The more he looked at the clock the slower the time seemed to go, the house was practically in chaos while Donghyuck and his sister were sat on his bed playing a board game that Dae hee had found in the storage room. He wasn’t too psyched about it but Dae hee seemed to really want to try the board game covered in dust. He felt bad for not spending as much time with her since the start of the academic year and there was only about a half an hour left until their guests would arrive so how bad could it be. Answer; a lot, there’s nothing he hated more than losing and being outsmarted by a 10 year old at Reversi wasn’t exactly help lift his mood up.

Dae hee turned the last white piece on the board around winning for the third time that night. Donghyuck was boiling with frustration but at the same time his heart warmed up seeing his sister get up and start dancing completely ruining his bed that he made an hour ago but that was okay. That was until she started pointing at him and calling him a loser, continuing to do her victory dance. Donghyuck got up from his bed making his way downstairs to see his mother aggressively wiping the table while his dad set up bowls of snacks on the coffee table in the living room.

“Did you clean your room?” His mother asked looking up from the work in hand when she saw him standing by the stairs.

“Yes” Donghyuck said rolling his eyes.

“What about Dae, did she....”

“I cleaned hers too” Donghyuck said cutting her off, walking over to the table taking a seat on the chair and placing his arm on the wooden table which is instantly slapped away by his mother.

“Can you relax, you’re acting like the sanitation department is coming over for dinner” Donghyuck added hearing his father chuckle from behind him while his mother gave him the dirtiest look she could probably muster. The door bell rang followed immediately by the timer on the oven making his mom more tensed than before.

“Get the door” Donghyuck’s mother tells him while rushing towards the oven to take out the skillet.

“And please no fighting with their son I know you guys don’t get along very well but just try or be fake, whatever suits you” His dad requested as Donghyuck walked over to the front door of their house.

‘If only they knew’ He thought opening the door to reveal Mrs. Lee with a square dish in her hand covered with foil and a bottle of wine in Mr. Lee’s hand. He bowed politely greeting them both before moving away from the door to let them enter. Right behind them with both his hands in his pockets Mark stood awkwardly while his father tried to make small talk with Donghyuck questioning him about their school life. He gave Donghyuck the signature dad pat on the back before going over to his father handing him the what looked like a rather expensive bottle of wine.

“You look good today” Donghyuck says leaning his body slightly to the right to touch Mark’s shoulder with his own watching their parents settled down on the couch.

“Uh... thanks” Mark said rubbing his hands together, a tinge of red sweeping across his face.

“You look great too” He added not taking his eyes of the hardwood floor, fidgeting with his fingers.

“You’re an awful liar” Donghyuck uttered patting Mark’s shoulder before making his way towards the kitchen to help his mother out.

“I wasn’t....” Mark starts watching Donghyuck walk away as he just stood there awkwardly for a second before making his way upstairs where he was sure he would find Dae hee somewhere and hopefully she would save him from the awkwardness settling inside him.

-

The soft glow of the chandelier in the centre of the ceiling illuminated the whole room along with several small circular ceiling lights around the corners. The dining room was filled with conversation and laughter, the adults of both families having a gala time discussing about things Donghyuck couldn’t even find himself to care about. Throughout the night Mark had been extremely timid and Donghyuck didn’t really blame him.

‘You okay?’ Donghyuck mouthed to Mark nudging his leg