure there are some things that are cheesey and kind of cringey though. Dramas and manga/webtoon series have some very overused cliches/tropes.

Still….ROMANCE AND BISHIESSSSSS!!!~ The things that tug your heartstrings!

I bet y’all have at one point thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice to live that scenario?~” Yeah. I did too. Except then it actually kinda happened. However, I didn’t enjoy it like that. It was more me laughing at how ridiculous it was.

The cliched trope I lived through: Finding out your “grandparents” (grandparent’s close friends) are hellaaaaaa rich, and your grandparents made a promise to have their grandkids get together. Grandkids are also childhood friends who don’t even like each other. I shit you not.

I swear it was some… Goong/Princess Hours or Hana Yori Dango/Boys Over Flowers shit. I still think, “Dafuq??” whenever I remember it.

So a couple years ago, when I was still living in Florida, my mom and grandma came to town. One of my grandma’s close friends wanted to see us, since we hadn’t seen each other in years. Our families had been close since before I was born. My family owned/ran restaurants and so did my grandma’s friends. Her friends were also like my grandparents. So yeah, I called them “grandma” and “grandpa”. They had one son who was my age. Let’s call him Dick. As kids, we were close. We played together alot. Anyways, my family didn’t do too well financially. This led to my mom and grandma selling their restaurants and moving. So that’s why it had been such a long time.

So my mom, grandma, sis and I set out to Bayshore (Miami) to go visit them one day. I never went to their house before. Although we did visit one of their properties before. It was a small house by the water that they were renovating. From what I could tell, that was the area we were going to. Now, I know their family was financially well off because they owned several restaurants around South Florida. My grandma’s friends also used to gift my sis and I jewelry like pearl bracelets when we were younger. We didn’t think it was THAT big of a deal. It was kind of common for Thai family and friends to want to spoil us at the time. It’s cuz we were the first nieces/granddaughters. So people went all out for us on birthdays and Christmas. However, what I didn’t know was that they were HELLAAAAA RICH.

Imagine my surprise as we pull up to a literal fucking mansion on the water. There was a sports car parked out in front. Their garage could fit like 5-6 cars. They had a crap ton of rooms in the house. I shit you not when I say the house looked like you could play a game of Clue IRL. There was like 2-3 living room/guest reception areas. 2 kitchens. A study with shelves that had books from the floor to the ceiling. They had two dining rooms. This was just part of the first floor! Their property had a private dock overlooking the Miami waters. “We had a yacht, but didn’t really use it. So we sold it.” So yeah. This was the moment my sister looked at each other and were like, “WTF??”

We were welcomed very warmly by my “grandparents”. Especially by my “grandma”. So many hugs…and we were smothered with kisses. There was alot of love. We sat and chatted. Catching up on everyone’s lives and all. They also filled us in on their son. Dude was studying something medical related at the University of Miami. However, he was currently spending summer vacation back in Thailand. Which was fine by me.

You see, we did get along with Dick when we were younger. We were pretty close then. Again, we’d always go over and to our restaurants and play together alot. Especially because their original restaurant was half a block away from my grandma’s. However, we started hating each other around middle school and puberty.

He’s the only son, so he was always pretty spoiled. Puberty made him an ass. He used to say really mean shit to me. He was a straight up dick. So that’s when we stopped playing together.

“Grandma” continued chatting with us as she gave us a tour of the house. Along the conversation, she’d ask me and my sis about our personal lives. Ah. The dreaded question every Asian girl hates being asked by relatives, “Do you have boyfriends?~” She started smiling widely when we were like, “Uh…no…” She smiled and was like, “Good! That’s great!” Then she dropped the bomb on us. “I always wanted a daughter! Did you know your grandma and I used to say we’d have Dick and one of you get together?~”

We like thought it was a joke and just awkwardly laughed. She just smiled, pinched our cheeks, and continued the tour. It was throughout the tour that we were like, “Uh…maybe she’s not joking…” Because she kept bringing it up. She would keep saying things like, “I really did want daughters. It’d be nice if I had pretty and smart daughters like you girls!” She continued showing us the house. She showed us the elevator and said, “See? It’d be comfortable for you~” to my sister. My sister is an above the knee amputee and sometimes going up and down the stairs is tiring for her. We got upstairs, and she showed us the rooms. Including two bedrooms with large closets. They also had a lovely view of the water. “These two could be your rooms!”

