"Woah, you're really going?"

Krystal perked an eyebrow with amusement after a long, aggravating night of watching her friend's persistent refutes against joining Taemin in Chungdam. She had woken up to the girl baking pastries at 5 in the morning. Krystal was absolutely puzzled with Sulli's quick change of mind, but she was too exhausted to ask any further questions. For god's sake, she had endured her wavering contemplation half the night and, really, she just wanted to hop right back in bed now.

Sulli answered her with a silent nod as she tugged the zipper of her packed luggage up and firmly set it down on its wheels.

"Yeah.. I just want to get it over with. It would be wrong not to go, anyways. He already set it up. I have no choice." Sulli rolled her eyes and groaned before rolling her luggage out of the dorm's exit. Krystal giggled at her friend mid-yawn as she leaned against the door and gave her a sluggish wave good-bye.

"Alright, well, good luck. Be back in time for next practice though or else our manager's going to freak. I'm too drained out now to practice today thanks to you. God, Sulli."

Sulli laughed as she spun around to give her a short wave. 

"Think of it as my little favor for you! You need to rest more, so, you're welcome." She returned her friend's scoff with a perky smile before leaving.
"And don't worrry, I'll be back in a few days." 

Frankly, Sulli's last minute decision to go to Chungdam was more of a little getaway for her. It was Sulli's excuse to get away from the usual scenery that is either of the casual streetways along the front of the SM building or in the small, inclosed practice room whose walls dully imitated the sky.. Even if it meant an uncomfortable encounter with Taemin's parents, she decided it would be worth a try. She had heard that Chungdam was a much quieter place. What could happen?

Once she stepped out the building, she was immediately welcomed by Taemin playing with his keys against his fancy red Porsche.

"Ah, Rapunzel has finally come down from her tower!" Taemin leaned away from his car upon the sight of Sulli, greeting her with a cheeky grin in which she returned with a nonchalant gaze. 

"Just open the door."  Sulli muttered while heading straight for the door, still cautious of any possible wandering freelance photographers around her. As he helped her luggage to the back of the car, Taemin couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear with the fact that she was actually coming. He knew that it was troubling for her to meet his parents so suddenly and he came with little expectations.

Taemin quietly pumped his fists in victory, his eyes squinting from joy. He was thrilled, of course. Her actually getting out of the dorm was already far over the plan which he had originally presumed. On the bright side, he didn't have to crash into their dorm and carry her out. All is good.

Sulli's eyelids grew heavy as she kept her eyes on the busy landscape outside the window. So waking up so early to bake wasn't such a good idea after all. The car was almost silent, well, except for Taemin's non-stop jamming to the music on the radio.

"Careless, careless. Shoot anonymous, anonymous. Heartless, MINDLESS! NO ONE. WHO CARE ABOUT ME?" Taemin sang, scrunching his face as he hit a long note before he could begin shaking his head to the beat of the song. "Dun dun dun.. DUN DUN DUN!"

Sulli rolled up her eyes up in vexation. There was no way she could possibly sleep in this condition.

"Oh my god, would you stop that?" Sulli grumbled. Taemin snickered as he paused to turn off the radio.

"Sorry."

With only a minute into complete silence between them, Taemin leaned over to catch a glimpse inside the bag that she was holding.

"Wah, you brought pastries?" He exclaimed in surprise. Sulli frowned as she turned her back to him.

"I'm still not okay with all this." She said in a low voice to assure him her displeasure. Taemin chuckled.

"I know. But, why are you so afraid of my parents? Is it my mother? It's not like she's.." Taemin stopped to glance at her as he lifted an eyebrow suggestively. ".. Water or anything.." He whispered as he swooshed the liquid in his water bottle around before chugging it down his throat.

With that, she completely awoke from her sleep. How did he know about my hydrophobia?!

"How did you know that?" Sulli quickly sat up from her laying position, her face lit up with interest in this particular topic. 

"I searched you up." He answered in his usual bluntness and smiled. Sulli's eyes widened with shock.

"You what?.."

"Well, to be a better boyfriend, I figured I should start learning more about you. What? You didn't" He pouted.

"What did you see?" She spoke timidly and furrowed her eyebrows as her curiosity grew even further. He glimpsed at her with a mischievous look plastered on his face. 

"Nothing. But, look what I got." Without keeping his eyes off the road, Taemin flipped his phone out of his pocket and his thumb immediately skimmed through the screen for him. He smiled in content once he found what he wanted and held out the phone in front of her.

"Tadah! It's pretty, isn't it?" 

