“Um… Hello?”

“ROOMMATE!” Minkyung gleefully ran over to where Jaerin was at and attacked her with a hug. “I just got here! Sorry for being so late!”

“It’s fine. Do you need help with your stuff?” Jaerin smiled and rubbed her eyes again

“Nope! These guys are enough help!” Minkyung waved it off with a grin and pointed to the guys behind her. “Which reminds me, you guys can bring the stuff in now that she’s awake!”

“Was I in the way? I’m sorry!” Jaerin quickly scrambled to get up and pushed her stuff out of the way.

“No no you’re fine! They just didn’t wanna wake ya” Minkyung winked.

As the guys started to move the boxes into the girls’ room, Kai couldn’t help but stole glances at Jaerin. He felt as if he had seen her before.

But where?

However, he was caught as she looks up from where she was at and saw him staring at her. Feeling flustered, Kai quickly ducked his head and shook the thoughts off, trying to busy himself with the boxes to avoid her questioning gaze.

Not too long after, the guys finished moving Minkyung’s boxes into to room and they all came back down stairs. While the guys rest on the couches with Jaerin, Minkyung walked Kai out and bid him goodbye, thanking him for his help.

“You sure you’ll be okay here Noona?” Kai asked as he was weary of all the males in the house.

“I’ll be fine Kai, didn’t you see how adorable my roommate is?” Minkyung smiled.

“Yeah, cuter than you.” Kai rolled his eyes. “But useless against all the guys”

“Hey! Don’t judge a book by its cover! She could be a martial arts master for all you know!” Minkyung threw a light punch at his arm. However, when she felt that he was still tense, she knew that he wasn’t convinced and is still worried about her.

“Really Kai, don’t worry about me okay? I can take care of myself. And I always have you right?”

Her words made Kai let out a sigh, nevertheless, he nodded. “Yeah, you always have me Noona”

“Thank you Kai” She smiled again and wrapped her arms around him for a hug.

“You never have to thank me Noona, ever” Kai mumbled, but low enough so that it was inaudible to her as he returns the hug.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“So I really think we should get started on dinner” Tao grumbled.

“Chen, go pick out one of the take-out menus on the fridge and call them please” Kris muttered and the good-nature Chen immediately stood up and made his way to the fridge. Meanwhile, on the couch, Jaerin suddenly asked. “Wait, you guys don’t cook?”

“Nope”

“Not now, too lazy”

“Do you cook?”

“I can but they don’t trust me”

“They don’t trust you?” “Jaerin gave Luhan a confused look.

“Unless you want to start a fire, don’t let him near the stove” Kris chuckled.

“So Jaerin, answer me, do you cook?” Tao shifted closer to her and gave her the most intense and scary look that made the poor girl shivered and shrunk back.

“Er….” Jaerin eventually bumped into Kris as she was moving away from Tao, she looked up at the giant in hope that he would tell Tao to stop, but he just gave her a look and went back to watching TV.

“Tao, are you trying to kill her with your eyes? Stop it!” Eventually, Luhan, who was on the other side of Tao, pulled him back and snaps the boy out of his deathly stare. “Sorry Jaerin, he does that. It’s a habit of his that we’ve been trying to fix” Luhan explained.

“So do you cook?” Tao asked, this time, without the scary stare.

“I do…but not anything too great” Jaerin muttered.

“Great! From now on you cook!” Kris suddenly clapped

“No! Why?” Jaerin gave him a frown.

“Because, now that you’re a part of this house, you should contribute to it” Kris said

“But from what I heard, you guys don’t cook” Jaerin rolled her eyes at him and crossed her arms with a huff.

“You’re gonna get wrinkles from making that face” Kris smirked.

Just as Jaerin was about to shot a comeback at him, Minkyung cheerfully stepped in through the front door, announcing herself with a wave.

“I’m back!”

“Welcome back!” Luhan gleefully waved back.

“So what are y’alls discussing so heatedly?” Minkyung plopped herself on the chair next to Yixing and eagerly asked.

“We’re assigning her as chef of the house, but she is being modest” Kris nodded his head towards Jaerin with a sly smile.

“Excuse me! You weren’t assigning me, you were forcing it on me!”

“Jaerinnnnn! You cook?!” Minkyung’s eyes widened with interest.

“No! I mean..yes…but nothing great” Jaerin muttered the same answer that she had given Tao earlier.

“But that’s still cooking!” Minkyung laughed.

“Do you cook Minkyung?” Yixing asked, turning to attention to her.

