Eleventh

Kai

I had yet to bring up the topic of meeting my sister to Kyungsoo by the time next week came around. We were so busy trying to help Chanyeol out as much as we could, and that felt a little more urgent. We couldn't exactly help him leave his house, but we tried to keep him as much as we could and always made sure to be a phone call away.

Still, I spent some time talking with Taeyoung about meeting Kyungsoo. Considering that she was only seven, she didn't really understand what a boyfriend was or why I would ever risk getting cooties just because I had a crush on someone, but she wasn't opposed to the idea. I knew convincing Kyungsoo would be a different story. 

I decided to call him up one weekend and ask him to come over. I figured if I gave him less time, he would be forced to spend less time overthinking his response.

"Hey, what's up?" he said once the ringing sound went away.

"You wouldn't happen to have any plans today, would you?" I asked.

"I'm supposed to go to my dad's work today for a few hours. He wants me to shadow one of his colleagues so I can get a taste of lawyer life and have something else to put on college applications, as if I need that."

"Well, what are you doing after that?"

"Locking myself in my room so I can ignore my parents. Unless you have a better idea for me."

I laughed. "I might," I replied. "I kind of promised Taeyoung I'd hang out with her today and wanted to see if you wanted to join us."

I was met with silence. "Taeyoung as in your s-sister Taeyoung?"

"That's the only Taeyoung I know." I chuckled and started pacing back and forth on the balcony outside.

"I-I don't know Kai. I mean, she is like your whole world," he said. "What if she hates me? I've never been great with kids."

"And now you're part of my world, too and I think it's important that the two most important people in my life meet," I replied, leaning down on the railing. "And don't worry about her hating you. She's seven. The worst she'll do is make fun of your outfit and then she'll ask you if you want to have a tea party ten minutes later." He laughed lightly, adding on a small exhale at the end. "Please? It's important to me."

He was quiet for a little longer. "Okay. I'll come over after I get home," he said.

"Thank you." I smiled widely. "I'll cook dinner, so don't eat."

"Fine. Should I bring anything? Dessert maybe? What does she like?"

"You don't have to, but if you must, anything with chocolate in the name will do. But seriously, don't feel pressured to."

"I'm going to anyway and you can't stop me." I laughed again. "I'll see you later."

"Okay, bye," I said before pulling the phone away and hanging up. I smiled to myself again and then headed back inside. 

Kyungsoo

I got to Jongin's house close to 5 p.m. and knocked on the door, holding a small bag of desserts in my other hand. He opened the door a few moments later with a smile on his face. 

"Hey babe," he said.

"Hi," I said with a faint blush on my cheeks. 

"Come on in," he said. I followed him inside and into the kitchen. "I was just in the middle of a spectacular dinner of box macaroni and cheese and hamburgers."

"Wow, that sounds fancy," I said, setting the bag on the table and going to stand next to him by the stove.

"It's kind of all I can cook without a microwave," he said with a nervous chuckle, glancing over at me.

"I like cooking. I could cook for you guys some time if you want," I said.

"You'd do that?" he asked. I nodded my head, wearing a smile. "Yeah, that'd be awesome. I'm sure she'd love to eat something other than this."

"You can say that again," I heard a small voice say. I looked over and saw a little girl with fairly long, thin black hair walking over to us.

"There's my girl," Kai said, a big smile growing on his face as he stopped what he was doing to pick her up. "Taeyoung, this is Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo, this is Taeyoung, my favorite little sister."

"I'm your only sister," she said as she rolled her eyes, looking at him unimpressed. "And I'm not little, thank you very much."

"In that case, I guess I'm just going to have to find someone else to give that brand new, giant book of bedtime stories to. I don't think big girls need bedtime stories," he said.

"Okay, okay, I'm little. Don't give it away," she said, making him laugh.

"That's exactly what I thought," he said as he set her back down.

"Kai oppa talks about you a lot," she said, now looking at me.

"Me?" I asked, looking down at her.

"Uh-huh. It's always Kyungsoo this, and Kyungsoo that. It's kind of annoying sometimes." I didn't exactly know what to say back to that, so I looked at him and he just laughed. "What's in this bag?" she asked, now walking over to the table and climbing onto the chair.

"O-Oh, your brother said you like chocolate, so I brought dessert," I answered, watching as she peered into the bag. "I didn't know what specifically you liked, so I figured I'd bring options."

She looked at me and smiled a closed-mouth smile. "I like you," she said, earning a chuckle from both Jongin and me. 

"Okay, we'll save that for later. It's called dessert for a reason," Jongin said as she looked back in the bag.

She pouted and sat down in the chair. "You're no fun."

"Why don't you show Kyungsoo the school project you've been working on? Dinner should be ready soon," he said, putting his attention back on the stove.

"Fine." She got off the chair with a sigh and walked over to me, grabbing me gently by the hand. "Come on, it's back here." I glanced back at Jongin as she pulled me away and he just smiled and waved. 

*******

I stayed for a couple of hours, long enough to see Taeyoung ecstatically eat her piece of chocolate cake for dessert. I was still a little shy around her, so I mostly just enjoyed watching how she and Jongin interacted. Ever since I had found out about his family life, I thought he was mature for his age, but seeing him with his sister, the child he had basically grown up raising, made me think so even more. 

It's a bittersweet thought; I loved seeing just how much cared about her, but deep down, I also wanted something else for him. I wanted him to be able to be an average teenager who could hang out with his friends without having to make sure someone he trusted would be able to watch Taeyoung. I wanted us to be able to sneak out late to see each other without him having to worry that she might be in danger if she was left alone with their parents. 

Above all, though, I wanted him to have the luxury of wanting something more for himself.

"Thanks for coming over," he said as he and Taeyoung walked me outside to my taxi. "I think you get an automatic 50 approval points for bringing chocolate cake."

"I'd give him 60 because it was a big piece of cake," Taeyoung interjected. We both laughed at that. 

"Well, thank you very much. I will bring you chocolate any time you want as long as your brother says it's okay," I replied.

"We'll see about that," he said, looking down at her and pushing some hair out of her face. "I would like you to be able to sleep and not be bouncing off the walls." He turned back to me and smiled. "Seriously, though, thanks for doing this. I'm happy you agreed to come over."

"Me, too." I smiled back and held his free hand briefly. "I'll text you when I get home." He nodded his head and then I looked at Taeyoung. "It was very nice meeting you, Taeyoung. I look forward to seeing you again."

"Okay." She giggled and wrapped her arms around Jongin's leg, smiling shyly. I smiled at her and then waved at them before heading over to my taxi. Once I was inside, they waved back and the driver began heading down the street. A few minutes later, I felt my phone vibrate from inside my pocket and pulled it out to see a text from Jongin.

From: Jongin ❤️I love you.Sent: 7:25 p.m.

I could have sworn my heart stopped beating for a solid minute after the first read. I read it a few more times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. It hadn't been that long since we started dating, but somehow, it didn't freak me out that he said it. 

From: Jongin ❤️You're cute when you blush lolSent: 7:28 p.m.

I couldn't help but laugh at his next text. He always had a way of reading me, of understanding me even when I couldn't understand myself. Trying my best to control my smile and my rapidly beating heart, I began typing out a reply.

To: Jongin ❤️Don't call me cuteSent: 7:30 p.m.

To: Jongin ❤️Also I love you tooSent: 7:31 p.m.

From: Jongin ❤️😁Sent: 7:36 p.m.

I put my phone away and laid my head against the seat. No matter how much has happened since then, my heart has never felt as full as it did the first time he told me he loved me. I don't think it ever will.