Author’s POV

“Mirae! Your phone is ringing all the time! Fix it or I’ll answer myself!” Luhan shouted from the bedroom. He was lying on the bed and Mirae’s phone lay on the night table. It had been ringing for the last ten minutes, again and again. “All right, I’ll answer it myself.” He reached for the phone. “Yes?”

“Finally! Why haven’t you answered the phone until now? Where are you? I’m really worried about you! Mirae? Come on, talk to me. I’m sorry for saying all those bad things about Luhan. Forgive me, okay?” Luhan recognised the voice. He decided to have a little fun with Mirae’s worried big brother.

“So, you’ve talked about me, huh? What have you said then? Don’t you like me?” Luhan replied, using a teasing, sugary voice.

“Luhan... What the hell are you doing with Mirae’s phone?”

“She’s busy cooking dinner, so I answered in her place. I’m such a loving husband, aren’t I?”

“Cooking dinner?” Jongin asked, and Luhan could hear he was surprised.

“Yes. She came back to China. She felt she belonged next to me, instead of being with you. I understand her, especially if you’ve talked about me. You should be nicer to your in-law.”

“I don’t believe you. Tell me where to find her. I need to know if she’s okay. I’m serious, Luhan.” Luhan huffed out some air. “Luhan! Tell me where she is!”

“I told you, she’s cooking, in the kitchen, in our house. Do you want me to prove it to you? Hold on.” Luhan got up from the bed and walked to the kitchen where Mirae stood, chopping some vegetables. “Princess~ your brother wants to talk to you,” Luhan cooed. Mirae looked up. She didn’t know Luhan had put the phone on speaker.

“I don’t want to talk to him.”

“Mirae, come on!” Mirae froze as she heard Jongin’s voice. Luhan smirked at her.

“Luhan! Please, I don’t want to talk to him. Turn off my phone,” Mirae said and went back to the vegetables. Luhan shrugged his shoulders, putting the phone to his ear.

“Sorry, dude. My princess is too busy cooking. Goodbye,” he cooed and ended the call. “Should I turn it off? What if your mother calls?”

“I don’t care. She has your number too,” Mirae responded. Luhan scowled; a bit shocked that Mirae didn’t feel like talking to anyone. “Dinner is ready in ten minutes.”

“All right.” Luhan turned off Mirae’s phone, then he looked up at her. He tilted his head to the side. Did he find Mirae cute with that wrinkle on her nose? Luhan’s lips formed a goofy smile as he imagined doing one of his favourite daydreams in his life; hugging his girlfriend slash wife when she cooked. He had always had that dream, since he got his first girlfriend. But now Luhan knew he wouldn’t get to do that, unless he did it with Mirae, which he guessed wouldn’t turn out very well. “Ow!” Luhan yelped as he felt a hard smack on his head. Kris sat down by the table.

“Why are you staring at her?” Kris asked in Chinese, nodding discreetly towards Mirae. Luhan looked at Mirae then back at Kris.

“What? I’m not staring at her.”

“You are. Don’t deny it,” Tao joined in. He sat down next to Kris and Luhan sat down on the other side. “Damn... Nice-”

“Don’t,” Luhan warned. Tao rolled his eyes. “By the way, where should we go tonight? Strip club, bar?” Tao and Kris shrugged.

“Is she coming?” Kris asked.

“No. She’ll stay here. Hey, we should go to a dance club!” Luhan exclaimed. “We haven’t been to one yet. What do you guys say?”

“Sure,” Tao said.

“Here you go,” Mirae interjected into the conversation. “Hope it tastes good.” Luhan watched as she plated up for them, but not for herself.

“Aren’t you eating?” he wondered. Mirae shook her head. “Oh yes, you are. Sit.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her down on the chair next to him. Mirae scowled at him. “You’re eating. I don’t like it when girls are too skinny.” Luhan knew he had just come up with that excuse in that moment mostly because he didn’t want to seem like he cared. He put up some food for her and put the plate in front of her. “Eat. You haven’t eaten anything all day.”

“Wow, you care a lot about her,” Tao teased.

“Shut up. Mirae, eat.” Mirae took a piece of chicken and ate it. “Was that so hard?” Luhan sat down on his own seat, digging in to his food – Kris and Tao had almost finished already. They took their plates and got up from the table, leaving their dishes on the sink, and continuing into the living room; Luhan and Mirae were left alone in the kitchen. Luhan had finished his food, but was observing Mirae as she ate. He sighed.<