Luhan’s patience was reaching its limits during dinnertime. This was not what he’d expected when Mrs. Oh told him about her oh-so-adorable baby boy who was stopping by for a visit. A ‘baby boy’ was supposed to be around six or seven, with cute little smiling dimples and good basic manners. Not a freaking twenty-one-year-old who can’t. Stop. Staring. At. His. .

            Okay, so maybe he was being a little too unreasonable here since Mrs. Oh had indeed, once mentioned about his son who was studying in a local university, ‘just at the city next door’ was her original words, if Luhan’s memory could still serve him well.

            Eleven months ago, Mrs. Oh had been kind enough to offer the Chinese male a helping hand when he was struggling in various aspects of his life. Being just freshly out of his interning days, Luhan had been lucky enough to score a permanent spot in the highly-competitive section of the company he was interning at. But not quite as lucky when he found out that he was one of the twenty pioneering employees that were sent out to start out a new branch in Korea. It was something the twenty-something-year-old male hadn’t even thought about and it had sent him bustling around in a panicky state before, during and after the transfer was made.

            He’d remembered how grateful he was to the kind stranger he’d met then, having forced to descend to the depths of his own version of a hellhole – sleeping in the lounge room of their company and eating cups after cups of ramen every day – that the male couldn’t believe his ears when he was offered a room for rental.

            Since then Luhan was pretty much indebted to the kind Mr. and Mrs. Oh and had vowed to repay them in any way he deemed possible enough.

            But this– this must be some kind of joke!

            He’d been busy helping out in the kitchen a while ago, cooking meals for four when he turned around only to spot the other, openly ogling at his .

            His precious !

            Thus within the first few minutes of meeting one another, Luhan had conned the young son of the Ohs to be nothing like his wonderful parents. Sophisticated maybe, but there was a kind of look in his eyes that the doe-eyed Chinese male could not decipher-

            -well whatever that was, it.

            Luhan had to admit, dinner was rather awkward between the four of them.

            Sehun – that’s the younger Oh – had been giving him not-so-subtle glances over the dining table when he thought the others weren’t looking. And one look at his expression would have concluded that he was already smitten with the older male.

            Unsurprisingly, the infatuation didn’t go unnoticed by the younger male’s parents; both of them giving looks at each other before nudging their son to at least be subtle on the staring.

            Oh, young people these days-

            Luhan, on the other hand, handled the mini-crowd just like every other day – replying to occasional chatters during mid-dinner and polite thank yous when food was served onto his plate.

            Then came the time after dinner.

            Mrs. Oh had knowingly announced that they were, unfortunately, out of apples for dessert and had promptly dragged Mr. Oh out for ‘grocery shopping’, conveniently leaving Luhan in charge of Sehun as they left.

            What supporting parents, Sehun thought, smiling widely as he bid them goodbye. He’d have to thank them again and again after all of this, definitely.

            Meanwhile, Luhan wasn’t all that sure of himself right now, frowning when the older Ohs weren’t looking. And as soon as the duo was out of sight, the older male made an attempt to distance himself from the other, opting to head to the kitchen to wash plates in lieu of having to have a conversation with the younger.

            Sehun ly to find the object of his attention disappearing to the back of the house instead, he trailed the other, leaning against the wall as he quietly watched him from behind.

            The whole house was quiet except for the sound of plates being washed.

            “... Can you please stop doing that?” Luhan broke the silence, teeth gritting as he spoke.

            “Do what?” To which Sehun replied to, oblivious to how the other was feeling right now.

            “Do that. Stop staring at me!”

            There, he said it.

            “I’m not staring.” Oh the guts of that little -

            Luhan turned around and glared daggers at the other, while the latter just smiled at him. Clearing his throat slightly before he spoke, Sehun even looked bashful at the slightest right now.

            “So uh, Luhan, right? Do you mind if you-”

            “No.”

            Sehun blinked. He hadn’t had the chance to finish what he’d wanted to say, so he tried again.

            “No wait, listen to me. I’m saying that I want to-”

            “No. No way.”

            Sehun frowned. What the hell was the other doing?

            “What are you ‘no’-ing for? I haven’t even finish talking to you yet okay-”

            Luhan clicked his tongue, already knowing what the other intended to say-

            “-I’m not going to go on a date with you.”

            Sehun stared at the other, his expression somewhere between amusement and bewilderment.

            “I’m not asking about that though.”

            Wait what-

            “I just want to wash my hands, so if you don’t mind ...”

            The very next minute Luhan was out of the kitchen, cheeks red in embarrassment as he headed back into his room.

            Why oh why did he have to be so air-headed and assume stupid things?

            Why was he so dumbdumbdumbdumbdumb-

            “Hey-” Sehun followed the other towards the room and soon stopped in his tracks, looking around the interior and blinked once. “Wow, mom really never expected me to come back here huh?”

            Luhan stared at the other. Does that mean that this was his room previously?

            “Uh so, hyung?”

            “What.” What more did the other want now?

            Sehun started slowly, “So if I asked you out on a date… Will the answer still be no?”

            “... No ...”

            “No, as in ‘no’ you don’t want to go for a date with me or ‘no’ you changed your mind now?”

            He grinned and Luhan felt like slapping himself.

            “No, as in I’m not interested in going out with baby boys like you.” The shorter replied, not at all losing his sass.

            The other frowned. “Hey I’m not little-” But before Sehun could pipe in any more of his ‘nonsense’ the older of the two stepped in and added, “Besides, I’m too busy for a relationship right now, so no thank you.”

            And then came the younger’s reply, which, in Sehun’s own opinion, had shut Luhan up pretty well.

            “Who said anything about a relationship?”

x

            Imagine Luhan’s surprise when the younger showed up at his doorsteps again after a week, a bouquet of flowers in hand for a certain Chinese male as they headed out for a movie date.