The first thing your mom tells you to do is help Luhan bring his things to his room. The guest room is fairly small and conveniently across from yours. It's not that late at night, but Luhan tells you that he's tired.

"I'll play with you after I sleep, ok?" He tousles your hair

"Yah! I'm not a little kid anymore!" You say, lightly punching his arm.

"Oh hey, ow! When did you get strong?" He grins at you.

"Tch. When did you get annoying?"
He laughs and shoos you out of his room.

"Let me sleep." Is all he says in reply.

He closes the door after giving you one last grin. You sigh sadly as you turn around and head to your room to clear your head. His smile is still as wonderful as ever; a slight eye-smile, the same cheerful effect. It's something you'll never get used to, you know. You sit down at the desk and sigh again now trying to district yourself with something, anything. Luckily, your mom calls your name from the kitchen and asks you to help her.

"Can you help me prepare something to eat? Not really dinner, I suppose. It's a bit late." She looks at you when you walk in

"Yeah sure. But he's sleeping. He might not be up for a while." You say, already walking toward the fridge to grab more ingredients after recognizing the dish your mother is attempting to cook.

"That's OK. I'm sure he's not as tired as he says he is. He was pretty energetic when I picked him up from the airport." Your mother chuckles. You hand her the ingredients and start to aid her in her cooking. "Could you grab that for me?" She asks, pointing at something on the other side of the counter. You hand it to her.

"We'll he's always energetic..."

"When he was little, you mean."

There's a silence as you let that sink in. It's true, you're sill judging him from the Luhan you knew 12 years ago. Once again, you ask yourself the same question

Is he still the same person you knew before?

It was a child's love. "Puppy love", some might call it. A plaything, nothing serious. If anything, he had probably taken it as a joke. And that is exactly what you're dreading.

About an hour later, the food is ready and you hear someone yawn loudly as you're setting the table.

"What time is it?" He asks, stumbling into the kitchen.

"Late." You reply vaguely.

He sits down at the table and pats the chair next to him. "C'mon, sit next to your ge-ge." He grins. You scowl, but sit next to him anyway.

"You're not my ge-ge..." You mutter under your breath. He leans close to you with a confused look.

"What did you just say?" It isn't an accusing tone he uses, he seems as if he really didn't hear you.

"Nothing, nothing." You turn away and start to pile food onto your plate. Sometimes you were concerned about weight. But it wasn't a first priority. You love food.

He just gives you a look and starts putting food on his plate too. Then he looks at your plate (you see his glance from your peripheral vision) and he picks up some vegetables and puts it on your plate. "Eat healthier." He says to you.

You give him your best puppy-eye look so he'd take the veggies away, but he just goes "tch" then picks it up with his chopsticks and holds it in front of you. You look at him, confused. "Ahhhh." He says to you. You try not to blush as you open your mouth and he feeds you. You chew with a scowl.

"Why are you treating me like a little kid?"

"Because you're cute like one." He squishes your cheeks.

"Says the person who looks girly." You shoot back at him. He stops squishing your cheek and gives it a pat. 

"Don't say that. Your ge-ge is not girly."

You lightly shove him and he laughs. He eats slowly, and when's he finished, he puts his chopsticks down and turns to you. You're still eating. "Let's go take a walk when you're done, okay?"

"But it's late--" You start. But your mom interrupts you. She's been very quiet this whole time.

"That sounds like a great idea! After all these years, you two can finally catch up with each other! And I'm sure it won't be dangerous with Luhan around, right? He'll protect you." You feel embarrassed when she says that. You imagine having to rely on the extremely adorable boy next to you if someone shady tries to talk to you.

"Of course!" He replies. He holds up his arms and pretends to flex his muscles. "I'm strong now!" You laugh and he grins at you.

"I'm done." You declare, putting down your chopsticks as well and telling your mom that the food was good. You look at Luhan.

"After you." He says, motioning for you to move towards the door.

As you head out, all your mom says is, "Have fun!" And you start to wonder why he called you out anyway.

You two walk slowly to a small park. The buildings around are lit up with flashing lights and cars and bikes drive by quickly. Car horns honk and people yell on the streets. It's lively and full of noise, but with Luhan next to you, the world is silent.

He sits down on a bench. You look around before sitting next to him. You notice the girls looking at him and you sigh. Next to this beautiful boy, you'll always be the definition of "average", so you think.

He looks up at the sky before beginning to talk. "How have you been? For the past...twelve? Twelve. Twelve years."

You look at him and he turns his head to look you in the eye. In that moment, he didn't look as childish as he did before, or as girly. "About eleven years. I've been...okay. I missed you."

"I missed you too." He gives you a teasing grin. Then he takes your hand in his and puts it palm-side up. "But really, I did miss you." He looks serious now. "You remember what you said back then? Mei-Mei, you were so cute back then."

"I'm not your mei-mei."

"What?"

"I'm not your mei-mei." I'm not your little sister. "And I don't want to be." It feels good for you to say that to him, like you've cleared up a misunderstanding.

"Wh...what?"

You take a deep breath. "I was five back then."

"You were..? Oh, uh, yeah, that. Yes. I know. It was cute."

"I was a kid. I had a conscious."

"Yes?" He laughs. "You can't possibly be thinking the same thing right? I was nine."

You look at him guiltily, then you turn your head to look at the street. You can see his expression change from your peripheral vision.

"You...you're kidding right?"

"Yeah, of course." You say with no tone of voice whatsoever.

"You really waited for me? For ten years?"

"You make it sound so stupid." You try not to blush or feel embarrassed, but he's right. Who would take a five-year-old's words seriously? Your eyes widen as he pulls you in for a hug.

"Aww," he says. "That's so cute." He doesn't seem to know what to say, but he gives you a cute smile. "C'mon, we'll go on a date tomorrow, okay?"

It still sounds a little like he's talking to a kid. But then again, you are four years younger than him. "Really?" You try not to sound too excited.

"Sure! It'll be a lot of fun. Just...don't tell your mom yet, okay?" He grins mischievously. 

You grin back. "Of course. Promise?"

He laughs and then takes your hand, which is still held by his, and shakes it.

"Promise."