“Good morning, Jinki!” Mr. Jin chirped when he saw his deadbeat daughter shuffle into the dining room, dragging her socked feet across the white, spotless floor, “Don't you look beautiful today?”

Jinki just groaned in response before plopping herself down on her usual seat at the table. She was up all of last night playing Zombies with Mingming and Junhui and only at three in the morning did they all realize that they lost track of time. Strands of hair poked out in every which way from the ponytail she forgot to take off before she went to bed. Her lids were heavy as lead and she could barely keep them open. Mr. Jin looked up from the newspaper he was reading, “Did someone pass curfew again last night?”

“Oh dad, you know that doesn't affect me,” Jinki groaned into her plate as she set her head down.

It was a blessing from the gods that Jinki had parents who know the gaming world inside and out. Because the government had a gaming ban for kids under the age of fifteen to prevent video game addiction, her parents were able to squeeze her past that curfew by registering her gaming accounts under their names. Of course, they knew that the curfew was from 12AM to 6AM and often, Jinki would play through curfew on the weekends. She yawned and closed her eyes, “Besides, I didn't play straight through like I always do. I went to sleep at like three,”

“Wow, that's such a major improvement,” Mr. Jin joked as he took a sip of his black coffee, “Why don't you come back to me when you go to sleep at nine like kids your age should be doing?”

Jinki could only weakly smile at her dad's joke, “Very funny dad,”

Mrs. Jin cascaded into the room carrying a tray filled with warm buttermilk pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage links and plenty of bacon strips – soft, just how Jinki liked them. She arranged the plates in the middle and set herself down next to her husband, and started tapping on her daughter's head that was resting on her plate.

“Get your head off your plate and wash up,” Mrs. Jin leaned back against her chair when Jinki groggily stood up from her chair and started heading towards the stairs to her room, “They'll be down here any minute!”

Mr. Jin raised an eyebrow at his wife and chuckled, “Do you think she heard what you said?”

“I'm sure she'll figure it out herself,” she shrugged, pouring coffee into her pink 'World's Best Mom' mug that Jinki had gotten her from their school's Christmas gift store when she was four years old. Even though she was Jinki's only mom, she was always happy to receive those kinds of gifts.

Upstairs in her room, Jinki was busy untangling her hair in front of the mirror, face twisting into the mot inhuman expressions as she raked her hair through her brush. It was like combing through Anne Hathaway's hair in Princess Diaries. About halfway through the knots, she gave up and decided to loosen it up in the shower. Grabbing her bright lime towel and change of clothes, she headed out of her bedroom and into the bathroom.

“Who left the door locked when they left the bathroom?” Jinki hollered from in front of the bathroom, rattling the doorknob. This was the second time it happened in the year and the first time, it was her dad who left the door locked when he left. Only, the reason why she was worried was because the bath water was still on. Running back to her room, Jinki snatched a paper clip from her desk and bent it so that she could pick the lock. Once she jammed it inside, the door opened and immediately she was blasted in the face with steam.

Waving her hand in front of her face, Jinki cringed and opened the door more to release the steam build-up. When she looked back up, a head was poking out from behind the red shower curtain, water dripping all over the floor. He held the curtain up to his chin to cover up his body while water droplets slid off his hair. The boy was a rather skinny boy with tan skin and chubby cheeks. He pointed to the towel that was hanging on the towel rack a few feet away from the bathtub, “Oh hey, Jinki! Can you hand me my towel over there?”

Her eyes widened in shock, “Oh my God, mom! There's a boy in the shower! Mom!”

“Mom, mom, mom! There's a boy in the shower! Mom, help!” she shrieked after dropping her things and ashing down the stairs back into the kitchen. Along the way, she bumped into someone but when she looked up, it was a woman that looked nothing like her own mom. Once again, Jinki overreacted and ran into the dining room only to see another other strange face sitting with her parents. He was an older man around her dad's age and they were happily conversing over a cup of coffee while her mom was busy setting up another plate next to Jinki's beloved spot on the table.

Mrs. Jin looked up after setting the seat, and smiled, “Oh, it's nothing to worry about dear! It's just Dongjin!”

“Who the hell is Dongjin?” Jinki cried out, stomping into the dining room and throwing her hands in the air. Mrs. Jin gave her that 'look' that all moms seemed to have. You know that one, the one where they purse their lips and sideways glance at you? Yeah, that was the one. Jinki let her hands fall to her side as she sighed, voice still shaky, “Mother dear, might I question why there is a male named Dongjin occupying our beloved bathroom?”

