Life has its twists and turns, and I've known that since I was a young child. You can't always have everything you want in life, and good things rarely come easy. That's why you might as well take advantage of them when they do come, and focus your ambition on succeeding rather than complaining about what you don't have.

Since little, Jessica has always been dubbed as the favorite child. Umma and Appa just love her a lot more than they love me, and I'm okay with that. If I were my parents, I'd favor Sica over me too, for many reasons. For starters, my sister has a gorgeous face. Blessed with a high nose and pale skin, she's the talk of the school, fanboys running around her all day. She's much more lady-like and fashionable, always wearing the most up-to-date clothing and sporting the newest trends. She gets amazing grades, even in gym class. Jessica Unnie is beautiful, stunning, perfect. Not only did my parents love her dearly, but so did the rest of the world. In my opinion, Sica actually does deserve her spot in the limelight, because she's a wonderful daughter and an open-hearted person just in general. I don't mind reserving the spotlight for her . . . Or maybe I did mind before, when I was younger, but I got used to it. While she bathed in everybody's attention and their loving eyes, I stood behind her in the shadows, watching everyone squirm over my older sister. I'd be lying if I ever said that I never envied her. In fact, I was overly jealous of Sica. She was just so loved, so wanted, a feeling that I've always wished to experience. Though she was my competition in many things, she was also my idol, my role model. I looked up to her, because I wanted to be somewhat like her. I wanted to be loved and appreciated. I wanted to be good at something, anything (or maybe everything, like Jessica). I wanted to be enough for other students to want to be my friend at school. I wanted to be enough to at least have friends. I wanted my to be enough for my parents to be proud of me. I don't need to be exactly like Jessica, I don't need to be perfect, just enough.

*

I kept my eyes down in the restaurant, not even daring to look across the table at Luhan, who I was certain was staring right at me. I poked at my food gently, trying to look as lady-like as Jessica did beside me. She made it look so natural, as if crossing her legs was comfortable and taking small, dainty bites of meat at a time was actually relieving her hunger.

"I suppose my daughter has given you some . . . grief at school?" Umma's voice pleasantly asked to the other family sitting across from us. She said the word daughter a little bit more strained-sounding than the rest of her sentence, making me think that she is ashamed that I am her blood.

I saw Luhan look up at my mother from my peripheral vision, hoping he'd say something that didn't make me sound too bad so I wouldn't have to endure scolding tonight. "What?" he said, take aback, confusion ringing in his voice. "No . . . YoonA has not bothered me at all."

I gave him a silent thanks, even though he didn't know of my gratitude.

"Well, isn't that good to hear?" Umma continued. "I'm glad that she's been behaving around you. YoonA speaks of you a lot, you know?" Lies. I've never talked of Luhan, other than one time when my parents were asking me a few questions that involved him. I never actually speak comfortably at home, really (it's not like I talk comfortably anywhere else, either).

"She talks about me?"

"Oh, yes, the chatterbox she is. She's always praising you."

I willed myself to take one glance at him, but then regretting it almost immediately when I saw a pair of enormous eyes stare back at me in curiosity. "I hope she thinks well of me."

At that moment, things seemed to slow down for me. No one has ever cared about what I did, what I thought. Even my teachers didn't call on me when I had my hand raised to answer a question during class. It was strange, for this person, who was nearly a stranger to me, to say that he wanted me to think well of him. A warm feeling washed over me, a hint of sudden relief coming along with it. It was nice to know that my opinion mattered to at least one person, whether it meant a lot to him or not. For some reason, it made me feel important, it made me feel wanted.

"Of course she does!" Appa joined in. "You're a straight A student, who has already been accepted to the most prestigious university in Seoul! Not only does she think well of you, she also admires you."

"Oh . . . really?" Luhan lowered his gaze, his arm coming up to scratch the back of his neck. He looked somewhat confused, yet still thankful all the same. He didn't blush, though I kind of wish he did. "Thank you," he said, turning to me and bowing slightly.

I returned the gesture and tried to give him my best smile, though the information that my parents had given him was completely false. I didn't know that he got good grades, and I couldn't care less whether he was going to a first-rate university or not. I was never really the type to judge or admire a person by his level of intelligence.

