“Yah! Yoon Hee! Open up will you?”

She heard Joon yelling from the other side of her door as she got up from the little table where she and Soo Jin had just settled down for the mediocre meal that was going to pass as their dinner. She sighed as she twisted the locked and swung the door open.

Her eyes widened when Joon pushed past her with a large box and gave a slight jump when it landed with a thump on the floor near the futon she had already laid out. She gave the box a curious look as he straightened and gave her a smile before sitting down at the table with Soo Jin who promptly left her seat to climb into his lap, dragging her plate of food across the table with her.

“Why are you here? Don’t you need to go to the…uh…go to work?”

Joon smiled at her well aware of what she was trying to ask without letting on to Soo Jin just what it was she herself did at night when she left Soo Jin with their neighbor. “I called Hak Chan and told him I had something I had to do. He’ll do fine without me there for a night.” He gestured towards the box. “Plus I had something I wanted to give to Soo Jin.”

The little girl wiggled in his lap, her excitement shining in her eyes as she put down her chopsticks and turned her face to look up at him. “You brought me another present?”

“I did.” He caught a hold of her when she went to slip from his lap and smiled at her when she pouted. “Why don’t you finish your dinner first and then we can look at it together?”

Still pouting she complied and picked up her chopsticks. Yoon Hee settled herself down on the floor and picked up her own chopsticks. She looked over the offering of food before glancing at Joon. “There isn’t a whole lot here, but would you like some?”

Joon was touched at the thought, but he had seen the amount of food when he walked in and had felt bad that their dinner consisted of nothing but a bowl of rice and soup. A thought struck him then and he got Soo Jin’s attention. “Do you like chicken?”

“Yes!” Her eyes grew sad as she faced her little bowl of rice. “We don’t eat chicken very often. Mommy says it’s too expensive.”

Yoon Hee wanted to scold her daughter for reveling something so pitiful about their lives, but Joon was smiling at the little girl at the same time he pulled out his cellphone and called for chicken delivery. She felt a flush bloom across her cheeks, but she murmured her thanks and stared down into her lap.

They lapsed into silence for a while, the only sounds being the clink of chopsticks as they ate and the knock on the door that signaled the arrival of the chicken. Joon stood and placed Soo Jin back on the floor before he went to the door and paid for the chicken. Soo Jin gave an excited giggle as Joon placed the steaming chicken on the battered table.

The smell of fried chicken was a small slice of heaven Yoon Hee thought as she hesitantly took a piece from the box that Joon held out to her. She took a bite and her eyes widened, watered and that was all it took for her to become a ravenous animal as she tore into the chicken.

Joon stifled a smile as mother and daughter devoured the crispy chicken. He felt good about being able to do something nice for someone and these two needed someone to do nice things for them, show them the kindness they had lacked. Soo Jin’s huge smile, mouth full of chicken, was all the thanks he needed and he held the little girl close as she finished her meal.

The chicken gone, nothing left in the boxes but a few bones and crumbs, the few dishes washed and put away and bellies full the three of them settled around the futon as Joon pushed the box towards Soo Jin. The little girl looked to her mother for permission and after Yoon Hee gave her a nod the little girl opened the flaps of the box and gave a small squeal of delight.

Yoon Hee watched as her daughter pulled out stuffed animals of all kinds, little dolls that looked handmade and various other little toys. When Soo Jin reached the bottom of the box she gave another delighted squeal and when her hand came out of the box again she held a large box of chocolate candies.

“Mommy look! Chocolate!”

She smiled at her daughter before turning her eyes to Joon who was already helping Soo Jin open the candy. She waited until he gave her a couple of pieces and then closed the box and handed it to her. She took the box and sat it on the table behind her. Joon smiled at her while Soo Jin dug happily into the pile of toys she had made.

“You didn’t have to go out and buy all of that for her.”

“I didn’t buy it.”

Yoon Hee gave him a curious look. “If you didn’t buy it then where did you get all of the toys?”

