"Soobin, will you grab me the big red
bowl from the top cabinet?"

"Sure," he says as he stuffs an eggroll
in his mouth. He marches his way towards the refrigerator. As he opens the cabinets above, his hand reaches out for the large red bowl that his mother had specifically requested. Once in his possession, he promptly carries it over to his mother, fulfilling her previous instructions.

"It's not polite to eat the food while you're preparing it and quit it with that attitude of yours, I don't want any of that when Kara gets here." His mother yanks the big red bowl from his grasp.

She begins to mix the cabbage pieces
with the spice paste, eventually turning it into kimchi. Soobin stomachs growls a bit. He could not wait to get a taste of that.

"Well, I'm starving." Soobin shrugs.
"And plus, you already know how this
dinners gonna go anyway." Soobin
sighs as he stuffs another eggroll in his mouth.

Soobin's older sister, Kara, can't seem
to tell the difference between trash
and men. Ever since she has been
old enough to date, she has brought
home the worst of the worst.

One's cheated on her, one's left her for some high schooler, one stole her credit card (thank goodness she canceled it in time), and another had triplets with his cousin. What's next?

He'll turn out gay? Soobin thought.

His mother gives him a dead look
with a hand on her hips and her face
scowling with annoyance, "I'm not telling you again. Quit. It."
Soobin shakes his head. His poor, dear
sister.

How can she be so blind? Before
he could steal another eggroll, the
doorbell rang. Soobin and his mother
looked right at each other

They're way too early.

"Dammit, I'm not finished yet.." His
mother mumbled. She hurried to take
off her apron, ran to wash her hands,
and fix any last-minute touches she
needed.

"I'll get the door and stall'em, Mom."
Soobin spoke. However, his mother was too preoccupied with her own thoughts to provide a response. Consequently, he nodded to himself, departed from the kitchen in order to open the door.

Soobin said, but his mother was too
distracted with herself to answer. He
nodded to himself and left the kitchen
to open the door..

There she was, Kara. And her new
boyfriend...

Soobin put on a big smile, "Kara.. my
dearest. Don't you know when people
say to come at 4:30, they mean 4:30?"

Kara imitates his insincere smile, forcefully pushing him aside in order to gain entry. "Stop being annoying and learn how to treat your guests."

Soobin scoffs. Kara sprints to
the kitchen, leaving her newfound
boyfriend and little brother all alone.

I tried to stall her, Soobin sighed.

As Soobin turned his head to get a better view, he couldn't help but be curious about Kara's boyfriend who had just entered their home.

He observed intently as the unfamiliar face lit up with a warm smile in response to Kara's playful and enthusiastic demeanor.

Soobin's interest piqued further as the stranger, with a friendly disposition, introduced himself to him before promptly trailing after Kara, who was eagerly heading towards her mom. He introduces himself to Soobin and follows Kara afterward.

Yeonjun. Soobin repeated in his head.
He stared at Yeonjun's backside as
Yeonjun continued walking. Brown hair, ripped jeans, chains, and a croptop!? Soobin even recalls a lip
ring! Or was it a piercing?

Either way, Soobin eyed the man suspiciously. Who would wear such a thing to meet your partner's family? Soobin couldn't tell if the guy was fashionable or a wannabe gangster. It was a bit strange.

Soobin then took a glance at Yeonjun's
shoes. They were black platform
shoes. Amongst all the familiar shoes,
Yeonjun's big black boots stood out like a sore thumb. Big feet, Soobin noted. He shut the door and followed them both to the kitchen.

With Kara's assistance, his mother successfully completed the task of setting the table and preparing the food well before the clock struck 4. And now, in this very moment, they found themselves seated together at the table, forming a bond that resembled a fully established family dynamic.

Yeonjun displayed an impressive ability to charm others, as he managed to win over Soobin's mother within a short span of just one hour. His charismatic nature was on full display, as he effortlessly entertained everyone with his witty jokes scattered throughout their interaction.

"And that's how I got to go to Hawaii
for free." Yeonjun had told the story
of his terrible traveling experience
turning into some drunk accident
adventure. Soobin could only cringe at his mother's exaggerated laughter.

"Oh my god, I would love to go
someday." Kara confessed, and his
mother agreed. They soon began to
throw in unrealistic ideas for traveling destinations.

Yeonjun interrupts, "Again, Ms. Choi I
apologize for making Kara come early. We wouldn't have been able to make it if we didn't.

"Don't even worry about it. I needed
the help anyway since all Soobin
did was eat." They laugh as Soobin
remained silent. He was so over this.

"So anyway, tell me how you two
meet?" Soobin's mother beamed with
excitement. She handed Yeonjun a
bowl of rice, which he thanked in
response.

His voice is kind of deep, Soobin had
thought. He reached for the tongs and
grabbed a massive amount of kimchi.
His plate had been filled with most of
it, Soobin, smiled to himself happily.

"Well, we met at a concert actually,
Kara scoops a bit of the rice mother
passed to Yeonjun into her plate."And,
I don't know. I thought he was cute, so
asked for his number, and here we
are."

Kara smiled just as brightly as mother
did. She then smiled at Yeonjun, and he smiled at her.

"How romantic!" Soobin's mother cried out loud.

Hardly, Soobin thought. He huffed and then grabbed four eggrolls for himself.

This was exactly how it always went.
Mother would ask the basic questions
the boyfriends would give their best
answers to seem worthy, and we would all rejoice because at least he's not a bum. It was getting tedious at this point.

