When we got to the buffet, I could see the light coming from the windows. It didn’t look like a lot of people were here, so I wondered if it was close to closing. 

I hurried after Seunghyun as he got out of the car, his hand automatically finding mine. Mr. Moon paused behind us to make sure he locked his car, so Seunghyun and I hurried on ahead. I wasn’t that hungry, since he made us some sandwiches about an hour ago, but I was eager to spend more time with my boyfriend, of course. 

“Look,” Seunghyun said when we walked in, pointing to a small statue of a plump, bald man with his hands on his stomach. “Doesn’t this guy give you luck if you rub his stomach?” 

Mr. Moon walked in behind us, getting in line to get a table. 

I looked over the statue’s face; the man had such a happy expression, his grin lighting his entire face, wrinkles dotting at the corners of his eyes. 

“He’s cute,” I smiled. 

“Give me luck, you happy fat man,” Seunghyun chuckled a little, rubbing at the statue’s plump stomach before Mr. Moon called us, saying we got a table. 

Our table was a booth, situated in the back. I was right when I said there weren’t a lot of people here; there was a baby crying on the other side of the buffet though, and I knew the mother must’ve been in a rush to silence the baby’s screaming. 

We told a waiter what we wanted to drink, and we all dispersed to get our food. I tailed behind Seunghyun, and we laughed at what each other said. Being around Seunghyun was an extraordinary thing, to be honest. It was nearly impossible not to smile around him; he always seemed to have a smile on his face. 

I didn’t fill my plate up much; I only got a roll and some rice before sticking with Seunghyun, noticing Mr. Moon already making his way back to our table. I couldn’t imagine what our conversation would be if Mr. Moon and I were alone for tonight, so I decided to wait until Seunghyun went back.

My boyfriend’s plate was nearly full, rice piled in thick bounds and two heated rolls to the side. Satisfied, he led me back to the table, telling me how great their food was. 

“I really hungry now,”  told me as we sat down. We sat next to one another while Mr. Moon sat across from us, who was silently eating his food. I was just unfolding my napkin when Seunghyun suddenly stood from the table. “I forgot to get my chapsticks, actually. I’ll be back, babe.”

He rushed from the table in search of the chopsticks, and I was inevitably left alone with Mr. Moon. Not quite knowing what to say, I began picking at my rice, silently hoping he found his chopsticks rather quickly to save me from this awkwardness. 

“I hope you and my son are using protection.” 

Mr. Moon’ random statement had me look up, swallowing a mouthful of noodles when I realized what he said. My cheeks flushed, and I hoped I had somehow misheard him.

“Pardon me?”

His eyes met mine evenly, and he repeated, “I hope you and my son are using protection.” 

Seunghyun and I were quite physical - we kissed a lot, whenever we had the chance, and we loved hugging one another and holding hands. But we had yet to get really ually active. 

“We aren’t like that.” I said, forcing out a nervous chuckle. 

“Really?” Mr. Moon asked, obviously not buying it. 

I set my fork down, instinctively glancing over to hopefully find Seunghyun back on his way. But he was nowhere in sight.

“You’re much too young to have to worry about things like that.” Mr. Moon said after a few moments. “You have school, your grades and scholarships, applications to get into college. It would be a shame for anything bad to happen.” 

“Yeah.” I agreed quietly, slowly starting to eat my rice again.

“Tell me, Hyosung-ah, what do you plan on doing when you graduate high school?” Mr. Moon asked.

I hesitated, “Well, I have a few ideas, but I’m not fully sure of what I want to do when it comes to careers.” 

Mr. Moon nodded at this, leaning his elbow on the table and taking a sip of his drink. His jaw clenched, eyes slightly narrowed, he told me with a small hint of bitterness, “Would it be an absolute shame if you got pregnant halfway through your last year of high school?” 

I stared into his eyes, a bit stunned from the sudden ferocity he was giving me. 

“It would be definitely unplanned,” I mumbled. 

