“Yesterday you had a date with Luhan at his homwtown, so today you will have a date with me at my hometown! Changsha is a really beautiful place” Lay enthusiastically said as soon as they exited the plane. “Of course, if you guys don’t have problem with it,” he added quickly, not wanting the members to think he was doing whatever he wanted to do.

“I guess it should be ok, you always wanted to take her to visit your family; and, I don’t think you will ever have another opportunity like this,” Xiumin said, “go for it!”

Everyone else nodded.

“Thank you guys! I love you so much right now!! Sunmi, are you ok with it?”

“Of course! If your family is anywhere as nice as you are, today will be a really interesting day!”

“You flatter me,” Lay said, slightly flushed.

Lay took Sunmi to a small humble building, “This is my house,” he said, “I know it doesn’t look like much, but it is home to me, so I hope you take that into consideration before judging my home, ok?”

“Ok, don’t worry about that, I never judge because of appearances.”

And so, they went in. The house was lightly furnished, there were several rooms, and it gave a cozy feeling. There were also a couple of things that looked slightly out of place. The living room had a huge plasma TV, the kitchen was furnished with the newest cooking devices, even the bath room had special lids which allowed to clean yourself with a stream of water Sunmi had never seen in Korea.

“There’s some contrast in your house,” Sunmi said.

“I know. Don’t you think it actually looks funny? The TV was the first present I bought my parents when I got my first paycheck. Eventually the other gifts came by as well. I am still saving to buy my parents a better house to live in, but that might take some more time,” Lay explained.

“I always knew you were kind, but I never knew you were so thoughtful about everything, you are really mature for your age,” Sunmi said.

“You are always complimenting me… Thank you!” A big smiled appeared on his face, “sit down. My parents usually go out to jog in the mornings, they should be coming back any time now.”

Soon enough Lay’s parents were back home. “Honey! I think there’s burglars!!” Sunmi and Lay could hear the female voice (speaking in Chinese) down the hallway.

“Don’t wory,” a man’s voice , “Yixing must have come. The door was lock when we came in, remember?”

“Oh yes. Silly me. Yixing!! Come out so that I can see your face!! It’s been so long since you’ve last visited us!!”

“Mom! Dad! I missed you guys so much!” Lay cried out, running towards his parents to embrace them in a hug.

“And who is this beautiful girl?” Lay’s mom asked, expecting Sunmi to answer, but the poor girl had not an idea of what was happening, didn’t even know they were addressing her. She was just standing besides the trio, trying to make something out of the unknown sounds.

“Mom, she Jung Sunmi. She is my friend from Korean. Of course, I hope we could be more than friends,” he slightly giggled.

Realizing she was being introduced, Sunmi gave a 90 degree bow.

“Oh, this is a nice start,” Lay’s dad laughed. “I might give my approval,” he joked.

As Lay, his mother and father started laughing,  a small, grumbling noise interrupted them. Lay seemed to remember something. “Oh, I forgot to tell you I specifically told Sunmi nt to have break so that you could cook for her all three meals today. I want to brag my mom’s cooking,” he said.

“Then I should start getting breakfast read!” Mrs. Zhang said and hurried to the kitchen.

“I shall go change and go help your mother,” Mr. Zhang said, “if I don’t she might start getting hysterical,” he whispered to that only Lay could hear it.

“What has just happened?” Sunmi finally asked as were walking through the neighbourhood. “I think you might have forgotten the little detail of how I am totally ignorant of the Chinese language.” She desperately said.

“Thruthfully, I might have forgotten,” Lay sheepishly said, rubbing the back of his head.

“Mind explaining?”

“Mom is cooking breakfast. Dad’s helping her. They both think you are really awesome.”

“That’s all? You spoke for a really long time. Did you talk about me behind my back?”

“Actually, it wouldn’t quite be behind my back, we were talking right in front of you,” he said.

“You know what a mean!” Sunmi gave him a look.

“Just kidding. Of course we didn’t. That was pretty much the entire conversation.”

When they arrived at Lay’s house once again the smell of food was dancing in the air. There was a banquet waiting for them. After eating, the whole family plus Sunmi went to chat at the living room (with Lay translating pretty much everything, almost unable to speak himself. Suddenly, EXO’s MV new Growl MV started playing on the TV. Lay’s paren’ts stopped everything, and focused their entire attention to the screen.

“Haven’t they watched the MV yet? It came out quite a time ago,” Sunmi asked.

“Of course they did, their handsome son is in it!”

“Then why are they so eager about it?”

“They really support me. Anytime any of our songs starts playing on a shop, or the MV is played on the TV, they stop everything they are doing and give it their attention.”

“I see where your kindness comes from.”

“They’ve always been like this. They’ve always supported my dreams since I was really little. They took me to auditions, contests and TV shows, they were never against it even when they knew success chances were extremely slim.”

“With that kind of support, there’s nothing that’s not accomplishable.” Sunmi smiled, and enjoyed what was left of the MV with her head on Lay’s shoulder.

After having lunch, Sunmi was taught how to play mahjong, she proved to be really good, winning on her first try (or maybe she was allowed to win?); and after having dinner the two young people said goodbye to Lay’s parents and went back to the hotel.

“Lay, please tell everyone to come to my room, I have something to tell them,” Sunmi said.

Sunmi had known how stubborn she had been to try to keep hating EXO when she could clearly see they were great guys. She just couldn’t accept the fact that she had just judged them because of what they seemed to be, without actually getting to know them, but after lots of thinking at Lay’s house, she had realized it was time to let it all go, and start enjoying EXO’s company.

She had decided she would explain why she hated them so much in the beginning. And how slowly, but surely, they had crept their way into her heart.

One by one, the guys started arriving at Sunmi’s room, when finally all twelve were in, she started her confession.

Everything came out. How she thought they were worthless and talentless. A group of young immature people unable to hit a single note just trying to look pretty on stage to get people to buy their crappy music (which of course she never even bothered to listen to).How when they came with the offer, she only accepted for her friend. And how no matter how much she tried to hate them and be cold to them, they had warmed her with their cuteness, kindness and silliness.

“I know you must think I am a horrible person after all I’ve said,” she said, “but I really hope we can continue to be friends in the future. After all, I've really grown used to having you around.” She gave a crooked smile.