Persistent

“Honey.”

I barely heard Luhan’s voice. My elbow was propped on my knee while I kept my eyes glued on the TV. I was drowning between the lines of the characters on screen, each word tugging at my heartstrings. It was impossible to look away.

“...Babe.”

Kim Tan had finally found where Eun Sang had been living after she had gone missing for days. The anxiety had me nail-biting.

“Sora!”

My eyes flicked to Luhan. “What?”

Junmyeon and Yixing were laughing at the irritated frown on Luhan’s face from my lack of response. “I think she likes Lee Minho more than you,” Yixing whispered, only he had said it loud enough on purpose so that I would hear as well.

“Quit poisoning his mind. Of course I like my own husband-to-be more.” I stood to walk towards them and motioned for the boys sitting beside Luhan to move over so I could place myself beside him. I squeezed between Luhan and Sehun, clumsily shuffling and hoping that they didn’t notice how awkward I must have sounded. I looked to see Luhan. “So what were you calling me for?”

“I was hungry actually.” He slung an arm around my shoulders with a smile that could have been sweet if he wasn’t using it to be annoying. “Get me something from the kitchen, hm?”

“I’m not your—!” I cut myself off because I felt some of the boys glance at us from my outburst. I rephrased everything. “I mean... I’m hungry too. So let’s both get something together.” I forced him to sluggishly get on his feet and dragged us both to the kitchen were Kyungsoo was preparing lunch.

I pinched his waist when we were out of sight from his group of friends in the living room.

“Ow! What was that for?” he yelped, rubbing at his side.

“Nothing.” Although he perfectly knew why he deserved that.

“I just love you more each day, don’t I?” He squeezed his arm around my neck tighter in some sort of bone-crushing affection as payback.

“I don’t like you anymore.” Slipping from his grip, I shoved him aside to which he laughed at. “Kyungsoo, is lunch ready?” I peeked over the stove to where he kept a big pot boiling.

Luhan lifted the lid to take a peek, amazed at its contents. It was definitely enough to feed eleven hungry boys. “Wow. I should get you a white chef’s hat so you can blend in with the kitchen more.”

“Don’t.” Kyungsoo raised a hand towards us. “I get a chef’s hat for my birthday like every freaking year, so don’t.” His  expression dimmed and looked like he wanted to soak his head in the pot for a moment. “But no. Lunch isn’t ready yet. There’s a bowl of watermelons outside to keep yourselves busy for now.”

“Watermelons?”

“Yeah.” Kyungsoo glanced out the window. “The weather is all cloudy and dark now. Was it like this when you two were here a year ago?”

I almost asked what he meant, but remembered at the last second that he only knew the made up story that Luhan and I met in Jeju around that time of the year. “I remembered it was a lot sunnier than this, but the wind was stronger.”

“Weird. Must be Global Warming’s fault,” Kyungsoo muttered. “Anyway, go enjoy the watermelons for now. Just don’t spoil your appetite.”

Luhan exited the villa faster than I did because he was actually genuinely hungry and not trying to bother me by asking to fetch him food like I originally thought. The front porch was arranged with an outdoor couch standing at one side of the small round table where—like Kyungsoo promised—a bowl of watermelons sat. Planting our butts onto the couch, we both picked up slices right away. The sky was gloomy and grey—brewing for trouble with the sun hiding elsewhere—but I didn’t let that spoil the sweetness on my tongue.

“Mm!” Luhan mumbled through a mouthful, trying to call for my attention and smearing the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.

“What?”

Luhan swallowed. “Don’t you ever feel guilty for lying like this?” He glanced around to make sure no one was around. “Our lies come out so smoothly now. Like back there with the weather.”

“Of course I feel guilty, but I guess what they don’t know won’t hurt them.” I leaned back on my seat to stare at the clouds that were warning for future rain. “What would you do if your parents find out it was all a sham though?”

It wasn’t a secret that Luhan didn’t have the most easy-going parents. I didn’t know plenty about them, but forcing their son into some marriage if he didn’t find a wife quickly as this was the olden days, that seemed already very uptight and controlling to me. Maybe it was tradition. Maybe that was how his parents met. Maybe they quickly wanted grandchildren.

He looked thoughtfully at the new watermelon slice he acquired. “They’d kick me out of this country and lock me in their basement with a girl they picked out for me to marry.”

I slowly chewed. “Have they been controlling your whole life?”

“Pretty much.” He nodded solemnly. “I was in a singing competition in high school. They were so against me doing it because I should be focusing on textbook work apparently, but one day I finally got them to promise to come and watch me. The day of the competition came and I sang and I won first place.” Luhan appeared dismayed rather than happy at the memory of winning. “Holding up the trophy and giving out my little speech, I said thanks to my parents for coming to support. But looking at the front row, they were actually the only parents missing. They didn’t come at all.”

I felt like slapping myself for bringing it up because his whole mood declined. My head scrambled for something comforting to say, though I was never really talented at making people feel better with strong words and a hefty speech about life. I would have made the worst motivational speaker. “I’m sorry,” was all I could muster.

“Whatever