14. he's excited to meet your family

"I'll be back soon, don't worry about me too much," Junghan called to his bandmates as we walked out of Seventeen's practice room. Shouts of complaints followed us, asking PD-nim why Junghan got the rest of the day off and not them as the door swung close, finally silencing the noises. Ah, finally. Just us two. I laughed, linking my arms with his as he chuckles, shaking his head in disbelief. "They'll take any chance they get to try and get a break from practice."

"You guys are working hard. You deserve breaks now and then," I pointed out, pouting. I paused, pondering on this. "But then again, you guys are going to debut soon and should be working hard." I leaned in close and whispered to him while glancing around. "Although, your coaches and stuff are pretty scary when they scold you guys."

He laughs as he pushes the door to Pledis Entertainment open, letting me walk out first . "It'll be worth it in the end when we get to debut, don't you think?"

I nodded, agreeing. I gestured at the box he was holding, and cocked my head to the side. "What's that?"

"Ah, I got us some cake for the dinner. You know, as a welcoming gesture."

"Ah, the dinner." He nods enthusiastically, grinning as I meekly smile back. I sudden straighten my back and stare at him with wide eyes. "Do you want to go? We can postpone the dinner for another time if you're not in the mood. We can just call up my parents and tell them we can't make it, grab some black bean noodles and -"

He shakes me a little, a chuckle escaping past his lips. "Nayeong! Relax, I want to go." I slumped my shoulders, a bit disappointed that he did. Don't get me wrong - I loved my family and was overjoyed that they'd finally be able to meet Junghan tonight but it made me nervous like hell, constantly reminding my family members so that they wouldn't forget. "Do you not want me to go?" He asks when he sees my worried expression.

"Oh, no! That's not it!" I quickly exclaimed, waving your hands. "It's just that my family is a bit…well, I've got a overexcited mom at home, a dad who is probably moping about this whole dinner thing and siblings just waiting to embarrass me in front of you."

He chuckles again as we approached the bus stop. "I think I can handle it."

The bus comes fairly quickly for my sake and we hop on, making our way to my house. I stared at our reflection in the window and tried not to sigh too loudly. I was wearing a white shirt with a cute bow in the middle, that had sleeves at ended at my elbow. A navy blue skirt with ruffles stopped just above my knees. Junghan, who had changed after practice, wore a casual white dress shirt with regular pants. (He looked especially good today). I continued scanning his body, from his chest till his toes and smiled to myself before glancing at his face to see him staring back, quite amused.

"Like what you see, Nayeong?" He asks, smirking as my face flushed.

"I don’t know what you're talking about." He laughs as the bus comes to a stop. "We're here," I say, tugging him off the bus, glad to have a distraction form checking him out.

We walk to my house as we exchange details about our day - him with practice and me with school. We reach my house with no problem but before we can even walk up the driveway, the door swings open, my mother in view. I sighed again, grimacing as she waved from the door way excitedly. And so, the embarrassment starts.

"Nayeong! Nayeong!" She calls as we approach the door, Junghan chuckling quietly. I nudge him from the side and shoot him a look which only makes him laugh harder.

"Annyeonghaseyo, umma," I greeted as she grinned, pinching my cheeks. I gesture to Junghan who wore an amused expression (one I wanted to wipe off his face) who bows.  "This is - "

"You must be Junghan!" She exclaimed, pinching his cheeks as well. She ruffles his hair as he returns his greeting, handing over the cake. "Oh, what's this? You brought cake? Such a polite young man." She turns back to me. "He's cute, Nayeong. You picked a good one."

"Stop it," I whine, making a face.

My mother laughs, taking the cake to the kitchen as Junghan and I slipped off our shoes and jackets. At the same time, my younger sister and older brother run downstairs, thundering as they did. My brother, Minjin, was chasing my sister, Hyunju, around the house. They often did that, being closer to each other than to me. They come to a halt when they see the two of us at the door and Minjin scoffs, a smirk on his face. I could tell where this was going.

