"It can't be fake, it's food," Hana interjected hoping they'd leave the conversation as it was. She could feel the emblem of hatred from the siblings however, Hana found no grounds for them to be so angry and immature.

Sehun scoffed some more and shook his head. "It's not, food is what you  cook yourself and if it's not handmade, it's fake," he explained wondering what he was doing telling her this stuff anyway. Seryung was watching them with interest. Sy telling Hana about 'fake food,' Sehun had just  brought her closer towards them. It was closer than Seryung liked for them to be but her brother had initiated it by himself. Inside jokes, between the siblings, were things they solely shared with each other. Their parents were usually kept in the dark but now a third person was aware and that person was Kim Hana.

"But it's still edible," Hana pointed out. "So you shouldn't throw it away," Seryung made a face and Sehun was shaking his head at her. It was a strange picture altogether.

"It's not even all hers," Sehun muttered pointing to the dishes he'd made two days ago. "Was she trying to pass these off as her own?" He asked bewildered that their mother would take credit for something Sehun had cooked.

"You should have gotten up earlier, oppa, that way you wouldn't need to worry about time." Seryung yawned and stretched her arms before contemplating the idea of having Hana help him.

"I'll go at lunch, there's plenty of time." Sehun stated ignoring the half wrapped dishes and making his way to the fridge. "What can you make quickly?" He mused surveying the ingredients. Sehun prided himself with his cooking as much as he did with anything else. He was a budding perfectionist and hence everything had to be perfect. Sehun also had his own set morals that he based his actions on. He would never shy away from cooking and feeding homeless people microwave-able food, it would hurt his ego.

"Kimbap?" He decided and wondered why he'd thought sleeping in was a good idea. Normally he'd have woken earlier to prepare something himself however he'd thought he could trust his mother with that for once. It was all useless hoping for his parents to do something for them. Sehun's lips curved into a mocking smile, 'All they've done is gotten me stuck, with that girl.'

"Don't say anything," Seryung hissed as Hana's expression changed to a mystified one. "He's not going to like it. Don't make him mad first thing in the morning!"

Hana nodded absentmindedly and allowed Seryung to pull her down to her seat. "What is he doing?" Hana asked pointing at Sehun who was setting his ingredients onto the counter.

"Something, just watch," Seryung replied wanting to shake some sense into both of them, even Sehun's friends were unaware of 'chef Sehun' but now Hana would know - a stranger knew something his friends didn't. Seryung toyed with the idea that he was bringing Hana closer to him like this but that wasn't the case. Sehun was simply short of time and was trying to get things ready in time. Seryung wasn't too keen to tell Hana about the shelter either. It was beyond her jurisdiction to say anything to her sister-in-law about it.

Hana was too surprised to add two and two together. Whether it was the shock of seeing Sehun openly talk bad about his mother or asking that the meal she'd prepared be thrown out. What had really put the icing on the cake was seeing him completely absorbed in one task. If Hana hadn't been mesmerized by him she would have concluded that the rumors about the homeless shelter were true but Hana's mind was too flabbergasted to reach that point.

Hana held her tongue as Seryung pinched her arm slowly. Sehun had started to throw away the breakfast. It irked Hana that he was so openly wasting what his mother had made for them yet Seryung was also keeping quiet about it. Hana yelped as Seryung pinched harder causing the siblings to stare at her.

"You're still here?" Sehun asked boredly rolling his eyes at her. "If you want to help, throw these away for me," he ordered pointing. Seryung nodded and hopped off her seat leaving Hana to her thoughts once again. "What are you doing?" Hana finally asked shuffling over to where Seryung was stacking boxes.

"You can't just throw it all away, your mother worked hard to make them!"

Sehun twitched and glared at her, she was going to be defiant till the end. His eyes warned her to keep out but she didn't seem to understand. Seryung flinched as Sehun slammed the bamboo mat against the counter, "No one is asking you anything, so mind your own damn business! People like you are the most annoying ones out there, you don't know anything so just shut up!"

Hana swallowed and blinked rapidly. Seryung was shaking her head and silently pleading not to interfere as Sehun shed the remaining of his anger out on the maids, ordering them all to leave and threatening their paychecks if the tattled. He'd taken the duty of wrapping his kimbap into boxes and placing the boxes into plastic bags, as well as that he'd also thrown everything he didn't deem fit to eat into the bin. Hana made a face and avoided his angry eyes as he worked. He was trying to compose himself again. His face returned to its usual complexion but his ears were red suggesting that he was still vexed. Hana didn't understand his reason. If anyone had a reason to be angry, it would be her because he spoke to her as if she should have understood but she didn't and hence he saw that reason enough to shout at her.

Hana shuddered and imagined how married life would be, would he yell at her like this every morning? Would his children also do the same? She would undoubtedly have to live life acting immune to their chiding. She couldn't imagine how the day would pan out after that. Sehun would most likely go to work. His children would boss her around like a maid until he got home and deemed her cooking unfit to eat. Hana shuddered once again and received a apologetic look from Seryung.