Soobin's mother began to pry a bit
more but before she could finish
her sentence, Soobin interrupted,
'So Yeonjun, what is it exactly that
you do?" He grimaced at Yeonjun's
excessive piercings.

"I'm a student at Korea University at
the moment. I'm also actually doing an internship for Korea Production. I'm hoping to become a producer one day." Yeonjun responded.

"Ah, well. You're in college. That's
certainly something to be proud of.
And majoring in film, that's exciting."

Yeonjun smiled proudly as Soobin's
mother praised him. To any outsider, it would seem that Soobin's mother was thrilled, but Soobin could tell she was a bit disappointed in his choice of career. He was in college, though, so points for that.

"Not only that," Kara chimes in, "his
company is considering him for this
big project in one of the big music
agencies. Which could mean a lot for
experience."

So he's a poor college student with
thousands of debt. Possibly using
Kara to mooch. Instead of working a
part-time job and earning real money,
he's off at concerts and probably
spending his parent's money on
terrible clothes.

Soobin shook his head. She really
knows how to pick 'em.

Soobin had grabbed another eggroll
and crunched on it disgustingly. With
his mouth still full, he asks, "But isn't an internship just basically working for free?"

"That's not-" Kara had started before
Yeonjun placed his hand on hers,
telling her it was okay. Yeonjun smiled dazzling at Soobin, "There are such things as paid internships."

"Is that what you're doing?"

"Well, no-"

'So you work for free? Basically, having no steady income, and you're how old? How exactly do you make a living then?" Soobin shoved what was left of his eggroll and chewed obnoxiously. His mother had elbowed him to stop, and he ignored her attempts.

"I live with my parents. Right now
I'm just focusing on my education and
career." Yeonjun continued to smile
ear to ear, as if nothing was wrong in
the world.

"At least he's doing something, unlike
someone I know who's just leeching.
Kara adds as she glares at Soobin. Of
course, he ignores her as well.

Soobin's mother attempts to alleviate the uncomfortable atmosphere, but Soobin wasn't done yet. He still has more to say. Despite finding Kara annoying, he has grown tired of seeing his sister constantly getting hurt. While his mother may be a bit of a pushover, Soobin knows that he is not. He firmly believes that anything this guy says is completely nonsense.

"But I mean, my sister is 24. She's
getting quite old. Getting ready to
settle. It doesn't seem like you're ready for something like that."

"Hey!"

Yeonjun's smile never wavered.
He remained calm, as if saying he
wouldn't let anything knock him down. He stood proud. "That's something Kara and I would discuss," he turns to Soobin's mother, "Kids these days seem to like to rush when don't think things through, you know how it is. Immaturity or whatever."

Soobin's mother and Kara could
only laugh awkwardly through the
unpleasant atmosphere.

"I don't think it's immature to care."
Soobin replied.

"But it is to judge."

That had shut Soobin up. It would
seem Yeonjun knew of Kara's past and
exactly what Soobin was trying to do.
With his words, Yeonjun declared he
would not be the same as the others.

We'll see, Soobin thought to himself.

                       -ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

After dinner was over, Yeonjun had
left for something urgent. Kara stayed
with Soobin and their mother to help
clean up. 

"What was that?"

Soobin did what he did best and
ignored.

"That crap you tried to pull, I know
what you were doing." Kara pointed
her little finger in Soobin's face. He
smacked it away.

"Oh. Do you mean me asking the
important questions?"

"You were incredibly rude to him,
wasn't he Mom?!" Kara pleaded to
their mother who could only shrug.

"I did tell him to be nice, but Kara, what can I say? You haven't always had the best experiences with dating. I think it's fine to be cautious." Their mother passed a plate to Kara to dry.

"Exactly!" Soobin yelled.

"That's- You're really gonna excuse him being totally obnoxious?! Yeonjun's different! I really like him." She slammed the dried off plate on the counter and huffed in annoyance.

Their mother smacked Kara's arm.
"You break it you pay for it," she
warned.

Soobin almost laughed at his sister's
ridiculousness, "That's what you said
about the last few." He grabbed the
plate off the counter and place it
gently in the top cabinets.

"Well, Mom? Wasn't he great?"

Their mother hands Kara another
plate, "Well, he was kinda funny.

Kara smiles victoriously, "Hah! Mom
thinks he's funny."

"Yeah, you really hit the jackpot there
Kara." Soobin rolled his eyes.

Kara passes the final dish to Soobin, entrusting them with the task of putting it away. Their mother, clearly drained from the day's activities, retreats upstairs to prepare herself for a well-deserved rest.

Meanwhile, Soobin swiftly grabs a handful of rags to cleanse the kitchen countertops. As this unfolds, Kara remains still and quiet, perhaps lost in thought or simply observing the scene before them.

"Look, I know you're just trying to look out for me."

Soobin continues to wipe, maintaining complete silence. He is well aware of the predictable outcome of this situation. It is always the same, only concerning a new individual.

"But I really like him. I saw the way
you barely talked until you decided to
interrogate him." Kara walks closer
and crosses her arms, "Please just give
him a chance."

"He dressed like like a goth." Soobin said.

Kara continued, "He's very sweet."

"He has like a hundred piercings." He rolled his eyes.

Kara continued, "He treats me well."

"What if he's using you? You heard
him, he lives with his parents."

"So do you," Kara replied.

Soobin placed the towel on the rack.
"Lock the door on your way out," he
walked past Kara, giving her one last
look before heading upstairs for the
night.

Omg first chap, how is it?

Please vote!