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She rubbed her eyes tiredly, checking the time to see it was just past six in the morning. Groaning and cursing under her breath, she padded out of her room to the front door. She hoped it wouldn't be a guy who'd see her tangled hair and luggage under her eyes.

It wasn't a guy for sure. It was her Mom. Standing at the door beside a small suitcase and looking as if she'd aged years between the three months she'd seen her stood the most important woman in her life. Ara squealed before wrapping her arms tightly around the frail woman and squeezing her. The two were crying tears of great joy and elation at just seeing each other.

She pulled away from her Mom and dragged her into the apartment. "What brings you to Seoul? Doesn't it take ages to travel here? Was the journey okay? Why have you gone so skinny? How's Dad?"

"Slow down, dearie," her Mom chuckled at Ara's excitement, sitting down on the sofa. "I'm fine, just tired. I suppose you don't have extra room in this small complex for your old mother, am I correct?"

"Untrue! I'm sleeping on the sofa. No buts," Ara finalized sternly. She then whined like a young child. "Answer my questions!"

"Okay, okay! Your father is fine. He's woken up and is spending some time in the hospital. The doctors hope to discharge him sometime this week. Your sister misses you so."

A soft smile appeared on Ara's face. Her sister. Once her best friend. "How's she?"

"Great," her Mom responded. "She's making enough for your Dad's treatment. We're so proud of her. But don't take that wrong; we're both extremely proud of your progress."

"Thanks, Mom."

She fell into the comfortable warmth her mother provided that she missed through these lonely few months. It felt like she was back to being a young toddler relying heavily on her Mom, but it was weird that now she was living all alone in a big city. She missed home.

"You know your sister showed me a photo of your new friends," Ara's Mom murmured in her hair, lightly stroking the material of her pajama shirt. "You've never spoken about them."

She rolled her eyes and made a quick mental note to plague her sister with loads of angry messages. "They're new. I've only just become friends with them."

"Well you all seem cozy. Doesn't look like you've been friends for a small time. And you? With friends?"

"Okay, Mom, you've seen me for the first time in three months for about fifteen minutes and you're already criticizing me? I truly feel the love..."

The mother and daughter duo spent the rest of their time fake arguing and catching up on lost time. When the clock struck seven, Ara leapt up. "I need to get ready for university, Mom. When I'm gone feel free to do what you like. I have a spare set of keys on the drawer near the door, and I'm sure my fridge is full with groceries."

After visiting the bathroom to freshen up, getting changed and feeding both herself and mother, she picked up her bag filled to the brim with stacks of papers and her bulky laptop in the middle. It killed her shoulder every second the bag sat there, but this was life. She had to suffer to get what she wanted.

Hugging and leaving a quick kiss on her Mom's wrinkled cheek, Ara left the house briskly. "Bye!"

—

"Remind us to come visit your Mom when we can!" Seungwan pointed out from the front seat of her car after university, Mira sitting beside her. "We love you!"

"Love you too," Ara retorted soppily before heading into the apartment lobby holding her heavy bag. It was the best feeling just coming back home to throw your excess stuff on the floor, feeling the sensations of relief and tranquility rush through your body as you crash down onto the cozy sofa.

She did not experience that.

Sat on the sofa was Kyungsoo. Do Kyungsoo. Her neighbor. Beside her own mother. They were sat conversing, both their faces clearly bright with interest and probably laughter judging how Kyungsoo's small yet perfectly aligned teeth bared as he listened to Ara's Mom's story. They both held a cup filled with coffee, sipping it momentarily. Their eyes gazed up to the arrived Ara. Kyungsoo flashed a brief smile, and her Mom waved.

"Hey! How was university?" She hollered out. She'd looked much younger than when she first entered Ara's apartment in the morning.

"It was okay. Nothing special. How'd you guys meet?"

Setting the cup onto the coffee table, she crossed her legs giddily. "Your neighbor, the one I saw on the photo, came to check up on you whilst you were at university! Isn't he sweet?"

"Uh, yeah," Ara said awkwardly. Her Mom was embarrassing her to the max, and she didn't even want to think about giving eye contact the probably smug guy sitting on her sofa.

"Ara used to babysit my daughter," Kyungsoo explained afterwards.

A loud gasp left her Mom's mouth. Oops, Ara thought, he must've not told her about the whole father thing. "You're a Dad? You look so young! I thought you were Ara's age, or even younger!"

"I'm flattered, but I've actually turned twenty–six earlier this year."

"Tell me the name of your skincare products," Ara's Mom breathed, still absolutely gobsmacked at the revelation. "You look so youthful!"

The two neighbors both chuckled at her surprise, Ara finding her Mom cute although very cringeworthy. It was better than nothing, however, and she missed her Mom more than anything else in the world. Just seeing her jubilant face was enough to make Ara's heart beat faster and lips curl up.

"I've left some lasagne in the oven, so I'll just go to the kitchen and take it out. Please, Kyungsoo, join us for dinner."

He nodded his head kindly. "I'd love to, thank you very much."

After Ara's Mom disappeared to the kitchen, the tired university student flopped down onto the sofa across Kyungsoo. She sighed. "I've missed my Mom's cooking so bad. I don't think my boring pasta salads are up to scratch."

He cracked his knuckles, amused. "Well I don't want to brag but I'm quite a talented chef myself."

"Hence why Chanyeol branded you as the Korean Gordon Ramsey? I'm sure he was exaggerating a lot."

"Gordon Ramsey's a little far fetched, I'll agree, but I'm handy with the spices."

Suddenly the conversations with Sehun and Chanyeol flooded Ara's brain. "This is totally random but it did not occur to me that Chanyeol's a mechanical engineer!"

"Ah," he contemplated. "I know it's hard to believe but he's actually one of the most smartest guys I know. He came out of High School with straight A's and aced the entrance exams."

"No way. That's amazing," Ara squealed. She felt really horrible for prejudging Chanyeol's skills and this was a lesson to her. People can trick you.

He shrugged off her compliments. "I mean I don't blame you...he's the epitome of dopey. But don't let his personality confuse you; Park Chanyeol's a genius. You know he can play five instruments?"

"I can't even play one."

At that very moment, Ara's Mom rushed in holding a steaming case of lasagne, the savory smell of minced meat, slightly tangy cheese and everything in between wafting around the small room immediately. She placed it onto the dinner table at the end of the living room with a grin.

"Dinner's ready!" She announced proudly, Kyungsoo and Ara making their way to the table. The latter had experienced an unfound appetite and the smell wasn't relieving it in anyways — moreso increasing it. The table was able to hold four people at most; it was one of the basic circular ones that had wooden chairs padded with cushions at the seat and back surrounding it. Kyungsoo and Ara sat beside each other, her mother taking her other side.

After the food was served, the first few minutes were spent just savoring the delicious home cooked lasagne. It was somehow emotional for the home deprived Ara — the sheer taste of her Mom's food sent back nostalgic memories of her sweet, small family back in her hometown. She wanted to be back there more than ever.

"So Kyungsoo," Ara's Mom began after taking a bite of the food. "What's your job?"

He took a sip of water. "Oh, I work in a local bank as an auditing clerk, currently. It's been my job for the past three years or so."

"So you must make a bit for yourself, right?"

"I make just enough to live by, I guess," Kyungsoo bashfully answered, looking down at his half eaten lasagne. "Salary is different when you have to provide for more than one person."

"How old is your child?"

The mention of Kyungri was enough to bring a bitter smile onto his face. There was still a few days until she returned back to her father's care, but those days dragged. "She's three."

Ara's Mom tilted her head. "Ah, so you were fairly young when you had her."