Then we got to Dick’s room. First of all, Dick’s room was the size of my entire 2 bedroom apartment in college. WHAT THE FUCK?? Homeboy had a full decked out gaming and driving simulator set up in his room too. The thing we were probably most jealous about at that point. Then she started talking about Dick again. How smart and handsome he is now and it’s a shame he couldn’t see us. She mentioned how she thought he was talking to some girl in Thailand, but sounded not so interested in it. She also again threw in how nice it would be if one of us were to be her daughter-in-law. We were like, “….uh……”

Then she showed us her master bedroom and walk-in closet. The closet was the size of my bedroom in my apartment… Then she showed us the master bathroom. This, too, was the size of what my college apartment had been. The toilet had a TV. There was also a tv in front of the bathtub. The bathtub was next to a large window overlooking the Bayshore waters. They had a HUUUUUUGE shower with rain shower on top, and side shower heads for massages. It was my sis’ dream bathroom. It was a nice ass bathroom y’all.

It was crazy. I remember telling K-Drama Circle about it. It just felt very unreal and laughable. The whole thing seemed like something straight out of of a K-Drama or shoujo manga. K-Drama Circle was like, “GIMME. I’ll Take him!” Of course I should say, we just treated it like a joke. As much as we love our “grandparents” and they love and spoil us, we were completely uninterested in our grandparents’ promise to each other. Of course, we were also lucky that they weren’t forcing us to follow through. They just liked to keep hoping for it.

Like I said, us grandkids hadn’t seen each other in forever. The last time we did see each other, we definitely did not get along or like each other. Dick had a girlfriend (probably), and we were uninterested in dating. My sis was too busy with school and wasn’t interested in Dick.

Meanwhile, I’ve always preferred being forever alone and just fangirling over my 2D bishies and K-Drama hotties. I wasn’t interested in Dick, and honestly, I’m uncomfortable with super lavish lifestyles. Although a cute and fantastical K-Drama kind of love would be fun, I prefer my simple lifestyle. So that’s the end of that short lived K-Drama episode. It was a strange, but…interesting experience. It’s still kind of funny. Obviously, I still laugh about it because it just seemed so ridiculous. Honestly, it still feels like a weird dream.

K-Drama/Shoujo Manga Tropes I experienced in one day:

• Finding out your grandma’s friends are hellaaaa rich
• Finding out your grandma and her close friend promised that their kids would get together/married
• Being promised to marry childhood friend
• “Male lead” is bratty childhood friend, and y’all don’t get along
• Rich people life experience (excessively huge mansion and fancy ass dinner)

I like to think I personally have a very normal and mundane life. However, every now and then weird experiences like that happens. Y’all ever experienced a K-Drama or manga moment?

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BLACK LIVES MATTER

This is a difficult, but necessary matter to address. I’m not good at putting things into words, so I apologize. We all know the matter regarding the unjust murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others. The current Black Lives Matter protests are being covered globally. I’ve even seen it being covered daily by the Thai news. Racism is a very real thing. Being Asian, I’ve personally encountered bullshit racism on a daily basis. So I can relate and understand the struggles. However, I’m also aware of how much more difficult and blatant it is for black POC. BAYOG strongly stands with Black Lives Matter. We’ve individually done several donations. Of course, donations to support the cause and support change isn’t the only thing needed. Support for the cause and change also requires conversation. Make sure to have those conversations. Aside from donating, I had several conversations with my family. I explained things to my parents, especially since some news stories were being reported inaccurately. I was afraid it’d be a bit difficult. However, as fellow POC and human beings, it was a necessary conversation. My parents and grandma understand, and now stand on the same page regarding BLM as well. Please remember to be an active supporter, be it through donations, sharing information, and/or conversations and speaking up.

If you can, please consider donating. I’ve donated more than once as well. For one of my donations, I donated through the BTS ARMY x BLM project. I recommend that if you’re unsure of where to donate. This is because the donation will be split amongst several different non-profit organizations. Of course, you can also choose a specific organization(s) if you wish as well. You can find that [HERE].

You can also check out the following:

• http://blmsites.carrd.co
• http://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co
• http://blackliveswillalwaysmatter.carrd.co
• http://blmstanguide.carrd.co
• http://saytheirnames.carrd.co
• http://useyourvoice.carrd.co

Stay strong. Fight racism and bullshit. Don’t lose sight of the goal. We’re witnessing and being a part of history. Be allies and make sure change happens. Once again, BLACK LIVES MATTER.

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Look no further! You can find all that stuff over (つ✧ω✧)つ [HERE]
Please and thank you~ (≧▽≦)/