"Anyeong! You're Junghan, huh?" He greets, waving as he walked over. Junghan nods as Minjin stands in front us for a moment, studying my boyfriend with his eyes squinted. "I don't get it. You look pretty normal. Why are you with Nayeong?"

"Shut up!" I shout, which Minjin brushes off with another laugh. He pats Junghan on his shoulder, shaking his head.

"Run when you can, man. Run when you can."

"Yah, Minjin!" I shout again, causing my father to watch my mouth from inside the kitchen. Ah, father. Such a good impressionist. Minjin grows bored, leaving the scene as I turn to my sister and bend down a bit to be to her eye level. "Hyunju, this is Junghan oppa. You be nice to him, okay?"

She stares at him for a moment before making a face. "Can I call you…ice cream instead?" She asks.

Junghan shrugs. "If you want."

"Yay! I like ice cream," she replies before taking off after my brother.

"Yah, Hyunju!" I called after her, growing frustrated already. "You can't just call someone ice cream!"

Junghan laughs, placing a hand on my back. "Ani, it's okay. I don't mind." I furrow my brows as Junghan makes his way further into the house, making my shuffle after him. Junghan bows deeply, greeting my dad who sits at the kitchen table, flipping through a newspaper. It was a show, of course. My dad never read the newspaper. My dad places the newspaper down and looks at Junghan carefully.

"You're Junghan? The one my Nayeong is dating?"

"Surprised, right?" Minjin calls from behind the fridge as he helped my mom prep the dinner table. I shoot daggers at him before turning back to my dad and boyfriend again.

Junghan nods, smiling. "You have a very special daughter, sir."

My face turns red but my dad doesn't flatter at his words. My dad laughs, gesturing for Junghan to come closer. When he does, my dad looks him square in the eyes and points to him. "Don't you dare break my girl's heart. I don’t care if you're an idol or not, if you break her heart, I'll ruin your career so badly, the only way you'll make a living here is cleaning up peoples washrooms and eating their - "

"Appa!" I quickly jump in, laughing nervously. At this rate, he was going to scare away all my boyfriends. "Did you see the cake Junghan brought us?" I asked, desperate to change the subject.

"Ne," my father grunts. He glances back at Junghan and sided eyes him. "Are you trying to bribe us?"

"Okay!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands together before gesturing at the table which was thankfully, already set out. "Let's just eat dinner, shall we?"

Luckily, everyone agrees and dinner starts as it regularly would. However, my luck doesn't last very long. "So, Ice Cream," Hyunju starts. My mom glances at me and I shrug in defeat. "Since you're pretty cute, I assume you hang out with other cute boys, am I right?"

Junghan looks at me and shrugs. "Uh, sure!"

"So, can you hook me up with one of your friends maybe?"

Minjin starts to choke on his food from laughing and I groan. "Hyunju, you're nine," I pointed out as I fork another piece of food into my mouth.

"Soooooo?"

I let out a small sob, hoping for dinner to finish soon and Junghan can vamoose on out of this crazy house. We finish, small talk going by, with my dad questioning Junghan of his motives and future, my mom asking about his life and my siblings provoking him along the way. Junghan stays around for a while before standing up from the coach where my family was watching TV together and tells them he has to go now.

"So soon?" My mom asks, frowning.

"Ne, my manager has strict rules on coming home on time," Junghan says, sighing.

"Nayeong, make sure to bring him around for dinner more, okay?" My mom suggests and I nod but in my head I'm laughing so hard, I can't breathe.

Junghan says his goodbyes and I walk him out the door. He turns to face me, grinning. I'm wearing the opposite expression. "Quite some dinner, huh?" I asked, grimacing. "Not your typical family."

He shakes his head. "Ani, but I like it. I like your family. I can see where you get your great personality from," he replies. He leans in and gives me a kiss, one that tastes of cake and kimchi. It's a weird combination but I don't mind. The front porch light suddenly switches off and my dad's voice booms from behind the door and we laugh. "I should get home before your dad punches me or something."

I laugh. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow." He kisses me again quickly before running down my driveway.

He turns around and waves, his smile glowering even in the night. "Good night, Nayeong! Saranghaeyo!"