“All the plans you want to do after college,” Mr. Moon continued, “would be ruined - cancelled. You could throw all that away, because then you’d have to worry about getting an immediate job with a suitable income to raise a child. And not only do you have to pay for the health issues involving a child, but you have to buy everything that comes with it. Strollers, diapers, cribs, things you shouldn’t even be concerned with at such a young age.” He shook his head a little before adding, “You would basically throw your entire life away because of a simple mistake. I’m assuming you don’t want that?” 

I didn’t quite understand why he was making this into a huge deal, and I really had no idea how to respond, so I said, “No, I really don’t want that.” 

“Oh, and let me tell you,” His eyes were back on me, “high school relationships rarely last after graduation.” I froze from him saying this; why was he telling me this? “Especially if you get pregnant.” 

“Mr. Moon,” I said slowly, “why are you telling me this?” 

He let out a deep sigh, his face slightly turning to glance over to check if Seunghyun was there or not. When no sign of he was there, he turned back to me. “I got my high school sweetheart pregnant on our last year. Because of that, I had to cancel my full-ride scholarship. I didn’t have time to even get into college immediately, since I already had a family to care for. Instead, I had to get multiple, low-paying jobs just to get by. It wasn’t until a few years when I had to fight my way into college and finally earn a degree.” 

“I loved Jihyun.” He continued, as if he was saying that to himself. “I did, I loved her. But sometimes love just isn’t enough.” His eyes grew distant again as he went back to eating; we lapsed into silence, his words repeating in my ears. 

So Seunghyun’s mom was pregnant in high school? 

“But you,” Mr. Moon said softly, more in control, “you have a full life ahead of you. Don’t ruin that because of a simple mistake.” 

I could not imagine getting pregnant halfway through this year. I was already a bit stressed from cheerleading and dance recitals, not to mention my grades and applications for college. It could all be so overwhelming, so I could not bring myself to even imagine what it would’ve been like to have to raise a baby right when you graduated. It sounded like a tough, laboring road, and I started to silently pat my back, glad I haven’t done anything really ual. People told us starting from middle school the long-term effects of not using protection. But like drugs, despite how much we were all told about the effects, people still did them. I could count more than 3 girls with pregnant bellies in my school.

“Found them,” Seunghyun’s sudden voice startled me a bit - he came out of nowhere, and he sat next to me, instantly taking away the discomfort from earlier. Well, Mr. Styles didn’t look uncomfortable; he looked at complete ease after giving his son’s girlfriend the talk of the birds and the bees. “What did I miss?” 

I hesitated, not knowing what to say, but Mr. MOON beat me to the punch anyway.

“Nothing really,” He shrugged, looking at me with a small smile. “Just getting to know Hyosung a bit more.”

Seunghyun beamed at his father’s words, his arm going around my shoulders and pulling me into a gentle side hug. “She’s great, isn’t she?”

I forced a small smile, glancing up shyly at both moon' men who were smiling back at me. 

“She sure is.” Mr. Moon responded, before going back to eating his food. 

For a moment there was no conversation, only the sound of utensils scraping against plates and the occasional mumbled praise to the chefs who had prepared the food that we piled on our plates. 

“So babe,” Seunghyun began and I grimaced when I looked up to see him talking with his mouth full. “ready to cheer me on this weekend?” 

“Ya,” I scolded lightly. “swallow your food first.” 

He only laughed, grabbing his drink and taking a large gulp, before wiping his mouth and smiling cheekily at me, dimples popping out. “Better?”

I couldn’t help but giggle at the childishness my eighteen-year-old boyfriend possessed. “Yeah, sure.” I took a sip of my own drink before speaking again. “And I’m always ready to cheer for you.” 

My answer seemed to please Seunghyun and I grinned as he pressed a chaste kiss to my cheek, before going back to his food. At the sound of someone clearing their throat, I looked up at Mr. Moon who seemed to be watching the two of us with an unreadable expression. Not wanting to be rude, I attempted at including him in the conversation.

“Will you be attending the game this weekend Mr. Moon?” I asked curiously, frowning when Seunghyun scoffed next to me. 

“Yeah right,” he muttered and I looked in between the two uncomfortably, sensing a change in the atmosphere when Mr. Moon gave his son a pointed glare.