Rolling her eyes at Jinki's cringe enticing ways, Mrs. Jin ruffled Jinki's hair before she took her place at the table again, placing a few pancakes on her plate, “Oh, Dongjin is your cousin from my side. I'm not sure if you remember, but Dongjin and you met when you were both still very little!”

“And you expect me to remember this?” Jinki raised an eyebrow at her mom, “And besides, I thought the Shins were in Japan!”

There was no way she would remember something from that long ago. Her first memory ever was when she started first grade when she refused to slide down the twisty slide because she thought she wouldn't be able to stand up afterward. Besides, she'd never even contacted anyone on her mom's side before. Jinki only know her relatives on her dad's side. She did remember her parents saying something about the Shins a while back but she wasn't really paying attention since she was playing Animal Crossing: Wild World underneath the dinner table that one night. She heard 'Shins' and 'Japan' but that was about it.

“Well they did come back from Japan, but they'll be staying with us in the meantime until your Uncle Junghwa and Aunt Kiyoung can find a house, or even an apartment to stay in,” Mr. Jin explained to his frustrated daughter, “And besides, we have plenty of room in the house for them to stay in. Dongjin can sleep in the guest room next to yours,”

Jinki's mouth almost dropped to the floor. There was no way she wanted to live in a room next to a boy! Forget about him being her cousin – boys in general were messy, dirty creatures! Her dustless white house, neatly organized trinkets, and most of all, he would be asking to play her video games! She whipped around to turn to the man that was supposedly her uncle, “Uncle, I'm sorry but I can't have Dongjin in that room,”

Donjin would completely mess up her daily routine. Heck, she didn't even know who he was in the first place! What were his habits? Likes? Dislikes? Personality? She knew none of that! It was pretty much like those Asian dramas where the girl suddenly has to live with the love of her life because their fathers or mothers are best friends...except this time, her and Dongjin were cousins. How would she know that he wouldn't go snooping around in her room, looking through her personal belongings when she wasn't there at home?

“Is that so?” that woman she had bumped into earlier walked in, fanning her face to dry it after washing up, “That's too bad. Dongjin was really looking forward to hanging out with his cousin. Well I suppose he can sleep in our -”

Mrs. Jin shook her head, giving Jinki the 'eye'. Jinki glared at her back but her mom's glare was a lot more intimidating than hers. Sighing in defeat, Jinki decided to just let it go and attempt to take a shower comfortably without think that there was a male species other than her dad in her home. As she was walking out of the dining room, her mom waved her hand at her sister, “No, none of that is necessary! Jinki is just being stubborn. You know how teenage girls are, always hiding their diaries and boy stuff. I'm sure she'll get used to it when she takes him to school tomorrow,”

“He's coming to school with me?!”

“Hey Kisaeng, guess what?” Dongjin excitedly followed Jinki down the stairs, draping the towel over his head to continue drying his hair.

Jinki cringed at the stupid nickname he called her. She had no idea whether or not that was a nickname he used to call her, or a nickname he had just come up with while she was in the shower. He explained to her that instead of calling her 'Ki yo-dongsaeng' he decided to mash it together to make the stupid sounding 'Kisaeng'. She the lights to her game room and took a seat on the couch, “What?”

“My mom said that you and I were going to be in the same class together,” he continued, taking a seat next to her. Even though he was the same age as her, he still towered her over in height and he looked older than her by maybe a year or two. He looked nothing like a fourteen year old. Jinki watched him gaze around the game room, eyes wide in awe. This was the first time he had ever seen a room so clean and spacious. There was literally more room than there was of the room furniture.

She rested her elbow against the armrest and started to flip through the TV channels, “So I've heard,”

“Do you have any cool friends or classmates that I can be friends with too?”

Jinki shrugged, setting the remote down when she saw the Property Brothers on HGTV. She swore that next to Milo Ventimiglia, Jonathan and Drew Scott were total dream boats. Shifting herself into a comfier position and turning her phone on to check her social networking accounts, she bluntly answered, “Not really. I only have like, one friend and she's a girl,”

“Is she cute?”

