"Mama, where are you?" Lu Han calls out to the empty living room. He throws his sling bag onto the ratty, old couch and repeats himself. "Please, no hide and seek, mama. I'm tired. Where are you?"

"Oh, Nurse!" His mother comes out the bedroom, hair dishevelled and lipstick smeared across her lip. "You're back. Still lovely as ever. Are you here to give me my bath? I'm sorry, I got myself a little dirty." She points to her dress, sauce stains tainting the otherwise immaculate material.

Lu Han smiles, coming closer to put his arms around his mother's midsection. "Yes, ma'am. How are you feeling today?"

"I'm alright, thank you for asking," his mother says cheerfully, head on his shoulder. Lu Han her scalp soothingly as his mother buries her head deeper into the curve of his neck. "You smell like my son. Lovely like him, too. Have I ever told you about my son, Lu Han? He's the most precious thing to me. When he was a boy, all the girls had crushes on him. And when he grew his hair a little longer, all the neighborhood boys wanted to marry him, thinking he was a girl. He's my sun and stars. I miss him so much. I  wonder when he'll visit."

"I'm sure he'll come soon, ma'am," Lu Han murmurs, pulling back a little and brushing the unkempt bangs off his mother's forehead. "Now let's get that bath started. Have you eaten or did you just smear the sauce all over you to play with me?"

His mother starts to giggle childishly. "You caught me. But I really was trying to cook!"

"Lucky for us, I bought home take-out from the restaurant. You like shrimp pasta, right?"

"Oh, yes." His mother nods. "That's my baby boy's favorite, too. You two would really get along. Sometimes I swear you're the same person."

Lu Han bites the inside of his cheek as he leads his mother to the dining table.

----

"Lu Han-hyung. Hyung. Hyung," Minseok whines, nostrils flaring and chubby cheeks puffing. He starts jumping up and down, trying to see Lu Han over the tile counter. "Pay attention to me! I was trying to confess my love!"

"Stop bothering Lu Han, for god's sake!" Yixing barks, slamming a spatula down on the cutting board. "Can't you see he's preparing for his shift? I swear if you weren't my sister's own son I'd wring your neck, you little demon spawn--"

"Come on, Yixing, no need to be so rough, he's just a kid," Lu Han chides, walking over to a pouting Minseok and crouching to eye level with the little eight-year-old. "Now, what did you want to say to hyung again?"

"I love you!" Minseok screams, putting his little arms around Lu Han's neck and pushing him back with the force of his embrace. "When we grow up let's get married! I promise I'll never make you cry or hurt you. I'll treat you right and never ever ever ever ever look for nobody else."

"How in the hell do you know those things," Yixing mutters. "Minseok, have you been watching those vapid dramas again? Or worse, those godawful dubbed Mexican dramas. Didn't I tell you only to stay on Disney? Why can't you be normal and watch Dora the Explorer?"

"First, there's no Dora on Disney," Lu Han says, laughing as he ruffles Minseok's hair. "Second, I think I'd be the one hurting you, Minseok-ah. I'm not the kind of person you'd want to marry."

"But why not?" Minseok sounds scandalized - as scandalized as an eight-year-old can possibly be. "You're kind and smart and pretty and you cook great--"

"You're too young for me!" Lu Han is all out laughing now as he stands up and gets back to his work counter. 

"But age doesn't matter!" Minseok says, chubby fists pounding on the tile petulantly. "It says so in Yixing-hyung's 500-won romance novels!"

"What the !" Yixing shrieks. "Get out of the kitchen, Minseok!"

Minseok snatches one of the onions Yixing is working on and gleefully runs away. 

"Why that little--"

"Calm down," Lu Han chides, hiding a laugh behind his hand. "Your nephew is really cute. And smart for his age, too. He already knows how to read--"

"Don't. You. Dare," Yixing says, punctuating each word with a vicious slice to one of the poor red bell peppers on his board. "I can't wait until my sister comes back from Changsha and takes him off my hands, seriously. I've had to apologize to Wu Fan almost everyday because I have to bring him in here."

Lu Han nods in understanding as he ties his apron on his waist. Yixing's sister was at a three-month work conference in Changsha and had to leave her only son with Yixing. And since Yixing couldn't afford a babysitter, Minseok had to be brought in with him to the restaurant. Unfortunately for Yixing, he'd taken an obvious liking to Lu Han and thus wanted to be in the kitchen at all times of the day.

"Oh, what time is your shift?"

Lu Han walks over to the kitchen doors. "In thirty minutes. But -" He peers outside the round window and sees someone sitting with Wu Fan. "There's already a customer? I think? Or maybe it's one of Wu Fan's friends?"

Yixing waves a hand in his direction. "Check it out and see if it's a customer, maybe he wants to order. Wu Fan would allow it."

"Alright," Lu Han says, patting the notepad and pen in his pocket.

----