We rolled up to our house pretty soon, I couldn’t wait to help Kristen!

I don’t know why I was so excited, I guess now that I knew a little about her I wanted to know more.

Mum parked in the driveway, and when she parked the car, she talked to Kristen and me.

“Now, Kristen, I’ll get you to shower and then you can come eat with us.”

She bowed her head, and she thanked mum.

“Don’t feel nervous, we’re just a simple family, so you shouldn’t be too bothered by us!”

She looked at me and smiled. I don’t know why, but every time she smiled, I liked her more and more…

We heard her phone buzz, and she pulled it out of her pocket.

She read it, and I think I saw some tears in her eyes start to form.

“What’s wrong?”

She quickly put her phone away and tried to blink back her tears.

“Oh, it’s nothing…”

Mum looked at me, then at Kristen. She put her hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes with her comforting, motherly look. She would always give me that look when I was upset, and the same for my brother too. It was good that she could have us there for her.

“Now Kristen, if you want to talk, I’m here ok?”

She nodded and smiled gratefully.

I leaned forward and stuck my head between the chairs so she could see me better.

“And you can always talk with me. Even if you don’t want to talk about sad things, we can talk about other stuff too!”

She hid her face, I think she was crying. I stuck my head under hers and looked up at her.

“Are you ok?”

She smiled as she giggled a little at me. I moved as she lifted her head and she wiped her tears.

“I think I’ll feel a lot better after spending some time with you guys… thank you so much, you honestly don’t know how thankful I am…”

I grabbed her duffel bag, and then ran quickly to open the door for her. She smiled again, and I showed her the way to the front door.

“You show Kristen to your room, and put her bags there for now while I go tell your father…”

“Ok mum!”

I walked in front of Kristen, and she followed me down the hallway to my room. She looked so amazed when she saw what my room looked like.

“Your room is so cool!”

“Thanks!”

I put her duffel bag at the foot of my bed, and I took her backpack for her. I watched as she sat down on my bed and continued to look around. I wonder what her room was like?

I saw down on my desk chair, and awkwardly hummed a tune.

“So, what music do you listen to?”

“Ah, mostly hip-hop, R&B kinda stuff… you?”

“I like that stuff too, but I also like dubstep’s and raps and pop too…”

“That’s cool… I guess we will get on fairly well…”

She smiled and looked at me. I wonder what she was thinking, if she was ok…

“You know you can talk with us whenever you want, if you need to…”

She smiled and bowed her head while she fiddled with her fingers.

“Thanks, you honestly don’t know how thankful I am for you… thank you so much…”

We stayed quiet for a moment, and I looked around at my posters and stuff. It was quiet, and I didn’t know what to say. I was just waiting for mum to come in after she talked with dad.

Pit pat…

I turned to look at Kristen, her head was still low, but I heard tears land on her skirt.

“Kristen… are you… ok?”

She stayed silent, probably trying to stop crying. I walked over and sat down next to her. Maybe she would feel better with someone next to her. I sat there, and I decided to put my arm around her shoulders. I held her closely, but not too tightly, it was the first time we had really touched each other, and I didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable.

“What’s wrong?”

I pulled her hair out of her face gently, and she looked up at me. Her eyes were so puffy, they were red with all the tears she had cried. It must be so hard for her.

“I just don’t know what to do anymore…”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I have nothing to live for…”

“Of course you do! Everyone has something to live for!”

“Not me… I’m useless…”

“Who told you that?”

She turned her head down again, and talked so quietly.

“My mother…”

That was horrible! How could a mum say that to their child?

“When did she say that?”

“Almost every other day. Any time I tried to help out, or do something nice, if she didn’t like it or I messed up, she would call me useless…”

I squeezed her tightly and grabbed her hand to comfort her, but as soon as I did she quickly retreated.

“Kristen… I’m sorry… I was jus-“

“It’s not you, I burnt my hand yesterday… it still hurts when I touch it…”

I carefully grabbed her by the wrist as I took my arm off her shoulders so I could see the burn.

“It’s still red! Some blisters are starting to form too, that’s really painful!”

She stared at my hand with me. It looked really agitated.

“Did you run it under cold water after you burned it?”

She shook her head.

“Kristen, come with me…”

I took her other hand and dragged her to the bathroom. I ran some cold water in the sink, and she put her hand under the tap.