Sulli's eyes got even bigger once she caught a glimpse of the picture on the screen.

Standing in front of her eyes was a giant and rather sensual picture of her from a recent photoshoot on his screen. Taemin had displayed the photo as his wallpaper much to her dissatisfaction.

"WHAT THE F- Yah! Delete it!" Before Sulli could get her hands on his phone, Taemin stuck out his bottom lip as he swiftly stuffed his phone back in his pocket, away from her reach.

"No way. I like it." Taemin refused and added jokingly with a smug smile. "This way I can see you everyday so I would feel less in pain when I miss you whenever we're away."

Sulli gave him a cold stare before giving up to resume her nap. It's not too late to turn back, is it?

Once the two had finally reached their destination, Taemin was the first to jump out of the car.

"I'm home!" Taemin shouted out in excitement.

While the other was excited as ever, Sulli couldn't help but feel utter regret. Her stomach churned as she followed Taemin to the front steps of the house. As the doorbell rang, disquieting scenarios all began to play through her head at once. She winced, groaning to herself as she watched Taemin eagerly waiting for the door to open. She shouldn't be so nervous, but she couldn't help it.

Once the door opened, they were greeted by a tall man and a small woman.

"Taemin!" The man's eyes beamed with delight at the sight of Taemin and Sulli. Before they could say any further, Taemin jumped and threw his arms around the both of them.

"I've missed you mother and father." Taemin's lips curved into a small smile. 

RIght before he could let go from the embrace, Taemin was instantly jumped on by an even taller boy. 

"Taesun-hyung." Taemin laughed as the boy continued to playfully ruffle the hair on his head.

"You're still short as I remembered. And skinny." The boy smirked.

"And you're still tall." Taemin retorted with a frown.

They all looked so alike it almost frightened her. Sulli cringed a smile as she watched the little family reunion, but she as much as she would like to, she couldn't keep her gaze away from the woman. She hadn't taken her eyes off of Sulli since they had arrived. It wasn't even a very pleasant eye-to-eye moment at the least. She distinctly expressed much discontent at the sight of Sulli. Unlike the man, she appeared quite stern. Sulli swallowed the lump in as she looked away. She was right. This was going to be very uncomfortable.

The man then turned his attention towards Sulli.

"Ah, you must be Jinri. We have a room set up for you upstairs. You can rest there at the meantime. Taemin and Taesun could help you out with that." He smiled as he gestured towards her luggage.

"Yes, thank you." She smiled timidly as she bowed her head down. 

Once his parents had left, Taesun pulled Taemin even closer.

"Hey, mom's pretty pissed off about this scandal you two are having. She's not happy about the fact that you two kept your relatonship a secret from her either." Taesun whispered in a stern tone.

"Oh.. really?..." Sulli bit her lip nervously. Taesun pursued his lips and nodded, but Taemin kept a content smile on his face.

"I know. But, Jinri, can handle it. Right, Jinri?" Taemin said confidently and gave her a comforting smile. Not knowing what to say, Sulli smiled weakly and nodded.

"Sure."

Right when Sulli had awaken from her nap, everyone was already up and busy setting up the meals and the dining table, even Taemin. From the kitchen, Sulli couldn't help herself but stare at Taemin in a bit of astonishment as he vigorously scrubbed the table with his brother and swiftly go back and forth to set up each dish evenly across the table, brightly obeying every command from either of his parents. It gave her an uneasy feeling. She wasn't used to seeing him like this.. all obedient and everything. It was like he was a whole different person.. like any other mannerly son in a perfect family.. which was strange.

"If you're going to just stand there, then go watch T.V., then. You're in the way." His mom glared at Sulli disdainfully. She had been too caught up in her little daydream that she had forgotten to help out. Completely flustered, Sulli quickly grabbed the nearest plate and headed for the dining table, grimacing to herself in embarassment.

So, making a good impression was definitely crossed out from her list. Great.

Once dinner arrived, the couple were, of course, immediately bombarded with questions, although they quickly transitioned their focus on Sulli. Gradually, she felt a little bit more comfortable with the Lee family with the exception of Taemin's mom though Sulli was grateful towards his father who constantly attempted to make things less awkward in the table.

"You were in that drama.. To The Beautiful You, right? I've just started watching it. You weren't so bad there." 

"I have some of the f(x) songs in my iPhone."

"You have nice skin. So clear! I wish I had skin like that..."

