There was not much to really worry about until another problem in the form of Luhan arrived one Tuesday afternoon.

Sehun was in the middle of fulfilling his punishment he got from the principal—a five day suspension, tops—and was playing video games in the living room with a bored expression on his face when Luhan stormed in our the place.

“Yo! Cousin!” Luhan greeted, his whole existence making Sehun scowl at the mere sight of. I couldn’t help but bite my lip to hold in the amusement at his entrance. He bro-hugged Sehun who didn’t even attempt to respond and threw himself on the couch next to him. “Heard my little cousin got suspended for five days for kicking some . Didn’t know you’re that good,” he teased, only making the latter sneer while killing the joystick in his hands.

I cringed at the sight, trying my best to hide behind the wall and not be noticed by any of them as I eavesdropped while carrying the tray of cookies and brownies mom baked for them.

“You sound very welcoming, Hun,” Luhan mused teasingly, nudging Sehun’s arm.

Sehun gave him a glare, saying, “who told you to barge in anyway? I’m not in the mood for a chat.” He always wasn’t, that was the case.

His unwelcoming behavior should have already ticked Luhan, but the older only chuckled heartily, slinging his arm around Sehun’s neck. Sehun groaned louder, shrugging off Luhan’s arm. But it only made Luhan even more and place his arm around his neck again.

“Aren’t you missing me, though?” Luhan chirped, grinning at Sehun. “Not like this is unusual. We always play video games whenever we can.”

“That was in the past,” Sehun pointed out, grinding his teeth, the sound of his character dying in the game making him shoot curses. “I don’t really need any company right now,” he said, pushing buttons on his joystick hard. “That ing—aish!”

“Language, little one,” Luhan said with a bored tone, leaning back on the couch, seemingly having given up his own battle to win his cousin over some game. “Just stop cornering the boss and you’ll get your win. Here, let me do it,” He snatched the joystick away from Sehun—who gladly didn’t say anything—and watched Luhan defeat the boss.

I didn’t really know much about the game, but I was jealous of Luhan being able to strike, at least, that kind of conversation with Sehun, making the latter get engaged in a different game with him. Soon, they were already both playing. Sehun had long forgotten about his will for Luhan to leave him alone, and somehow I saw a hint of a smile on the corner of his lips as they battled it out on the game.

While they were at it, I took my cue to enter the living room before mom saw me and question me what I was doing there. As soon as I was at their line of sight, Luhan’s eyes trailed towards me until I placed the snacks in front of them.

“Mom baked the cookies and brownies. Please have some,” I bowed in Luhan’s direction, about to leave.

However, something—or someone—tugged on my wrist, hauling me back. I came face to face with a grinning Luhan.

My eyes widened at his friendliness. Somehow, the fact that he was so nice on the outside seemingly made me uneasy, especially when I could feel another presence in the room drilling holes at the back of my skull. Snapping out, I pulled away from him, alerted.

“Lu-Luhan-ssi,” It was a struggle to get pronouncing his name right, but I managed. “I-Is there anything you need more from me?” I avoided looking at Sehun as much as possible.

Luhan nodded like a puppy. Although he was two years older, I could not fathom out how he was any different with the way he acted. He was permanently a kid. “It would be nice if the three of us could play video games!”

“Bu-but I don’t really know how to play those…” I muttered, twiddling with my fingers, glancing at Sehun from time to time—wondering for his reaction, but he was only tapping away on his joystick, a bored expression on his face as he continued on his own game. There were no signs of him not allowing me to join, but the look on his face seemed not too welcoming.

“Well, I can teach you! It’s easy. Come sit down!” Luhan said, pulling me down on the couch beside him.

I was not sure what was going on, but everything went too fast and I was suddenly holding the controller and Luhan’s arms engulfed me from behind, his hands over mine on the joystick as he taught me all the controls for the kicks, punches and double scores. I was too engrossed listening to him that I almost jumped out of my seat when a loud thud—of something being thrown—on the coffee table was heard in the middle of Luhan’s video game 101 lessons. We looked up and noticed Sehun’s controller haphazardly put on the end of the table, about to fall, and the boy himself quitting the game halfway, his character dying from his enemy’s attacks.

“Hey, Sehun? Aren’t we playing?” Luhan called from behind me, his tone inquiring but amused. “Why are you suddenly quitting? Ya!”

My head was still in the direction of where Sehun was heading, still in wonder why he stood up to leave just when I was learning. We could have played a round together, at least. Was this how much he loathed me? To the point he didn’t want to be in the same room as me? Was I really only allowed to be near him when he was asleep? My heart was filling with sadness at the thought,

“I’m sleepy. You two go ahead and enjoy the game,” was what he said before he disappeared up the stairs.

Without his presence, I felt like I couldn’t do anything. Slowly, I withdrew my hands away from Luhan’s, about to excuse myself too. But before I could even peel myself away from him, he beat me to it and then he was just cachinnating next to me out of the blue. I stared at him incredulously.

What was seriously wrong with this cousin of Sehun’s?

“Are you okay, Luhan-ssi?” I asked, concerned.

He continued to laugh, waving a hand at me to tell that he was okay. He then wiped the tears in his eyes and said merrily, “looking at his reaction, it seems like I really pissed him off!”

“What?” I could not really understand him.

