“Hello Maehri.” Kyuhyun greeted while approaching the young woman. Maehri’s face lit up almost instantly.

“Kyuhyun oppa!” she exclaimed in delight. “If he is an oppa then what am i?” changmin snorted

“How are you?” she asked kyuhyun while hugging his arm. Kyuhyun shifted awkwardly under her hold. ‘What’s with the sudden skin ship?’

Just then nabyul walked in the living room. Her eyes automatically landed on kyuhyun’s arm which was in Maehri’s hold. Her brows furrowed a little.

Kyuhyun noticed her slight change in expression. Seeing that he stopped shifting and put his free hand on Maehri’s intertwined ones. He gave out a forceful smile. “You grew up, maehri.” 

“And you stayed the same.” Maehri said with practically heats in her eyes. “Handsome and perfect as always.”

Kyuhyun nodded while taking a small glance at nabyul.

Changmin rolled his eyes over his cousin’s behavior. “Why don’t we sit down? Unless you want to leave?” he suggested.

Kyuhyun sat down on the couch first and maehri followed, taking the space besides him.

“So, how was it in the U.S?” maehri asked.  “It was fine, I guess.” Kyuhyun answered. He wasn’t even looking at her.

“I actually visited there last year but changmin wasn’t giving me your number or else we could have had a drink together. It would have been fun.” She said while smiling at him.

 “Yeah.” Kyuhyun replied. Oh, how she was trying to have a conversation with him and his attitude was really not helping.

Nabyul sat down on the chair just opposite to the couch kyuhyun was sitting on. She looked down at her lap not daring to look up because she could feel kyuhyun’s gaze following her. ‘What’s with him? Why is he looking at me like that all of a sudden?’

Truthfully, kyuhyun didn’t knew why either. Somehow his heart wanted a reaction out of nabyul to see if she still cared when he was around other girls.

For the next hour, Maehri kept trying to make conversation and kyuhyun kept ending it with a nod or a single word. His eyes were still at nabyul the whole time.

Nabyul sighed. ‘Nothing will work out between these two if I stay here.’

“I’ll be in the kitchen since its time for lunch.” Nabyul announced and made her way out of the room. Changmin stood up too. “I’ll help.” He said.

‘No, don’t leave them alone.’ She thought then mentally slapped herself. ‘What are you saying nabyul? them being alone would help them progress. Isn’t that what you want? Only then you will be able to move on.’ She thought.

‘Finally alone.' maehri thought. ‘I should make a move now.’

“So, what are you doing these days?” she asked. “Resting” kyuhyun answered.

“Are you meeting anyone, like dating?” maehri asked. ‘Please be single.’ She mentally prayed.

Kyuhyun kept silent. ‘What have I got myself into? Should I tell her clearly that I’m not interested in her or should I give this a chance? Maybe I will move on from nabyul that way.’ His train of thoughts was broken by maehri.

“I know it’s a personal question but I really want to know.” She said. Kyuhyun sighed then shook his head. “No, I’m not.” Maehri’s face lit up. ‘This is so working out for me.’ She thought. ‘Even nabyul is out of the way now.’

Just then a crashing sound was heard and after a minute changmin entered the living room. “Hey guys!”

“What are you doing here?” Maehri asked clearly annoyed with his sudden appearance.

“I broke a plate so nabyul wanted me out.” Maehri rolled her eyes. “So, what are you guys talking about?” he asked.

“Nothing” maehri answered. “I bet she asked if you were single, right?” he asked kyuhyun with a smirk.

Maehri’s eyes widened slightly. ‘What is this idiot trying to pull?’ kyuhyun nodded. “Actually she did ask that.”

“You know, maehri always liked you. Remember how she pushed nabyul in the pool because she was jealous of the attention you were giving her? Man, she was fuming out. I wonder if she still is that green-eyes monster.” Changmin questioned with a thoughtful expression.

Kyuhyun smirked. He could always count on his best friend for turning a boring situation into an enjoyable one.

“What are you doing?” maehri asked in a whisper so only her cousin could hear.

“What am I doing? Well don’t you want kyuhyun to know you better? I’m just helping.” He answered almost too innocently but maehri knew about the devil behind the mask.

“Hey kyuhyun, if you are going to date maehri, you should know more about her. Once when I was about nine and maehri was seven we went to visit our aunt in the countryside. She took us to her stable to show us her collection of horses. Maehri here was so afraid that when a horse made this sound she started running away and the fell, head first, on a pile of manure. Oh what a funny sight that was.” Changmin finished. Maehri was fuming while kyuhyun laughed along his best friend.

“Nabyul is calling you in the kitchen.” Maehri said while grinding her teeth. “No, I don’t think so.” answered changmin who had no intention of stopping.

“Also, once she slept at our house on my mother’s favorite couch, you remember it right kyuhyun? The pale-white one?”

“The one she specially ordered from France? How can I forget it?” kyuhyun said

“Well, Maehri was about six then and she peed on it. God we couldn’t take out the smell or the stain so we ended up throwing it in the dumpster.” Changmin said.

Maehri looked like she would faint any second. ‘Shim changmin, a painful death awaits you.’