For a second he’d forgotten he wasn’t the only person Namjoo probably tended to specially. For another second he wondered who that person was.

“You’re here?” A voice broke his thoughts.

Luhan turned to see Chae Yoon standing not too far away. Seeing her irritated him almost at once. Shifting away from her he fixated his eyes elsewhere.

A mock smile grew onto her face, “Why? Are you jealous you got ditched?”

Luhan gave no reaction so as not to please her, but Chae Yoon went on nonetheless.

“Don’t worry,” Chae told, “he’s her step-brother, but on the other hand; maybe you should worry a little. They’re only siblings in name; so far as I know he’s never let anyone near her. What a protective brother he is, right?”

The irritancy inside him was growing even more and it was bothering him the longer he stood there listening to her stupid words. Shrugging her off he side stepped away, but turned when he heard someone call out for Chae Yoon. Another tall man dressed semi-formally was headed toward them looking a little excited.

“You’re here already?” Ki Chan greeted.

“Yes,” Chae Yoon replied and Luhan was ready to leave them, but Chae Yoon stopped him. “Ah…I heard you wanted to meet Luhan. He’s the friend I was telling you about.”

Biting his tongue Luhan turned to see Ki Chan looking him over in a way that he should be cautious of him.

“Hi,” he greeted with an extended hand, “I’m Lee Ki Chan.”

Luhan stared at his hand before forcing himself to shake it.

“You look familiar,” Ki Chan commented. “Have we met before?”

Chae Yoon answered for him, “Namjoo said you already met each other. It was that night when Luhan went to the hospital to look for Namjoo, right?”   

Luhan shot Chae Yoon a glance before looking at Ki Chan.

“Ahh…” he nodded, “so that was you. It’s nice seeing you again. Wow, Namjoo really knows a lot of people. By the way, where is she?”

“Over there with her brother,” Chae Yoon nodded her way in Namjoo’s direction.

She was still enjoying herself amongst the group of old men.

“We were just talking about how close they were, right Luhan?” Chae Yoon asked.

Luhan glanced at her wondering what she was hinting.

“Ki Chan!” They turned to see Namjoo headed toward them, pulling her brother along. “You’re here?”

“You look nice today,” Ki Chan complimented to which Namjoo smiled.

“This is my brother I was talking about, Kai,” Namjoo introduced. “This is Ki Chan and Luhan.”

“Hi,” Ki Chan friendlily greeted shaking Kai’s hand. “I went to school together with Namjoo.”

“We also work together,” Namjoo added before looking at him. “And this is Luhan.”

When Luhan met eyes with Kai he almost took a step back from the intimidation he felt.

“The one you told me about?” Kai asked.

“You’re a hot topic,” Chae Yoon commented shooting him an eyeful.

Luhan glanced at her before Namjoo said, “It’s not like that. I just thought it’d be nice for them to meet each other and become friends.”

“You sure it’s not because you’re interested in Luhan?” Chae Yoon implied.

In the blink of an eye Luhan felt them all shift to look at Namjoo. He felt even more uncomfortable when both Ki Chan and Kai turned to look at him. It was as if they were scanning him to see if he was hiding any ulterior motives.

Kai broke the strange atmosphere created by Chae Yoon with a laugh and locked an arm over Namjoo’s shoulders. Luhan wasn’t sure if he felt relieved by it or if he was feeling even more intimidated. He knew Chae Yoon was putting them on the spot on purpose, but he was also aware that there was more than just what she had intended. Even if Kai had taken Chae Yoon’s words lightly, Luhan was aware of another pair of eyes still glued to him.

When he turned Ki Chan shifted away, putting a smile on his face as Kai spoke for Namjoo.

“Being interested in someone could mean a lot of things,” Kai started. “Right Namjoo?”

Luhan watched her smile up at him gladly.

“Why don’t you guys sit down first?” Kai suggested. “There’s something I wanna give Namjoo.”

“Really?” Namjoo asked curiously before turning toward them. “I’ll be back.”

Again Luhan found himself standing awkwardly with both Chae Yoon and Ki Chan. When he looked up he found Chae Yoon staring at him sternly as if he should regret coming.

“I’ll get us some treats, why don’t you two go sit down first?” Ki Chan offered.

“Alright,” Chae Yoon turned with a suddenly bright smile. “Could you get me some juice too?”

Ki Chan nodded and turned to him, “Would you like anything, Luhan?”

“No.”

