“Hayi-ahhh!” came a voice from the kitchen and a girl wearing an apron walked out. “Eonni!” Hyu Rim opened her arms as her younger sister threw herself into them, “I missed you so much!”

            “But we just met last week for lunch,” the older reminded.

            Hayi frowned and poked her sister in the waist, making her jolt and laugh. “Can’t a girl miss her only sister?”

          Hyu Rim just laughed as she ruffled Hayi's hair, looking at the door as the 2^nd group of people from YG walked in and started filling the restaurant. “Ososeyo,” she greeted with a polite bow as everyone arrived before patting her sister on the back. “You brought quite the crowd today, huh? Go take a seat, I gotta help mom serve the food.”

            “Let me help too-”

            “No way, young lady. This is to celebrate your album - you’re not lifting a finger.”

           Hayi could only huff as her sis pushed her onto the floor cushion and retreated to the kitchen. Everyone had arrived and Hayi looked around until she realized that Zico was seated at the table in front of her with the rest of the Winner members. As usual, he wasn’t giving two hoots about where they were and was shamelessly staring at his girlfriend while resting his chin on his palm.

           Leaning her head on Suhyun's shoulder, Hayi glared at him and he simply smirked and turned to look at Seunghoon, seamlessly butting into the conversation as if he had been concentrating on nothing else. Convinced he got the message to be discreet, Hayi raised her head off her dongsaeng's shoulder and laughed when Suhyun for having a heavy head. She playfully massaged the younger's shoulder before smacking her back instead, earning a surprised yelp and whine.

           A few people turned their heads at the sound, and Hayi looked down in embarrassment. She pinched Suhyun’s thigh while whispering that she did not even hit her that hard and the younger winced for a moment before she stuck her tongue out while rubbing her sore thigh. “Serves you right~” she jested and Hayi snarled at her before turning back to her food - but not before she catches the blonde-haired man at the table across smiling in amusement. Her embarrassment returns, manifesting itself into a visible flush to her cheeks.

           The staff began serving the appetizers along with bowls of rice and Hayi watched warily as her mother approached the table her boyfriend was seated at. Ever chivalrous, Zico helped to pass down the plates along the table and Hayi smiled before the smile froze as he called her mother “eomeoni” while thanking her for the food.  

            I swear to God, Woo Jiho... She glared at him from the side of her eye, all the while casually passing along the utensils to the people seated next to her. Zico paid no mind to her death stare – he was used to her feisty attitude by now – and continued chatting with Mino. Hayi slowly exhaled to calm herself down. At least they were out of danger for now, her mom had gone back in to get the main dishes out.

            Hayi stealthily pulled her phone out of her jeans pocket and tried her best to type a coherent text while hiding her phone under the table.

            Ms. HAIYAH: srsly, wth r u thnkn? I told u to b careful ard my mom. Why are you calling her thattttt ugh

          She hit the send button quickly and locked her phone, shaking her right leg impatiently and accidentally nudging Suhyun in the process since they were seated so close to each other with their legs crossed. Suhyun raised an eyebrow and Hayi put a hand up in apology, brushing it off as an accident. She looked up just in time to see Jiho pull out his pphone. He rarely takes his phone out during meals, especially with colleagues, but when he heard the notification tone he set just for her, a small smirk found its way to his lips.

            Pabo Mr. Jiho: Since when did we start using text message language ew-

          Hayi read the message as it appeared on her screen before narrowing her eyes in his direction. He chuckled and returned to typing, so she stared at her screen, waiting for his next text to arrive.

            Pabo Mr. Jiho: this is payback 😝

            Pabo Mr. Jiho: Besides, everyone else is calling her that too. It’d be awkward if I didn’t.

          Ms. HAIYAH: yes, but everyone else are people my mother knows from work, she’s never met you, nor does she know that you’ve been working at HighGrnd. At least call her ‘eomeonim’ instead- if you get too chummy SHE MIGHT SUSPECT SDJGSDJGDJFH

         Zico clamped his lips together to stop himself from smiling at how cute his girlfriend was when she was frustrated. He was about to reply but Mrs. Lee had returned to his table and was placing the marinated crabs in the centre.

          “Waaah eomeoni this looks really good, I’ve got to come here more often,” Zico smiled at Mrs. Lee who grinned back, always happy when complimented for her cooking.

           “You could come with Dean next time, he came here with Hayi before,” she casually replied as she walked away to go talk to her daughter.

           Zico raised an eyebrow as his gaze beelined to Hayi. ‘Dean was here before?’ he mouthed. Hayi gave him a death stare since her mother was just about right next to her. Jiho squinted, a little peeved. She never told him about that. Not that he was over protective and expected her to tell him everything, he just knew that she was close to Dean’s ideal type, and that made him a little weary. He looked away from her direction just in case she bore holes into his skull with those dagger eyes.

            But he was not going to just let it slide, of course. Mrs. Lee was reminding her to take the side dishes she made back home to her apartment before she left. Jiho started to dig in as he watched them quietly, waiting until it seemed they were almost done with their conversation – he didn’t want to interrupt since he knew Hayi was busy lately and didn’t always have the time to see her family. Aaaand, now!

          “OMO EOMEONI THIS IS SO GOOD!” Jiho’s voice called over the ruckus of the multiple conversations taking place in the restaurant. Hayi’s eyes widened and she slowly turned her head, finding her dorky boyfriend with one hand with a thumb up and the other hand holding a crab claw while looking at her mother.

            Mrs. Lee smiled good naturedly though Hayi caught the smallest quirk of an eyebrow. It soon disappeared as the Winner members joined in with a chorus of, “I-know-right?!”s and thank-yous. She simply laughed and humoured them.

            “Alright, alright. I’ll give you guys another serving on the house.”

          The boys cheered and Hayi let out a small breath of relief, glad that for once her noisy bros from Winner saved her from a close shave. That ing Woo Jiho… he was so dead. Hayi inwardly groaned and lowered her forehead onto the table, earning looks from those around her. Beneath the table, she started typing away furiously on her handphone.

            Ms. HAIYAH: if you try to pull anything else, mister… You’re gonna regret it. >:(

          Hayi looked up to wait for him to see her message. She watched him as he took off the plastic glove with which he was eating the crabs with, unlocked his phone and smirked at the screen before typing out a short reply.

            Pabo Mr. Jiho: #NoRagrats

           Hayi took a deep breath to calm herself (and prevent herself from stomping right over to his table and smacking him) and put her phone away quietly. She just hoped that that idiot wouldn’t do anything stupid. She put on a pair of plastic gloves and just on time, the food arrived.

        Hayi clapped happily, her anger immediately snuffed at the smell of her favourite marinated crab dish. Everyone resumed eating and talking, enjoying themselves after a long day at work. Drinks were passed around (though Suhyun and Hayi just had juice, Suhyun because she was still a minor, Hayi because she didn’t want a hangover) and laughter filled the room as everybody loosened up.

           Soon enough people began to depart, needing to return to the studio or go back home to their families. Winner left, bringing Zico along with them and Hayi felt like she could finally breathe now that the ‘risk factor’ was finally out of the way. Now the only people left were EpikHigh, AKMU and herself.

        Chanhyuk looked at his watch and nudged Suhyun. The girl pouted but she got the message. “Hayi-ah, we’ve gotta go ‘cos we have to record tomorrow morning…” she said dejectedly. Hayi laughed and shoved her playfully.

           “Just go, you’re acting as if I won’t see you at work tomorrow.”

           “That’s ‘cos I won’t – you’re gonna coop yourself up in the studio and never see the light of day!”

           “Excuse me? But last time I checked you two were the ones that did that.”

           Suhyun huffed and glowered at her brother. “It’s not my fault oppa’s a workaholic.”

          Chanhyuk stuck his tongue out at her as he gathered his stuff to leave. Hayi smiled at the bickering siblings and waved as they left. Tablo scooted over and ruffled Hayi’s hair.

           He’s clearly a little tipsy, she thought as Tablo rose a toast for the umpteenth time for her successful comeback.

          Even the usually quiet Tukutz stomped over sloppily and hugged her, rendering her stiff in surprise. Hayi stifled a snigger as Mithra gathered the two, Tablo sprinkling water on Tukutz who was still claiming that he was sober. Mithra rolled his eyes as Tablo and him each took one of Tukutz’s arms and slung it around their shoulders.

          Mithra mumbled something about never agreeing to be designated driver before bowing – or whatever gesture he could do which was as close to a bow as possible, what with the literal weight on his shoulders – in goodbye to Hayi and her family. They bowed back and as they left, Hyu Rim slumped to the floor next to Hayi, leaning her entire weight on her sister.

           “I swear to God every time your company comes for dinner I feel like we should hire emergency part timers. I’d even take some random passer-by and pay em 10 bucks an hour.”

          Hayi elbowed her but she dodged and quickly got up, screaming as he did but the scream died in just as Hayi got off the floor to chase after her sister. But it wasn’t because Hayi was coming for her. Something else had caught her attention. Hayi turned to the entrance as a familiar figure walked in. She felt a chill seep to her bone. No.

            “Sorry, did you forget something?” Hyu Rim asked once she had composed herself from her embarrassment of getting caught screaming like a maniac.

            Zico smiled and took another step inside. “As a matter of fact, I did.”

            His back straightened as Mr. and Mrs. Lee peeked out from the kitchen, noticing that their always noisy children had suddenly fallen quiet. Noticing that Zico was back, they both stepped out in confusion. Mr. Lee dried his hands on his apron as he looked from his daughter’s back which was facing him to the man who had just walked in. Hayi broke out in a cold sweat and slowly turned in the direction of her parents, head ducked.

            “I apologize for not introducing myself properly earlier,” Zico clasped his hands in front of himself and bowed deeply. “Woo Jiho inmida.”

           Hayi swallowed. He usually introduced himself as Zico, no matter who it was. The fact that he was using his real name made this all feel so serious. Her heart hammered against her chest in a bundle of nerves as she realised what he was doing. As he raised his head, he took two confident strides to the girl that he had been waiting this whole night to do this to. He smiled down at her, even as she looked almost horrified at his sudden reappearance.

          He took her hand in his, turning to face her parents as he interlocked their fingers. “I’m dating your daughter,” he paused, squeezing Hayi’s hand. In that gesture, she knew that he was just as nervous as she was. Even though she was still mad at him for deciding to do this despite her countless warnings, she squeezed his hand back. If he really wanted to do this, she’d have his back. One thing had changed though. If she was thinking of getting back at him for this earlier, she was definitely kicking his now.

        Jiho cleared his throat, bringing her attention back to her parents. “Perhaps I’m doing this in the wrong order,” he continued, “but I hope I could have your blessing to do so.”

          He bowed again and Hayi scrambled to think how to respond before deciding to bow as well. Hayi wanted to whisper to ask him why the hell he was acting as though they were getting married or something, but the atmosphere seemed too tense for the joke, so she clamped her lips shut and held his hand tighter because she realised it was cold. And sweaty.

          She made a face and was glad that no one could see it since her head was still down. She added this to the list of things to about later. Zico took in a breath and stayed with his head bowed, waiting for a response. Moments passed, but with his breath held and blood rushing to his head, those moments seemed like hours. Then her father spoke.

          “And what if I don’t give my blessing?”

A/N: Hi FELLAS I'M SO EXCITED TO BE BACK. okay, i'm terribly sorry for the eternity-long hiatus but z been crazy and i've had a bunch of stuff to handle but i finally decided to stop putting this off, so here it is! tell me what yall think and i'm really so awfully sorry for the long absence BUT GOOD NEWS IS: my next term isn't going to be too stressful (hopefully) since I only have 3 modules so i'll try to update once every... 3 or 4 weeks? but after that's my internship so hmmm i guess I'll have to see what my working hours are like before I can confirm the update frequency. ANYWHO! i hope yalls have been doing fine, and i'll catch ya later.

p.s: idk why my first line indent formatting keeps screwing up, i tried to fix it directly from the source code but failed. so sorry bout that if you have line indent OCD like me xD