Everything was going quite well, until-

"Are you planning to attend college?" His mother suddenly spoke in the middle of the conversation. Taemin gave her an alert stare as he waited for her answer. He could see Taesun wincing from the other side of the table.He knew his own mother well and her concern for academical matters. Sulli's cheeks flustered into a light pink color as she shook her head no. 

Before his mother could scorn or throw Sulli any look of disapproval, Taemin was quick enough to throw another topic in the table.

"Oh that's right. Sulli brought pastries. Mom, you love pastries, don't you?" He exclaimed as he ran back to the table with the bag of sweets that Sulli had brought. 

"What is this?" His mother frowned as she blankly stared at the plate of strawberry cream pastries in front of her. Taemin gritted his teeth nervously as he quietly urged Sulli to speak up. Knowingly, Sulli nodded back and stood up.

"They're strawberry cream pastries. I made them this morning.. Please, try one." Sulli said with a bright smile as she politely handed out each one on everyone's plate. 

With an austere gaze, his mother cautiously bit onto the pastry. Both Taemin and Sulli smiled in relief once they saw content fill her eyes.

"It's delicious, right, honey? The girl's pretty and a good cook." His father cackled as he nudged his wife by the shoulder.

"I guess." The woman raised her eyebrows up in slight pleasure. "But, is this your recipe?"

"I learned it from my mother. If you have the ingredients, I can teach you how to make them." Sulli grinned.

"Can you?" The woman's eyebrows perked up with interest."After dinner then."

"You're welcome. What could you do without me?" Taemin whispered quietly in her ear. Her lips slowly curved into a smile in response. It was true.

From behind the kitchen wall, Taemin watched his mother and Sulli giggle and chatter amongst themselves. Taemin smirked. He was impressed. He didn't expect them to get along that fast. For that, he admired her; how she got along with people so quickly. Taemin was almost jealous himself. 

"I'm jealous." Without realizing Taesun's presence, Taemin jolted as he looked over at his brother who had his head on his shoulders. 

"What the heck?" Taemin chuckled and playfully punched Taesun by the shoulder. Taesun pouted as he rubbed his throbbing shoulder.

"Really. Mother usually scares all the girls I bring him and, somehow, your 'perfect' girlfriend manages to defeat that scary image of hers. For once, I'm impressed, brother. You're lucky." Taesun let out a heavy sigh.

"Am I?" Taemin grinned, but his smile didn't last long as he caught his brother's eyes all over Sulli. 

"You, stop checking out my girlfriend." Taemin grunted as he smacked Taesun across the head.

"Ow!" Taesun winced as he rubbed his head.

By the time they were finished baking, nearly everyone had returned upstairs to bed. Taemin's mother smiled with satisfaction as she observed the perfectly decorated pastries in front of her. 

"I must say, you're really good at this. I'm bringing this to work."

"Oh, thank you." Sulli smiled back with gratitude. "I"ll clean the plates now."

"Are you sure?" The woman frowned. 

"You should probably get some rest. I'm sure." Sulli grinned.

While Sulli washed the dishes, she froze as she suddenly heard faint footsteps coming closer to the kitchen. Anxiously, she slowly continued until a loud, booming voice nearly caused her heart to jump right out of her chest.

"You did well today." Taemin greeted her with a cocky grin as he joined her in the kitchen. Sulli toook a deep breath and sighed in relief at the sound of at least a familiar voice. 

"Why aren't you upstairs? You nearly gave me a heart attack." Sulli scowled at him. Taemin chuckled.

"Did I?" 

Before she could ask him to leave, Sulli's body grew stiff as she felt his arms snake around her waist. He smiled as he gently pulled her body against his for a friendly back hug.

"I'm really glad that you came." Taemin softly whispered into her ear.

Sulli could feel the flesh on her cheeks burn bright red once she felt his lips lightly press against her skin. Although the kiss was short, Sulli blushed in embarassment as she could feel her heart thump against her chest. As Taemin released his grip on her after giving her a quick peck on the cheek, he gave her an innocent smile as he headed upstairs.

"I'll meet you upstairs."

After unfreezing herself from the traumatic moment, Sulli frowned to herself as she touched the cheek where he had kissed her. This wasn't the first time this had happened, of course, and it bothered her how he would always get away with it. Sulli sighed as she looked at the calender.

82 more days until the 99th day. It should be easy, right?

I'm so sorry if this chapter was long and boring for you guys. D: I've realized that the chapters have been getting more lame as the story goes. Thank you so much to those who have put up with me.  I'll make sure the chapters will get more interesting as the story progresses. Oh right, Minstal moment next chapter as well as even more Taelli. I hope to have some comments for this chapter, so, you , please leave a comment below~