"So, it's him?" 

Jisoo nodded her head replying to her cousin. They peeked through the curtain of the library window wall showing the dimly lit backyard view of their grandmother's house, standing by the edge of the patio were Yixing and her brother, Minseok. Holding a beer in their respective hand, they seemed to be immersed in their world of discussion.

"Well, he's not bad."

"Not bad?" Jisoo rolled her eyes and turned her head upwards annoyingly to the giant hovering next to her, "Oh Sehun, really?"

She was a bit offended with the term 'not bad', because it was a real understatement to put it together to describe Zhang Yixing right now. Like, yes, she was highly aware that handsomeness was something subjective, Yixing was probably not as good-looking as this conceited man next to her, but she knew that Yixing deserved a much better recognition than 'not bad'.

"Well, it's not like I've known him my whole life, give me a break." Sehun defended, "But to make you feel better, he's definitely much better than that Baekhyun guy."

"Duh, that's obvious."

Jisoo didn't expect her to be in this situation, to be honest. Every year on Chuseok's holiday, her family would gather in her grandparents' house in the suburbs of Seoul. And every year, they were used to receiving guests for the barbecue dinner. She was completely unsuspecting when the kitchen helpers prepared three additional chairs on the patio, where they usually had their family dinner, especially because her grandfather said he would invite his acquaintances.

She should have known that there was something different tonight, even Minseok had deliberately flown home from London on Thursday morning to join the family. And he had rarely returned home since serving himself at the Korean embassy on the other side of the world. Her mom and aunt didn't stop talking about her meeting with Yixing since they came to their grandparent's house. In fact, they deliberately sat her with her grandmother, doing the three generations ladies' talk, and kept asking her about the details of the date. Luckily Sehun saved her after seeing her uncomfortable expression, he dragged her out and had a day out so she wouldn't get cornered by their old women again.

Sehun might be one of the few people who knew her very well. Her father's parents had two children; her father and Sehun's mother. While her mother was an only child, so Jisoo didn't have another family of the same age as Minseok and Sehun. But as a sibling, Jisoo didn't feel like she was close to Minseok. Unlike herself who always stuck with her parents, Minseok stayed with their grandparents in Seoul when their father moved from one country to another to do his job as an ambassador.

During that time they only talked by phone and video call for several minutes every week or once a month because Minseok was quite busy with his school activities. They were five years apart, and Jisoo felt like she couldn't keep up with the topics that he initiated. But then they graduated high school, and even though they studied in the same faculty, despite the different universities and programs, Minseok began to look a little distant. She had no idea why, but somehow she had thought that this had something to do with the competitive urge her brother possessed when she had to study in the same year as him.

Jisoo didn't blame Minseok, he's a very very good brother. He used to be very loving and a good listener, even today he is still so. But maybe he was burdened with his position as the oldest child and grandchild in their family, and it's only right if he became a role model for his younger sister and brother. Minseok struggled very hard to excel in all the activities he participated in. He was the captain of the football team since junior high, he had a black belt at Taekwondo at the same time. And he was very smart too, always being a model student and ranked first in his school. During his time in high school and at the university he became the chief of the debate club and often won the international debate championships. And now he was a young diplomat who was striving for his career as an ambassador like their father. He was just a perfect brother for her.

Jisoo had never tried to outperform anyone, especially her brother. In order not to overshadow him, she deliberately didn't participate in extracurricular activities other than the journalistic and archery club while studying in Germany. She never tried to be the best, because according to her, being able to go to university at such a young age was a very high achievement personally. During this time Jisoo always thought that all the results obtained by her efforts were not far from beginner's luck, including all of the Summa Laude she got during her studies. She was lucky to get the very understanding lecturers and counselors, maybe the school choices also played a big role in it. Lecturers in Europe and America seemed to be far more receptive and friendly to their students than in South Korea, so her efforts for perfect grades couldn't be compared to Minseok's efforts to get his Summa Laude. Minseok only admitted this when he took his master's degree at Harvard, she could see that Minseok started to soften a little to her knowing this.

Jisoo recalled that moment like it only happened this morning. Minseok attended a conference at Sorbonne eight years ago, and he asked Jisoo to visit him at the hotel. He got his own room so Jisoo stayed there while he finished his conference. They rarely met each other, at least four or five times over the eight years because they lived in different countries. But they tried to make up the time that had passed, Minseok even extended his stay from the initial four days to two weeks when Jisoo blurted out this idea for a road trip over Europe.

