2. Warning
Gotta go over the line
Tonight, tonight

Park Jaehyung

"Sungjin, you don't mind me inviting the other Jae to our family dinner, right?" Our little group of three is in the neighborhood supermarket, picking up groceries for the week. 

"Stop saying we're a family. And yes, Jaehee is always welcome to our home." Not that an approval from Sungjin is required, but I respect him enough to ask.

"Also Hyung, yes, you have my support on this." Dowoon, the maknae, is often quiet and very observant, and he is definitely implying something with that statement.

"Dowoon-ah, may I please ask whatever do you mean?"

Sungjin just snickers and walks away, probably to get some vegetables only he has the aptitude to distinguish between fresh and rubbish.

Dowoon, the tall kid he is, gets chips from the top of the shelf, and looks at me, "I mean, I support you on this." He gestures to the grocery cart, "this another attempt to impress your dear Jaehee and hint at you liking her." He then pushes the cart away, leaving me standing there. Almost half a year of living with this kid and yet I still get surprised when he opens his braced mouth.

Sungjin is back beside me, and wonders where Dowoon and the shopping cart is. I shrug, in response. Remembering that Jaehee technically has not said yes to the dinner invite yet, I call her. Sungjin watches me in silence as he pretends to peruse the line of nissin cup noodles on display.

"Hey Jae." It's practically a term of endearment, when will she ever notice? I ask her about gracing us with her presence tonight, and she took a few seconds to respond.

"Yeah, count me in." I release the breath I didn't notice I was holding. "And I'm bringing a friend with me, is that okay?"

I wanted to ask who this friend is, but I guess I'll have to wait. "Yeah, sure, you can bring a friend with you."

From my periphery, Sungjin says out loud, "I guess I'm cooking for five, then."

I let Sungjin and Dowoon do their thing in the kitchen, and I text Jaehee to pass the time but mainly to anticipate what time they'll be arriving.

"Sungjin hyung, why is is that we are cooking for Jaehyung-hyung's crush?" Dowoon says this so loudly, he totally meant for me to hear it.

"Dowoon-ah, we're cooking our dinner, it just so happened that Jaehee and her friend is also coming. Pass me the onions. Also I thought you're supporting this?"

"I do support this, but I just thought that as this family's eldest hyung, he could at least help." The both of them are pointedly looking at me now.

I sat up from the sofa, place one hand on my hips and curtsied. "I thank you both for your service. I will wash everything later as contribution to this dinner." With that, I turn around and walk towards the balcony that over-looked street below. This is definitely not what I usually do when I know that Jaehee is on her way home.

Finally, I see a figure turn on to our street. It's Jaehee and her friend, a handsome guy about my age who is looking at her too fondly to be a platonic friend.

Oh, come on! I run down as fast as I can.

Kang Younghyun 

The commute from Ikebukuro was spent scheduling my itinerary, figuring out the days that Jaehee will be able to tour me around and days that I'll have to explore on his own. On the train, she was scribbling these details on her notebook. I couldn't help but study her, she looks pretty even with her brows furrowed in concentration.

From the station, we walk several blocks to her apartment. I let her talk, it was both amusing and mesmerizing to see her excited about our trips. I don't think it sunk into her yet, that she basically scheduled dates when she agreed to tour me around. For now, she's excited to plan the whole thing. I guess it's up to me to up the ante and turn the trip into a romantic one, then.

We turn a street and suddenly, a tall, blonde guy runs out of a gate, sees us, and stops to huff in the middle of the street. Jaehee sees him too and jogs toward him.

"Park Jaehyung, what the hell? Have you been running or something? Are you okay?" She pats his back several times and laughs at something he said. I walk to where they are.

"You ran down so you could fetch me? From where exactly, the street to the hundred steps it would take me to enter our gate?" She's laughing so hard right now, I can't imagine what's so funny.

The Jaehyung person regains his breath and stands, greeting her, "Hey Jae." He offers his hand to carry her Animate loot bags, to which she refuses. Then he grins. "Or you could say that I'm being very sweet and say thank you?"

"Yeah, right. You probably just wanted me to come over faster so we can eat dinner." Jaehyung pouts at her comment, and she laughs again.

She turns to me and gestures that I come closer. "Younghyun, this is Park Jaehyung. He's a neighbor and a hoobae from the university."

So this is the Jae that Piri has been babbling about. Ever since Jaehee left for Japan, Wonpil always voluntarily gave updates on her. And for the past few months, this guy's name came up so many times, I even wondered if they were dating. Wonpil confirmed that they aren't dating… yet.

"Nice to meet you," I say and shake his hand.

"Jae, this is Kang Younghyun. Remember Wonpil? This is his older brother. The friend I told you I was bringing to dinner."

