Present day...

"Mom, I'm home!" You yell into the empty hallway as you take off your shoes on your way in. 

"Welcome home!" She says, peeking her head around the corner of the hallway to wave to you. "How was school?"

"It was good. How was work?"

You hear your mother laugh. Your mother is an extremely kind woman, always giving and never taking. She's also tall and beautiful and her voice is the voice of a goddess. Her sparkling eyes brightened anyone's mood and her smile could light up a room. What happened to me? You can't help but think. You are normal height, maybe around 5'4'' (around that). Your black hair was long and wavy, but refused to cooperate in the mornings. Your eyes are almond shaped, but you don't think there's anything special with them. You sometimes think maybe your lips are pretty, the curve of your top lip is like the top of a heart and your bottom lip is full. But you think that you're average. If anything, less than average.

In truth, everyone around you thinks you're a beauty.

"Work was okay." You walk into the kitchen and take a deep sniff at the air around you. The smells of your mother's cooking is heavenly. Truly something that you're jealous of since you're not exactly a genius at cooking. You hear your stomach grumble, and your mother hears it too. She laughs again. "It'll be a while until dinner's ready. Your father is coming home late." You groan and then shake your head.

"OK, then I'll be in my room doing homework." You give her a grin and she nods in return. Your relationship with your mother is a positive one, and on a friendly level. She understands you and doesn't give you too hard of a time. She's willing to sacrifice for you, and you are willing to sacrifice for her. You love her very much.

Your father is a hard working man as well. He's kind and gentle and still thinks of you as his baby girl. He wants only the best for you and you respect and love him a lot. In truth, your parents are just overall wonderful people and you couldn't ask for more.

You walk to your room which is at the end of another small hallway. It's not a very big room, a single bed, a bookshelf that's about four inches off from reaching the ceiling and a desk and chair. The space above the bookshelf is a good spot for hiding small objects, and you take advantage of this. The best part about your room is probably the window, which overlooks the street. The street you live on is a calm one too, so sometimes you move the chair over to the window just to sit and gaze and ponder. You open the door to your room and see that your chair is still by the window. You move it to the desk and throw your backpack onto the bed, then walk over to it again to pull out your books. You sigh as you see that you have homework from every subject. You put the books on your desk and take out a pencil. 

Half way through your pile of homework, you hear the phone ring. Your mother call out "I'll get it!" and so you don't budge from your seat. You can hear your mother walk over to the phone with hurried steps and say a quick "hello?" 

I wonder who it's from... You imagine it might be Kai again, asking you to help with the homework even though he's better at math than you and you know it's just an excuse to talk to someone so he wouldn't have to work. You sigh, expecting your mother to walk through your door and say Honey, it's Kai, aha! He says he needs help on math again! then give you a teasing wink. Sure enough, she comes in with the phone in hand reaching out for you to take it. You take the phone from her and she says, "It's a special surprise for you!"

"Huh?"

"Just...answer it!!" 

"OK, OK!" You nod vigorously and put the phone to your right ear. "Hello?"

"YAHHH!!!!!" Someone screeches excitedly on the other end. "It's me, MING!"

"OH!" Shocked, you almost drop the phone. Ming, your childhood best friend, had moved away with her parents about a year ago. "Ming! Aiya! How have you been?"

She sounds extremely happy. "Aish, I haven't talked to you in sooo long! I'm so sorry! I'm doing well, what about you?"

You chuckle. "I'm good, I'm good. Where are you now?" It's not fun being separated from your best friend, whom you relied on until she left. You're very happy to be talking to her too, but it feels a little weird. Why hadn't she told you where she had moved to a year ago? What's happening to her?

"Oh, you won't believe it. I'm in Seoul!"

"WHAT?"

"Ne! I'm going to a music school!"

She can't see this, but your eyes are wide and your mouth is gaping at what you just heard. She moved to Seoul? What? Why? Music school? When--? "Music? When-- How-- I don't under-- Ming! Why didn't you say anything!"

"Oh you really wouldn't believe it!" She says again. "It's soo amazing here and ohmygosh guess what..." Her voice gets quieter. You know what's coming, you recognize this hushed voice. She's going to talk about a boy. "There's this boy, right?" You know your best friend so well. "And he's sooo cute," you can barely hear her voice as she says "cute". She must be trying to stop someone from hearing her, it sounds like. "and, omo, omo, you won't believe what he said! His name is Lu Han and---"

"Wait, wait, WAIT. What!? Lu Han?!"

"Um...yeah...and. Uh. Um. Well, what I wanted to say was he said that um..." Her voice returns to normal volume.

"Wait, Ming, are you at school now?"

"Well, yeah, but I mean. Wait one second." You hear something from her line, something you can't quite make out. Like hushed voices and bickering.

"What--?" You try to ask what's going on. 

"Hello?"

A male voice says through the phone. It's smooth, like a lullaby, and so very lovable. And so much deeper than when you last heard it, yet not very deep.

It's him.

"Oh my god.." You don't know what to say. You hear him chuckle, then in the background you hear Ming say "Give me my phone back! Yah! Luhan!"

"Oh my god." You say again. He chuckles again as well and seems to realize that you're quite speechless.

"It's nice to talk to you again. How long has it been?"

"T...twelve years..."

"So you've been keeping track?" He sounds excited, like a little child. "Aish, I'm sorry I left suddenly and never contacted you afterwards! I didn't have a cellphone then and when I got one, I didn't know your number, and then apparently your parents changed your home number--" 

You remember that. Your family had been receiving calls from random numbers, they weren't very pleasant calls either, and after several months of enduring all of those, your parents had decided to change the number. And get entirely new phones.

"--and I'm sorry." He sounds sorry too.