He shook his head, still laughing. “Nothing you need to know.” Luhan stood up, as if he was to leave. It made me confused. He just came over that I was actually going to ask him whether he was really going to leave now, but before I could even open my mouth to speak, he uttered, “It’s nice getting to know you better, Han Mijoo. I think we will be spending more time in the future. It seems to me we’ll really get along well, with you being Sehun’s paternal cousin and all.” He winked at me, leaving me dumbfounded and gaping and cheeks flaring in embarrassment at the flirtatious gesture.

No one was ever that bold towards me.

I could hardly get off Luhan’s wink and words from my mind that I slept thinking about it. He was another ball of mystery like Sehun was and it frustrated me not to know what the boy was really thinking.

-

The next morning, it wasn’t that I was not welcoming, but I was just surprised when Luhan appeared out of nowhere right at the front gate and happily slung his arm comfortably around me, making my heart jump out of my chest.

“You look like you saw a ghost!” Luhan laughed. “Am I that handsome that you are staring at my face with wide eyes?” I blinked, shaking my head in denial.

At this point, instead of knowing what to say, I hardly had a clear mind or paid attention to him because of the stares I was getting. It made me more self-conscious because I was not just walking with the famous Kim Jongin, but also with the well-loved senior, Luhan.

Luhan. As I’d heard from stories from the other boys, was the golden boy of the school. He lived and breathed soccer in high school and it looked like girls died in front of him every time they watched his games and witnessed the wars he won. Perhaps he was even popular than the kids I knew and there was not a flaw they could find on him. He was well respected, too, since he was appointed the Senior’s representative in the Student Council just like Joonmyeon was. And to top it all, he was the main reason why, as soon as we entered high school, Sehun became easily recognized by people. They were mostly compared and nicknamed the most coveted nice guy and bad boy in and out of campus, which was pretty weird to me. I didn’t have any clue why girls should worship them the way they did. They were all nothing but average boys at the end of the day.

Say, they were very attractive and all, but I never thought ‘worship’ should be the thing when approaching them, fantasizing about them, too, was an utter NO NO. They were not celebrities, for heaven’s sake. People were only overreacting; some were just riding the fun. And I did think they deserved, too, the privacy we all get.

Or maybe I was just being my selfish self, not wanting to share who I thought was the closest to me. We’d already gone this same road in middle school and we were going the same path in high school. However, this time it felt like the world became much wider now and slowly, little by little, the distance between us was growing, the lesser we knew about each other too.

“I’m about to get offended,” Luhan pouted at me, snapping me out of my trance. “You keep looking at those people and not at me,” he whined, making me blush.

Why was he spouting such things? It made me look like I had a thing for him with the way he said it and the fact that Jongin actually heard this and saw how close he was acting towards me made me feel quite panicked. I didn’t want him to misunderstand anything that I shrugged off Luhan’s arm quickly and made some distance between us.

“Sorry, Lu-Luhan su-sunbae,” I apologized, side-stepping, trying to get as close to Jongin as possible since Luhan was making me feel uncomfortable. “I just think it was unnecessary for you to put your arm around me. People might misunderstand,” I told him, hoping he’d get what I was saying.

But being the stubborn one, he came closer, grinning. “What’s wrong about being closer? We’re supposedly somehow related, so why not? You and I are Sehun’s cousins, isn’t it? We should hang out like this always,” if I didn’t know him, I would have stepped on his foot for practically announcing to the whole world that we were cousins with Sehun. Now, these people are definitely going to pester me more about them.

“I know, but I’m not sure about that. Sehun might not like you hanging out with me,” I said sullenly.

He tilted his head to the side cutely in wonder, silently prodding me to tell him why. “Well, we’re not really in the best of terms right now. He practically sneers at me whenever he sees my face and—“

“Well,” he interrupted, nodding and crossing his arms over his chest. “Who knows. Chanyeol filled me in about what happened to you guys. But I don’t see it that way. I don’t think Sehun hates you.”

My eyes widened at what he said, and somewhere inside my chest I felt warmth grow and hope appear. “Why do you think so? He doesn’t look any pleased to see me all the time.” I said.

He shrugged, smiling a bit. “Who knows? Maybe he’s just acting.”

“Acting?” I was confused.

Luhan nodded enthusiastically, about to probably say something too optimistic, but then Jongin went in between us, hiding me fully behind him, blocking Luhan from view. “Hyung, you might not make it in time if you don’t turn the other way. Isn’t that the direction to your classroom already?” said he.

As if only realizing, Luhan widened his eyes, hurrying to the other direction. “See you later! We must hang out again so that we can get to know each other better, Mimi!” I couldn’t help but blush at the new nickname he coined. I heard Jongin groan in front of me, sounding frustrated for some reason but I ignored him, watching Luhan disappear. “See you later Jongin! Make sure to keep Mimi safe from strangers!”

And he was gone.

For some time, Jongin and I just stood their staring at the direction he disappeared to. Until Jongin broke the silence with the clearing of his throat. I turned to look at him, wondering what he had to say.

He said, “Since when did you two become close like that?”

Taken quite aback, I stammered, “We a-aren’t.”

He heaved a deep breath, seemingly in doubt. “But he places his arm around you like this,” he said, mimicking Luhan with a deep pout on his lips. “It was as if he’s already gro