*() = English

Hyun Jae was in the kitchen, dancing by herself as she made dinner. A Korean dinner was a breeze. She had even made side dishes from scratch. The fish was grilling as she rapped , bobbing back in forth in the kitchen. She was pretty good, in her own opinion. That probably meant she was shamefully bad, but she didn’t care. When she was there was no one to judge her, so she could play to her heart’s content.

When she spun around, to grab the pan and saw a flash of something, but was unconcerned. As she flipped the eggs and spun back around, she stopped and gasped. They were grinning at her like damn fools. She placed the pan on the burner and flipped the handle inwards, looking down. She flipped down the heat and started to rub leg with her other foot. “You could have said something. How long have you been there?” she asked, pulling out a headphone.

“Only a second or two.” Ukwon said and Min Hyuk pushed him playfully.

“Liar. We’ve been here for like three minutes. Why didn’t you dance like that earlier?” Min Hyuk asked and she laughed, nervously.

“I don’t really dance in front of people.” She said, turning to her eggs and flipping them neatly out of the pan and onto the plate. She started to bring out dinner, but they started snatching plates before she could get from the counter to the table. She giggled as the carried out the food and started to eat it before she could even sit down.

She heated up the kettle and the turned around quickly. “Are you making tea?” Kyung asked, quickly and she shrugged. “Why were you heating up the kettle then?”

“I was making ramen.” She said, smiling. “I didn’t want to eat all you guys’ food….. so…. I bought ramen.” She said and Taeil ran over, dragging her to the table. “You cooked, so you have to eat.” He said and when she began to protest he shoved a spoonful of rice in . She pouted a little, feeling bad for eating when she hadn’t paid for anything.

They were starring at her, intently. She opened to protest again, but Ukwon stuck a pair of chopsticks in her hand.  “It’s bad for you to just eat that kind of stuff all the time. Since all this food is here, you might as well eat with us.” He said and she nodded, quietly. His hand was still wrapped around hers when he finished speaking. She smiled to herself and nodded again.

P.O. smacked Ukwon’s hands with his chopsticks, smiling. “She’ll never eat if you’re holding her hand all night.” He said and Ukwon let go, grabbing his chopsticks and eating quickly. The boys were devouring her food and that made her happy. They had been at the studio for a while, so she was glad the food she had made was good.

She got a call and jumped a little, running to her room before answering. (“Hey mom, how are you?”) She asked, locking the door and sitting on her bed. She hadn’t spoken to her family in almost a week. It was nice that even though they could be irritating, they cared about her. (“Yes, I’m eating well and studying….. Of course I’m behaving…….. I’m just taking some time to myself. Aren’t I always a good student?..... How is everyone? Are you going to visit me, ever? I miss you.”) She went on in that vein to her family for almost half an hour before coming out of her room.

It wasn’t that she was ashamed to be American by any means. It was just easier if people didn’t know. They always insisted on treating her different once they knew. If they didn’t treat her different; they began to ask her to speak English all the time like it was a party trick. Even though she understood the fascination, she hated being treated differently.

When she came out, they were sitting on the floor, watching television and playing on their laptops and ipads. She sat on the couch and Taeil looked up from his ipad. “You were gone a while. Do you want us to bring you the rest of your dinner?” He asked and she shook her head, smiling.

“I’ve got it.” She said, walking towards the kitchen. She stopped at the table, noticing a plate cover. She frowned and lifted it. Underneath was a portion of each dish she had put on the table and a note. ‘We didn’t know what you would like, so we gave you a little of all our stuff. Eat up.’ She giggled a little and smiled. They were sweet.

Someone started shaking her and she groaned, shaking her head. Someone sat on her bed and she rolled over, looking for her phone. When she found it, she turned it on and hissed at the light. It was only five thirty in the morning. “I have another half hour.” She groaned, rolling back onto her back. She felt the weight of them over her. She opened her eyes and Yu Kwon’s face was much closer to hers than she had expected. “I told you to be ready to wake up early. Come on.” He said, smiling at her.

He was leaning over her in a tank top and basketball shorts. He looked adorably disheveled, since he had just gotten out of bed. She blinked, silently and covered , wondering how bad her breath smelled. He sat up and pulled her up after him. “You have to go get ready. We’ll make them breakfast and then I’ll take you out. You can even put on your glasses, if you want to. Your eyes must be tired from always wearing contacts.” He said, smiling. She nodded and snatched her bathroom bag before running away to the bathroom.

She w