Sehun sighed after his task was complete. He sensed the newcomer trying to understand him. He chuckled to himself knowing he wasn't as readable as she would have liked. He raised his head to meet her gaze making her turn away. Sehun smirked. Girls were all the same! If he'd held any hope he would have been disappointed. She was like them after all.

Hana flushed. Sehun had caught her staring at him. She'd been trying to figure him out, so far she'd only figured out that he had once loved a noona and he continued to do the things that noona liked. It was a vague result and Hana didn't like it. Trying to replace what was gone wasn't possible. Was Sehun's heart set dead against love?

Hana sighed, she didn't mind if he didn't love her. She wasn't that fond of him either. He scared her more than anything, however she really wished he'd be nicer to her. Hana could survive on kindness if love was out of the question. It was a decision that should have been hard to make, yet Hana knew she would be content if he didn't look at her as if she were a burden that he was forced to carry.

Hana traced the tiles with her slippers. It was strange to see tiles in a hanok. The styling of the house was queer from it's attempts to look ancient to the hints of modernization that were appliances, to the Oh sibling's rooms that were decorated in a modern fashion. The house was confused, Hana decided and smirked. She would have to get used to living in such a place even if it was strange.

Seryung covered her face with her hands. Hana had been looking around at the decor of the kitchen and had managed to slip. In slipping she'd managed to bump into Sehun who'd at first tried to regain his balance and then catch her. Seryung wanted to laugh but a sharp noise diverted her attention. A cherished prized possession belonging to her parents had been knocked to the ground as Sehun had attempted to haul himself up.

Hana couldn't help but notice his strong grip as he propelled her up. He was stronger than she'd anticipated. Her mind was fixated on him as he pushed her back onto her feet. His face had paled considerably and he was staring at the floor. Hana followed his sharp gaze and gasped.

Seryung was hiding behind her hands as she stared between her fingers. Sehun’s ears were still ringing with the sound of clatter. In his haste he’d managed to swipe a Joseon Dynasty porcelain plate clean off the mahogany jewel encrusted side table. They stared at the large shards of porcelain that littered the floor.

“Was that a fake?” Sehun asked in a hollow voice.

“I hope so,” Se Ryung mumbled and stared at the pieces that lay gleaming on the floor. Porcelain didn't particularly matter to her but this piece was extremely rare not to mention expensive! Their father was already displeased by Sehun, knowing he'd done something like this would result in a heavy punishment.

“We’ll get it repaired oppa,” Se Ryung ushered trying to find logic. “Hana and I are going out anyway,” Seryung groaned. Her rambling didn't make sense but any idea.

Sehun nodded unconvinced. The room was in shock. Everyone dreaded the fury of Mr. & Mrs. Oh once they discovered their precious plate destroyed.

Sehun ruffled his hair. “Right then. Here’s what we’re going to do!”

He called for maid. Seryung was shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other whereas the newcomer was frowning at the shards.

“Can you get something to wrap these shards in?” Sehun asked the maid who'd shuffled into the room. The maid stared at the pieces with horror etched onto her face.

“You’re going to wrap them…” Se Ryung asked bewildered. She pointed to the pieces and wondered how much damage transporting them to a potter's shop would bring.

“Unless you trust to fix it yourself.” Sehun jeered. “Anyone here able to fix broken porcelain?” He challenged the room.

Hana nodded slowly earning a surprised glance from Sehun. “Are you sure?”

“I can try-”

“No you can’t just try!” Sehun cut in. “I need to know if you can or can’t do a perfect job,” he spat exasperatedly.

“I can do it,” Hana met his eyes with determination. “I’ve fixed my parents’ stuff before. I just need the right materials. The plate will be as good as new!”

“Do you trust her?” Sehun asked his sister. “We have no room for mistakes.”

“If she messes up then we can just say she broke it,” Se Ryung stated feeling breathless, although she hadn't run a marathon. “Are you confident?”

