*halmeoni = grandmother
The words in grey are your thoughts, alright?
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You woke up from your nap, stretching your limbs and groaning a bit. A knock came on the door.

“Unnie…?”

A little head peeked in and you smiled. “If it isn’t the little imp Lee Haneul,” You teased a little. “Come on in.” You patted the space next to you.

Your favourite dongsaeng scurried over and sat on your bed, facing you. “I was wondering how you were going to sleep, unnie. You’re such a pig! Oink oink!” She imitated and laughed.

You pretended to be mad at her and placed your hands on your hips. “That’s no way to talk to your lovely Hyemi unnie. Now face my wrath!” You said as you tackled her, tickling her ticklish spots – her underarms.

“Who- AHA AHA- said, STOP IT, you were, *huffs*, lovely!” Haneul squealed in delight as the both of you rolled around your bed. After wrestling for her few moments, both of you were exhausted and panting. You blew into her face and she grimaced.

“Yuck, unnie, your breath stinks.” Haneul grunted, pinching her nose slightly and frowning in disgust. “You wanna smell more of it?” You wiggled your eyebrows at her. She yelped and dashed out of the room almost immediately, complaining about how disgusting you were.

You grinned and flipped open your blue LG Lollipop phone. *Halmeoni had given it to you as a birthday present on your 16^th birthday. You squinted at the screen. It was already 6.30pm, and you promised halmeoni you would help her with dinner at 6pm.

. You cursed silently and frantically combed your hair in front of a cracked mirror. You didn’t even bother changing before running out of the room.

“I’M COMING, HALMEONI!” You hollered as you ran down the long hallway filled with endless rooms on each side. You dashed down the stairs, and being a little woozy after you woke up, you tripped over the last step with an ugh, barging into the kitchen.

“Reporting to headquarters, madam!” You saluted to your all-time favourite granny.

Halmeoni turned around slowly, giving you a crinkled eyesmile. “You’re still as childish as always. Did you oversleep again?” She tutted.

You stuck your tongue out at her playfully and clapped your hands together, totally ignoring her question. “So! What can I help with, halmeoni?”

She chuckled a bit, pointing at the sink. “You can start by washing your hands, Hyemi-ah.”

“Right! Washing my hands!” You exclaimed enthusiastically.

Halmeoni shook her head at you, chuckling. Sometimes I question her age, she thought.

“I’m done!” You exclaimed yet again, showing her your wet hands.

“Help me take the bacon bits out from the fridge. Oh, and crack a dozen eggs for me, dear.” Halmeoni said and stirred her stew slowly. You took a good whiff of the stew and smiled. “You’re making your authentic Japanese curry, aren’t you halmeoni!”

“Yes, Captain Obvious, now shoo!” Halmeoni said, pressing one finger on your forehead gently, pushing you away. You grumbled a little and backed away.

After taking the ingredients out, you handed halmeoni the bowl of bacon bits and started cracking the eggs into a big mixing bowl. A comfortable silence took over as you began humming to your favourite One Direction song.

Halmeoni broke the silence though. “Hyemi dear,” She began. “You’re turning 18 this year, aren’t you?” Aigoo, this kid grows so fast. In a blink of an eye, 18 years have passed.

You gulped. You knew where this was leading to. It was one of those rare moments when halmeoni would discuss your ‘future’ with you. You often avoided this topic, because it hurts, so badly.

“Ne, halmeoni.” You replied. She sighed. “You know what this means, don’t you?” She asked.

You nodded and feigned innocent. “I’ll be graduating from high school!” You gave her a weak smile.

“I know… But you know what I’m talking about.” Halmeoni hinted. “You can’t possibly avoid this topic forever. One day, you’ll still have to leave.”

Leave. You closed your eyes and squeezed them shut, trying to shut your ears as well. When you were young, you had never thought about leaving the orphanage, not until halmeoni mentioned it to you last year. It crushed you when you first heard the news, and you couldn’t accept it very well. And now, you still couldn’t handle the truth. Halmeoni was your only kin, and even though she wasn’t your biological grandmother, but the granny in charge of the orphanage, you had already developed great affection towards her. Try as you might, you couldn’t possibly just leave her.

Tears welled up in your eyes as you wiped them away with your sleeve silently. “Ah, halmeoni! You really want me gone so badly, eh?” You joked, choking on your own tears slightly. You cracked the last egg with trembling hands. “I’m done with the eggs! Now what?”

This girl… she’s trying too hard, it hurts me even. Halmeoni sighed and shook her head inwardly. “Fry the bacon bits with the egg batter; we’re having omelette rice for dinner.”