“That feels a lot better…”

I leaned against the wall and sighed in relief. At least she could numb the pain in the cold water for a bit.

“Jonghong! Where are you?”

“Bathroom mum!”

Mum walked in, but she looked a bit worried when she saw Kristen’s hand in the sink.

“What happened?”

Kristen looked up and smiled sweetly.

“Oh, it’s nothing… I burnt my hand yesterday when I was cooking… it’s just gotten sore…”

“Ok… well, would you like to take a shower before or after dinner?”

“What is dinner mum?”

“Pasta and chicken.”

“Yes! You’ll love it Kristen!”

“Well, should I wait or not?”

“I still have a little bit to cook, how about now?”

“Yeah, that’s sounds good…”

I quickly ran off to grab her duffel bag while mum looked at Kristen’s hand. Her duffel bag had her clothes in there, so she’d need that, and on my way back to the bathroom I grabbed some towels for her.

I walked into the bathroom and put her duffel bag in the corner and the towels on the rack.

“Oh! Thanks Zelo!”

“You’re welcome!”

Mum walked me out and she closed the door behind her. We both walked to the kitchen, and we started to talk while I helped out.

“She is such a cutie… it’s just a shame she is going through a bad time right now…”

“Yeah… but we can help her right?”

“Of course!”

I pulled out some cutlery and set the table.

“Did you see before in the car when her phone buzzed?”

She stirred something on the stove and then put the lid on.

“Yeah, I wonder who it was…”

“I hope it wasn’t bad…”

“Yeah… poor thing…”

I finished with the table, and I pulled out some plates ready for mum.

“Do you think she might have to stay over?”

“Maybe… I don’t want her going home if her mother is going to be nasty…”

“Where will she sleep?”

I walked over to the fridge and pulled out some juice for dinner.

“What about in your room?”

“Yeah! I’ll change the sheets in a second for her.”

I put the cups out, and then I stood by the bench.

“Where will I sleep though?”

My brother walked in and smirked.

“With her, you have a double don’t you?”

“Ya! We’re not that close yet!”

He smiled and pointed at me. He was going to start teasing me, great!

“Yet! You said yet! You like her a lot, don’t you!”

“Ya! Keep your voice down!”

I slapped his arm, but mum whacked the back of my head.

“Don’t misbehave with a guest here please. She’s going through a hard time, so we need to be nice to her, got it?”

“Yes mum…”

Hyung walked around the bench and started to help mum serve the plates.

“Why is she here anyway?”

“Her mother spent all their money on alcohol and didn’t buy anything for her to eat, and her father wouldn’t take her to his house.”

“Wow, that’s rough… so her mum’s a drunk?”

I nodded. It was sad, I wonder if her mum was bad when she was drunk.

“Where did her dad go?”

I looked towards mum.

“I dunno, she didn’t say anything about him… just that he bailed…”

Hyung walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder.

“You had better look after her, ok?”

I nodded. I was glad he was going to be nice to her.

“She sounds like she has a pretty messed up life. No one should have to go through things like that at your age, especially not a sweet little girl, so you had better make her feel safe, ok?”

“Yes, of course!”

“Because if you hurt her more, I’ll kill you…”

“Excuse me, you won’t be killing anyone because you’ll be in jail if you do.”

He smiled at mum.

“I’m glad you’re going to be good to her too. It would be lovely if you were both looking out for her, she really needs it…”

“Yeah…”

“Anything else need doing?”

“Not from you… Jonghongie, go change the sheets, and set up the spare mattress, you can sleep on the floor tonight…”

“Ok!”

I ran off to get the sheets. While I was at the cupboard, I heard Kristen turn off the shower. It was good timing, dinner was almost ready.

I quickly made the bed, and set up my bed at the foot of my bed. I wonder how tonight was going to go, maybe she would talk with me about her family…

When I walked back out, she was in her pyjamas with her hair twisted in a towel.

“Good shower?”

“Yes, thanks…”

“Dinner is almost ready…”

“Ah, good…”

“You must be really hungry…”

She nodded.

“Um, where do I put my dirty clothes?”

“Um, I’ll find a spot for them… follow me…”

I led her to the laundry, and I found an empty bucket. She put her clothes in there, ready to wash later.

