Ara wished she had worn something else instead of skinny cargo jeans and a loose jersey t-shirt. It was one thing to pull strings at the family hotel, her sister and cousins have all done it at some point, but to walk around and acknowledge the greetings and bows of the employees in her very casual outfit would send her mother’s blood pressure through the roof.

“How’s your daughter, Mr Lee? I heard she took the entrance exams this year?”

“She’s doing very well, thank you. Results should be out soon,”

She nodded. The elderly gentleman who had met her at the parking lot had been working for her father for years. “I’m really sorry I had to ask you to do this for me. It’s just that there’s no one else I could trust to handle this as smoothly and as discreetly as you would,”

“Ara, of all the children from your mother’s side of the family, you were the only one who did not give me a headache. This is nothing, compared to the most ridiculous requests I have had over the years when you kids were growing up. Some of those parties that your cousin, Sunghoo, hosted in the suites, still give nightmares,”

The man visibly shuddered and she laughed. “Thank you. I’m actually doing this for a friend, too,”

“Must be a very, um, private individual?”

She nodded. “Sorry about all the trouble,”

“Not at all,” Mr. Lee gave her an indulgent smile. “Is this by any chance, the young man that you are dating?”

Ara shook her head. She glanced at her reflection on one of the gilded mirrors that adorned the ivory walls and saw how red her face had become. “I really wish mother would stop making stories up,”

“Oh, how disappointing then, I wanted to meet the young man,” He laughed.

“This is just a friend, I can assure you that. He’s meeting his son for the first time. Well, second time I guess,” She smiled when the older man gawked, “It’s a long story, Mr. Lee. As for the boy that I am supposedly dating, there isn’t one,” The shrewd look on the general manager’s face said that he believed otherwise, but she let it slide.

The lobby reserved for VIPs was a smaller, but just as grand- if not more so, version of the entrance at the main floor. The crystal chandelier gave a soft glow all around, and it was picture perfect with the small Christmas trees that adorned the four corners of the hall. The golden ornaments on the pine trees complimented very well with the rich, rosewood brocade upholstery of the furnishings for this floor. A tall vase sat atop a big mahogany table and the faint scent of lilies mingled with pine hung in the atmosphere.

The automatic glass door opened again and they turned to see Luhan, his face pale and pinched as if in pain. Ara raised her eyebrows at him but he only shook his head, as if afraid to say anything.

“Uh, Mr. Lee, this is my friend, Luhan. Han, Mr. Lee, he’s the general manager who works with my dad. He was the one who graciously helped set up this up,”

Luhan looked like he was about to hurl at somebody’s shoes anytime soon. He bowed until his body was bent in half. “Thank you so much, Mr. Lee. And I apologize for any inconveniences all this might have caused,”

Mr. Lee chuckled and patted Luhan’s shoulder. “I don’t know the whole story, young man, but I do believe you need to relax,” He looked at Ara and smiled. “I’ll be in my office if you need anything,”

Luhan plopped on one of the couches by the elevators where the general manager just stepped in to. Ara followed suit and stared at her friend.

“If you screw this up, I’m going to cut you,” She said.

Luhan whined and buried his face in his hands. “You’re not helping!”

“Seriously, I took time off work and she had to do the same thing. Your son skipped pre-k today too, so no pressure.”

“What does she do again?” He asked softly, his eyes on his shoes.

“She’s a tutor at a hagwon near their place. Languages- English and Chinese,”

“My parents would love her.” He said.

She laughed and grabbed his hand. It was cold and shaking a little, and she started to feel a little nervous herself. “Look at me. Hey,” Luhan looked up. “Cha Young is a really nice girl. She had been so kind to me those times that I met up with her, and I can tell that she really wants things to work out…Even if it’s just you guys agreeing about Haneul.”

“How is she like?”

“I’m not exactly the authority on the matter. I’ve met up with her a grand total of what, six, seven times, maybe?”

“It’s been years, I don’t know if she’s still the same.”

She let go of Luhan’s hand and raked her fingers through her hair. When Luhan had asked her for help at Chanyeol’s party not too long ago, she didn’t expect that it was something along the lines of trying to befriend his ex. It all seemed so strange, asking a perfect stranger out to lunch or for drinks in the evenings after work.

Ara had refused at first, arguing that he should be the one inviting her to meals and trying to be in her good graces if he was to be given a chance to help raise his son. “I just can’t with so much work that I have recently, and it’s not really a good idea for me to be strolling around with them in Garosu-gil or anywhere else for that matter. You’re the only one who can do this for me,” Luhan had begged.

She stood up and pulled Luhan to his feet and gave him a brief hug. His eyes bored into hers when she placed her hands on his shoulder. She smiled. “You’ll see for yourself. I know this is probably not the place or time to say this, but I really hope you guys work things out between the two of you. I like her. And if it helps any, I think she may or may not be as freaked out as you about meeting again after so long. Maybe even more,” She said gently.

Luhan frowned. “If she hits me I just hope she won’t leave any marks, or I’ll be in really deep then,” He said with a sigh.

“I think she still has feelings for you, Han,”

He lit up like the Christmas tree on the main floor. “How do you know?”

