BGM: Dong Bang Shin Ki - Hug

It was just another Monday night in the Han household. You and your mother were in the kitchen, currently sampling the Japanese rice that you just finished mixing with rice vinegar, salt, rice wine, and sugar. Your father, who doesn't want to cause any disturbance while the ladies of the house were preparing dinner, was quietly sitting on the living room couch and enjoying some quiz show on television.

DING-DONG. DING-DONG.

You were in the middle of spreading the newly-prepared sushi rice over the strips of nori on the bamboo rolling mat when someone rang the doorbell. "HONEY~ COULD YOU GET THAT PLEASE?" your mother called out in the loudest voice she could manage. "Our hands are filled with sticky Japanese rice right now," she added, asking you to add more sushi rice on the nori.

Upon your mother's request, your father immediately got up from the couch to check who the person outside was. A few minutes later, you heard a noise from the opening of the front gates, and figured that another person would probably be staying for sushi night.

"Mimi sweetie, you have a visitor," your dad said.

"Oh, Ji! You should have told me you were coming over for sush-"

When your father informed you about having a visitor, you instantly assumed it to be your best friend, Jihye, since she is the only one who comes over to your house anyways. You didn't get to finish what you were about to say when you realized that the person who just came wasn't Jihye, but a boy...

...a boy named Luhan.

"What are you doing here?" you asked.

Instead of answering your question, however, Luhan turned to greet your mother. "Good evening, Mrs. Han. My name is Lu Han." He did a 90-degree bow towards your mother. "I'm a friend of Jaemi's. I just came by to return her mobile phone. She left it in the bubble tea shop earlier..." he said, quite politely.

"Ooh~ that's so nice of you, Luhan!" your mother sweetly cooed. "Mimi sweetie, go thank your friend," she ordered, gesturing you to come closer to Luhan.

"Ah, yeah. Thanks," you obeyed your mother. You were about to reach for your handyphone when you realized that your hands were still covered with sushi rice.

"I'll just put it over here," Luhan said, referring to the breakfast table near the corner of the kitchen. "I also brought your charger."

"How did you know where we live anyway?" you suddenly asked, quite curious about how Luhan found out your address.

Luhan chuckled. "You have your home address as your wallpaper," he reminded, casually leaning against the refrigerator near the doorway. "You may be the only person in the world who does that."

"It's a bit weird, right?" you mother blurted out as she added more rice into her roll of nori. "For her age, you'd expect she'd use pictures of idols or celebrities or even cute puppies as her phone wallpaper, but no, my daughter chose a copy of our address instead," she added.

"But it was pretty useful wasn't it?" you reasoned.

"Yeah, it was, but it could also be a bit dangerous," Luhan argued, digging his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. "What if your phone fell into the hands of a crook instead? Or a thief?"

"Luhan's right, sweetie," your mother agreed, even gesturing a thumbs up sign to show Luhan her approval. "Just change your wallpaper display to something else. Okay? You can even use a picture of U-Know Yunho or Dong Bang Shin Ki if you like."

At that moment, your father suddenly appeared from the living room, gently patting Luhan's shoulder as he passed by him near the doorway. "Luhan? It's Luhan, right?" he questioned, not quite sure if he got your friend's name right, so Luhan nodded to confirm it.

"Why don't you stay with us for dinner?" your father suggested.

Your eyes widened. "Appa..."

"Mimi sweetie, Luhan traveled all the way from Apgujeong just to return your phone. Inviting him for dinner is the least we could do," he reasoned, taking out a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

"That's a great idea, honey!" your mother beamed, obviously proud of her husband for coming up with such a 'brilliant' idea. "What do you say, Luhan? You'll stay for dinner, right?" she invited, smiling extra brightly to persuade him.

With a broad smile on his face, Luhan nodded and accepted your parents' offer to stay for dinner. After all, what person in his right mind would say no to a home-cooked meal?

"Sure, Mr. and Mrs. Han. I'd love to stay for dinner,"

"SIR ALEX FERGUSON!"

Over at the living room, Luhan and your father seemed to be having a friendly competition by outsmarting each other in the world of general knowledge trivia. They were watching this quiz show on TV where some of the brightest high school students from South Korea battle it out to find out who knows more about world capitals and dead scientists.

Your father, who is both a master of general knowledge and an avid fan of the quiz show, found himself a worthy opponent in the baby-faced Chinese boy.

