Ellie’s POV:

              I was so embarrassed I could barely breathe. How could I blurt out that I thought Taemin was cute when he accidently said Korean words?! I was mortified. He probably thought I was weird by now. I tried to forget about it and just enjoy my time there.

                I was walking with Amber into the dining room. There was a giant spread with all kinds of foods I didn’t recognize.

“Wow… This looks… Amazing.”

Amber chuckled. Kibum was still placing things on the table. He was beaming with satisfaction.

“Thanks so much! I wanted to have an ‘All Korean Food’ night. I hope you’ll like it!”

I smiled and nodded. He was such a sweetheart. Amber leaned over towards me and whispered.

“Hey, if you don’t like something, don’t worry about it. You don’t have to eat it.”

That was a relief.

“Thanks, I’m glad to hear that.”

We both laughed a little. Amber sat in a chair on the other side of the table, so I reached out my hand to pull out the chair directly across from her. Just as I put my hand on the chair, Taemin came out of nowhere and pulled it out for me. I jumped out of shock. He took me off guard. Kibum and Amber were watching and immediately both of them started cracking up. I started laughing, too. He really surprised me, but… Why was he being so kind like this? Didn’t he think I was weird by now? Either way, it made my heart feel all fuzzy and warm. Taemin looked worried.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you! I just…”

He was standing nervously.

“Oh it’s okay! Really! I just wasn’t expecting you to do that, is all. That was really nice of you.”

I tried to smile at the end without looking stupid. It probably didn’t work. Amber and Kibum were whispering back and forth about who knows what. They were smiling and watching us. What was going on?! Taemin gave one of his heart-melting smiles, nodded, and went sit in a chair at the head of the table. My heart couldn’t take it.

                I shook it off and took a seat. Everyone was awkwardly silent. Of course Kibum was the one to break it. He clapped his hands together and smiled.

“Well, let’s not wait any longer! Dig in!”

                I hesitated. None of the food looked familiar to me. I decided to look to everyone for some ideas. They all seemed to be taking a bit of everything. I decided to try and do the same. After we all filled our plates, Amber was the first to break the silence.

“So, Ellie, how have you been?

“Oh, I’ve been alright. Mostly bored, as I told Taemin earlier.”

Taemin smiled over at me and I returned it. Amber tried to say something but Kibum smacked his hand over and spoke instead.

“SO, since Amber, Taemin, and I don’t know you very well, Ellie, why don’t we go around the table and say something about ourselves while we eat?”

I thought it was a good idea. Taemin and Amber agreed. Kibum volunteered to start, of course.

“WELL, where should I start?!...”

He went on for quite awhile. I liked Kibum a lot. He was open and sweet, even if he talked too much at times. I came to find out he was 18; loved rapping, singing, and dancing; loved fashion; and had a boyfriend named Jonghyun back home who was going to visit in August, which I thought was adorable. I hoped I would get to meet him. He decided to come to America with Taemin to get a feel of the fashion and to just get away from everything for awhile. This is only a summary of what he actually said.

By the time he finished, I felt closer to him already. Amber was next.

                She didn’t take as long as Kibum did, but I learned a lot about her. Amber was 17—a year older than me and Tamein. I learned she actually grew up here in America but went to Korea to look for opportunities. She was also going to hopefully attend her last year of high school here, just like Taemin. I hoped they would be attending my high school, but I figured they were going to a private school that reached their standards. I also found out she was a rapper and was hopefully going to make it into a girl group in South Korea someday. Even though she was a bit older, we seemed to have a lot in common when it came to hobbies.

                When it was Taemin’s turn, he said things that I already knew. The only thing I didn’t know was he hoped to start a solo career as a pianist/singer. He wanted to go back and forth from living in America and South Korea. It made me feel a little melancholy when any of them talked about going back. It was selfish of me, but I really wanted them to stay.

                When it came to me, I was speechless. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I wasn’t an interesting person. In the end, I ended up telling my age, a few things about my family, and a few goals I made up on the spot. It seemed to do the job.

                By the end of the meal, all awkwardness ceased to exist. We were laughing and talking and telling stupid jokes. It was the first time I had been genuinely happy since my parents divorced and my dad got remarried. I didn’t want it to end.

Amber spoke up after awhile.

“Well, that was a great meal, Kibum, I must say. Now that we’re done, what should we do? Video games?”

Kibum groaned, but Taemin agreed. I decided to let them go with whatever they wanted.

“UGH, must we ALWAYS play video games? Can’t we do something that’s actually fun?”

Amber laughed.

“Too bad, it’s two to one. Unless Ellie doesn’t want to play video games, since she’s the guest. Plus YOU’RE idea of fun is shopping at places that cost more than this house did.”

They all looked over at me. I didn’t want to get on anyone’s bad side…

“Um, I’m okay with whatever you guys decide.”

Amber and Taemin high-fived in victory. Kibum put his head back and complained playfully. We all started laughing. Amber came up with a solution.

“Look, Mr. Kibum, how about this: We’ll play Just Dance at some point. I know you can bear that game. Deal?”

Kibum hesitated, but eventually gave in.

                We all got up and headed to another room that was next to the kitchen. It appeared to be a den strictly for video games. There was a huge couch in front of an unnecessarily large flat-screen. There was a huge rack of all kinds of games, along with every console you could dream of. As I was staring in awe, Kibum sat on the couch and Amber went to set up whatever we were going to play. Taemin came over to me.

“I know, there’s kind of a ridiculous amount of gaming stuff in here. Amber insisted on having all this. In Korea, gaming consoles aren’t even that popular. I guess she wanted all this because she’s used to American culture, and whatnot.”

He chuckled nervously. I laughed a little, too.

“I’m actually not much of a gamer myself. I never had video games as a kid, so I’m not really into it now. It’s still fun every now and then, though.”

Taemin looked like he was waiting for me to continue talking. I hesitated, since I didn’t want to bore him, but I pushed myself to believe he wanted to hear me talk. We eventually made our way over to the couch and sat. I didn’t realize it right away, but we were actually... Having a decent conversation. I wasn’t feeling awkward towards him as much as before. I felt really comfortable—like I could tell him anything.

“HEY TAEMIN. I challenge you to a round of Just Dance. I want to get this over with.”

                We stopped talking and Taemin turned his head. Kibum was standing in front of the flat-screen, and Amber had sat down on the couch after setting up everything. Taemin turned back towards me, flashed an apologetic smile, got up, and went to stand with Kibum. He punched him lightly on the shoulder and they talked quietly while everything was loading. I moved a comfortable distance closer towards Amber on the couch so we could talk. This night was turning out greater than I could have expected.

 

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It's taking me longer to write stories these days. I keep feeling like the chapters are getting worse everytime. -_- Well, I'll keep updating as much as I can. I finally figured out where I'm going with this story, so please expect a lot more chapters. XD Kamsahamnida! <3 <3 <3