She pulled him towards the elevator and gave him a smirk. “For one, any other woman would have shot down the idea of getting cozy with the female friend of the estranged father of her child. That was a mouthful- but anyway. I mean, let’s be honest. That was a ridiculous idea. There are other logical ways to gain her trust so she’d let you have Haneul over even if you can hardly take care of yourself,” She laughed.

“Well,”

She turned to look at Luhan and narrowed her eyes at him. “Well what?”

He cleared his throat and looked at her with eyes the size of dinner plates, she wondered if it was because of guilt or fear or both. “I kind of mentioned that you’d be with us that weekend when we film for the beach episode?”

“You what?” She said.

Their elevator arrived and she spoke to the walkie talkie in her hand, her eyes still on Luhan who seemed to be shrinking against the wall. “Mr Lee, we’re getting on elevator 3, thank you,” She took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Ok. Now tell me again, exactly what you told Cha Young,”

“Um,”

“LUHAN.”

She would have laughed when he jumped a little, but the desire to punch him in the throat or maybe his cute little button nose was stronger. He pulled at his scarf again, and gave her a small smile.

“Well, we’re going to Gangneung? I forget what the place is-“

“Yes, Gangneung. Junmyeon oppa asked my mother if we can send our housekeeper to clean it up.”

Luhan’s eyebrows shot up. “That beach house belongs to you guys?”

“Which one are we talking about?”

“You guys really are made of money!”

“Luhan, please,”

“Is true that you had your s and legs insured?”

She whacked him upside the head and actually laughed this time when he whined like a kicked puppy. “Stop changing the subject, what did you get me into this time?”

“You’re not denying it!” Luhan said.

She sighed. “What are we talking about now? The part that apparently my family is made of money or I insured parts of my body?”

“Well I’m curious about both?”

They both laughed. “Our grandparents and parents are rich, but Junmyeon and I? Bottom of the food chain. We both refused to get jobs in any of the family businesses,” She cleared . “And I did not insure any parts of my body, that’s the stupidest thing since that rumor about Junmyeon golfing came out. He hates golf,”

“Oh. I see,”

“Now spill, what am I supposed to do for you this time, little prince?”

Luhan huffed. “You talk as if weekend under the same roof with Yifan is a bad thing,” He laughed when she spluttered out a mumble of words that absolutely meant nothing and everything. “The last time we talked on the phone, she was just concerned about Haneul and things about his naps and eating healthy because you know, twelve boys and all? So I assured her that you’ll be there to tame things down a bit?”

With a sigh she leaned back against the mirrored wall of the elevator. “And would it have killed you to ask me first?”

“But you’re going to say yes, right?” He asked with a smile.

“Sometimes I wonder if you’d still want to be my friend even if I’m not as useful to you like this,” She said. Two more floors and Luhan will be reunited with a family he didn’t even know he had.

“How can you even say that?” His brows were furrowed almost into a straight line, his mouth set in a pucker.

“I was kidding, oh my gosh. No, need to get your in a twist,”

“Excuse you, I wear boxers, I’m a man-“

“I was speaking hypothetically. We all know you’re a manly man, your four-year old is enough proof of that,”

It was Luhan’s turn to be a spluttering mess of words and her laughter filled the empty, carpeted hall of the seventeenth floor. They stopped in their tracks when she saw Luhan staring at the ceiling.

“What now?” She asked.

“Cameras?” He pulled his beanie closer to his face and pulled the scarf around him until all that was visible were his eyes. His hands reached for the pocket of his coat, and was about to put his sunglasses on when she caught his arm. She shook her head at him.

“All the security cameras-from the parking lot, the elevators that we took and will take later, even the ones here have been disabled, until you leave. The floor is empty too, we have moved some people in to different rooms,”

Luhan stared and his eyes were shining a little. “I owe you so much already,” He said in a trembling voice.

She shook her head gave his forearm a gentle squeeze. “What are friends for?” There was a nagging voice at the back of her head, but he didn’t need to know that she had her own reasons for helping.

They stood in front of the suite that was usually reserved for the Kim family or their relatives and friends visiting town. Luhan was taking deep breaths and chewed on his lip. He glanced up and down the hall, as if looking for something, and Ara nudged him with her elbow.

“Ready?” She asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” He answered.

It was awkward at first, when Cha Young finally introduced Luhan to Haneul as his father. The Chinese idol only had eyes for his son for the first five minutes when they entered the suite, drinking in the young child’s appearance and Ara couldn’t blame him. Haneul was a beautiful boy whose vocabulary was well advanced for his age, amusing all the adults in the room to no end.

“Daddy, last night mommy and I were looking at your pictures on the computer!”

Luhan pursed his lips but his eyes were shining with mirth, and Cha Young’s face was almost as red as the dress that she was wearing. She looked pretty as always, her shoulder-length hair in soft curls that framed her small, heart-shaped face.

“Is that right? What did mommy say about my pictures?”

Haneul frowned. “She didn’t say anything, she was just smiling but she cried a little,”

“Haneul, sweetheart, why don’t you ask your daddy how he’s doing instead of gossiping about me, huh? Maybe you can ask him t