Hana nodded again causing the siblings to ruffle their hair feeling perturbed.

“Fine,” Sehun gave in. “Change of plans." The task had just been made straightforward now that the issue of finding a potter was solved.

“Ms. Shim will buy the necessary materials! Se Ryung you’ll aid Hana fix the plate! I’d help too but I need to be somewhere!” He ordered them one by one catching their gazes to detect any defiance. There was none so far.

“Also,” he turned to the maid, “Make sure they don’t find out about this!” The maid sighed but nodded.

“Wait!” An idea came to Se Ryung, her eyes sparkled. “Why don’t you help Hana? It was your fault.” She challenged Sehun who was ready to protest. “Actually it was both your faults so you guys should do this,” she pointed to the two of them, and grinned when Ms. Shim agreed with her.

Sehun rubbed his temples. Why didn’t she understand? “I can’t I have somewhere to be and I’m already running late!”

Se Ryung rolled her eyes. Her brother had an unusual way of spending his weekends. “I’ll volunteer at the homeless shelter for you today. You stay and fix the mess you two made.” She looked at Hana this time. “I’ll be taking all these extra dishes with me. I assure you they won’t be wasted.”

Sehun clicked his tongue. “You don’t even like going there. You almost never volunteer,” he muttered.

Se Ryung grinned. ‘No I don’t like volunteering but I’ll put up with it today. You guys go mingle, become close and whatever. Once you’re both happily married you’ll realize you owe me big time oppa!’

“Fine! I’ll let you replace me for today,” Sehun agreed dubiously.

Se Ryung clicked her tongue and nodded at Ms. Shim who handed her a bag of packed boxes.

“I’ll see you guys later then,” Se Ryung sang from across the house before closing the front door behind her.

Sehun turned to Hana. “Let’s go buy what we need!”

-

Hana crouched down neatly folding her dress behind her knees. She examined the shelf of various glue until her eyes rested on one.

Sehun folded and unfolded his arms impatiently. She was taking her time. He would have tapped his foot if she wasn’t doing him a favor. He hated that too. Owing her one. That’s exactly what would happen now. He’d owe her a favor. He just hoped she didn’t ask for marriage.

“This one,” Hana picked it up between her fingers to show her partner.

He read the miniscule scroll squinting his eyes. “Adhesive clear epoxy glue… Is this the one we need yeah?”

Hana nodded brightly. Her eyes were shining with excitement. Sehun didn’t understand why. Did all girl's get this happy buying glue? Sehun shook his head. That wasn’t true. Seryung was a girl too. Seryung liked clothes. She had a wardrobe full of them but they still weren’t enough. Yoon Rae Mi had liked lavender. Ms. Lee had liked chiding her students. His mother liked traditional pottery like the one he’d broken. What did Kim Hana like?

-

Kim Hana looked best when she was fixing something broken, Sehun decided. Her nimble fingers worked with such dexterity that it was frightening. He was surprised that she was an average student. It seemed like a lie. He was the better student yet he was sitting idle watching her work miracles.

“That’s so scary! You can’t even tell it was cracked…” He said in awe. He continued to compliment her to the point where Hana imagined herself to be dreaming.

Hana was facing the plate that was clamped in front of her admiring its design. She closed her eyes to envision the jagged edge. She traced the edge with the assistance of a pintool until she approximated which piece to join.

The pieces lay labeled in a row waiting for their number to be called. Sehun handed her the corresponding piece as she applied the epoxy onto the broken sharp edge. Hana examined the piece carefully before alleging it in place and pushing the piece against the plate at the same time she concentrated on keeping the alignment in order. She ordered for the glue gun and Sehun handed the strange contraption that heated a hard piece of rubber and ejected it oozing a hot, sticky substance that smelt like melted glue to her.

Hana used the glue gun to keep the piece in place. Sehun rushed from his seat beside her to check the rear of the place. Hana smiled when Sehun nodded and gave her a thumbs up. She used a scraper to peel away any excess epoxy at both the front and the rear. Hana repeated these steps until the full diameter of the plate was restored.

