You were hosting a small party at your place with your close-knit friends (and then some). Among the guests was your boyfriend Kris, and he had brought along his friends. They were nice people, and you liked them well enough that you didn’t mind them coming. Besides, you had a feeling you'd be getting a lot closer to them the longer you and Kris went out.

"Luhan, right?" you asked, cautiously eyeing the boy with light brown hair and fair skin.

"Luhan," the boy said, correcting your pronunciation.

"Oh, I'm sorry," you said, biting your lip nervously. "I don't speak Chinese very much."

"You must be Kris's girlfriend, then," Luhan surmised. "It's nice to meet you, we've heard a lot about you."

"Oh, really?" You beamed.

Luhan smiled back. "Kris talks about you a lot. He really likes you."

You laughed and blushed a little. "Well, I hope he says good things about me," you joked. "I mean, not that I would understand, seeing as you guys probably talk to each other in...Mandarin, right? I know Kris can speak both Cantonese and Mandarin." You smiled proudly.

"Has he ever tried teaching you?" Luhan asked curiously.

"Um, once," you admitted. "Just the basic phrases, but it didn't go very well."

"How so?"

You didn't really understand why he was interrogating you about your poor Chinese skills, but you played along anyway. "My pronunciation isn't very good...as you probably know." You gave him a crooked smile.

Luhan hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe you need a different teacher," he said slowly. "Were the phrases too long?"

You nodded.

"I have a really good one to teach you," he said suddenly. "Very short, and quite easy to say."

Your interest was perked immediately. "Really? You'll teach me?"

"Right now, if you want to," Luhan offered.

You could only nod again.

"I noticed you talking to Luhan a lot tonight," Kris remarked as he helped me to clean up.

"Yeah, he was really nice," you said, rinsing a few glasses in the sink. "Here, can you help me dry?"

"Sure. What did you talk about?" Kris asked, grabbing a tea towel.

You pondered that for a moment. "You, I guess. " You giggled when you saw Kris's face and added, "Nothing bad, I promise."

He relaxed then, and continued drying. "You can't have talked about me the whole night, though."

"We talked about my lack of Chinese skills," you said dryly.

Kris made a noncommittal sound. "Don't worry about it."

"I don't," you assured him. "But Luhan did try to teach me."

You smacked Kris when he laughed. "And how did that go?"

"For your information," you huffed, "it went well. Except he wouldn't tell me what it meant."

"It's probably some thing rude." Kris rolled his eyes. "That's not like Luhan though."

"I didn't think so either," you agreed. "He was nice to me. You should invite your friends over more."

Kris looked pleased hearing that. "Hey, tell me what Luhan taught you, and I'll translate for you."

"Wo ai ni," you said slowly, making sure you pronounced everything right. "You looked at Kris expectantly. "Well?"

He wouldn't meet your gaze. "Oh, it's nothing," he said quickly, hurrying to put everything away in the cupboards.

You narrowed your eyes suspiciously. "Is it really that rude?" you wondered.

"Don't worry about it," Kris said reassuringly. "I'll talk to Luhan about it. He should know better."

"Tell me what it means! I can handle it, whatever it means," you pleaded, moving closer to him. "Please?" You pouted for good measure.

"It means…" Kris hesitated.

You leaned closer. "Wait. Are you blushing?"

"No."

"It can't be that bad, right? I mean, you're blushing, it must be really rude or something," you said. "I'm a big girl. Tell me."

Kris sighed. "You're not going to give this up, are you?"

"No," you chirped. "If you're not going to tell me, I'll translate it myself on the Internet. But I'd rather hear it from you." You smiled coquettishly at him, batting your eyelashes.

"Stop that," he growled, but you knew he didn't really mean it.

"Then tell me."

"Fine!" Kris sighed again. "Wo ai ni means… It means 'I love you.'"

Your mouth fell open. "Oh."

There was an awkward silence before Kris spoke. "It's a shame he couldn’t you something more useful," he joked. "Your pronunciation was really good, but you can't really use that everyday, I guess."

You blushed at that. "Well," you said slowly, "it depends on who you're saying it to." And before you could chicken out, you said, "Wo ai ni, Kris. I love you."

You dropped your gaze quickly, still blushing. The next time you saw Luhan, you were going to kill him.

And then Kris said your name oh-so tenderly, before repeating the same words you said to him. "I love you."