Firmly smiling Ki Chan offered, “I’ll get us some water then. I’ll be back.”

When he walked off Luhan pressed his lips together. He couldn’t really understand Chae Yoon’s behavior. She used to be sweet and innocent, why was she doing this to him?

“Why?” Chae Yoon started off. “You don’t like standing here with me? You’d rather be with Namjoo?”

Deepening his brows he asked, “What do you want, Chae Yoon?”

Her eyes grew stern on him before a girl with short curly hair lunged at Chae Yoon, “Chae Yoon! You’re here? I didn’t see you!”

“Ah…Hee Jin,” Chae Yoon greeted withholding annoyance for being interrupted.

“Who are you talking to?” Hee Jin wondered turning to look him over. “I’ve never seen him before.”

Luhan glanced back at the girl feeling overwhelmed by being introduced to so many people. Why was it that everyone wanted to know who he was? He wasn’t quite ready to be introduced to every single person at the birthday party. Now that Namjoo wasn’t there to guide him along he suddenly felt more insecure.

“Luhan, he’s Namjoo’s special friend.” Chae Yoon explained with a hint of intentionally provoking him to deny it.

“Really?!” The girl questioned shocked and looked him over. “Are you really Namjoo’s boyfriend?”

“You’ll embarrass him,” Chae Yoon cooed and directed at him, “this is Hee Jin, Namjoo’s younger sister. Say hello.”

Luhan felt like shooting Chae Yoon a short glare, but couldn’t for the sake of being rude. Instead he nodded his head toward the girl in greeting only to find himself being ignored a second later.

“Chae Yoon, I bought the dress you recommended in your magazine. Want to go look at it?” Hee Jin asked.

“Sure,” Chae Yoon happily said before walking away with the girl.

All of a sudden Luhan found himself standing amidst a crowd of strangers. He was lost and didn’t know what to do. Where should he go? Where should he go sit? He wasn’t accustomed to large gatherings like this where everyone formally knew each other. As the thudding of his nervous heart weakened his senses he could hear the live orchestra fading behind him.

A second later after becoming lost within himself he finally awoke when someone bumped into his leg. The little boy dressed in a button up and a vest quickly apologized before laughing and running off.

A voice came toward him next, “Hey! You little…get back here Yunu!”

The petite woman came to a panting pause before looking up at him and shrunk back when she didn’t recognize him.

“Who are you?”

Luhan felt his eyes unintentionally zoom in on the woman’s mole.

“I haven’t seen you before,” the woman went up and tiptoed up to peer closer at him. “Oooh…where are you from?”

“Oh…I…I’m Luhan,” Luhan stuttered and felt the little boy run against him again, bubbling with giggles.

“Catch me Auntie Jin!” He teased.

When in the world was Namjoo going to come back?

“=====”

“What is it?” Namjoo followed Kai into his bedroom.

The twin desks they’d bought together when young was still in its place; the other in her room. Books remained stacked up and pens and pencils had been chucked together into an old mug he stopped using. Alongside that was a framed photo of the family and another one of them taken back before he left to study.

It’d been a rainy day that day, but despite that they still managed to have fun around town. When Kai left Namjoo was able to see him off with a smile.

His room smelt of air freshener and fresh wind coming in from the opened window. The long green curtains in his room had been pulled to the sides and if she stepped closer she would see the backyard. It felt almost as if he’d never left at all, but had been there all along.

The windows faced east so even before the alarm would go off the sun could be seen rising in the sky from Kai’s room. The pretty paint sculptured hues would spread so far across the sky it would look like there was a valley in the sky. Namjoo had always been jealous that Kai’s room always had the best views. During the hot summers fireflies would light the backyard up, their tiny green bulbs turning the yard into some kind of light festival.

Closing the door to the closet he headed toward her with a bag, “For you.”

Namjoo glanced at the bag then to him. Unable to help herself from smiling she took it gladly and looked inside to see the few outfits he’d bought her.

“What’s this?” Namjoo wondered still searching through the bag.

“A gift,” he explained sitting down at the edge of the bed. “I heard you don’t take care of your image.”

Namjoo snorted and invited herself to sit down beside him, “Did Aunt Jin say that?”

He only turned to her with the corner of his lips climbing up.

“What else did she say?”

“That you brought a man over and wants to know why you haven’t invited him again.” He glanced at her as if expecting to hear some kind of news she hadn’t shared with him.

