Ji-hu's 'mom' wasn't one to have gatherings. Nor was she one to be a big fan of people, so Ji-hu had noticed. With the exception of him, and wasn't entirely sure why. Adeline Scarlet Kirkland wasn't really his mother, more someone who claimed him as her child. Which made no sense, seeing as he was technically older than her in his eyes, taller- all together it didn't make sense. But he didn't dare argue with her, Adeline was pointless to argue with. She'd called him up somewhat excited, saying something about meeting a few people and getting along with them pretty well, and how she wanted him to stop by for dinner sometime soon. He knew that if he didn't eventually, he wouldn't hear the end of it. So, before the Korean knew it, he was standing in front of his 'mother's' home, immediately regretting raising his hand to knock on the door.
Barely making a noise, the door was flung open, causing Ji-hu to almost have a heart attack. "YOU CALL THAT A KNOCK?!"
Ji-hu rubbed his eyes and stared down at the sixteen-year-old Australian girl, folding his arms. "Uh, excuse me. You didn't give me the chance to actually knock on the door."
Adeline, the Australian Micronation- unbeknownst to Ji-hu, stared at him a moment, then broke out laughing. "I'm totally kidding with you!"
… What.
She gestured for him to come inside. "Come on, come on in! Don't just stand out there!" Adeline quickly stepped out of the way to make room for Ji-hu.
Ji-hu immediately felt suspicion, slowly stepping inside. "Why are you..." He slowly enunciated.
"Hey, Adds! I'm gonna head home!"
Now it made sense. She had company. A glance to the side revealed not just any company, but a girl. Normally, this would've surprised him. Adeline had a lot of guy friends, much to her distaste, and they were always bothering her. But when he saw her, this girl, his mind froze.
Goldilocks. Cinderella. Sleeping Beauty. No, Rapunzel. It had to be Rapunzel. This beautiful, astounding porcelain doll of a woman with long, slightly curly blonde hair gracefully rising from a seat at Adeline's kitchen table. Her blue eyes were framed by black, thick-rimmed glasses. However, amongst all this, he was most distracted by her smile. Sure, Ji-hu had seen quite a few women in his time- this was Los Angeles, but he'd certainly never seen this one before. Why did it matter? He wasn't sure. What was a girl like this doing in his 'mom's' house? A small one, at that. And eating her cooking? It was disastrous, Ji-hu always told Adeline it would be the death of him. Surely this was a mistake, right? Who was she, even? At this point, he was just a Korean man in a sweater.
Ji-hu heard the door close, and quickly spun around. Damn, he missed her. "Uhh, Mother Dearest, who was that?"
Adeline blinked. "'Mother Dearest'? When do you ever call me that?" She shook her head. "No matter. That was just a new friend of mine. She heard I was an artist and asked me if I could do the art for her book cover, and then we got talking, and she ended up being here a good two hours. Nice girl."
"You didn't actually feed her, right?"
Adeline chuckled, washing a dish in the sink. "Of course I did, you silly boy. I don't starve my guests."
"You might as well be if they're eating your cooking. And excuse me. I'm a man. Not a boy." Ji-hu's statement made Adeline looked over her shoulder to receive a 'z-snap'.
"I told you; I'll call you that when you earn it, Prince of the Lab."
"Um, it's King of the Lab. And I did earn it! Plus, I've been acting like a man since the day I was born!"
"I remember when you were born! You lost it!"
"I'M OLDER THAN YOU, /WHAT/-"
"Don't sass your mother!"
"Too late! What're ya gonna do about it-"
"You're gonna sit down, and I'm gonna feed you."
"Um, I don't feel like dying, thanks." Ji-hu gave a fake grin.
Adeline raised an eyebrow. "You wanna doubt that girl you just saw? She thought it was just fine. Come on."
Ji-hu was quiet a moment, then quickly sat at the table. "Don't know why I should, I don't even know her."
"Her name is Ameline. I just call her Ammy."
"Ammy..." Ji-hu repeated.
Adeline flashed him a strange look. "... Okay, dinner will be ready in five minutes, so find a way to entertain yourself."
"Do I look five to you?"
"No, but you certainly act like it!"
"Excuse me! Who do you think you are?!"
"A mother who questions the masculinity of her pride and joy." Adeline took a deep breath. "Alright. Now for why I actually called you..."
"So I don't have to eat your atrocious food?" Ji-hu asked with hope.
"No, you still do." She sat down across from him, watching him hit his forehead on the table, causing her to laugh. "Relax. I had help this time, it won't kill you.
"We'll see about that in the morning when I get food poisoning." Came Ji-hu's muffled reply.
-—-
Despite Ji-hu's belief, he did not receive food poisoning. Well, at the very least he was healthy enough to go grocery shopping.
Seeing as he lived in an apartment, he didn't really see the need to over-stuff his fridge. Well, that's what you would think, when the reality was he still needed enough room to store more kimchi than he probably should. Surprisingly, the store wasn't that busy on a Saturday. Which was a good thing, because no one really enjoys a busy day at a grocery store.
So there Ji-hu stood in a seemingly empty aisle, contemplating whatever canned goods he should put in the cart. Suddenly a disruption of a person approaching him jerked him away from his thoughts.
His attention was brought to a familiar stunning figure- one with blonde hair, and blue eyes. It was the exact same girl he'd seen at Adeline's house last night- Ameline, was it?
Once Ameline noticed him and recognized him from seeing him at Adeline's as well, she made a sly smile and directed finger guns straight in his direction once she was close enough. "Heeey~"
"Are you talking to me? You can't possibly be talking to me." Ji-hu leaned against one of the shelves with his elbow. He raised his eyebrows and grinned. "Aye girl." He said, trying to look cool– Almost like a thug. Except; nothing like it.
Ameline rolled her eyes. "My apologies, but I thought I /was/ talking to you- Well, I am now, aren't I? It seems my words are just," Her voice lowered a little. "Attracted to you."
"Isn't everything just attracted to me? I mean, look at me. I'm the epitome of Korean Thunder."
"Do you happen to bring any lightning with that package?" Ameline winked.
"Uh, yeah, it's called..." Ji-hu grinned, pointing to himself. "Me."
"It's a good thing I love thunderstorms." She let out a small chuckle. "Name's Ameline. You're the guy I saw at Adds' last night, right?"
"Well here's one right in your area." Ji-hu winked. "Yeah, that was me. I'm Ji-hu. But y'know, you can also refer to me as King of the Lab."
Ameline raised her eyebrows. "King of the Lab, huh? Sounds exciting."
"It is, and being King of the Lab, is tiring work. But you know, having a queen would make it /so/ much more less stressful." He wiggled his eyebrows.
Ameline folded her arms and rested them on the edge of Ji-hu's cart. "Let me know if I can ever help you with that."
"Oh, you could definitely help me with that. Oh, yes." He nodded.
"Really?" Ameline asked, her voice indicating she was slightly intrigued. "Well, I would love to." She folded her hands and rested her chin, grinning and rolling her eyes.
It took a brief moment for that statement to register in Ji-hu's mind. "Wait, really-?" He slowly stood back up straight.
Ameline nodded ever-so-slightly, grinning. "Really."
Ji-hu scratched his head. "Oh, cool. People usually reject it by now."
Ameline rolled her eyes with that smile of hers, which almost captivated Ji-hu, and fished in her pocket to pull something out- a business card sort of thing. There was actually a small stack. She held it out to Ji-hu, the card in between two of her fingers. She grinned a little wider. Just a little.
"Just drop by whenever you wanna take that offer up, 'King of the Lab'."
Once Ji-hu took it from her, she slipped away with her shopping cart. "Uh, yeah. I'll take you up on that." He stood there awkwardly, swooning inside like a little girl.