I took her duffel bag back to my room, and she followed me there. She looked so surprised when she saw the bed on the floor.

“Am I allowed to stay here tonight?”

I looked up at her shocked.

“Of course! You can’t go back to your mums while she’s like this, can you?”

She started to blush.

“We want you to be safe and happy, ok?”

She nodded, and sat down on my bed. She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes.

“Are you ok?”

“I don’t know…”

I sat down next to her.

“Why not?”

Some tears started to go down her cheeks. Her poor eyes must be so sore from crying so much…

“Well, my parents are horrible, they yell and make me feel bad every day… I never knew what it was like to have a good family, but now you guys are being so nice to me, I don’t know what I did to deserve this…”

She wiped her eyes and looked down.

“Well, hyung said that no one should have to deal with bad parents like yours while you’re young, especially not a pretty little girl… so we are all going to help you get through this, no one deserves to be yelled at just for trying to be good…”

She smiled as she wiped her tears.

“Thank you so, so much… I am forever in your debt…”

I grabbed her hand and squeezed it, but I made sure it was her good hand.

We sat there for a moment, then she looked up and me and spoke.

“Will I be the only one in my pyjamas?”

I laughed at her, not trying to be mean, but it was funny that she cared. She laughed along with me too, she wasn’t offended by my laughter.

“Yeah… but I can change into mine so you’re not alone…”

She started to giggle.

“Ok…”

I showed her to the kitchen, and she sat down at the table. I quickly ran off and changed, when I came back there was an empty seat next to her ready for me. I sat down, and we all started to dig in. Kristen ate really quietly, I don’t blame her. She seemed really nervous, but she was chowing down mums cooking really well. Mum’s chicken and pasta was the best!

 

<><><> Kristen’s P.O.V <><><>

 

We arrived at Zelo’s house after a while, I was really nervous.

I hoped so hard that I wasn’t a burden on Zelo or his family…

After his mum parked, she turned and smiled at me. I had no idea what a motherly smile looked like, but now I did.

“Now, Kristen, I’ll get you to shower and then you can come eat with us.”

I bowed my head and said thank you. I was so grateful, but I felt like I didn’t deserve this kindness.

“Don’t feel nervous, we’re just a simple family, so you shouldn’t be too bothered by us!”

Zelo’s voice was chirpy, it was so cute. I looked up and smiled. I liked how he was just so sincere when he talked.

Then my phone buzzed. I pulled it out and looked at it.

It was mum.

6:27   Kristen! Where the hell are you? You know you have to be home by 5 latest! And what is with the cake? That is so rude Kristen! And it tasted horrible! There are dishes to be done, so hurry up and get home before I get really angry! You’re such a useless child! Just get your back home!

 

Tears started to well in my eyes, ready to fall onto my skirt.

“What’s wrong?”

I quickly put my phone away and tried to blink back my tears. I took a little breath and tried to make sure I sounded ok.

“Oh, it’s nothing…”

I wiped my tears and tried to calm my breath, but then I felt a hand on my shoulder. She looked at me with a comforting stare, she was such a good mother.

“Now Kristen, if you want to talk, I’m here ok?”

I nodded and smiled gratefully. Then Zelo stuck his head between the passenger and driver seats to look at us better.

“And you can always talk with me. Even if you don’t want to talk about sad things, we can talk about other stuff too!”

I felt tears coming on again, so I hid my face. But I was smiling inside. He was so cute the way he cared, but why did he care about me?

“Are you ok?”

I giggled a little as I lifted my head and wiped my tears.

“I think I’ll feel a lot better after spending some time with you guys… thank you so much, you honestly don’t know how thankful I am…”

Zelo grabbed my duffel bag and raced to open the door for me. I grabbed my pack-pack and smiled as he smiled back at me.

“You show Kristen to your room, and put her bags there for now while I go tell your father…”

“Ok mum!”

I walked behind Zelo into his house. It was a very nice, cosy little house. Then he walked down a hallway and opened the door. He walked in and put my bag at the foot of his double bed. I looked around amazed. He had posters and books and all sorts everywhere.

“Your room is so cool!”

“Thanks!”

He grabbed my pack-pack and I sat down as I looked around some more. This gave me a little insight of what he was like. It was such a cool room, nothing like mine. My room was bland, with a crappy rug from the charity shop, with a badly made bed.

