It was a lovely afternoon and Haerin figured she’d pay her grandmother a visit.  Baekhyun was really excited about going out to karaoke, though, she’d hate to burst his bubble.  But she really wants to see her grandmother and tell her all the things that had happened since the last time she met her.

“Baekhyun-ah,” She calls out sweetly.

“Hm?” He trots over.

“Let’s do karaoke tomorrow instead,”

“What?!” He cries, immediately whining.  “But why?!”

“Noona will buy you lunch, to make it up to you,” Haerin grins.  “And any drink of your choice,”

Baekhyun taps his chin in thought.  “Buy me two lunches and two drinks,”

Haerin groans, rolling her eyes at this junior who’s actually bargaining with her just because his plans got pushed back by a day.  “Fine,”

“Yes!” He pumps his fist into the air.  “Why the delay though, noona?”

“I wanna take you guys to see my grandmother,”

They all go rigid at her invitation.

“Grandmother?”

“Shouldn’t we go get something first?”

“Hey, guys-” Haerin struggles to catch their attention as they start to clamour about nervously.

“We should change into something more appropriate, right?”

“Hyung, how much money do you have on you? You think you can by rice cakes?”

Haerin tries to break into their circle as they start to huddle up in discussion.  “It’s not-“

“I don’t know what we should bring, how am I supposed to know?”

“Your grandfather’s still around, isn’t he? What do we do?”

“HEY!”

They turn towards Haerin, wide-eyed with surprise at her sudden outburst.

“It’s not like she’s the Queen of England or something, relax,” Haerin sighs.  “Just get on the damn bus and come with me,”

They scramble up the bus and follow Haerin’s lead as she gets off five stops after the one by their school’s.  It was as if the familiar shops around the streets had stretched their arms out in a welcoming gesture towards her while saying that they had missed her so much.  She giggles like an idiot when Suho catches the way she grins at absolutely nothing.  “Look up,”

And there it was; the strikingly orange sky, an animated ceiling with occasional flashes of black as birds fly from tree to tree.  The rustles of the leaves completed the song the birds are singing and Haerin, standing amidst all that is going on around her, now saw how much she missed her grandmother.  “Let’s get inside,”

She hugs the receptionist as she welcomes her chirpily before waving at all the other residents who recognises her and expressed their longing for her company.  

“Are these new part-timers?” One of the female staffs scan the boys behind Haerin.  “Because if they are-“

“Sadly, they’re not, unnie,” Haerin chuckles.  “We’re all just here to meet my grandma,”

Sighing in pity, the staff shrugs.  “You know where she is,”

“Come on!” Haerin lets a giddy laugh escape her lips as she starts sprinting towards where her grandmother always sits.  “Grandma!” She flails her arms in the air.  “Grandma, I’m here!”

The elder looks up from her book and lightens up when she sees her only granddaughter run towards her.  “Haerinnie!” She grunts happily when the younger girl envelops her in a bear hug.  “Our Haerinnie, oh, how I missed you!”

Grinning from ear to ear, Haerin pulls away to look at her grandmother.  “Have you been well?”

“Aside from worrying about you and your little brother, I’m healthy as a horse,” She cackles.  “So, how are things?”

Haerin notices the boys standing by doing nothing and invites them to sit down.  “Before we get there, grandma, these are my friends; Suho, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Sehun, and our dear Jongin,” She introduces them warmly.  “They’re the ones who have been taking care of me and Yunjae, the ones I told you about, remember?” She refers to the phone calls she regularly made to her grandmother.  She kept in touch with her through those calls; about her moving out, about how her uncle is looking for her, about everything else, up to before she broke up with Kyungsoo.  She was really hoping she can leave out that tiny detail from today’s visit.  She wouldn’t want her grandmother to worry more about her than she has already does.

“Oh, yes, of course, hello, dears,” Her grandmother smiles gently at each and every one of them.  Her forehead creases when she notices someone missing.  “What about that one boy, though, the one you’re dating? Kyungsoo, right? The one working here as a caretaker- oh speak of the devil! Kyungsoo!” She waves, craning her neck upwards.

Haerin goes rigid at the name and glances at Kai in panic.  He whips his head to look for Kyungsoo.  She wasn’t ready to see Kyungsoo, yet, and now here she is, in a dire situation of having to face him in front of her grandmother, who had been elated at the news that they were dating.  Why did she have to forget that Kyungsoo works part-time here? “G-Grandma, i-it’s- I-“

“Just kidding,”  Her grandmother drops her hand and tilts her head at her granddaughter, who was frozen shock.  “He’s not here.  Relax, he took the day off,” Chuckling, she reaches for Haerin’s hand.  “Did something happen between you and him?”

“Grandma!” Haerin flares her nostrils in frustration.  “Don’t ever do that again! You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“So something did happen,” She lets out a light laugh, ignoring her granddaughter’s protests.  “What is it? Did you guys break up?”

Haerin lets out a small nod.

“Did anybody cheat on anyone?”

Haerin shakes her head.  “He’s still in love with his first love.  Which, isn’t me,”

“Oh, my,”

“Tell me about it,” Haerin rolls her eyes and chuckles lightly.  “But anyways, these kids helped me go through everything,” She puts her palm out, as if presenting the boys to her grandmother.  “So, I’m fine, now.  You don’t have to worry,”

“I’m in your debt,” Her grandmother dips her head in a little bow at the boys, who gets all flustered at the little gesture.