“I would love to go, but I’m afraid I have some work to attend to.” 

I couldn’t detect what emotion took over his tone, but I didn’t question it as I only nodded, giving him a polite smile. 

“Oh,”

An uncomfortable silence lapsed around us all again and I mentally sighed, wondering why I even bothered opening my mouth. 

“Would you like me to drop you off at your house?” Mr. Moon asked me as we drove away from the buffet. Seunghyun decided not to play his music; instead, he had one headphone in his ear so he could still hear our conversation. 

“I could take her home,” Seunghyun suggested. 

“Okay, good. I’m wiped out.” Mr. Moon grumbled, seeming pleased that Seunghyun suggested that. Seunghyun’s father really did look tired. 

“Thank you for the meal,” I told Mr. Moon politely. I felt bad because Seunghyun and Mr. Moon would not let me pay for it, even though I didn’t have a lot of money with me. But when I suggested to help pay with the overall price, they shut me down instantly, not even listening to what I said. So instead, I settled on paying the tip.

“It’s no problem Hyo, I’m happy you could join us.” He said, not taking his eyes off to the road. 

I rubbed my hands along my arms when I felt a chill begin to pick up in the car due to the rolled down windows. Goosebumps appeared along my flesh and I crossed my legs, trying to get warm by moving a bit, but the attempt was futile as the air hitting my skin caused only more shivers to wrack my body. It was then that I regretted not wearing heavier clothing.

“Oh, Hyosung-ah, are you cold, sweetheart?” I looked up at Mr. Moon who was looking over at me in concern. “Here, let me turn on the heat.”

“Thank you,” I smiled when he began to roll up the windows. 

He reached out to turn the dial to the heater and I felt myself stiffen when his fingers brushed against the skin of my knee for a moment that seemed longer than necessary, before he pulled back, smiling over at me. The heat fanned gently across my face and skin, spreading a nice warmth throughout the car.

“There, better, love?” 

“Much better, thank you.” I replied, instantly feeling so much more comfortable. The rest of the ride was in a comfortable silence, and as soon as Mr. Moon parked in the driveway of his house, Seunghyun and I hurried into the house to grab my belongings before piling into his car. 

Seunghyun was a good driver, although he did tend to get rather distracted at times.

“No texting,” I snatched his phone from his grip, and he turned to give me an insulted look.

“I was not texting!” He protested, leaving one hand on the wheel, the other sitting limply on his knee. 

“Then what were you doing?”

“...Checking the time?” 

I giggled at his sad attempt to lie and unlocked his phone, casually scrolling through his small screen. Seunghyun and I were very comfortable with one another; normally I didn’t like it when people snatched my phone and went through my stuff, but when it came to us, it was different. He has seen everything on my phone, and I had absolutely nothing to hide - it was the same with him. 

“Sorry if my dad seemed a bit irritated.” He said as I clicked onto his pictures. “He works a lot.” 

“It’s fine,” I replied. Mr. Moon was a single dad, and if he had a busy job, I really could not fathom how tired he could get at times. But our conversation from the buffet was still fresh in my mind, and it was then when I remembered the passionate look in his eyes as he warned me about not using “protection.” That would mean that Seunghyun’s mom was young, too, like Mr. Moon was also quite young to be a dad. 

I scrolled through the photos Seunghyun had, and I went to the album menu and smiled to myself when I saw that he had an album dedicated to us. So of course I couldn’t help but look through it, even though I’ve seen it many times. The first one was me in my cheerleading uniform, after a Friday-night game, with a sweaty yet bubbly-looking Seunghyun standing next to me, his arm wrapped protectively around my waist. I was grinning broadly, my hair brought back in a loose ponytail with a ribbon etched in my hair, my makeup a bit messy from cheering all that night. But despite our rugged appearances, we looked utterly happy and perfect.

Perfect.

Yes, that was the only word I could think of when I looked at this picture. Seunghyun and I were absolutely perfect for one another. 

The next few photos were really goofy ones that we took on his phone; there was one with me sporting one of his caps with my tongue sticking out, and the other was of me with my head down in class, since I was really tired that day. And then there was one with me kissing Seunghyun’s cheek, right on his dimple, and he sported a huge victorious grin, his thumb pointed in my direction in a playful manner. 

When I saw that we were getting close to my house, I exited his phone, just to see the wallpaper. The wallpaper on his phone was the football photo, and I lingered over it, feeling utmost pride when I saw the two of us standing side by side.

“I’ll see you tomorrow at school, baby,” He told me, grabbing his phone and planting a firm kiss on my lips. I playfully grabbed the back of his neck and gave him a few other smaller, chaste kisses, before suddenly pulling away and exiting the car. He was chuckling at my eagerness, and I threw one last wave at him before he pulled away. 

The lights were on in my house, and I didn’t see my dad’s car in the driveway yet. My mom told me that he had went off to a business trip a few days ago, and that he should be returning this weekend. 

The sound of the vacuum in the living room was evident as soon as I stepped inside, and I dropped my backpack on a nearby chair and saw my mom indeed vacuuming the carpet in the living room. So far the house looked immaculately clean; she must’ve spent all day working on it. 

“Hey, Mom,” I greeted her cheerfully. She didn’t hear me at first, because of the loud noise, so I went off to the bathroom to relieve myself and brush my hair a bit. I then washed my makeup off with a small pad, exiting the bathroom to find my mom now unplugging the vacuuming, satisfied with the carpet now.

“Hi sweetheart,” She greeted me with a smile. “I didn’t even see you come in.” 

“It looks great in here.” I told her earnestly, reaching forward to give her a hug.

“Well, someone’s happy,” My mom chuckled. “How’s Seunghyun?”

My mom actually really liked Seunghyun. When we first started dating, she told me that he was really cute and that she was really happy for me. He had been over for dinner a few times, which always made me wonder why it took me longer to finally meet his dad, since he already met my parents. 

“He’s doing great,” I replied. “His dad took us out to eat.” I conveniently left out the part that Mr. Moon walked in on us having a minor make out session, of course. 

“Hyo, you never did tell me what his dad was like.” My mom pointed out, tucking a limp strand of her hair from her face and sitting on the couch. 

“He’s nice.” I mumbled. “He’s young.” 

“Seunghyun’s parents are divorced, aren’t they?” 

“Yeah, they’re divorced.” I twirled a lock of hair between my fingers, leaning up against the wall. “But he’s nice.” 

“I would love to meet him sometime.” My mom said with a smile. “We should all get together and have dinner or something.” And suddenly, she clasped her hands together, breaking into an excited grin. “Oh! I have very good news to tell you!”

“What happened? Did dad get a promotion?”

“No, but Joon called me yesterday and said he’s coming by this weekend.” She said. “He’s going to stay until Sunday, since he has class on Monday. But he finally was able to fit room into his schedule to come see us.”

My brother and I had always been so close; he had always been a bit protective of me here and there, but he would always tease me, just as any older brother would. He and I also seemed to get really close at the end of high school, but ever since he graduated, I don’t see him that often, and each time he came home he would have these exciting stories to tell, concerning the awesome college parties and the new friends he was making. I felt like I was no longer part of his world - like he was so far ahead of me. There has been a gradually growing distance between us, mainly because he was no longer this teenage boy - he was a grown man. So it really was great news to hear he was making time to see us again, I really did miss my brother.

“Maybe he can come to the game to see me cheer?” I asked, breaking out in a wide grin. 

“Maybe,” My mom agreed. “I just don’t know the exact time he’s going to get here Friday, you know?” 

Come to think of it, I recalled making plans with Yoobu over the weekend to go to the mall, but I’d cancel it, since Joon oppa coming home this weekend. He was my brother, after all, and it was quite rare for him to be home. I’d rather just spend my entire weekend hanging out with him. I’m sure she would understand, anyway. Plus she was bringing two other girls with her. 

When my mom the TV, ready to watch a movie or TV show, I decided to head to my room and actually study for the test I had tomorrow.