“We have an entire closet full of stuffed dolls and other odds and ends that our fans have given us. It was time that we cleaned it out so the others and I went through it and gathered all the toys that looked like something a girl would play with.”

Panic ceased her and she felt her body stiffen as the emotion spread through her. “The others helped you?”

He could see the tension in her body, her muscles becoming taut lines beneath her lightweight long sleeved shirt and flannel pants. He wanted to reach out and soothe away the tension, but he feared that his touch would cause her to shatters. He opted to reassure her with words. “They don’t know where the toys went. I just told them I know that the toys would be appreciated. You don’t have to worry about them all of a sudden showing up here.”

She took a deep breath, tried to ease the tension from her body. Yoon Hee didn’t know if she was ready to face more people pushing into her life or in Soo Jin’s. Joon was enough at the moment and she still wasn’t certain if she was even ready to allow him to fully enter their lives.

Yoon Hee gave him an apologetic look. “I’m sorry Joon. We appreciate the kindness you’ve shown us, but we’re used to being alone. It’s hard for me to let anyone enter our lives because I fear Soo Jin getting hurt. I don’t want her to suffer the way I had to.” She took a deep breath. “You’ve been so good so far at keeping your promise and visiting with us, but I know that you’re busy, that the entire group is bust and I don’t want Soo Jin to meet them and grow attached only to never get to see them.”

He understood what she was trying to say and he felt a little special that she had allowed him this far into their lives. It touched him and he smiled at her to ease her embarrassment when he noticed the pink creeping over her cheek bones. “The way I see it if it happens then it was meant to. I’m not going to push anything at either one of you.” He sighed as he leaned back on his arms and watched Soo Jin happily play with her new toys. “I know what it means to interact with someone like me. It can become a hassle with the media and so far I’ve been careful about my comings and goings. The others are curious about where I go, they don’t even know about my extra dancing and it would become crazy for my as well as MBLAQ as a whole if the media caught wind of me going to the club. That’s why I wear the mask.”

Yoon Hee gave him a genuine smile. She felt touched that he would go to the trouble to protect them from the media that she was well aware could bring hell down on her and her daughter. She felt herself liking Lee Joon just a little more at his thoughtfulness and that scared her. She forced the thought aside as Soo Jin climbed into Joon’s lap with a plush lion snuggled in her arms.

“Joonie what is MBLAQ?”

He looked to Yoon Hee and she simply shrugged her go ahead. “MBLAQ is the idol group I sing and dance for.”

Soo Jin’s eyes grew wide, mesmerized. “You can sing and dance? Will you show me?”

Joon pulled out his phone and after fiddling with it for a little bit lowered it so that Soo Jin could see him and the others in their music video for “Run.” The little girl stared at the screen, her eyes still wide and her little head bobbing along with the song. When “Run” finished Joon queued up a few more videos and handed the phone to Soo Jin. The little girl gently took it from him and resettled herself amidst her toys.

“You guys are really good. I may not have seen the video, but I liked the song. You probably have a large fan base don’t you?”

He gave her a shrug of his shoulders. “We have a lot of fans, yes, but there are other idol groups out there who have more. MBLAQ does really well. We’re happy with the fan base we have and we strive to reach out to more.”

Yoon Hee nodded, her thoughts drawing inward as she studied the handsome man beside her. In a way she felt lucky that he was taking the time out of his busy life to spend time with them when they both knew he didn’t have to do so. It begged the question as to why, but at the moment the why wasn’t so important. She could figure that out later. She was worried about what would happen if the media were to find out about Joon hanging around with the likes of her, but she could only hope that the media didn’t find out. She didn’t want Soo Jin subjected to the kind of fodder they could use against them.

Even though there were things that Yoon Hee knew that she needed to think through she was, for the moment, happy to have Joon there. She knew that her daughter had grown fond of him and if she were to be honest she was growing fonder of him, herself, by the minute. So, she thought to herself, for this night she would forget who Joon was and just enjoy her time with him as a friend. A friend…something she hadn’t allowed herself in a long time.