 Park Sungjin

"So that's noona's friend, huh?" Dowoon and I are standing by the balcony where Jae was a few minutes ago. He suddenly ran out of the apartment, and so our interests were piqued.

"Yeah, looks like it." Jae is now huffing in the middle of the street, a few paces from the apartment gates.

Dowoon is now laughing beside me. "Can't Jaehyung-hyung be any more obvious? Are we sure Jaehee noona doesn't know?"

"Well, Jaehee is laughing at Jae right now, so yeah I'm sure she's oblivious." Jaehee's friend walks closer to the two Jaes, silently observing.

"Hyung, should I put a popcorn in the microwave? Looks like it's going to be an interesting dinner." Dowoon is clearly having too much fun.

"Go set the table, Dowoon-ah. And try not to be too hard on Jae, okay?" The two men are now shaking hands, and I can feel the tension from way up here. I'll have to agree with Dowoon though, it's going to be a fun night.

"Waaah, that smells good! You already set the table? You should've let us help." Jaehee is bright as per usual, walking directly to the dinner table after entering the apartment. Jae and her 'friend' is next through the door, their eyes trained on one particular person in the room.

"Jae ran out when he saw you from the balcony, so I assumed he was so hungry, he fetched you himself." I realize that I may not be suitable for this wingman thing.

Jaehee laughs, "I told him the same thing, Sungjin-ah. I can't believe he ran those flights of stairs! He was out of breath when we saw him, it was hilarious!"

Jae is now standing between us. "Jaehee-ssi. I told you I was being romantic. I made an effort!"

They're smiling at each other now. They look so good together, it's hard not to root for them. "Oh, fine. Thank you, Jae." She curtsies a little. "There, satisfied?"

Jae looks away for a second and scratches his head as if in embarrassment, and then looks back at her with a grin.

From across the room, someone cleared his throat, dissipating whatever little spark there was.

Jaehee is a bit startled and breaks eye contact with Jae, and quickly paces back to Younghyun's spot by the door. "Sorry, I got distracted by the food. OSo everyone, this is Kang Younghyun, Wonpil's older brother. Younghyun, this is Sungjin and Dowoon, and Jae, you met him downstairs." 

We exchange greetings, and after an awkward pause, Jaehee tries to rescue the atmosphere. "So, uhm. Younghyun-ssi," they look at each other briefly before she continued, "I mean -- Younghyun. Sorry I still need to  get used to that. Anyway. Sungjin here is 11 months older than you. Jae is a '92, the eldest of the bunch. And Dowoon is the maknae, he's younger than Piri." She claps her hands together and announces, looking at each of us, "Now that's clear, can we eat? I'm starving!" Younghyun just smiles at her fondly, and follows her to the dining table.

I seat at the table's helm with Jae to my right and Jaehee to my left. Younghyun sits beside Jaehee, and Dowoon takes the seat beside Jae. Seems like I have a front row seat, huh?

Jaehee scans the table for the side dishes she actually eats. We also made it a point to prepare vegetables she likes, and she seems visibly satisfied at the food selection. "Sungjin-ah, Dowoon-ah, thank you for letting me and Younghyun join you for dinner."

Dowoon and I just smile and nod, and gesture for everyone to start eating. And we all do. We also learn about Younghyun's one month vacation, and Jaehee shares about the struggles on wrapping up her life in Japan.

Jaehee stands up from her seat. Looks like her friend wants a second helping of rice.

Jae turns to her, and comments, "Hey Jae, why am I, your favorite hoobae, is not included in the thank you speech you gave earlier?" Jaehyung is doing that pout aegyo again. I look away from him and scoop some kimchi instead.

Jaehee rolls her eyes and goes back to her seat. She puts the bowl of rice in front of Younghyun, and he thanks her. She then looks at Jae. "First of all, Jae, I'm pretty sure that only these two gentlemen here cooked and you are in charge of the post-meal clean-up. As per usual."

Jae holds up his hands as if in surrender. "Guilty as charged, m'lady. And your second point?"

"Second of all," she pauses and slurps the kimchi jiggae soup, probably for effect, "you are not my favorite hoobae. Dowoon here is." She grins at Dowoon and puts an anchovy side dish to his rice bowl. He slightly blushes, muttering a "thank you noona."

Jae scoffs and then smirks. "We both know that's not true."

Jaehee rolls her eyes, again. She does this a lot towards Jae when they bicker. "I am not entirely sure why you sound so sure, Jaehyung-ssi."

"So your favorite oppa, then?" Jae winks at her, and I almost choke on the rice I was chewing.

Jaehee ponders this, and stifles a smile. "Hmm. Jaehyung-oppa. That sounds weird, though. And you grew up in America anyway, when have you been a stickler for formalities?"