“It’s nothing, ma’am!”

“She’s also our friend, it’s only right if we stay by her side,”

“That’s correct,”

“If we didn’t help her, that would have been very bad,”

“Very bad indeed,”

“They’re a very noisy, nervous bunch,” Haerin explains, laughing at them.  “But they’ll warm up to you.  I’ll bring them here often,”

“Well, why don’t you kids do me a favour and go ask the staffs inside about my dinner? The rest can go while Jongin here keeps me company,” She smiles dismissively at the way Kai raises his eyebrows while the others spread out in groups, saying ‘yes ma’am’, completely oblivious to how Haerin’s grandmother wants a private talk with him.  Except for Haerin, of course.  She keeps looking over her shoulder to check on Kai’s condition, curious as to what they’re going to talk about.

“D-Did I do anything wrong, ma’am?” Kai fidgets in his seat.

“No, you didn’t, dear,” Minkyung chuckles and invites his hand into hers.  As he takes it, she squeezes his hand gently.  “I want to thank you for paying close attention to my dear granddaughter there.  For being there for her,”

“That wasn’t all me,” Kai humbly dips his head in a little bow at the elder.

“But I could tell that you did the most work,” Haerin’s grandmother flashes him a knowing expression.  “She must have been hurt,”

“Terribly,” Kai looks over his shoulder at Haerin, who was standing by the building’s doors, shuffling her feet, waiting for the others to return.  “But she’s Son Haerin.  She handled it better than anyone could,” He scratches the back of his head.  “She was so open-minded about everything, she’s already letting everything go.  And it has only been three days,”

“She’s a strong one, that girl,” The older woman follows Kai’s eyes and smiles fondly at her granddaughter’s figure.  “No wonder she’s making so many people fall for her,”

At her sentence, Kai’s head snaps to look at her and he catches her knowing gaze.  “You’re very sharp, ma’am,” He chuckles lightly.

“No, you’re just obvious enough for me,” She shares a laugh with him.  “It was different, compared to the way that boy Kyungsoo would look at her,” She reminisces.  “You’re somehow, more thorough about it,”

“That’s a peculiar way to put it,” Kai laughs quietly.  

“Take care of her, okay, Jongin?” She reaches out to pat the boy’s cheek.

He subtly nods at her message.  “Of course, ma’am,”

She gently taps his nose.  “I’ll hold you to that,”

As they laugh their conversation off, everybody returns with a message for curfew and that dinner is served in the rooms.  Haerin helps her grandmother on her wheelchair and watches as Kai helps her push the woman inside.  “Hey, what did she say to you?” She trails behind him.

“You know,” He shrugs.  “The usual ‘take care of her, I’m entrusting her in your hands’ stuff,”

Haerin pulls a face at him.  “Didn’t I tell you you were a bad liar?”

“Yeah, you did and did I care?”

Groaning in frustration, Haerin kicks his shin and takes over the wheelchair when he hisses in pain.  

“You’re so violent!” He chases after her.

“And you’re very handsome,” Haerin grins, closing the door behind her as she helps her grandmother settle in bed.  “Grandma, what did you say to Jongin?”

“I just told him to take care of you,” She innocently answers, as if to bring further frustration for her granddaughter.  While she laughs, she sinks into the pillows of her bed.  “You be careful of your own feelings, Haerin,” The granddaughter eyes her elder, sighing as she tucks her into her blanket. “You don’t want what happened to you to happen to him, right?” She asks.

Haerin realises just then that Kai is going through what she is, in a twisted sort of way.  “No, I don’t,” Haerin answers.  “I really don’t,” She silently closes the conversation.

“Go home carefully, dear,” Her grandmother presses the bell by her bedside table.  “I’ll ask the caretakers to help me with dinner,”

“Okay,” Haerin pecks her grandmother on the forehead and then on the nose.  “Night, grandma,”

“Good night,”

Haerin walks out the building to see a shivering Kai with his hands under his arms.  “The others went home first.  Their parents called,” He shrugs as if to say ‘so, here I am’.

She didn’t miss the way his voice changes ever so slightly at the word ‘parents’.  She sighs and takes his hands in hers, blowing onto them in an effort to warm them up.  “Better?” She smiles up at him.

“You’re going to make me feel less than a man, Haerin,” Kai complains.  “The guy is supposed to do things like that to the girl, not the other way around,”

“Well, it’s all about the initiative,” Grinning, Haerin tugs him along onto the bus.  “Let’s go and get you home,”

It’s completely written on his face, how he misses having a mother figure around after he sees someone like Haerin’s grandmother.  More so when he’s left behind by his friends, who got called home by their parents.  It’s at times like that when Haerin finds him like a little brother she should be protecting.

“Hey, Jongin?” She starts, looking down at the boy resting his head on her shoulder.

“Hm?” He lazily responds.

“What was your mother like?”

Kai wavers at the question.  He racks his brain for a fitting description, not too long, not too short.  He’s confused about how he should start describing his mother; nobody has asked him about her in such a long time.

“You don’t have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable or sad,” Haerin quietly adds.

“No, it’s okay,” He fixes his position on her shoulder and smiles to himself at the one and only way he could find to paint his mother.  “She’s exactly like you,”