“I'm not letting you hook up with my best friend just because you're my cousin,” she scrolled through her Twitter timeline, gagging at one of the popular girls in her class tweeting about how life was hard being at parties every weekend, “Or at least, I can only believe that you're my cousin because mom and dad said so,”

Dongjin crossed his legs on the sofa Indian-style and rested his elbows on his knees, “I'm definitely your cousin. I mean, don't we look a little alike?” he placed his pointer and thumb into a check sign, placing it under his chin.

“Whatever you say,”

They sat there for a while, engrossed in their phones while Property Brothers continued to play in the background. Jinki thought about starting an icebreaker session several times but every time, she figured it wouldn't get anywhere but awkward. Peeking over at his phone screen, she almost burst out laughing when she saw him on that weird side of Youtube. Like, not even the ones where you're watching things that tell you not to laugh He was on that dark, dark side that you never want to visit.

Since they had nothing to do better anyway, Jinki opened to ask if he wanted to play a game with her or something, but was interrupted by the gorgeous voice of Michael Buble singing from her phone speakers. Snatching up her phone from the table, she read the contact name out loud like she always did, “Yao Mingming,”

“Is it a boy?” Dongjin cooed, exiting out of the Youtube app and turning around to bug her. The name didn't sound Korean to him so he figured that whoever 'Mingming' was is Chinese and most likely a boy. Don't ask him why he thinks that, he really doesn't know what makes 'Mingming' sound like a guy's name. It just did. He scooted in closer to Jinki, “Hey Kisaeng, you didn't tell me you had a boyfriend!”

Jinki stuck her tongue out at him before looking back at her screen, “There aren't a lot of things you know about me, if you didn't realize already. And if it truly interests you, I don't have a boyfriend. He's just a guy in my Chinese class,”

“Oh does Kisaeng have a soft spot for foreign boys?” he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. It wasn't even something to about, going for foreign boys, but the way she got all defensive about it was entertaining. Jinki's face tinted pink as she stared at Dongjin for saying that.

Annoyed, Jinki flicked the older boy on his forehead and watched him pretend to roll around in pain on the floor. She pointed a finger at him before rolling her hand into a fist, “I will punch you in the throat, you oversized insect!”

“Hello?” she answered the call in the sweetest voice she could attempt. Sure she didn't really think much of Mingming in that way, but there was nothing wrong with sounding flirty. Besides, what if one day she suddenly started to like him? Might as well establish a foundation just in case, right?

“Uh hi, Jinki. It's me, Mingming,” his shy, wavering voice came from the other end. Like the soft boy he was, Mingming was blushing on the other end while Junhui listened in on their phone call. He didn't trust the younger boy in asking someone out on a date with his very quiet nature. Junhui wrote something out on the dry erase board he was holding and Mingming read off of it, “Are you doing anything right now?”

Jinki looked down at Dongjin who was on the other side of the room checking out her games. She wasn't really sure whether or not he was her responsibility or not. Her parents had left for work while his parents left to go job hunting. No one really said if Dongjin was supposed to watch her or whatever. Shrugging her shoulders, she responded, “Nothing much, why?”

Mingming's eyes widened in terror. He was kind of hoping that Jinki was doing something so he wouldn't have to ask her to hang out with him but hearing the good news, Junhui became excited. Reading again from the dry erase board, Mingming cleared his throat and barely squeaked out, “If you're not doing anything important, then would you like to go somewhere with me?”

The line was quiet for a few seconds; at one point, Mingming was about to hang up from embarrassment since Jinki didn't respond. Lifting the phone away from his ear, he was about to press the end call button before he heard Jinki's voice once more, “Oh, I'd really love to but you see, my cousin is over right now and I have to watch him,”

“Oh I see,” Mingming's face fell, disappointed that Jinki was unable to go. It took him a lot of his courage to ask her today only to find out that she wasn't available anyway. Once more, he was about to hang up before Junhui waved his hands and pointed to the new message he had written out on the board. If Jinki couldn't go out, then he would make Mingming find a way to be with her anyway. Reading it first in his head, Mingming thought it was a good idea and read it out, “Do you need any help? If you want, I can come over,”

Upon hearing his offer, Jinki almost jumped out of her seat and started dancing. With Mingming around, she could at least talk to someone that wasn't totally awkward. Alongside that, Mingming is older than Dongjin and her so Dongjin had no choice but to listen to whatever instructions the older boy said. It wasn't likely that Dongjin would listen to Jinki anyway. Lifting her legs up onto the sofa, Jinki held a hand to her heart, “Will you really do that? Thanks so much for your help, Mingming!”