"No..no it's okay." You feel a nagging at the edge of your mind like maybe you should ask him something. "It's just..." You feel awkward suddenly, unsure of how to present this idea. Because maybe only you remember. Maybe you're the only one stuck there, 12 years ago. Maybe he's completely forgotten about some silly thing like that. "Do you remember..."

"Hm? Remember?" His voice goes up a little at the end. You can almost picture him cocking his head to one side. The way he did back then (you have a fantastic memory). You wonder if he's still the same and you can't help but want to see him again as well. 

"Never mind."

"Oh. Uh. OK." He also sounds like he's going to bring up something. "Do you...still live in the same, you know... You still live there?"

"Yeah. We haven't moved, like you guys." You chuckle and grin, though he can only hear the chuckle.

"Yeah! I was so surprised when I met Ming and she said she knew you too!" He laughs too. "Anyway, guess what?"

You make a "tch" sound. "I don't like guessing games, I at guessing anything. What is it?"

He laughs again. Why does he laugh so much? Is he really that cheery? "Haha! I thought not." What? "But I'm going back! To visit!" 

You're speechless. Again. "No way. You're kidding me."

"Would I lie to you?"

"Yes. Yes you would and this is a very good one."

"It's not a lie!" He sounds pouty. "I'm coming in five days, so be ready for me!" 

"What do you mean?" He makes it sound like he's about to destroy something.

"Well....I told my parents I wanted to visit and they said yes, so they talked to your parents..."

"Wait, my parents knew about this?" Why hadn't they told you, you can't help but wonder.

"Ahem. Yes. As I was saying..."

"Sorry, go on."

"They talked to your parents and they agreed that I could stay at your place for a while!" 

You freeze.

"My...m...MY PLACE? Like, MY HOUSE?"

"Yeah! Sorry I have to go now! My car's here and I don't want this call to cost so much money~"

Right. You'd forgotten about that. They live in a different country and this call could really give your parents a headache on the bills. You slump down on your desk and reluctantly say goodbye to Luhan. "Alright, bye Lulu..."

He laughs again. "Lulu? Isn't that what you used to--"

You hear Ming again. "Ugh jeez! You two talk for so long! Sorry hon, I have to be going too! Bye-bye!" You hear Luhan in the background yell a "Bye~!" too and Ming hangs up the phone. You sigh. Those two seem friendly. Everything that's happening now is just too much for you to cram inside your head. 

All you can do for now, you decide, is to finish your goddamn homework. You sigh as the phone rings again, now sitting on your desk. It's Kai. At least he's predictable.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When you finish your homework about an hour later (you're a fast worker), you put your books back in your bag just in time to hear the front door open and your mother call out, "dinner's ready!" You take the phone in your hand to bring it back to the kitchen and you look towards the front door. Your dad's home and he looks at you with a big smile. He takes off his shoes and walks towards you, giving you a hug. "My little girl! How was your day?"

"Hi dad! My day was good. How was work?"

He laughs too. "Work was good, good. Now let's go eat." You smile at that and nod. You're starving now as you place the phone back in its holder. You turn towards your mom. 

"Mom...." You say, crossing your arms and raising an eyebrow at her. She giggles. 

"Ahaha! Sorry I couldn't let you find out so soon! I remember, you and Luhan used to be such good friends! Aren't you glad he's visiting?"

You sigh, your accusing mood suddenly gone and vanished. You give her a tired smile. "Yes. Yes I am. Super glad, in fact."

"Well that's good. Now sit down and eat your food."

You laugh. "OK, OK." And you start to fill your empty stomach with the most heavenly meal you've had in a while.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Could days pass any slower? On the contrary, you feel as if the days are too fast, yet too slow at the same time. When you let your mind wander, you think of Luhan and his sudden reappearance into your life. But when you're busy, time passes too fast until you're once again left with nothing to do and too much to think about.

About a week later from the fated call, you arrive home from school, exhausted and glad that you have no classes the next day. "Mom! I'm home!" You're greeted by silence that seems to stretch on. You take off your shoes at the front door and walk in slowly. You check all the rooms in the house, one-by-one, starting with the kitchen. All empty. "Mom?"

She must have been called in for a late shift at work, you think with a sigh. It wasn't something new or unusual, and you were quite used to it by now. Your mother is a busy person. Shrugging off your backpack, you make the decision to fix yourself a snack. You open the fridge door and seeing nothing to your liking, you grab a bunch of grapes and head to the living room. You put the grapes onto a plate and go to your room to get changed. Changing into your pajamas had always been a habit you did after school days. You pull your hair back into a loose ponytail and return to your grapes. You flip through the channels, patiently searching for a show to watch while doing your homework. Multitasking was another one of your many habits.

After finishing your homework, exhaustion hits you again. You fall asleep soundly into a peaceful, dreamless sleep. It seems only seconds later (when in truth, it was well past your usual dinner time) that you're awoken up by something peculiar.

The doorbell.

If it had been your mother, she would have used her keys. Or at least, she would have known you were home and knocked, yelling for you to open the door for her if she had too much to carry inside or something. The doorbell was a rare sound to hear. 

You're shocked awake and you sit up, alert and ready. You look at yourself and fix your ponytail, then slowly go to the door. Your hand is on the handle, twisting the doorknob slowly. You open the door.

Your mom walks in, her hands full of luggage. Suitcases. "Honey, I'm home!" She hurries inside. "And look, look!" She whispers excitedly to you. You're scared. Scared to look over her at whoever is standing in the doorway because you know who it is. 

He gives you the most heavenly smile ever, then walks up and hugs you. He's half a head taller than you. No big shock there. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." As you hug your childhood best friend, your reunited companion, and your first love. "I really missed you too, Lulu."