Seryung opened to speak hoping to drop a comment about something light to ease the tension in the room but Hana's phone began to ring. Sehun twitched as his concentration of thought was broken by the childish ring tone. He glanced at her for a moment ready to scold her again for breaking his thought process but she was far too excited as she stared at the caller ID.

"You should answer it you know. It will stop ringing, eventually," Sehun smirked as Hana nodded and left the room. Seryung arched an eyebrow and stared at the spot in which Hana had been standing. "What just happened? Oppa you let her know too much for one day." Seryung finally told him as she helped him pack.

"Doesn't matter, this way she'll know that she can't be half hearted about cooking, maybe she'll get scared and walk out on her own?" Sehun asked grinning when everything was done, he smiled at his hard work and stretched his arms over his head. "A job well done," he stated as Seryung yawned and nodded, still staring at the door. "Oppa you either warm up to her or you don't. Doing things like this and making her feel like she knows you is half-hearted. Don't give her mixed signals again."

Sehun brushed of the concerned comment with a shrug. "She won't want to marry me in the end. She thinks she can adjust to this but she won't be able to," he confided with a nod, before looking around and grimacing at having to clean up, he hated cleaning, he was being made to do it in school too.

Seryung pouted and ran a hand through her hair. "Don't count your eggs before they've hatched. She's trying, so you might lose to her. She's been doing what she can to ease your school punishment and she's trying hard to win your approval. 

"She's someone who'd be willing to become your ideal type and her reason is because unlike you, she knows she's stuck. You should wake up and smell the roses too, oppa. This has been decided for you. They're not going to let you drop it. It's the same for her. That's why she's trying. You should be nice to her at least.

"If you're going to let her know things like this you should tell her the whole story, so she doesn't misunderstand you. You should have told her, that you hate anything that's not homemade because it makes you sick. The image you've projected is something like: I hate my mother."

Sehun shrugged the comment once more and was going to reply with a joking comment if Seryung hadn't looked at him worriedly. "You want me to marry her, don't you? It won't happen, I promised I wouldn't get married. To get stuck with someone like me isn't fair for her either. She'll realize it soon enough. You're her friend, convince her not to try. I won't marry her, and that's the end of this subject."

Seryung nodded uncertainly. Surely the marriage would go on because the parents had decided, and the parents words was final. Seryung doubted that her brother would find anyone like Hana ever again too. Seryung too was in favor of the marriage, but that thought was something she couldn't share with her brother because he just couldn't accept it, yet!

Hana's caller was someone she'd been messaging before, Tao. Tao was very eager to tell her his stories including the un-warm welcome he'd received from airport security upon finding out he was Chinese and hence their conversation began to flow in Chinese.

"-I mean, we never do that to Korean's when they come to our country!"

"It might have been a misunderstanding."

"You're joking right? Korean's just haven't gotten over the past yet. Discrimination is what it is!"

"But they didn't stop you!"

"They let me go, but the disgust on their faces was clear."

"Maybe you caught them on a bad day. They work at the airport I'm sure they see Chinese people everyday. Maybe someone was rude to them and they took it out on you?"

"Racist people! Anyway, let's drop it. They make me so angry, if I had my staff..."

"If you had your staff with you and used it, you'd be branded a terrorist."

"I said let's drop the topic! I'm here, somewhere, probably lost, no really, really lost. I was going somewhere and then got distracted trying to find somewhere I could continue wushu."

"Are you still thinking about wushu? You need to stop, take a year out and worry about your grades."

"Says Hana. Aren't you worried about your own grades? Don't add mine to your stress pile."

"I won't, that's why I'm telling you now. You need to concentrate."

"You'll stop caring about me? Me? Really what's-his-face made you forget me already. I can only image how you'll treat me after marriage. Don't marry him. I won't let you."

"Taaaaooo, can we please drop that topic, it's a bit much? Nothing has been set bar the engagement, but that's not set on paper and until then options are open."

"Alright, alright! I won't stress about you either, if you won't stress about me. What are you doing right now? Are you going to stay the full weekend over at what's-his-face's house?"

"Probably, I don't know how long Seryung want's me to stay. I'm presuming it's the full weekend."

"That means I won't see you. Unless you introduce me to your friends but I don't want to know them just yet. Let's break the news to them slowly. They'll be too shocked if we drop it on them so soon."

"Do you think it's a good idea? I don't know anymore. I'm worried someone will find out, or something will happen..."

"You worry too much! Relax and let me handle this. Have I done anything wrong before?"

"Well, no, but this is different. We could all end up in trouble. I don't want my parent's to hate you too."

"It will be okay. I have everything planned out, did it on the plane actually. I'm sure you're not pleased to hear that piece of information but trust me. When you get home I'll let you see what I've written."