“Anytime,” he grinned at Junhui who was already dancing his celebratory dance in the corner of Mingming's living room, “I'll be there in a few. See you later!”

“Oppa! Dongjin oppa!”

A little girl's voice echoed throughout the house while footsteps could be heard upstairs in the living room. Jinki raised an eyebrow at Dongjin who was already halfway out of the game room. Setting her controller down, Jinki followed Dongjin upstairs and saw him carrying a girl about six or seven years old that looked a lot like him, rubbing her eyes while yawning. Jinki placed her hands on her hips, “You have a sister?”

“Mom and dad didn't tell you?” Dongjin set his sister down on the couch and watched her curl up into a ball, “Anyway, this is Daejae. Daejae, this is Ki unnie. Say hi,”

With her hair covering a majority of her face, Daejae lazily rolled off the couch, walked up to Jinki and stared. The face didn't look familiar to her. In fact, she didn't think she had ever seen a girl like her in her life! Jinki tapped her foot waiting for Daejae to formally introduce herself but instead, Daejae just stared up at her with those big doe eyes. Dongjin got down on his knee and placed a hand on Daejae's shoulder, “Daejae, this is your older cousin that mommy was talking about last night, remember?”

“Kinnie?” Daejae's voice rose in shock as her already large eyes widened. So this was the girl that she had been waiting so long for! She quickly walked up to Jinki and bowed a respectful 90 degrees before flashing her a small-toothed smile, “Hello Kinnie! Auntie Leeahn told me that you would play dolls with me!”

Jinki forced a smile onto her face and pulled Daejae into an awkward hug. Well, it was more like Daejae clinging tightly to her legs while she weirdly placed her hands on the girl's shoulders. She wasn't a big fan of playing with little kids, let alone dolls. WHat made her feel more uncomfortable was that other than 'Kisaeng', she now had to respond to 'Kinnie' too, but that was probably because Daejae just mashed together 'Ki unnie'. With an apologetic look, Dongjin mouthed 'sorry' knowing that Jinki wasn't the type to be caught playing with dolls, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Before Jinki could say anything else, the doorbell rang and immediately she handed Daejae off to Dongjin. She told them that there was still leftovers from breakfast on the dining room table if Daejae was hungry. Looking down at her clothes, she figured that Mingming wouldn't mind if she just wore shorts and a shirt. It's not like it was scandalous or anything. Sliding on her socks, she quickly opened the door and greeted Mingming.

“Hey Jinki,” Mingming cutely smiled, holding up a pink pastry with a cute design, “This is for you,”

“Aw really? You didn't have to!” Jinki happily accepted the box and let him inside, “Thank you!”

Once he put his coat and shoes away, he followed her into the kitchen and watched her put the box inside the fridge. She told him that they would eat it for snack later when they get hungry. It was nice being in her house. Mingming liked the open and welcoming atmosphere that it had. Sure, it was a little bit too much cleanliness to take in at first glance but after seeing it a few times already, it wasn't so bad. Jinki clapped her hands together, “So would you like to meet my cousins?”

“Oh yeah, sure,” he answered, walking into the dining room after her. He saw another two kids at the table eating. Waving at the two, he slightly bowed his head and introduced himself, “Hello, I'm Mingming, Ki's classmate. Nice to meet you,”

Dongjin swallowed the pancake he was eating and brought the glass of orange juice to his lips, “Are you Kisaeng's boyfriend?”

Jinki's eyes threw daggers at Dongjin as he smirked while drinking his orange juice. How could he embarrass her like that? Actually, how could he be so straightforward to say that?! Next to her, Mingming was speechless and blushing like there was no tomorrow. Sure they really weren't dating, but he secretly wished that they did. He realized how much he needed Junhui's assistance and that he had taken his best friend's advice for granted. Now he didn't know what to do.

Daejae stuffed another pancake triangle into and kept her eyes on her plate, “He can't possibly be dating Kinnie. He's too cute,”

author's note : hello there everyone! thank you all for all the comments and feedback you guys have given me so far. anywho, i've decided to add something a little extra into the plotline ( but I won't tell you what it is yet ) and hopefully you guys will like it. if you haven't noticed already, i changed the layout in the foreword. it's not really that good since i'm still an amateur in graphics/layouts, but i think got the point across – hahaha. htbf! should be updated by tomorrow and new classic in about a day or two.

i hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! there's plenty more in store c: