It was a weird yet warm week to start off the autumn season in high school. Met a few new classmates that seemed alright to interact with, despite their crazy ‘supporters’. Then there was that weird schoolmate who would offer help despite the countless times I’ve rejected his kindness. I just couldn’t wait to get back home to visit Mom and Dad. Thought about it for awhile and I’ve come up with a plan to cook for my parents, to thank them for taking me in for all these years and also, to repay them a little. I called Mingyu and Seokmin for help, since they’re the only 2 boys who knew how to cook. They got down as soon as they could and we planned the meals out. “Let’s get some of them to come down and help with the groceries.”

“Or we could just trick them to doing the grocery shopping.” Seokmin high-fived me as our telepathy never seemed to fail on us. I dialled Jihoon’s number and told him that I needed to get some stuff for something urgent and important before sending him a list of items to get while Seokmin called Minghao and Mingyu called Wonwoo. We took out some of the ingredients I have stored in the cupboard and refrigerator. “So let’s make something light yet scrumptious. Like… Japchae (Stir Fried Sweet Potato Noodles with Vegetables), Pajeon (Green Onion Pancakes), Seolleongtang (Ox-bone Soup) and Kimbap (Seaweed Rice Rolls).” The doorbell rang and we knew who had arrived. Opening the door to 3 grumpy faces caused us to fall on our bottoms and laugh like we’re crazy. “I knew something was up when Mingyu said Jaemi needed my help.”

“Yeah, like if she only needed my help, she would have called me. Not this walking endorphin.” Minghao pointed at Seokmin with the ‘you’re-a-liar’ look. “Stop whining already, I’m pretty sure Jaemi asked those two to call you to help for a reason.” As expected, the calm and understanding Jihoon knew something was on. “I needed help with grocery shopping and well, I was thinking of cooking for my parents but Mingyu, Seokmin and I can’t possibly prepare all by ourselves. So can the 3 of you please help me?” I asked hopefully for them to say yes. Jihoon quickly nodded his head while the other 2 acted like they were in deep thoughts before shooting Jihoon a look. “How come Jaemi called you and not us?” He shrugged and dragged them towards the kitchen with lines that went “talking won’t help Jaemi to prepare the food” and “you’re already here so might as well just help”.

So Minghao and Mingyu were set to prepare the Ox-bone soup, Seokmin and Jihoon on the Japchae and Kimbap while Wonwoo and I on the Pajeon. Since Wonwoo and I have the least to prepare, we’ve decided to help the others to cut the vegetables and prepare the meat. After that, we got onto the dish we’re supposed to make. Wonwoo popped a piece of chocolate candy into my mouth and got back to washing the green onions. “What was that about, Jeon Wonwoo? You trying to bribe our princess?” Mingyu held the large ox bone up like a gun and aimed at Wonwoo. “Relax Mingyu! It’s only a chocolate candy! I have some in the fridge so you can take as much as you want from it.”

“It ain’t sweet enough without you feeding me.” Mingyu pouted. I facepalmed and realised that I’ve gotten some pancake mixture on my forehead, causing the boys to laugh. “Ha-ha-ha. Really funny. So much for being your ‘princess’.” With that, I covered my hands with pancake mixture and dabbed some onto everyone’s face, all except Jihoon. “Come here, Jihoon oppa. It’s not fair when everyone has mixture on their faces and you don’t.” We took a step closer to him and cornered him in the kitchen’s toilet. “GET HIM!” The boys grabbed his limbs and wiped both hands onto his face. “Man, you’ve just got yourself a free facial treatment! How do you feel right now?”

He looked at us with an evil smirk and charged himself at us. He eventually caught Wonwoo and wiped the mixture off his face onto Wonwoo’s. “YAH! LEE JIHOON! DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!” We laughed and then the moment we saw the time, we stopped fooling around and quickly start cooking. When we finished cooking, we packed the food and I went to take a shower and packed my bag. We left my unit and headed to my parents’ house.

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“MOM! DAD! I’m back! And I brought some of the boys with me!” I opened the door and stepped into the warmth of my parents. When I got in, I saw them arching the neck to look at me and the boys, along with a man who seemed to be in his 40s. “You must be Jaemi…I’m your biological father… I’m here to bring you back to our family…”

I dropped whatever I was carrying and ran out of the house. I couldn’t believe that the man who’ve abandoned and disowned me has came to get me back after all that I’ve went through and when Mom and Dad gave up their free time to take care of me. I didn’t know where I was going but I’m definitely not going back anytime soon. Not now, not when he’s still there. I hid at where I would usually hide whenever I did something wrong or when I was feeling down, the playground. I heard the boys calling and then someone found me. Dad…

“I knew you would hide here. Ever since the day I’ve met you. So… not ready to go back to your own family? They are your family by blood, no matter what they did.” He comforted me. I looked at him with teary eyes. “But… he disowned me after I was born. You’re the one who took care of me along with Mom. I have yet to repay you back for your love and kindness. I have yet to do what a daughter should be doing for her parents.”

“But you already did… You’ve grown up well. You’ve never let us down. You’ve made some friends after so long. That’s the best way to repay us. And…Your mom and I never asked you to repay us, so technically speaking, you don’t owe us anything.” He hugged me and I cried out in his arms. I don’t want to leave them, I don’t care if that man was my biological father. I just want to stay with Mom and Dad. After cooling down, we walked back home and he was gone. So much for being a biological father. Bull. The boys set up the dining table and all of us settled down to take a late dinner. “Sorry for being so oversensitive. I’ve caused us to have a cold dinner.”

“Nonsense, princess—I mean, Jaemi. We’ve heated the food up so you’ll have warm food waiting for you.” Mingyu said with a smile on his face, covering his worried look. We ate the food and the boys helped with the cleaning. “I didn’t know my daughter can cook.” He continued with embarrassing times where I made scrambled eggs without taking the shells out and also the other time when I crushed the instant noodles into pieces before cooking it. “That was when I was 15 years old! Plus this time, I got the help from the boys so cooking went well.”

“Yeah, she did the Pajeon while the rest was done by us — Ow!” I smacked Seokmin’s arm harshly and stuck my tongue out. Dad insisted on them staying over for the night as it was already late. They changed into the pants we got from the market and split into half where the winners took the guest room while the losers took the sofas. I took a seat beside Jihoon and thanked all of them for helping. “It’s worth it since we got to stay over.”

And the night went on.