Chapter 20: Close Call Kisses

[In Dahae's house]

"So do you ever plan on moving in with Luhan so I can get the dorm all to myself?" Mijoo said half jokingly.

"M-me? Live with Luhan?" Dahae asked nervously.

"Yeah. It's normal for a couple to live together-and Luhan is your boyfriend."

"Who is Luhan?" A rough voice asked out of nowhere.

Dahae bit her lip as she slowly turned her head over her shoulder.

"Y-you have a boyfriend?" A more gently voice questioned.

Finally, Dahae fully faced her parents who suddenly appeared in the living room.

"My little girl has a boyfriend?" Mrs. Kang's eyes rounded.

Dahae looked over to Mijoo for help but all Mijoo did was raise her shoulders and mouth "say something."

"I-I don't have a boyfriend," Dahae stuttered.

She knew that her parents were against her having a boyfriend in high school because they thought she was too young, but now that she's in college, her parents were still indifferent to the idea of allowing their only daughter to date.

"Dahae tell us the truth," Mr. Kang stated firmly.

Dahae nervously blew air out of her mouth. "I have a boyfriend. His name is Luhan." She shut her eyes and waited for her father to blow up at her and scold her for the fact that she's had a boyfriend for this long without asking her parents' permission first.

"We should meet him tomorrow and have lunch."

Dahae opened her eyes and confusedly look at her parents. "You want to meet him?" She was expecting something along the lines of 'You are not allowed to have a boyfriend. Break up with him at once.'

"Well it's only appropriate for us to meet him."

-

That night, Dahae informed Luhan that her parents wanted to meet him. Like any guy, Luhan was nervous to meet the parents. He didn't think of himself as the kind of guy Dahae's mom and dad would want her to be with.

-

"Dad don't be too mean ok? I know how you can be intimidating sometimes..." Dahae said as she helped her dad fix his tie.

"Dahae, if your boyfriend isn't able to handle my personality, then I don't think he'd be the right guy for you." Mr. Kang chuckled to himself.

Dahae rolled her eyes, "Mom, are you ready?"

"Just finished setting the table." Mrs. Kang confirmed.

At 3 o'clock sharp, Luhan rang the doorbell of the Kang residence. Dahae opened the door and made sure her parents weren't nearby. "How are you feeling?" She whispered.

"I'm nervous. I don't think they'll like me." Luhan whispered back.

Dahae placed her hand on Luhan's cheek and tip toed to give him a peck on the lips. "What's not to like?"

Luhan held Dahae by her waist and leaned in for another kiss. His efforts failed once Dahae pushed him away, hearing her parents' footsteps.

"Dad, mom...this is Luhan. Luhan, these are my parents."

"It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Kang. "Luhan shook with both hands and bowed. He handed Dahae's mother a bouquet of flowers and they were led into the dining area.

"So Dahae tells me that you're a pretty good singer and you're bilingual." Mr. Kang said at the table.

Luhan's face couldn't help but become red. "I'm an alright singer. And my parents were bilingual as well so I learned from them."

"So what do you parents do?"

Dahae noticed Luhan hesitate for a moment. "Um dad do you want more rice?"

"Dahae don't interrupt please. I asked Luhan a question."

She placed the bowl down and the table was momentarily silent.

"My parents. They did marketing business for a company in Beijing a few years ago."

"Oh that's nice. So what are they doing now?"

"Um... a few years ago, they passed away."

Dahae and her family all uniformly looked up from their plates and focused their attention on Luhan. Dahae was surprised he dropped that bomb as fast as he did.

"Oh Luhan, I'm so sorry." Mrs. Kang placed her hand on her heart. Dahae sat at the edge of her seat and awaited her father's response.

"If I may ask, did they leave a trust fund for you? Or are you supporting yourself?" Mr. Kang asked.

"They left some money for me which I used to pay for my apartment and the first year's tuition. Now I'm working but I received a scholarship from the school which I'm very thankful for."

Dahae slipped her hand under the table and took Luhan's hand in her's for comfort. Her father was always the superficial type who wanted to marry off his daughter to someone of high status. In seconds, Mr. Kang would say that he does not give his daughter permission to date Luhan.

