"Well," Hana pointed out in English. "It is good that you came because I have no clue about where I'm supposed to go."

"What do you want to buy?" Joshua wondered.

"Well, I'll need carrots, green beans, potatoes, and rosemary. I can infer that you do have some olive oil and seasonings at the dorm?"

Joshua shook his head in a sign of approval.

"Okay and then I wanted to see what I can find in the wine and beer section to meet everyone's preference. And for the meat, do you know a place that sells local products. I don't really eat meat when I don't know where the animal comes from."

"That's a funny way of being vegetarian," he declared laughing.

"I'm quite complicated with animal products in general. No pork, no chicken, and only meat from a supposed happy animal."

"Remember me to never take you out for dinner," Joshua joked.

"Well," Hana added. "It's evident that it is going to be difficult for me here in Korea, but I'm willing to accept the challenge. We can as well buy usual beef, but I won't eat it, which isn't a problem."

"I know a butcher shop not far from here. Mingyu always goes there when he wants an excellent piece of Korean beef. Let's go there and then get the rest at the grocery shop that is not far from the dorm."

"That sounds amazing!"

From the headquarters, they had to take the subway for one or two stops. On the way, Hana admitted, "It is so nice to be able to speak English."

"Believe it or not," Joshua admitted. "I feel the same way."

They laughed happily together.

"As I still don't feel very confident in Korean," Hana confessed. "I have the feeling that I cannot express all my thoughts. It's a real relief for me right now! Be aware! I might get very talkative in English."

"That's the issue when you're multilingual," Joshua agreed. "Sometimes you want to express something in one language but there's a more precise word in the other language you know. I often struggle with this."

"Hah!" Hana exclaimed. "I face the same issue mostly with German. It is such a detail-oriented language compared to English and French."

"Tell me then... you do speak five languages fluently?"

"Yeah, I could tell that. I can speak as well a bit of Chinese, Italian, and Spanish but my level isn't extraordinary."

"Wow," Joshua declared open-mouthed. "That's impressive."

"Thank you. You do as well from what I've read."

Joshua started laughing.

"Yeah, but as you've said 'without an extraordinary level'."

"Come on! I'm sure you're too humble. If you want you could add "le Français" to your list. I'm willing to teach you," she said with a wink.

"Mhm," he mumbled. "It's true that it is a seductive language. I'll think about it."

"Gosh, I will never get used to big cities," Hana declared when someone bumped into her on the crosswalk.

"Why?" Joshua wondered. "You lived in Tokyo for the past four years, didn't you?"

"Well, I knew how to avoid the most crowded places. I grew up in Switzerland, you know, the country whose entire population is even less than the whole population of Seoul."

Joshua burst into laughing.

"Well, but don't tell me that you were living somewhere in Texas when you were in America?"

"No," Hana declared proudly. "I did better than this: Seattle for three years. It's not Los Angeles, but it is way bigger than Geneva for instance."

"Geneva ?"Joshua asked thoughtfully. "I've already heard it somewhere."

"Oh please," Hana said startled. "Don't tell me you do it like every American. Mixing up Switzerland with Sweden !?"

Joshua raised his hands as a sign of apology and smiled.

"I was joking. Switzerland is in the middle of Europe while Sweden is in Scandinavia."

"Well, you are part of a minority then."

Hana rooted to the spot when she saw the entrance of the shop Joshua was bringing her to. It looked very rustical for a shop located in Gangnam. Joshua laughed and covered his mouth when he saw her reaction.

"Don't worry; you're at least sure that one is local."

Joshua entered first followed by Hana. Inside, there was an elderly man behind a counter displaying various cuts of meat.

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "If it's not Joshua? I was wondering when you'd come again, guys."

Joshua bowed politely before turning over to Hana and asking her in English, "What were you planning to cook?"

Hana breathed out reassured to know that Seventeen was an appointed customer of the shop.

"I think I'd like to take the ribeye part of the beef and roast it in the oven. But I don't know how to say ribeye in Korean. Wait!"

She realized that ovens weren't usual in Asian kitchens. She stared at Joshua wide-eyed and asked hastily, "First of all, do you have an oven?"

Joshua started to laugh.

"Believe me, we do have a good one. We don't use it very often, but it is, in my opinion, way better when you want to warm-up a pizza, you know."

Joshua approached the elder and asked if he had enough ribeye for fourteen people. The ahjussi laughed while inquiring how the meat will be cooked.

"It's for a ribeye roast," Joshua added.

Hana spotted the correct Korean word to define ribeye and stored it in her memory for future inquiries. The butcher gave them three kilograms of meat and some recommendations regarding the cooking. Hana could not help but ask, "Sir, was this cow happy and treated fairly?"