She scowled darkly at the chipped corner that made her work look untidy. She began to mix white epoxy filler to mask the chipped edge.

“Where did you learn this? It’s pretty cool. Did you study pottery? You’re amazing at this.”

Hana chuckled to herself. Sehun was like a child seeing a magic show for the first time. “I didn’t learn it from anywhere. I saw it on a show one day and when one of the ceramics in our house broke I wanted to fix it. This one isn’t hard. It’s a plate and they’re much easier to fix because of their shape,” Hana explained not taking her eyes off the plate for fear she might accidently swat it.

Oh Sehun was sitting right in front of her, examining the plate from behind. She could feel the heat dissipating from his body as he sat in front of her. The proximate was too close for comfort. It had been hard to concentrate and answer his questions. Now she could feel his breath tickle her forehead. She became conscious of her forehead. Was her BB cream too obviously splattered across it? Had she missed parts of it when she’d quickly applied it with her hands? Were the beads of concentration glistening on her pores? Was her forehead clear?! Did her scalp smell?! Had she grown a grey hair over night?!

“Can you please either stop talking or sit somewhere else? You’re distracting me!” Hana exclaimed knotting her brows at the white mix. She was about to sigh and berate him more but he wasn’t having any of it.

Sehun was quick to prod her chin making her face him with the assistance of his extended thumb and curled fingers.

The shock of meeting his dark onyx orbs without warning made her jump on the knees she was sitting on. The tremor caused the stool between them to shudder. The clamp machine tripped, as Hana knew it would. Trapped within his orbs she flailed her arms together in an attempt to catch the plate before it came crashing down.

Hana yelped.

Tearing his eyes from hers Sehun dove for the plate right after Hana. He somehow managed to salvage the clamp. The plate was facing the floor threateningly. Sehun sighed with relief and placed the clamp on its feet, on the ground. He stood up and faced her wanting to apologize for almost destroying the job she’d painstakingly worked on.

Hana whimpered and sniffed. She rubbed her eyes. Pain pricked her fingers like needles. She bit her cheek and ignored it.

“Sorry-” they both began awkwardly. A silence followed their apology. Sehun managed a half smile and then laughed at the situation. Hana nodded in acknowledgement of the almost-disaster. She made her way back to her position. This time she neither placed the clamp on the stool nor sat on her knees. The clamped plate was siting on the floor directly ahead of her and she sat on her legs expressionlessly and surveyed the splintered edge. It was as small as it was sharp. She clicked her tongue, as she imaged Seryung would do, in such a situation and proceeded to fulfill her task.

Sehun stared that the once-cheerful now-melancholic girl. How long ago was it that she was merrily buying glue? Her sudden glumness perturbed him.

He was about to ask when his eyes fell on the white mix she’d been working on. She’d begun to mix a new one in the corner of her palette. The old one sat rejected in red droplets making his heart hurt. He knew for a fact that they did not buy red paint.

Sehun retraced his sight back to the dejected expression then trailed back to the mix. He frowned when he realized she was using a different hand. Something wasn’t right. Something bothered him. The answer was in the back of his mind. It just wouldn’t come.

He pulled the project away from her to grab her attention. She seemed surprised. His eyes fell down to her hand. She hid it behind her back when she realized he was looking.

Sehun glowered, “What happened?” He asked her in his monotone voice. Hana shook her head like a mouse caught in a trap her eyes widened in alarm.

Sehun exhaled slowly to extinguish his frustration, “You know I think you’ve been hanging out with Seryung too much. You’re starting to act like her. Pretending everything’s okay when it really isn’t.”

To this Hana shook her head again. “Seryung doesn’t pretend things are okay when they’re not,” she reminded him feeling dumbstruck. How could he forget his sister’s nature?

Sehun’s lip curled. “Then why do you?”