"Oh you're the student who received Seoul University's first full ride scholarship!" Mr. Kang emoted. "You deserved that scholarship because you had the best scores in your year!"

Dahae was elated that her dad was able to see past Luhan's background and accept him as her boyfriend. Everything went smoothly and to be honest, Dahae expected the worst to happen once her family met Luhan.

-

After lunch, Dahae went back with Luhan to his apartment, "Luhan why do you look so nervous still? Everything went great! There's nothing to worry about since my parents love you." Dahae placed her hand on Luhan who was urgently searching for his apartment key.

"I'm not nervous about your parents," Luhan pushed the door open, "I was nervous about that..."

Dahae followed Luhan's finger which was pointed in the direction of Mijoo. She was snoring on the couch with a blanket on top of her face. The TV was on, the stereo was turned up to the loudest volume, and none of the dishes were washed. Fortunately, Haru was calmly playing with her dolls in the midst of the chaotic environment.

Luhan scooped Haru up in his arms, pulled the blankets from Mijoo and flicked her on the head.

"Ow!" She snapped awake. "What was that for?"

"I trusted you to watch Haru for 2 hours. You're a terrible baby sitter." Luhan narrowed his eyes at Mijoo.

A few minutes later after fighting with Luhan about not being grateful for having her watch Haru, Mijoo said goodbye to Dahae and left.

Luhan rolled his eyes in relief after Mijoo closed the door behind her. He looked over to Dahae," Why are you smiling?"

"Nothing," Dahae covered her smile, "I'm just really happy. I'm so glad my parents met you."

"Yeah, it was pretty stressful at first, but I'd only go through something as stressful as that for you. Don't you think I deserve something after meeting your parents?" Luhan bargained.

Dahae tapped her chin and her eyes widened, "Oh! Do you want me to cook dinner again?"

Luhan smirked, "That's not exactly what I was thinking. Maybe something more on the lines of this," He grabbed Dahae's waist and pulled her into him. He could tell he caught Dahae by surprise since she tensed up for a bit but it didn't take long for her to respond back. She put her hands up to Luhan's chest and grabbed the front of his shirt. Luhan could tell there was something different in the way Dahae was kissing him. This time she was taking the lead and using more force than usual, it was even a little bit overwhelming for Luhan. It wasn't until they heard the door bell that they separated their lips from each other's.

Luhan walked over to the door in a diagonal line, still woozy from the kiss he and Dahae shared.

"Dad?? What are you doing here?" Dahae instantly ran to the door in a panic.

"Your mom told me that you dropped Luhan off at his house, and since I've never seen the inside of one of the University-owned apartments, I wanted to see it for myself." Mr. Kang took off his shoes and started letting himself into the apartment.

"Wait dad," Dahae held her hands out to stop her father from coming in. "You didn't even ask Luhan if you could come inside."

Mr. Kang looked at Luhan with a straight face. "O-Of course you can come in sir..." Luhan stuttered.

Luhan and Dahae exchanged worried glances once her dad walked into the room. Mr. Kang looked around the apartment for a bit and nodded.

"Alright dad, it's time to go home now," Dahae grabbed her father's hand.

"Who's this?" Mr. Kang pointed at the displayed picture frames. "Do you have a little sister?"

Dahae released her father's hand and smacked her forehead.

"Um that's Haru...she's my..."

"Appa!" Haru came running out of the bedroom and grabbed onto Luhan's leg. Perfect timing, Haru.

Dahae glanced over at her dad's expression which was confused and taken aback. "Did she just call you 'appa?"'

Luhan picked Haru up and nodded, "Yes. She said appa."

Suddenly, Dahae's dad was laughing, "Your little sister is adorable. Is she still learning her words?"

"Actually sir, Haru is my daughter. Not my little sister." Luhan said more confidently this time.

Mr. Kang's chuckle seized and he now faced Luhan. "Your daughter? I thought you were only in your 2nd year of college."

"Yes. That is true."

Mr. Kang wore an unreadable expression. "Dahae did you know about this? Where is this girl's mother? You obviously have other things to attend to than dating my daughter!"