"Your father seems to be having fun out there," your mother noticed. The two of you were still in the kitchen, currently rolling the sushi inside the bamboo mat, when she started the topic about the two boys in the living room.

"Yeah, and surprisingly, Luhan also seems to be enjoying himself," you agreed, carefully rolling all the ingredients into a log-shaped sushi. "I had no idea that the he was that smart. I mean, I know that he's a genius and all, but I didn't know he was well-informed about general knowledge trivia as well," you added.

"Luhan seems like a nice boy," your mother observed, glancing knowingly at you.

Based on the look she was giving off, you already knew what your dear mother was going to ask you next. "Umma, he's not my boyfriend, okay?" you clarified, without waiting for the actual question.

"I didn't say anything about him being your boyfriend!" your mother argued, tightly squeezing the bamboo rolling mat to make sure the makizushi doesn't unroll once she starts slicing it.

"But you were going to ask me anyway, weren't you?" you confronted, looking at her sternly.

Fully aware that she was just caught, your mother pursed her lips. Quite unwilling to end the conversation just like that, she decided to ask you another question. "Is he pursuing you, though?"

"UMMA!"

"I was just asking!" she defended, passing you the sushi she just rolled so you could start slicing it. "I mean, sweetie, you are 17-years-old! It's normal for you to start thinking about dating. I would be worried if you aren't!"

Taking a break from slicing the neatly-rolled sushi, you tried turning the table around by asking your mother about her love life instead. "Why, Umma? Did you already have a boyfriend when you were seventeen?" you questioned.

"Oh, please," she replied, signaling you to retrieve the wasabi rhizomes from the vegetable crisper section of your refrigerator. "I was already dating your father when I was fourteen!" your mother giggled, as if she was reminiscing her teenage years.

"I thought you only started going out when you were already in college?" you asked, trying to recall your parents' love story that you've probably heard about a thousand times already.

"Officially, yes," your mother responded, asking you to trim off any odd bumps or marks in the rhizome. "But we were already meeting secretly to eat ice cream by the Han River when we were still in junior high," she said, pointing to a tiny rhizome mark that you missed.

At 14 years old, your mother was already going on secret dates with your father, whereas you... well, you were already 17-years-old, but you have yet to go on a date, let alone have ice cream with a boy by the Han River. "Fourteen... isn't that a bit young to be in a relationship, though?" you questioned.

"Not really," your mother replied, setting the next batch of freshly-cut makizushi on the plates. "I mean, when it comes to love, age doesn't really matter, right?"

"MIMI SWEETIE, DO YOU STILL HAVE THAT RUBIK'S CUBE I GOT YOU FROM HONGDAE?"

When your father called you all the way from the living room, you didn't exactly understand what he said. Not particularly fond of conversing with people who aren't in the same room as you, you briefly excused yourself from kitchen duties to attend to whatever it is your father needs from you. "Go ahead. We're almost done anyway," your mother urged, shaving off the wasabi from the rhizome using a fine grater.

After washing your hands, you made your way towards the living room where you found Luhan and your father in an animated discussion about metal puzzles and Rubik's cubes. If you didn't clear your throat loudly, the two of them wouldn't even notice your presence.

"Sweetie, do you still have that Rubik's cube? The one I got you from Hongdae?" your father repeated his question.

"Yes, Appa. I have it somewhere in my room," you responded, casually nodding your head. "Why?" you asked, not even bothering to sit down while talking to your father.

"Great!" he exclaimed, bringing his palms together. "Can we borrow it for a while? Luhan here said that he could solve it within two minutes," he proudly said, gently patting your friend's back.

Looking suspiciously at Luhan, you were tempted to by saying, "Show off!" but ultimately decided against it and just settled for a very safe "O~kay. I'll be right back."

You were already in front of your bedroom door when you noticed Luhan trailing behind you. Raising your right eyebrow, you silently tried to figure out why he followed you all the way there. "Where do you think you're going?" you asked him.

"Your dad asked me to follow you. He said it might take you forever just to look for one little cube, so you might want a bit of help finding it," he casually replied. "Besides, I think he wanted a little 'alone' time with your mom right now," he smirked, gesturing two quotation marks with his fingers when he mentioned the word 'alone'.

You bit your lip. Your right hand was already on the doorknob, but you haven't twisted it open yet. T