"To be honest, at the time we weren't expecting to be parents," he described. "But I can never imagine my life without her. She's, hand on heart, the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Ara couldn't help but beam at Kyungsoo's sincerity. The way he cared about his daughter was something she hoped to do when the time came. Not anytime soon, hopefully, she can't even look after herself at times.

The dinner went in a breeze as Kyungsoo insisted on washing the dishes. Ara's Mom denied at first, claiming he was the guest, therefore shouldn't have to deal with the pile of dishes sitting in Ara's sink. But he refused.

"I'll help him, Mom," Ara added, standing up from her seat and gathering the plates on the table. "Just sit down and watch some TV. You travelled a lot today so relax."

She exhaled before mumbling in agreement and migrating to the sofa where she turned on the TV. They left to the kitchen filled with dirty plates, Ara unconsciously sighing at the large mess.

"Great!" She wryly hissed. "There's so much."

Kyungsoo bunched up his sleeves up to his elbows so he could commence with the washing up. "You do the drying, I'll wash up."

"Cool."

The first few strenuous minutes consisted of rapid scrubbing and washing of dishes as Ara dried them up with a crisp tea towel and placed them back to their allocated spaces. It was continuous, speedy and operational. As Kyungsoo handed the dish, Ara was swift to dry it and put it back.

"Your Mom is so nice," he randomly blurted out, her head snapping to face him. "She's so warm and kind."

"Not when she's mad she isn't," she sniggered in response; usually being the main culprit to her Mom's interchangeable temper.

He stopped for a second, leaning carefully on the counter to prevent the water soaking him. "How's she dealing with everything?"

"I don't even know myself," Ara admitted. "She puts on a smiley face that could really fool you if you didn't look closely. But I don't want to bring it up because I feel like her being here is a holiday away from all the pain and illness. I just want to keep that smiley face intact for as long as I can."

"But that face will never mask what's going on inside. It's thin and temporary; she may be happy to you now, but in retrospect she's probably finding it extremely difficult. Maybe it's best if you talk it out with her."

She put a plate back in its drawer. "Hmph, I never thought about it that way. I'll try. Anyways, why have you stopped washing? We don't have unlimited time, you know!"

Ara gently tapped his back with tea towel, laughing melodiously when he turned around with an exaggerated shocked face.

"Is that how you're going to be? I see," he shook his head, gathering some soap suds and smothering it all over Ara's lightly made up face. She squealed at her now stinging eyes and rubbed them verociously.

"That's it!"

Rushing to the sink she also picked up the suds and threw them at Kyungsoo's face. It became an all–out war in a matter of seconds. When he guarded the sink so she couldn't get anymore soap suds, she resorted to hitting him with the tea towel.

Holding her arm in the most platonic way he could, he used that in his advantage as she couldn't get out of his iron grasp. His other hand held enough soap that could cover her whole face. Snaking his arm loosely around her waist once she began struggling, he readied his hand for the soap smothering. To the pair, none of it seemed remotely weird or anything. They'd just wanted to win.

That's when footsteps emerged.

It was a war that sadly nobody won. Because Ara's Mom stepped in puzzled from all the sounds generated and surprised by the mess.

The most awkward part of it all was that Kyungsoo was still holding Ara closely, her arms loosely around his shoulders to prevent him from aiming at her precious face. To Ara's Mom, it was a whole lot of explaining to do. But beside her stood someone else.

Im Juhyun.

Her eyes flashed hurt before returning back to its calm, casual stare. When the pair finally knocked it off and pulled away from their suggestive position, their eyes scanned the soap covered kitchen demurely.

So much for cleaning.

—»

Agh, I'm back with yet another promised weekly update! I hope whoever's reading is voting and commenting so I know what I'm writing isn't pure crap, lmao. Tell me what you think because I'm not an easily offended person in any sense, so constructive criticism would really allow me to fix up my upcoming chapters!

Thank you so much for reading and getting this book to its first major milestone: 1,000 reads! Keep reading and I hope you enjoyed this update! x