"Joonie! Makaylee!" I heard Joon's grandmother call us from the kitchen. "Dinner's ready! Set the table!"

"Okay!" I yelled back. "Come, Yeontan." Both Yeontan and Namjoon followed me down the stairs. After hugging Joon's grandma, I helped him set the table.

"Joonie, be a dear and call your eomma, please." His grandma said.

"Yes, halmeoni," he replied and went upstairs.

Joon's grandmother turned to me almost as soon as he left. "You know he really likes you, right?" she asked me.

"Who? Joon?" I asked, laughing. "Sure he does." I've had a crush on him for a while, though I've never said anything.

"Sure, he does." There wasn't a trace of sarcasm in her voice.

"You're not joking, are you?" I asked, biting my bottom lip.

"Not one bit, yeon-in."

In an attempt to change the subject, I asked, "So where's Joon's oppa? Will he be eating with us?" Noting the change, she relaxed and said, "No. He had to work late." I nodded just as Joon came back with his mother trailing after him.

Smiling brightly, I hugged my best friend's mother. "How are you?" I asked in Korean. "Very good, thank you." Then, in English, "Your Korean is improving, Kaylee."

I smiled and thanked her. After we were all at the table Joon's grandmother served us all kimchi and mochi bread, a traditional Korean meal.
"You make the best kimchi, Halmeoni," Joon said, and I nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, kids," Joon's mom joked. Joon and I laughed and I saw him throw a sideways glance at me. I kept my head down and continued eating. TaeTae asked what we were doing in his room and I laughed.

"If you must know, Miss Nosy Butt, we were studying. We have a math test tomorrow." I said.

"Then why was the door closed?" she smirked.

"So your nosy butt wouldn't bother us," Joon said, and we all laughed, as TaeTae stuck out her tongue at her older brother.

"Okay, but what were you guys really doing?" Tae asked.

I pretended to be hurt, as I said, "You don't believe me?" TaeTae giggled and pretended to be thinking.

"Uhh, not really," was her answer.

"Dang, Tae, that hurts!" I said, laughing. I saw Joon's family smiling and laughing, being happy. Together. And I got kind of sad. My parents aren't together anymore. They split up a couple of years ago. Joon's family knows this, but we don't really talk about it. I stayed at his house while my mom moved out of ours. I pretended it was a normal sleepover, like the ones we always have. But after dinner, while we were reading a book for English class, my best friend caught on that something was wrong.

"Are you okay, Kaylee?" Joon asked. I looked up from my book and nodded. Then shook my head. Then shrugged. "What's going on? You've been really quiet today."

I sighed. "Um, nothing much. My parents are getting a divorce, and my mom's moving out. They told me to choose which parent I wanted to stay with. I couldn't decide so I came over here." My voice sounded empty. Hollow.

"Oh," he said. "I'm sorry. You know it's not your fault, right?"

"Yeah, I know," I answered. "But, still. They want me to choose between them. I can't say yes to one without hurting the other. And they don't want me to move from house to house. They say it'll be too 'hard' on me or whatever. I don't know. I don't want to choose. I can't choose." Joon seemed at a loss for words. So he didn't say anything. He just opened his arms and pulled me into a hug. We stayed like that until my alarm went off telling us it was time to put our books away and start studying geography.

"Kaylee, are you okay?" I heard Joon ask.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, just got lost in thought," I said.

"I didn't know you were capable of thought," he replied, throwing my words from earlier back at me. I smiled and shook my head. I picked up a roll of mochi bread and had the funniest thought. "Hey, TaeTae, can you puff out your cheeks real quick? Just like this," I said and puffed out my cheeks. She did, and I picked up another mochi roll and held them up to her face. "What do you guys think?" Laughter echoed around the table as TaeTae's face turned bright red.