“Yes—and I’m going to steal your line Jaerin—but nothing too great” Minkyung chuckled.

“Perfect! You two are in charge of the kitchen now” Kris cheered, a bit too eagerly as his eyes sparkled from the thoughts of having real meals again.

“Excuse me, I never said I’d agree to cook. I just said I can, I didn’t say I will.” Minkyung gave him a look and made Kris sank back into the couch once again.

“It was a suggestion okay?” Kris rolled his eyes.

“More like a slave contract from you” Minkyung stuck her tongue out at him. “Don’t try to bully me and my roommate!”

“Food will be here soon. I ordered pizza and chicken. Hope you girls don’t mind” Chen announced as he came back out from the kitchen.

“Nope! That’s perfect! Thanks Chen” Minkyung gave him a thumbs up while Jaerin thanked him with a smile.

"Don't mention it" Chen smiled. "Just think of it as a welcome dinner" 

Perhaps living here won’t be so bad. Minkyung thought with a small smile as she began to steal glances at her housemates.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Jaerin I said I can help!!!” Minkyung pouted, trying to steal the empty pizza boxes from Jaerin, who kept on dodging her with an attempt to clean up the mess from dinner by herself.

“No! Minkyung, you still have to unpack! You’ll be up all night if you don’t start now!” Jaerin shook her head and raised the boxes a bit higher. Due to her slightly taller frame, she had an advantage to keep the box at a level where Minkyung can’t reach. “I can manage this! Don’t worry!”

“But—”

“She’s right, Minkyung. You should go unpack your stuff. I will help her clean this up” Yixing suddenly appeared beside Jaerin and took the boxes out of her hand with a smile.

“Fine, fine.” With a sigh, Minkyung headed upstairs to unpack while Jaerin and Yixing began to clean up the mess on the dinner table.

“So…” Yixing started as he was beginning to feel uncomfortable by the awkward silence between the two of them. “Luhan told me you’re from China. Is that right?”

“Ah, yes. I’m currently here through work” Jaerin nodded as she was wiping the table clean.

“That’s amazing. I wouldn’t have noticed if he hasn’t told me. Your Korean sounds pretty native” Yixing said with a hint of admiration.

“Thanks! It’s all thanked to my host-brother actually, he taught me everything to know about learning Korean” A genuine smile crept on Jaerin face as she remembers how Sehun had taught her the language. “I struggled a lot, but he was quite a determined little thing.”

“Your host-brother?” Yixing asked, slightly confused by the term she was using.

“Oh, my host-brother, meaning he’s the son of the host-family that I stayed with when I was an exchange student here in Korea during my high school years” Jaerin explained.

“Ohhh, I see” Yixing nodded.

“So, what about you? I know Luhan and Tao are Chinese. Kris too right? Chen…I never asked.” Jaerin pondered.

“I’m Chinese as well. And Chen, he’s Korean, but like you, he was once an abroad student in China. That’s how the guys and I met him.” He chuckled and began to explain their story.

“I met Kris, Tao, and Luhan in high school, and there, we also met Chen, and another friend of ours Xiumin. The six of us went to high school together and were inseparable”

“Awe” Jaerin smiled in awe as she listens to the story, yet, she couldn’t help but felt a bit envious towards these guys.

“Then one day, about couple months after our high school graduation, Kris’ uncle told him to move here and live in this house, and Chen also had to return to Korea as well, so naturally we all decided to move here with him. Well, all except one, Xiumin, he is still studying abroad in China.” Yixing muttered.

“I see.” Jaerin nodded. “You guys must miss him a lot”

“Yeah, but he visits from time to time, so it’s not that bad” He gave a gentle smile at her words, before glancing around the kitchen that is now spotless. “Looks like we’re done cleaning”

“Yep!” She cheerfully agreed. “I think I will go to my room now and finish unpacking…as well as helping Minkyung”

“Alright, if you need help, just knock on one of our doors.” Yixing said

“I’m sure we will be fine” Jaerin said as she headed towards the stairs. However, once she reached it, she turned her head back to him with a soft gaze.

“Yixing.” She started. “Thank you”

“For?” He was confused by the sudden look in her eyes, as well as her thanking him.

“For telling me that story, and for talking to me in general.” She gave a small laugh and shrugged. “I thought that was warm, so thanks!”

“…warm?” Yixing mumbled under his breath while she disappears up the stairs. For some strange reason, he felt his heart constricting again as he thought of her gentle eyes and smile.

Is this the warmth that she was talking about?

==============================================================

Thanks for reading!