[Dinners and Tattoos]

“Hi, yeah, it’s me. Can you come over?”

15 minutes later, Yixing was already in front of the designated house. Waiting for somebody to answer the door. JinHee had mentioned that it was an emergency, so he took the quickest route possible to arrive.

Not long after, the front door opened, and JinHee was at the other side of it. Her face was red with heat, splotches of food stains were imprinted on her cooking apron, and she was breathing heavily.

“Hello?” he said, unsure.

She smiled automatically as she watched him, “Yixing thank goodness! I thought I was going to burn everything down! Come fast, I need your help.”

The girl grabbed his wrist and led him inside the house. He looked around in confusion and stopped walking when she did. “What happened here?”

The kitchen was in complete mess, everything was scattered everywhere and a burnt pot was sitting on top of the sink. Judging from the smell, it was clear that JinHee had almost set the house on fire.

“I… I tried following the recipe.” She muttered, “But...”

He raised an eyebrow, “But what?”

“But then I sort of... fell asleep.”

“You- WHAT?”

“Yeah- it was stupid, I know!” she wailed, “But now I really need your help.”

He searched the room, but there was nobody else inside the house except for them. “Where’s your mom?”

“She went out with my dad.” JinHee replied, “Probably to avoid me. We had a heavy argument yesterday.”

“Oh. Alright.”

She loved that about Yixing. How he simply doesn’t question, doesn’t pry, and doesn’t ask for explanations but still understands. This was perhaps why she was so fond of his company. There were no explanations needed.

“So… Is the assistant chef position still open, or what?” he smiled at her warmly.

She patted him on the shoulders, “You just made my day.”

“You’re welcome.”

*****

By dinner time, everything was set.

Thanks to Yixing, of course. But he had to head back to the company building for his Korean lessons soon after, so she couldn’t ask for him to join them.

JinHee’s mother hadn’t said anything after their disagreement. She kept to herself in her room, and only went out once her SeoHyun had arrived.

“SeoHyun-ah!” she greeted, arms wide open for an embrace.

The girl wore a pale blue dress with long sleeves, paired with pumps and styled hair. She had always looked like a porcelain doll- which was a part of the reason why JinHee never bothered to borrow her sister’s clothes.

“I’ve missed you mother,” she said in between their hugging.

JinHee watched her dad intently, trying to find the smallest improvements in his reaction. The corners of his lips curled up when JooHyun kissed his cheek- and she sighed in relief. Turns out that her efforts weren’t for naught.

“Daddy…” SeoHyun called as she observed her father’s face, “How are you? Are you healthy?”

The old man stared at her blankly, before nodding twice. Both Mrs. Seo and JinHee exhaled at the progress they were making.

After a bit of a chat, her sister turned to catch JinHee’s eyes, “Thanks for inviting me.”

“No problem,” she answered politely.

They all proceeded to dinner, and JinHee felt a sense of pride as the members of her family tell her how delicious her cooking was.

“To be honest, Yixing is the one to praise.” She admitted, earning questioning glances from her mother and sister. Her father stayed ignorant, as usual. “He helped me to not mess up the dishes.”

Her mother dabbed her lips with a napkin, “Yixing? Who is that?”

“A friend I made from the studio. He’s immensely nice.” JinHee smiled to herself, “You’d all like him.”

Seeing her daughter, Mrs. Seo frowned, “SeoHee dear, have you talked to JoonMyeon yet?”

“Mom, I t