For two weeks they talked a lot about their activities during school. For the first time Minseok acknowledged the insecurity he had felt so far, Jisoo felt so bad for him, mainly because he worked so hard to prove himself before his family and all the people. On that trip, Jisoo cried for the first time when she told him how lonely she was during her study here because she lived alone without their parents in a foreign country and foreigners too. Even though studying in Germany was her desire, there were times when she wanted to give up and leave everything so she could be home and be with her family. One thing that kept her going and forward was only because Minseok said that he was proud of her. And Minseok made her promise to do the best in her studies. She wanted to be a professor since she was little, and Minseok made her promise to make it true.

But compared to Minseok, her relationship was different with Sehun. They were just two years apart, and probably that's one of the many reasons that made them close. Sehun was a pre-law student at Yale when she applied for a Fulbright scholarship six years ago. So when she got her grant at, fortunately, the same university as him, they decided to share the apartment. Sehun was like a substitute sibling while she spent her four years there, and maybe for the first time, Jisoo felt like she had a real friend to talk to. Sehun also played an active role in getting her to socialize with people.

"They look close. Does Minseok friend with him or anything?" Sehun commented as they watched both men outside laugh on something Minseok had said, they indeed didn't act like people who met for the first time. Jisoo was not sure herself, because the chance was so little seeing how they lived on a whole separate continent for the past years.

"Maybe Minseok is just being friendly. You know, compared to us women, you boys are easier to get along with each other, aren't you?" she responded.

"Yeah, but no, I think they can be friends." Sehun let go of his hold on the curtain and moved himself back to the couch, "You said Zhang Yixing is Harvard's graduate, right? If the timeline's correct, they might have met each other there."

Jisoo just shrugged. Whether Minseok and Yixing were friends was the last thing she was concerned. What was on her head right now was how good-looking Yixing looked tonight and she couldn't stop staring at him. When her mother told her to open the door for their guests, she didn't expect to find Yixing there. was slightly agape in bewilderment staring at that angelic look that she forgot about the other two people who were standing behind him. It was embarrassing when Jisoo repeated the scene that happened a few minutes ago, as Yixing cleared his throat after a moment of silence and then awkwardly introduced his parents to her. And now, he looked drop-gorgeous with a sky-blue button-up shirt and black dress pants with a belt around his waist. His rolled-up sleeve showed his muscular forearms, and his neatly arranged hair pushed back to show his forehead, his half-casual style made him look much younger than his age. And it was quite hard to handle because her heart was racing, she didn't expect that he would affect her this much.

At least, when Yixing said he wanted to see her again at their last meeting, she didn't expect that it would be this sooner. Or in here of all the places.

"Stop staring, you're soaking the carpet with your drool," Sehun remarked a moment later, seeing her still hovering by the window.

She yanked the curtain shut as Yixing moved his eyes in her direction, and she scrambled to join her cousin by the couch. Sehun started to chuckle when she slapped her cheek a couple of times, putting down his phone on his lap and nudging her on her side,

"Oh, someone is falling hard." he teased, which made Jisoo's eyes widen, and started to act in denial.

"I'm not⁠—"

"What?"

"It's just⁠—"

"Yes?"

Jisoo slapped him with the couch cushion, "Shut up. I'm not falling for anyone, it's too early for that." she defended herself.

Sehun rolled his eyes and raised his hands in defeat. "Whatever. Let's join them now," he said then, and he was about to rise when Jisoo grasped his hand and pulled him down back to the couch.

"No, no, no. I can't." she voiced. After the small incident at the front door, Jisoo didn't seem to be ready to meet him anymore. Heck, she's not ready to be in the same house with him at all tonight.

"What do you mean you can't? You can't hide here forever, you have to face him sooner or later anyway. Let's go."

Sehun pulled her hand up and tightened his grip on her wrist when she squirmed to get free. Her heart was beating very fast at this time, she even begged him in a whisper so Sehun let her go, but her giant cousin was so strong that Jisoo couldn't do anything but give up and follow him in resignation.

"Hey, come here," Minseok called out when both of them emerged from the backyard threshold. Jisoo trailed behind Sehun and remained behind him even when they were in front of the two men they approached.

"What's wrong with her?" Minseok started laughing at Jisoo who was hiding her face on Sehun's back.

"Oh, pardon my cousin. She's in great denial to admit that she's very very nervous about meeting this guy right here." Sehun was stretching his hand which wasn't holding Jisoos to Yixing when she pulled her hand from his an