"Mom, Dad, this is Heechul. Heechul, these are my parents."

"Annyeonghaseyo." They greeted each other formally.

"It's so nice to meet one of Maddie's friends!" Your mother beamed at him. "She quit bringing her friends to meet us after we lived in Russia. She would tell us that she had no time to make friends because of how quickly we would move, but there was one time..."

"Mom. Don't start with any embarrassing stories. I doubt he would like to hear them." You admonished her. 

"Oh, it's not that bad. At least I'm not telling him about the time we found you sleeping on the couch with..."

"Stop it!" You interrupted her quickly. "He doesn't need to know about that, either."

"Really?" Heechul chuckled from behind you. "Perhaps I would like to hear about it."

"NO." You said a little too quickly. "I... I mean, it's boring, really very uninteresting."

The three of them laughed at your obvious adversity to any stories.

"Well, let's go inside. We don't want to catch a cold by standing in the doorway too long." Your father announced.

Each of you agreed, and you followed them into the small house. It looked like anything that you could imagine a home would. There was a small fireplace in the living room, a mahogany table set in the dining room, with a smaller table and chairs in the kitchen. You knew that the bedrooms would hold just one bed each along with a desk, a single chair, and a dresser. The entire place gave off a cozy, finally home feeling that you hoped Heechul would feel as well. 

You glanced over at him. "Are you alright?"

"Neh." The look of nervousness that had been on his face at the door had changed. He still looked nervous, but this time, it seemed slightly different.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded. 

"Let's put those bags in the rooms! We don't want you to carry them around all day!" Your mother always seemed cheeful, sometimes, like today, a little too cheerful. She led you up the stairs and to the left where there were three doors. "The one on the right is the bathroom. Maddie, your room is the left one, and Heechul, you can stay in the other room." She paused for a moment. "Would you two mind helping us make lunch? Dad wants Italian, again."

You chuckled. "I bet he misses everything about Italy." You turned to Heechul. "If dad had it his way, we never would have left there."

"Right indeed!" Your father bellowed up the stairs. "I keep asking the company to send me back there, but they said I did a great job there, and they don't need me there anymore."

You laugh with your mother as Heechul just watches you.

"Go put your things away, dear. We need you downstairs to start the pasta." Your mother danced away.

After watching her go, you turned to Heechul. "I'll meet you downstairs in ten minutes. I'm just going to put my clothes in the dresser."

He nodded, then retreated to the room he was staying in, and you did the same.

You quickly emptied your bag, placing things around the room, then pulled off your heavy coat and put it in the closet. You pulled your hair up into a bun, then headed downstairs to recieve instructions from your mother.

 "Could you start making the sauce? You know dad likes it fresh. We won't be eating for another couple of hours, but it needs a lot of time."

You nodded, moving to the ripe tomatoes that sat in the sink. You rinsed them carefully, then cut the stems off and began to peel them. After several minutes, you began to cut the peeled tomatoes, and pile them into the food processor that your mother kept on the countertop. 

She began to heat olive oil and chopped garlic in a pan on the stove, then motioned for you to add the tomatoes as she added more ingredients and turned up the heat so that the mixture would start to boil. She stirred the pot frequently, as you began to make cookies for dessert. 

You retrieved the ingredients for Choclate Chip Cookies as your father entered the room. You glanced up and saw Heechul leaning against the wall, watching you. 

Your father noticed him at about the same time, and led him to the table where they sat down to observe the cooking. "Intriguing, isn't it? The way women can cook difficult things and make them look simple, yet taste amazing."

Heechul nodded, still watching you. "She said she couldn't cook."

"Couldn't cook?" He choked out a laugh. "She's an amazing cook! When you can get her to do it." 

"What do you mean?"

Your father looked at him. "While we were in France, she attended a culinary school for six weeks because we asked her to. Each day she would make wonderful food for us, and at the end of those six weeks, she graduated from the school. She was one of only a few students to ever do that. Most would take the course three times before they graduated. After that, she would cook for us all the time, but she stopped cooking when we had to leave France."

Heechul stared in amazement. "She's really that good?"

"Yes. I can't wait to eat lunch!" He had a dreamy look in his eyes. "Maybe she'll let us have a few cookies before then." He joked.

"That'll ruin your appetite." You glared at your father playfully.

"Just one, then?" He pleaded, folding his hands together in a begging manner.

"Fine, but ONLY one." You began to mix the flour into the cookie dough.

You soon had the dough ready to bake, and the oven was already preheated, so you spooned dough onto the cookie sheets and placed them in the oven. A little while after that, you pulled the first batch of cookies out and placed them on cooling racks to cool while you refilled the pans and returned them to the oven. Your dad stole two cookies off of the rack as soon as they were out, handing one to Heechul and taking a huge bite out of the other.

"Mmmmm. So delicious."

Heechul glanced at it, then cautiously lifted the cookie to his mouth. He took a deep breath, then bit into it.

You watched for his reaction, holding your breath until he began to smile. "It's really good." He quickly finished the cookie, then reached for another one.

You smacked his hand gently. "I thought I said you could only have one before lunch."

He looked at you pleadingly.

"No."

He tried again.

"No."

Finally, as he distracted you, your father grabbed two more cookies from the rack.

"Oh, you!" You said in frustration. "You two are bad."

Heechul just looked at you innocently... or as innocently as he could while stuffing the cookie into his mouth.

Two hours later, after you and your mother banished the guys from the kitchen, lunch was ready. You had made homemade pasta noodles, garlic bread, white bean salad, and of course, the sauce. Everyone ate hungrily, then helped to clean up the dishes and put the leftovers into the refridgerator.

The remainder of the day was spent playing board games and card games or chatting, then eventually, preparing dinner. After that, you sat down in the living room to watch tv for a while until each of you decided to go to bed. Your parents left earlier, so you sat there with Heechul for another hour.

"Did you have fun today?"

He looked at you. "Yes, I did. I've never played some of those games before. It was fun to learn them. I really liked... Skip... Skip bo?"

"Skipbo. It's my grandmother's favorite. She always asks us when we'll be back to visit and play it with her again." You smiled at the memory. "I haven't been back there in a while, though."

"You should tell her that her game is fun to play, and I liked it a lot. Perhaps that will make her happy to just know that you played it with one of your friends."

"Neh." You yawn. "I should get to bed. Dad said that we'll have to be up early for a great surprise."

He turned off the tv. "Alright, I'll go too." He stood up and walked up the stairs with you. "Thank you for inviting me to stay here. This has already been a great Christmas."

"I'm glad. Good night, oppa. Sleep well."

"Good night." He disappeared into his room as you went into yours.

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This is the site I used for the spaghetti sauce recipe
http://www.iamthatlady.com/frugal-pasta-sauce-recipe-using-hunts-crushed-tomatoes/
Thank you!