He answered by explaining that all his cuts were coming from the farm of his close friend. Hana thanked him. She gazed over Joshua happy for his recommendations worthy of a real local citizen. His look darkened when he pointed out, "Even though, the prices for beef are currently going down in Korea. It's going to cost you a fortune. Are you sure you want to do that?"

Hana was surprised about his kind consideration, but replied with a broad smile, "I've told you that I'll invite you all. It is my firm intention to do so."

Hana was grateful to her mum who gave her the equivalent of $500 in cash before leaving for Korea. The ahjussi kindly told her, "Let me make you a price. If I hadn't sold this piece today, I could have thrown it away actually."

In the end, Hana paid a $120 for the ribeye, which was a fantastic price reduction. When they went out of the butcher shop, Hana declared guilty, "I should have given him more. He was so kind to us, and it's a lot of meat."

"It's okay, Hana," Joshua comforted her. "We are regular customers. That was his way of rewarding our loyalty."

Hana gazed at him with an empty expression and declared, "At first, I thought that you were pranking me."

"Me?" he asked surprised. "No, not on your first day. I still have to make a good impression you know."

"Oh!" she blinked, a smile playing at the corner of her lips.

Joshua took her to the closest supermarket from the Seventeen's dorm: an E-mart. Their selection of alcohol pleasantly surprised her. Hana decided to buy two red wines from Bordeaux and a Dornfelder from Germany. Also, Joshua and Hana agreed on taking a selection of different beers coming from both Germany and Belgium.

"I'm very happy that you are cooking an European meal," Joshua confessed. "It's very exotic!"

Hana mumbled behind the box she was carrying, "Well, I hope I'm going to meet everyone's expectations."

"For sure," Joshua grinned. "We're there!"

They had arrived in front of a plain and simple building that did not seem new. From the picture Hana saw of her room, Hana inferred that it had been renovated only from the inside.

"Are you sure you don't wanna switch?" Joshua inquired showing her the plastic bags in his two hands.

"It's very kind Joshua," she replied gently. "I'm doing fine though."

She positioned the box firmly against her to pretend she wasn't struggling with its actual weight. Joshua held the door open for her. Hana had been right: the interior of the building had been modernized. They took the elevator up to the fifth floor. Hana started to laugh when they stopped in front of the apartment number 17.

"It was a real coincidence," Joshua justified.

Hana raised one eyebrow skeptically. Joshua put his index on the electronic display of the door and let Hana enter first.

"Don't forget to take off your shoes," he said behind her.

Still hidden behind the heavy box, she commented while trying her best to take her shoes off, "I'll do my best!"

"I've told you that you should have left the box to me," Joshua scolded her.

"Got it!" she replied with a broad smile.

Barefoot, she continued to move through the hallway and announced in Japanese, "Ojamashimasu !"

"Yokoso !" Hoshi answered in a loud voice while showing Hana the kitchen.

With a sigh of relief, she placed the box carefully on the counter. She hastened to stretch out her arms with a wince. Hoshi turned to Joshua and reprimanded him, "How could you let a girl carry this heavy box?"

"I offered my help at least three times," he whined rolling his eyes. "But this girl is so stubborn, you can't even imagine."

Hana stretched out her arm while doing a heart with her thumb and index.

"I'm pleading guilty," she agreed.

"The manager put your luggage in your room," Vernon, who was comfortably sitting on a couch, interfered.

"Thanks for telling me. I'll unpack tomorrow," she declared while emptying the plastic bags.

She turned towards Joshua, "Thanks again, Joshua, for the help. It was kind of you to accompany me."

"Don't hesitate to ask if you need help," he replied, laughing. "Don't be stubborn all the time."

"Oh!" Hoshi chuckled. "How likely it is from our Joshua, such a gentleman."

Hana took out her phone and her little Bluetooth speakers.

"Does it bother anyone if I put some music on while cooking?" she asked.

The three of them shook their heads. Hana added, "And does anyone want to help me peel the vegetables?"

Hoshi made an unsatisfied face and promptly informed, "I would have loved to, but I still have to take a shower."

As quickly as lightning, he left the living room by another hallway. Joshua was silent. Vernon got up and declared, "Well, I'll help with pleasure. Joshua, you should have a shower as well instead of spreading your manly scent everywhere."

Hana was opening the different compartments to get familiar with the setting of the kitchen. She found two big bowls that she took to prepare the potatoes. One for the unpeeled potatoes and the other filled with water to clean them before cutting them. Vernon took place quietly and started to peel the potatoes. Hana looked for baking dishes and found two of them. She placed the big piece of meat in one and saved the other one for the vegetables.

"Wow," he gaped at the beef like a kid. "What part is it?"