“Ah…that…Aunt Jin’s a little crazy over Ki Chan. It’s not like they don’t know him, we graduated together so he’s not unfamiliar. They know who he is.”

“Really? Aunt Jin says he likes you and wants you to hook up with him.”

Namjoo couldn’t count how many times Aunt Jin and her mother has told her that already.

“Everybody says that,” Namjoo muttered playing with the handle of the bag, “but he’s just a really good friend to me.”

Becoming kind of quiet they listened to the live orchestra grew in volume as it floated in through the open window. Even though neither of them talked for some time it felt peaceful perfect. She was comfortable and warm.

“What about you?” Namjoo asked. “Did you date over there?”

Namjoo could hear her heartbeat slow before increasing in speed as she indulged in some level of nervousness.

“Idiot, of course not. Do you think I went overseas without any priority?”

A broad smile erupted on her face before she laughed realizing she’d asked something silly. They continued to sit there in peace listening to the orchestra struck the cords of their hearts. Even as the silence continued it felt as if they were sharing certain aspects of the past several years they’d spent without each other. At the back of her head she was remembering those times when they used to play pranks and joke around with each other in a freer manner, running from room to room. If they continued the same thing now it wouldn’t be the same for they were grownups. Although there was a certainty that he was still the same Kai who left she felt like there was a fragile piece of her heart hanging there for him, stepping nearer or farther away from it would require enormous courage. It was all that she lacked because it was a danger zone.

“I missed you,” Namjoo ushered the words out before turning to look at him and smiled.

She watched him turn and those sincere eyes of his locked with hers before he smiled too.

“=====”

That little boy was still using Luhan as a shield to hide from the woman trying to catch him. It made him all the more awkward because he really didn’t know what was going on.

“Yunu!” He heard Namjoo’s voice come from the doorway.

He heard the little boy let out a squeak behind him, “Auntie!!”

He noticed that there was a bag in Namjoo’s bag as she neared, but she wasn’t yet looking at him. Stopping within a few steps from them she bent down and held her arms out before the little boy lunged out at her full speed.

Namjoo let out a loud grunt upon hugging him and picked him up, “What are you doing? Look at you! You got your vest dirty! I heard your mommy bought it for you just for today.”

“Auntie Joo, I was looking for you,” the little boy explained putting an arm around her shoulder. “Auntie Jin was trying to put me in the house.”

“No, his mother doesn’t want him to get dirty.” Auntie Jin corrected.

“Well it’s a little too late now,” Namjoo commented trying to rub off the food stain on the little boy’s vest. “I thought I told you not to call Auntie Jin, she’s your great-Aunt.”

The little boy giggled as Auntie Jin warned them not to overdo it. Luhan felt like an invisible wall standing there wondering if he should have come at all. This place wasn’t his place.

“Is this your friend Namjoo?” Auntie Jin gestured her head in his direction.

Luhan felt himself shrink back, but was slightly relieved that someone he knew was there now.

“Oh yes, my friend, Luhan.” Namjoo smiled in his direction before poking Yunu playfully. “I saw you scaring Auntie’s friend earlier. Why’d you do that?”

Yunu leaned to the side to peer at him with big eyes, “Auntie’s friend?”

Feeling slightly embarrassed Luhan managed a smile, “No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“I’ve never seen him before,” Auntie Jin went on still observing him, “where’d you meet him Namjoo?”

“Leave him alone,” Namjoo tried before someone poked the top of Yunu’s head and upon his turning around she also twisted to see Ki Chan with a plate of food.

“Sorry, I got caught up talking with Gil Jin,” Ki Chan apologized handing him a bottle of water.

“Ki Chan!” Auntie Jin screamed happily. “There you are! I was wondering when you were ever going to come back.”

Luhan was watching them converse until he felt Namjoo trying to catch his attention. Upon looking at her he saw that she was gesturing for them to go sit down. Quietly leaving Auntie Jin and Ki Chan he went over to a table with her and sat down.

“Did she scare you?” Namjoo asked. “Don’t worry about her. Auntie Jin loves talking.”

“Where’d you go?” He wondered as Yunu sat on her lap and reached forward for the candy bag on the table.

“Inside the house,” Namjoo answered. “Were you nervous out here by yourself?”

Luhan thought about how alone he’d felt earlier, lost in the middle of a busy city of relatives not related to him. He thought about the large manor Namjoo had excluded from her biography and how realizing her status on his own made him more insignificant.  

“No,” he lied.