"You wrote it down?! Oh, God! No! What if someone reads it?!"

"It's in Chinese, mirror writing, do you really think any one can read it? I'm careful with these things, you know."

"Okay, I'll see you at home to discuss this then. I don't want to say anything here. The maids are already giving me strange looks for speaking Chinese."

"Racist's everywhere, I'm telling you. These people just don't let go and it's not just Korea that was a tribute state to China. Those guys did some pretty bad stuff too. They just can't move on! Politics is such a messy topic and these days some people see it as they're right to judge others because of it."

"Why are we talking about politics all of a sudden? And the maids aren't racist! They just seem shocked because I'm talking, just as fast as you, and I don't look native Chinese. Actually the maids might tell Mr. & Mrs. Oh that they think I'm part-Chinese."

"You're not though. You're Korean. I'm telling you, it's nationalism! They think Korean's can't speak Chinese because it's China's language. They're so nationalistic!"

"I can though. Thank you for teaching me, seongsang-nim*."

"I taught you? I can't remember that far back but I think it's probably my parents who taught you. Them being teachers, I'm sure they had fun. I think I only taught you how to curse, in my defense we were kids. Did we even go to school back then?"

"Hm... I used to spend a lot of time with you back then too."

"Haha, those were the times, worry free! You've grown up well, young miss. You're already engaged! I'm jealous."

"Of Sehun, or of me?"

"Yer man must have saved Korea in his past life. He's gotten his hands on such an adorable wife."

"Adorable? Me? Do you think so? Ha, no way."

"This country is so strange though, everyone keeps speaking formally to each other. I just walked past a shop and people are using honorifics even though they don't look they've got an age difference. Some things about here, just never change."

"Well no. That won't change, but what can change is the ability to pronounce your name."

"Yeah, that won't be happening either. I'll just use Tao. If I use the full thing only God knows how badly it'll be butchered. You know the lady I used to help. I told her I was visiting and that I might drop by on the way. She's still unable to say my name properly."

"The first and last mistake you'll ever make Mr. Huang Zitao. What other names have you been given? 'Chinese guy,' 'the foreigner,' 'Wang Tao?' 'Hwang Ji Tao?'"

"They're all racist I'm telling you! They do it on purpose and then use their alphabet as an excuse! I will just stick with Tao for as long as I'm staying."

"The old lady does it on purpose too?"

"Nah, she's awright. She gets tongue tied. It's not her fault. She's old."

"But she's Korean. She's probably a racist too."

"The old lady? Why are you being stereotypical?"

"Who was the one stereotyping?"

"Not me. I don't do that at all."

"Is this sarcasm I detect Mr. Huang?"

"You can detect whatever you want as long as you agree to go through with our plan."

"I'm looking forward to this plan. I want to see if it'll work. It'll be an interesting experiment."

"You might not have to adjust yourself, if our plan works. Your friends plan is risky. What's-his-face will catch on. It's his sister! You can't say he doesn't know how to read her."

"I don't know... Both plans sound interesting and I don't plan to replicate anyone. I just want to pick up a few things. It'll come in handy for the future."

"I still don't agree but it's up to you. I'll be right here if you need me. I'm headed to the ahjumma's place. I'll see you once you get home, maybe. I'm still looking for the perfect dojo."

"Forget the dojo, the school gym should be enough. They've got rooms for you to practice martial arts."

"Not listening to you Hana. Hanging up. Byee."

Hana stared at her phone and blew a raspberry before whispering 'bye' into the phone. She scoffed at Tao's immaturity and smiled to herself. She couldn't wait to see him!

-

"Fake food doesn't make me 'sick.' I got sick because the expiry date had passed," Sehun whispered into Seryung's ear as Hana appeared through the door.

Seryung cringed, 'So she fed us expired stuff...'

Hana blinked as Sehun whispered something else in Seryung's ear making Seryung click her tongue and shudder. Hana wondered what the secretive talk was about. She hoped it wasn't her they'd been discussing because she wanted to get along with both of them. Hana forced a smile and made her way towards them.

"What are your plans for today?" Sehun asked as he returned to finish his packing. Seryung turned to look at Hana and squinted her eyes, trying to picture Hana in short hair.

"Just random girl stuff," Seryung replied grinning. Hana pursed her lips quizzically but said nothing. Hana was aware of the days plans. It involved hair cutting and practicing how to become Rae Mi - or what Seryung remembered her to be. Hana wished she'd met this unni at least once to understand what it was about her that made Sehun prickly, but that was something she would never find out. All in all, Hana thought it to be a daunting experience. Would she be able to surpass the memory of the woman Sehun held dear?

Upvote if you've made it thus far^^ HanaXSehun coming soon! Also Tao!

Seonsang-nim* - teacher

ahjumma - older woman, usually 30+