Hana was pleased to be able to answer in Korean with the word she had learned today.

"It's ribeye."

His eyes sparkled. Hana heated up the oven before putting on a random playlist and starting peeling the carrots next to Vernon. The8 and Jun entered the living room and laid down, each one on a different couch. Jun's mouth formed an o when his attention fell on the meat. Hana noticed.

"You all like meat, don't you?"

"Yes, we do," Vernon answered for everyone.

Jun nodded with enthusiasm while his lips.

"I see I see," Hana laughed.

After having prepared the meat, Hana placed it into the oven. She was already half-trough cutting the carrots. Hana glanced over at Vernon and observed that he was doing his job with high precision but was not quick at all. She smiled because his strong expression was touching. When she finished, she started cubing the peeled potatoes. Joshua took a sit in front of them at the bar counter. He had a towel around his neck, and his hair was still wet.

"You were even quicker than Usain Bolt," Vernon commented in English.

"Yeah, well, I thought that we could do Hana a favor and pursue a conversation in English before everyone joins."

"Yes, please!" Hana cried out.

"I knew you'd like that."

Vernon looked at them skeptically and asked in English:

"Since when did you two become so close?"

"We've spent the afternoon together you know, that's entirely sufficient to get to know each other a bit."

He looked at Vernon with a half-smile and assured, "You'll get your chance too, Vernon."

Vernon rolled his eyes and asked Hana, "This song is pretty good, is it French?"

Hana's eyes sparkled as she hastened to answer with passion, "Yes, that's Stromae. He's a Belgian rapper and singer. He's very impressive. If I'm not mistaken, he writes and composes almost all of his songs. The lyrics are significant when you understand them."

Vernon shook his head on the beat of the song "Papaoutai." Hana persisted, "I went once to his concert. It was amazing!"

"Did you already go to a lot of concerts?" Joshua wondered.

"Well, I cannot tell. Where I come from in Switzerland, we have a big festival where I often went as a kid. My all-time favorite on stage is MIKA. I've seen him three times in concert. I don't know how popular he is overseas, but in Europe, his albums were a big hit. Do you know him?"

"Relax, take it eeeeasy," Vernon tried imitating the high voice.

Hana giggled, "Yes, that's exactly him!"

"I enjoyed the song he did with Ariana Grande," Joshua confessed.

As if it had heard Joshua, the playlist started the song "Popular Song." Hana instantly began to lip-sync on it. Joshua happily played the game with her. Vernon looked at them dancing and having fun in the living room. Even the8, who had stared at his phone the entire time glance at them. Jun, who couldn't stay seated too long without doing anything, joined them enthusiastically jumping around. When the song ended, the three of them did a high-five.

'Seems like they found each other,' Vernon thought while carrying on his task.

Jun laid down again on the couch, and Hana put water to boil on the hotplate and quickly finished cubing the potatoes.

"Thank you," she said to Vernon with a shy smile.

"It was a pleasure," he answered while cleaning the potato leftovers.

Hana put the vegetables in the oven after having seasoned them. She placed the green beans into the boiling water for a few minutes before rinsing them and setting them aside. Then, she took a seat at the big dining table with Vernon and Joshua.

"Hey Hana," Joshua declared. "What is the most difficult language to learn in your opinion?"

"I'd say that French and German are rather challenging to learn because of the various grammatical points. However, the language that is for me the most difficult to learn is Chinese. First of all the characters and then the overall pronunciation," she laughed before pursuing. "I can remember that after my Chinese lessons, I always had such a headache and I was so thirsty. As a European, I'm not used to keep all the sounds in my throat. And can you explain to me who invented those five different tones because if you don't tell the word with the right tone, it just means something else! Yeah, as you can see after four years, I've lost all hopes in learning Chinese. Wo bu xuexi Hanyu !"

Jun and the8 turned their faces to them.

"Can you speak Chinese?" Jun asked, excited.

Hana's face crumbled, and she said quickly, "Wo de baba shi Deguo ren. Unfortunately, I can't do a lot more than that guys."

"But that's already good!" Jun complimented her.

"You're too kind Jun."

"We can teach you," the8 offered with a smile.

"Well, if you can motivate me too then why not," Hana laughed. "Ah! The8! I have a gift for you."

She hastened to the kitchen to take one of the red wine bottles.

"This is a Bordeaux red wine, and from what I can remember, it is a good one. I'm not sure if the year was a good one or not but I hope it was. I have the same bottle for this evening if you wanna try it."

The8 in awe stared at the bottle Hana had given him. He gently pressed the gift against his chest. When he looked up, his face spoke even louder than his words.

"I'm touched, Hana. Thank you so much!"