At the word, oppa, Jae starts blinking too many times in a span of 5 seconds, his chopsticks frozen in the middle of picking up a piece of stir fried pork.

"Noona, I think you broke hyung." I wordlessly reprimand Dowoon with my eyes, and he just shrugs.

Jae regains his sanity, and begins eating the rest of his rice from the bowl. Meanwhile, Jaehee is just laughing out loud. Jae finishes his bowl, downs half a glass of water, and looks straight at her. "You're gonna kill me, woman."

I often wonder if Jaehee is dense or she just refuses to assume how much Jae likes her. But to Jae's discredit, I can't understand why he hasn't confessed to her yet.

Jaehee resumes dinner and  being the messy eater that she is, she has a number of rice grains on both sides of . I was about to point it out to her but Younghyun beats me to it. Jaehee misses the other side, which Younghyun takes them off himself. This time it's Jaehee who blinks too many times while staring at Younghyun, who just smiles at her and tells her to resume eating. I catch her smile a little as she mutters thanks to him.

Jae elbows me, catching my attention. I just shrug at him. He then looks at Dowoon, and the maknae does the same. This Younghyun guy is definitely trouble.

"So, Jae, guess what's for dessert?" Park Jaehyung is not backing down, huh. 

Jaehee's face lights up at this, "There's dessert??" 

Jae's got her attention now, so he stands up and opens the fridge, bringing a tub of cookie dough ice cream to the table. "Your favorite ice cream, of course!"

They're both beaming, Jae in triumph and Jaehee in sweet tooth bliss. He scoops her a glass full, and hands it to her. 

"Thank you so much, Jae!!! I change my mind, you're my favorite hoobae now!" 

Jae serves himself as well, and the rest of the table. "Sorry you got demoted, Dowoon-ah."

"Hyung, you don't look sorry at all."

Jae chooses to ignore this. Seeing that Jaehee already finished her glass, he refills it. "Jaehee, I have a proposition though. You have to say yes before I give this glass to you."

Jaehee raises her eyebrow at this. "I have to hear it first, young man."

"Promote me as your favorite person instead?" I'm not sure if you can choke on ice cream, but I nearly do, again.

Jaehee takes the glass from him, and there's a brief, silent anticipation in the air. "Sorry Jae, it's gonna take more than ice cream to do that."

After dinner, Dowoon cleared the table while the two Jaes begin with washing the dinner utensils. I direct Younghyun to the living room and insist that guests are not allowed to help with the chores.

I learn that he's on a paid, forced sabbatical leave (the lucky bastard), and that he knew Jaehee since high school but only got to be actual friends with her since a few years ago. We also talk about music, Korea, and Japan. It wasn't hard talking to the man, he's eloquent and has interesting insights. As Jaehee's honorary older brother in Japan (Jae absolutely doesn't count), I felt that I need to subtly scrutinize this guy. And so far, he's a good candidate. He seems like a good guy. And he definitely likes Jaehee, seeing how much he has glanced to where Jae and Jaehee are.

Park Jaehyung

Jaehee and I are by the sink, washing the dishes.

"Come on, Lee Jaehee, quit it with the oppa thing already. It's making me cringe." Or rather, my heart can't handle that so please stop it.

"Woah, you called me by my whole name." She thinks this is funny. "Alright, fine. Just Jae."

"Thank you. Finally." I change topic and try to prod a bit about the visitor. "So, Kang Younghyun. Just a friend?"

Jaehee seems to focus on the plate she's drying. "Yeah, Younghyun is a friend. He's Wonpil's elder half-brother. Long story, but yeah that's it." 

"Oh okay." She does not answer the most important part of that query, but I decide to let it go. This is definitely not the time to be talking about the new guy.

We were quiet for a while, and I hum a One OK Rock song. She then muses, "I'm gonna miss this, and you guys. I don't think I'm prepared to go back to being a real adult in Korea." 

"You're gonna be fine, Jaehee. And you can always call on me. Besides, the three of us are gonna be back in Korea in a year and a half. We'll see each other again then."

"Thank you for everything, Jae, I mean it."

"We're just washing dishes, and you still have two months left. That's a lot of time, don't say goodbye yet, please?" I look at her this time, and she returns my gaze with a sad smile.

We finish washing the dishes, and start cleaning up the rest of the kitchen.

"I have an idea. Do you have time for another trip before you leave for good?" I need Jaehee to say yes to this.

"Will Dowoon and Sungjin be free for the rest of the semester?" Jaehee is now leaning on the kitchen counter.

I stand beside her again. "Hmm. We can schedule for the four of us, but I meant," I turn to Jaehee and wait for her to look at me, “go somewhere with just me?”