He sat down at his desk chair, and he hummed a tune. He sounded a bit nervous, but I recognised the song. It was one of my favourites.

“So, what music do you listen to?”

“Ah, mostly hip-hop, R&B kinda stuff… you?”

“I like that stuff too, but I also like dubstep’s and raps and pop too…”

“That’s cool… I guess we will get on fairly well…”

I smiled and looked at him. I was so glad that we had at least one thing in common!

I felt my phone buzz again, but I ignored it. I was so pissed at mum, I didn’t wasn’t to read another text from her telling me how useless I was.

“You know you can talk with us whenever you want, if you need to…”

I smiled and bowed my head. I fiddled with my fingers to try and stop my mind from wandering, I didn’t realise he had noticed me upset.

“Thanks, you honestly don’t know how thankful I am for you… thank you so much…”

We stayed quiet for a while. It was awkward, and I think he just started to spin a little on his chair and look around for a bit. He was such a good kid. He didn’t need me to drag him down…

Pit pat…

I heard his spin to look at me.

“Kristen… are you… ok?”

I stayed silent and held my breath. This was the first time he had actually seen me cry. I had teared up a couple of times, but I couldn’t hold them back anymore. I heard him walk over slowly, and he sat down beside me. He was nervous, I could tell. But he put his arm around my shoulders. I was scared at first, but I felt so much better. This was the first time I had ever had a hug before. My parents never cared enough to give me hugs, so I enjoyed the moment while I cried a little.

“What’s wrong?”

He slowly pulled my hair off my face gently, I was kind of annoyed he did that, even though it made my heart rush. My eyes were so puffy. He probably thought I was so ugly…

“I just don’t know what to do anymore…”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I have nothing to live for…”

“Of course you do! Everyone has something to live for!”

“Not me… I’m useless…”

“Who told you that?”

I looked down and remembered every time my mother had called me useless. I spoke quietly because of the lump in my throat from crying.

“My mother…”

That was horrible! How could a mum say that to their child?

“When did she say that?”

“Almost every other day. Any time I tried to help out, or do something nice, if she didn’t like it or I messed up, she would call me useless…”

He squeezed me tightly, it felt so good. But why was he hugging me? He reached for my hand, and I got so excited. Maybe he was going to kiss me in a minute? No, don’t think like that, you’ve only just met him properly these last few days. He grabbed my hand, but I immediately retreated because of the burn from the oven. I didn’t want to flinch like that, but it really hurt.

“Kristen… I’m sorry… I was jus-“

“It’s not you, I burnt my hand yesterday… it still hurts when I touch it…”

He took his arm off my shoulders, and grabbed me by the wrist gently as he looked at it. I felt his shoulder against mine. He felt so strong! But he was very gentle with me…

“It’s still red! Some blisters are starting to form too, that’s really painful!”

I was looking him in the face, his face was so addictive to look at! But I looked down at my hand so he didn’t realise I was trying not to fangirl over him…

“Did you run it under cold water after you burned it?”

I shook my head.

“Kristen, come with me…”

He took my other hand and led me to the bathroom. His hand was so soft and warm…

When we got to the bathroom, he ran some cold water and put my other hand in.

“That feels a lot better…”

He leaned against the wall and sighed in relief. I tried so hard to keep my focus on my hand, and not how handsomely he was leaning against the wall. I had to be content with just looking at him from the corner of my eye.

“Jonghong! Where are you?”

“Bathroom mum!”

His mum walked in smiling, but she immediately started to worry when she saw my hand.

“What happened?”

I looked up and smiled.

“Oh, it’s nothing… I burnt my hand yesterday when I was cooking… it’s just gotten sore…”

“Ok… well, would you like to take a shower before or after dinner?”

I thought for a moment, then Zelo impatiently asked her a question.

“What is dinner mum?”

“Pasta and chicken.”

“Yes! You’ll love it Kristen!”

I smiled. He was so cute! Argh! Why do I have to be with the most handsome person in the world?

“Well, should I wait or not?”

“I still have a little bit to cook, how about now?”

“Yeah, that’s sounds good…”

Zelo walked off somewhere quickly. Even though I wanted him to leave so I wasn’t tempted to do something ridiculous to him, I didn’t want him to leave…

“Kristen, is your hand feeling better?”

I turned off the tap and showed her.

“That’s a nasty burn! Would you like some cream?”

“Um… yes please…”

She walked over to the cabinet and pulled out some cream.

“There, after your shower, put this on and rub it in gently, ok?”

I smiled and nodded as I put it on the benchtop.

Then Zelo walked in with my duffel bag and some towels. Aww... that was so sweet!

“Oh! Thanks Zelo!”

“You’re welcome!”

They both walked out, and I started to get undressed. I could hear a little bit of what they were saying because the kitchen was the next room over.

“She is such a cutie… it’s just a shame she is going through a bad time right now…”

“Yeah… but we can help her right?”

“Of course!”

I heard one of them pull out some cutlery. I pulled out some underwear and pyjamas and continued to listen.

 “Did you see before in the car when her phone buzzed?”

“Yeah, I wonder who it was…”

“I hope it wasn’t bad…”

“Yeah… poor thing…”

They were such a cute family, I was so grateful. I could start to smell some of the chicken, and I was so hungry… I quickly jumped in the shower and washed myself. It was such a good shower. I washed my hair and used some of his mum’s body wash. It smelled so nice…

After I finished, I got out and dried myself. I zipped up my duffel bag and twisted my hair in the towel. I grabbed my dirty clothes and opened the door. Zelo was just walking out of his room. He lit up when he saw me.

“Good shower?”

“Yes, thanks…”

“Dinner is almost ready…”

“Ah, good…”

“You must be really hungry…”

I nodded. The smell was making me so hungry, it smelled delicious… then I remembered my dirty clothes.

“Um, where do I put my dirty clothes?”

“Um, I’ll find a spot for them… follow me…”

He led me to the laundry, and found a little bucket for me to put my clothes in. The he took my duffel bag back to his room. I walked in after him, and I got so surprised when I saw a little bed on the floor.

“Am I allowed to stay here tonight?”

He turned around to look at me as if I was getting excited over nothing.

“Of course! You can’t go back to your mums while she’s like this, can you?”

He smiled and I started to blush. Crap Kristen, don’t blush in front of him!

“We want you to be safe and happy, ok?”

I nodded and sat down on his bed. I wiped my eyes dry from the shower, and he looked at me worried.

“Are you ok?”

“I don’t know…”

He sat down next to me again.

“Why not?”

Some tears started to roll down my cheeks again. Why wasn’t I ok? Well, I didn’t have any reason to stay, other than him…

“Well, my parents are horrible, they yell and make me feel bad every day… I never knew what it was like to have a good family, but now you guys are being so nice to me, I don’t know what I did to deserve this…”

I wiped my eyes and looked down.

“Well, hyung said that no one should have to deal with bad parents like yours while you’re young, especially not a pretty little girl… so we are all going to help you get through this, no one deserves to be yelled at just for trying to be good…”

I smiled. His whole family was amazing. I wiped my eyes once more.

“Thank you so, so much… I am forever in your debt…”

He grabbed my hand and squeezed it, but he made sure it was my good hand.

We sat there for a moment, I couldn’t resist the urge to look at him in the eyes. Quick, I had to think of something to say.

“Will I be the only one in my pyjamas?”

He laughed at me. I knew he didn’t mean to offend me, I was laughing so hard inside, but damn it Kristen, that was a stupid thing to say…

“Yeah… but I can change into mine so you’re not alone…”

I started to giggle. He was so cute! I couldn’t wait to see him in his pyjamas!

“Ok…”

He showed me to the kitchen, and I sat at the table. He quickly ran off to get changed, and I watched as his mum and dad sat down, and his hyung put our plates of food in front of us. I smiled and said thanks, then Zelo walked out. There was an empty seat next to me just for him. When he sat, we all started to dig in. I wanted to be polite and tell his mum how amazing her food was, but I as so hungry, so I just quietly ate. I was nervous, but I was too busy enjoying her amazing chicken and pasta to care!

 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><> 

 

Ahhh! Too cute hey?

I’m having so much fun writing this!

Do you think there should be a few more ‘romantic’ scenes with the two together?

Kristen would like that haha!

Tell me what you guys think so far, and if you have any suggestions, let me know! :D