This topic was forgotten and the both of you engage in another hearty conversation. Soon, both the omelette rice and stew were done and ready to be served.

“Hyemi-ah!” Halmeoni called from the dining room. “Help me lay the table!”

“Arasso!” You yelled back, wiping your hands clean on a paper towel. You headed towards the dining hall and started to lay the table. However, you realised that the dining table seemed a little more… cramped than usual.

Something seems off, you thought. Furrowing your eyebrows, you counted the number of chairs around the huge round marble table. That’s odd. Usually there are only 12 chairs, but now there are 15.

You pointed at the suspicious new chairs. “Halmeoni, did you accidentally place 3 extra chairs here? Were the kids playing and they forgot to put the chairs back or-”

“No,” She interrupted. “We’re expecting guests.” Halmeoni smiled.

Guests? Like, new orphans? Or maybe, Halmeoni’s elderly friends? But Halmeoni never makes friends.You frowned. Who could these guests be?

“Well don’t just stand there, help me bring the dishes out.” Halmeoni lightly bopped you on the head. You snapped out of your thoughts. “Ne!”

“Call the children,” Halmeoni told you.

“KIDS, IT’S TIME FOR DINNER!” You yelled, followed by a stampede. Here comes the hungry mob.

“YAY, IT’S NOONA’S OMELETTE RICE!” Soohyun, another orphan, cheered. You ruffled his hair in gratitude and took a seat across the empty chairs. Halmeoni sat next to you.

“Halmeoni, you never told me we were having guests over today. Who are they?” You asked. Halmeoni gave you a slight smile, “You’ll see. They’ll be here soon, and-” The bell rang. “There they are.”

“I’LL GET IT!” Haneul declared and ran to the door, beating the other kids to it. She opened the door cautiously, peeping at the strangers from the small crack. Haneul swallowed hard. “Halmeoni!”

Haneul opened the door wider to reveal family of three, and a rich one at that.

The middle-aged couple were dressed in branded clothes, the lady carrying the latest Louis Vuitton model and the man wearing a limited edition Rolex watch on his left wrist. They must be stinking rich, you thought.

A boy about your age then wheeled into the orphanage. Yes, wheeled. He was on a black and silver wheelchair, dressed in a grey wifebeater and tight, white skinnies. He was stunningly handsome, tan, lean, with relatively think lips and mysterious eyes. He looked like an Arab Prince effortlessly, making you a little self-conscious.

“Umma!” They lady called and walked towards halmeoni with open arms. Umma? Wait, what- who huh? You looked away from the boy as you scrutinized the lady in front of you. She looked nothing like halmeoni, yet here she was, embracing halmeoni and showering her with kisses on the cheek.

You frowned at their happy family moment. Halmeoni never told me she had a family, nevertheless, a… grandson.

The kids and you watched the brief reunion of the family, as though it was a drama, and you felt something tug inside of you. The kids must feel really bad, being orphans and watching this. True enough, you looked down to see Haneul pouting.

“Unnie,” She tugged on the hem of your shirt. “Will I get a happy family like this, too?”

“Of course you will, Haneul. You’re such an angel. Who wouldn’t want you?” You pinched her nose softly and smiled. She smiled back and released your shirt, holding on to your hand firmly.

You brought you attention back to the guests. The wheelchair-bounded boy wheeled towards halmeoni, whereby she embraced him warmly. “Aigoo, Jongin-ah, it’s good to see that you’ve grown into such a fine, young man. How are you?”

“Never better, halmeoni.” He grinned, sending butterflies into your tummy. Omo, what is this.

“Good, good. Come on now, let’s start dinner, I think the kids are famished.” Halmeoni replied and everyone took their respective seats. You saw the lady, Halmeoni’s daughter, wave at the kids as you sat down. You helped the nearby kids sit properly, making sure they were comfortable and draping napkins over them. Once you were done, you looked up and saw that you were sitting directly opposite the tan boy. What was his name again, Jongin?

You gulped. Otteokhae, I eat like a buffalo. You mentally slapped yourself and prayed you would look at least presentable for the night.

[A/N]: (credits to rightful owners for the gifs)

Omggggg I never thought I would actually have chance to do this author's note thing. This is a dream come true *cries*
Anyhow, I just wanna thank you guys for subscribing, like really really thank you! LEMME LOVE YOU GUYS <3

I'll try to update as much as possible, so I hope you'll continue loving this fic and well, I'd love comments please! ^^
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Lastly, I love you guise! <3 and so does Kai. (seriously this boy is so flexible how did he make that heart shape O_O)