"Luhan-ah," Jessica started cheerfully, instantly brightening up the mood (as always), "have you tried the Sacher Torte here? It's simply delightful." She continued when she saw him shake his head. "I also recommend the Creme brulee. You can order it without the strawberry topping if you'd like, but I prefer it, really. It adds just the right amount of sweetness to it." She gave him her million dollar smile, a grin that seemed to daze every boy that looked at her.

"I'm not very big on sweets," Luhan declined politely, returning her bright smile with a soft one.

Luhan's mother chuckled lightly, patting her son's back. "Ah, I don't understand you, Luhan-ah. While others are getting chubby off of appealing desserts and sugars, you stay skinny as a stick with your vegetables and fruits. I bet it's your father's Chinese blood, eh?"

Mr. Xi bursted out in laughter with her joke, causing my parents to giggle along as well, though I knew it was false humor that they were trying to advertise. Jessica and I tried our best to smile, mainly because we didn't know what was so funny about the joke. Luhan also seemed uncomfortable, wriggling in his seat under his parents' gazes.

Somehow, I felt bad for him. He has been the center of attention all dinner long, and all he's done so far is keep quiet as much as he could, and only talking to answer one of their questions. He seemed to get along with his friends fine at school, being a social butterfly and all. But whenever our families had dinner together . . . Xi Luhan was silent and listened to everyone's word like a dog. He would only talk when he was spoken to and seemed to enjoy listening rather than joining in on the conversation. He reminds me of myself, in the least relatable way possible, if that makes sense.

"So, Luhan," it was my father, "what are your plans after attending Seoul University?"

He didn't even blink before replying. "I'm going to Seoul University for designing. Afterwards, I plan on creating my own interior designing company and making furniture for my father's company. Since his company sells furniture and my company will design the insides of homes, I'm certain that these two occupations will be a good match and have a good partnership."

Mr. Xi looked at Luhan with a sense of pride, like the way my parents always looked at Jessica. "And I will retire after Luhan has got a hold of his own company. He's my only child, so he will have both companies under his name."

My parents made "ohh" noises, completely amazed. Jessica even clapped. "You must have so much talent, Luhan-ah," Umma complimented. "I am proud to call you my son-in-law."

"Umma!" Jessica playfully called out to her, disapproving. "He's not your son-in-law yet!"

Now Luhan blushed. I was disappointed to see the effects of Jessica on him. If it was any other boy, I wouldn't mind. It was, after all, natural, since Sica is a known beauty. But it was him. It was Xi Luhan. I couldn't afford for him to be just another fellow who'd fallen under her spell. He needed to be more than that. I want him to be more than that.

"Okay, okay," Umma nodded, "but he will be SOON!"

My father lifted his glass. "To Luhan's engagement!" Everybody's glasses clinked before we all took a sip of our champagne.

The sour taste that slithered down my throat was almost as bitter as the feeling inside of me at that moment. It was funny how my father only mentioned Luhan in the toast, not even mentioning his fiance's name. It was then that I realized that my parents didn't actually care about the wedding, or the engagement, or even whatever we were talking about that evening. They just wanted to look good in front of the Xi family, as if our family was not enough compared to them, academically or financially.

It made me feel even worse for Luhan, because I knew that my parents were only using him, agreeing to marry off their daughter as a way of manipulating him for his family's wealth and status.

But then again, I also felt envious, because he had gotten more attention from my parents that one evening than I had gotten from them my entire life . . . or from anybody else for that matter.

I feel as if this chapter was short, and there was lack of detail. But I wanted to give you guys an update, so here ya go. (: It is definitely not the best piece of writing, this chapter. But it's enough for now. In a nutshell, the Xi and Im family are friends and they are having dinner together at a restaurant. The attention is mostly on Luhan. But you can see that Luhan is to his family the way YoonA is to hers. He's shy in front of his parents, quiet and obedient. But, unlike YoonA's parents, his mom and dad care about him and his interests. He is, after all, the only child. Oh, and Luhan is also only half Chinese in this story. I am not sure if he is half or full Chinese in real life, but in this story, his mother is Korean and his father is Chinese. Well, you guys are probably not satisfied with this chapter, but I hope you subscribe! & comments make my day<33. Haha (: Have a  nice day!