"Yes dad I knew about this." Dahae replied softly.

"How could you go out with someone who is irresponsible enough to have a daughter at such a young age? He must have had her when he was still in high school!"

"Dad can you please stop yelling? If we could just explai-" Dahae whispered to her dad to calm him down.

"We're going home now."

-

During the car ride home, Dahae refused to say a word to her dad. Once they arrived home, she stomped up the stairs, without greeting her mom.

An hour later, Dahae heard a gentle knock at her bedroom door. "Mom, I don't want to talk about it." She called through the door.

"Your dad and I have been talking..." Mrs. Kang slowly walked into the room against her daughter's wishes.

"So I guess dad told you then?"

Her mom nodded, "So Luhan...has a daughter does he?"

"Yeah-mom before you say anything, you guys just met Luhan. The fact that he has a daughter shouldn't change anything. No matter what dad thinks, Luhan is responsible and smart and sweet-"

"Dahae I agree with you. Once we met Luhan, we thought that he was the perfect guy for you. You know your dad, he just overreacts." Her mom consoled, "You can go downstairs and talk to him if you want."

Dahae spoke with her dad and he apologized for the way her reacted when he found out about Luhan and Haru. The next day, he went back to Luhan's apartment and apologized to him in person. After a few weeks, Luhan and Haru got a lot closer to everyone in the Kang family.

-

"It still weirds me out how much my parents love you now." Dahae fluffed her pillow.

"I'm starting to think it's not really me that they like, but Haru."

Dahae nodded her head. It was hard for her parents to accept that their only daughter was growing up, so they enjoyed having Haru around the house. They even bought her a small bed so she can sleep in their bedroom. When Luhan would spend the night. 

"But my parents would never let a boy sleep in my room. You must feel special huh? What...?"Dahae looked down at Luhan who was lying on a futon on the floor with both his hands behind his head, smirking.

"I don't want to sleep on the futon."

"Uh oh...okay? Did you want to switch?" Dahae began getting out of her bed.

"No. Can I sleep on your bed with you?"

Dahae bit her lip and felt her face get hot, "What's wrong with sleeping on the futon?"

Luhan pouted, "Why can't I stay on your bed?"

Eventually Dahae gave in, she could never say no to Luhan when he acted like a baby. "Fine, just stay on your side of the bed ok?" Dahae placed the blankets over the both of them and turned so her back was facing Luhan.

Suddenly she felt Luhan's arms wrap around her and pull her to his body.

"Hey keep your distance, what if my parents walk in?" Dahae turned her face and paused when she realized how close she was to Luhan.

"It's not like we're doing anything wrong," Luhan smiled innocently.

"It's weird, you don't usually act like this."

Luhan shrugged, "I can't help it. I'm just really happy to be with you." He cupped Dahae's cheeks and began kissing all over her face. Dahae tried pushing him away but he wouldn't let go of her. Once he kissed her lips, he felt her give in and kiss back.

Dahae froze when she felt Luhan's body on top of her but she continued to kiss him anyway.

"Wait," Dahae finally resisted the urge to continue kissing Luhan. "My parents' room is right down the hall."

"Everyone's probably asleep already," Luhan said breathlessly as he moved his face closer Dahae's and she ran her fingers through his hair.

Luhan quickly got off of Dahae when they heard someone knock on the door and open it without permission.

"Appa can I sleep here tonight?" Haru held her bear close to her chest as she entered the room.

Luhan's body fell back onto the bed. Dahae laughed in embarrassment, thinking that they were about to get caught by her parents. She heard Luhan mumble "we were so close."

"Hey," She hit him on the chest. "So close to what? What were you planning to do, hmm?"

"Nothing..." Luhan mumbled again.

"Come here Haru," Dahae made a space for Haru in the middle of the bed. "Let's all go to sleep now."

Dahae turned off her table lamp and hugged Haru as she closed her eyes.

"Goodnight, I love you," Luhan kissed Haru on the forehead.

"And I love you too,"He reached his arm across so he would be able to hold both Dahae and Haru in his arms.

-4/23/15