Heeseung is seven, and agitated because of the blinding lights of the airport, which was quite normal, given his deep slumber on the way. He shifts in the backseat as his father's voice, drenched in excitement, booms within the confines of the car.

His sister, three years of age, is shaking him by the shoulder and he just doesn't want to wake up. But even through his half open eyes and slightly drool-stained state- he realises his family is excited. They're excited for the ones arriving- and although this happens almost every time someone from back home (which is mostly his grandparents) comes to visit-but it's still precious to him nonetheless.

He liked being surrounded by laughter. Maybe because he had the habit of getting lonely easily.

"Heeseung," it's the (seemingly) ever present sternness in his mother's tone that wakes him up. He forces his eyelids apart and sits up straight.

"Make sure to say hi, kids," Mrs. Lee warns from the front seat-eyes fixed outside the car, probably looking for the guests.

Heeseung hums, and from right beside him, his traitor of a sister squeals out a "yes!", flailing her arms up in the wind. He had absolutely no idea how she could be this energetic after an hour long drive in the dead of the night, that too the day before a school day. The last day before vacation, at that.

The car moves quite suddenly, much to the kids' surprise. The little girl's pudgy hand hits Heeseung right across the face and somehow, even manages to elbow him in the process, sending a stinging pain through his nose as well.

"Get off!" Heeseung lets out an annoyed groan as he shoves the little gremlin away back to where she belonged- the furthest right of the car. And as usual, she draws closer-100 times more interested. Heeseung feels his blood boil.

"But what did I do," she grabs hold of his elbow to shake it furiously, whining. This did nothing other than adding more fuel to his already inflated sense of annoyance.

He rolls his eyes, trying to jerk the little demon off of himself without catching his parents' attention much.

The girl whines yet again and pushes herself to his side more. And like a dam, Heeseung feels his patience break loose.

"Mum!" He lets out something that was right in between a groan and a yell.

And his mother is quick to shush him. It's nothing new for neither him nor his sister, but the ferocity in her voice surely was something none of them have had the misfortune to encounter much. It's shrill, low and stern. Just enough to rival the feeling og ice bags being pressed against both their cheeks.

A loud "shush" from Mrs. Lee and silence befell the four wheeler like a heavy cloak.

The two kids in the back wince. Sleep long gone from his eyes, Heeseung looks out of the car. The vehicle stormed past their surroundings, the trees and scenery they were leaving behind nothing but a blur. They looked the same as when he spun in a circle for a long time, hazy. But Heeseung liked it nonetheless, probably.

The world outside was dark. The orange lights from the light posts were lighting their way, the roads were calm- very unlikely of Düsseldorf.

It had been four years since they'd moved here- for his parents' research and whatever surgeon work they had. And it's treated Heeseung pretty well. He now speaks two languages- English and German, heck he even had an accent. His Korean fell pale in comparison, but Heeseung still managed.

His cousins back home treat him like a prince, something to be admired but never touched, someone to idolize. It's visible on their faces when they're video calling, he isn't sure why, but it's a different kind of fun when they stare at him with eyes open wider than saucers, mouths hanging open enough to have their jaws give out at any moment. Maybe it was because he liked being adored. Or maybe, he was just plain weird.

It wasn't like he really cared, though.

Heeseung feels the car slow down. The orange stained roads suddenly transitioned into black-and-yellow painted driveway borders, and the faint silhouette of the large, white Düsseldorf Airport became clearer and larger in front.

The orange lighting at the pickup point felt different than the ones on the road for some reason. And Lee Heeseung, a small boy of seven didn't know why. He supposed it was because it was an airport thing. And he might, well....not might, he was wrong.

His innermost musings were put to a halt just like his dad's car. A rough break, and the passengers shook along with the vehicle. Heeseung hears his dad let out the biggest laugh of satisfaction (which was very scary, so scary, that he could never get used to it) and point at something outside.

A wave of nervousness drenches his senses, and Heeseung feels giddy. It was highly unlikely- for he was a midrank socializer in his 7 year old senses. He was immune to meeting new people, heck, he could even start a conversation and keep it going for about 5 minutes. In his own eyes, Lee Heeseung was a hero.

And the hero didn't like this feeling at all.

He didn't know if this raunchy anxiety of his had to do anything with his Korean being dusty, or his general personality trait that was being a people pleaser. He is quick to get lost in his thoughts yet again, locking out whatever the fuck the little gremlin was rambling about from his brain.

But it is the loud, reckless click of the car's door that drags the boy back to the grounds of reality almost right away. Heeseung finds their car parked right in front of the arrivals gate, his parents already out of the car and busy stuffing the boot with suitcases. He hears his dad let out a hearty laugh and hug the lanky man he supposes are their guests- and something tells him he's laughing with his chest, and it's happy, satisfied.

He rolled down the glasses to take a look at the guests, curious. His sister follows with silent excitement, pressing her smaller form against his back, hands on his shoulders to balance herself on the car's seat. The siblings peek out of the car, eyes shining and lips slightly parted at the new family.

The man, the "Dad of the family", in his wide eyed sister's words, was taller than his dad by a decent margin, thin and clad in a white button-up shirt and khaki pants. The expensive looking coat doesn't miss the little boy's eyes, and neither does the backpack slung over his left shoulder. His eyes catch Heeseung's gaze, and he flashes a smile the widest the seven year old had ever seen.

"So pretty," he hears his sister mumble under her breath. He follows her line of gaze and finds his mother embracing a woman. The woman was wee taller as well. Almost towering over his 5'1" mother in his eyes. The woman was lively, like a spring breeze, her eyes talked and glistened. She had to be the prettiest woman he'd ever seen in his 7 long years of living.

"She's the mama of the family," he feels his awestruck sister press further.

"I know, dumbass," he grits his teeth, trying to shrug off the 3 year old off his back.

He looks at the adults who are busy talking. They're stupid, he thinks. Stupid for talking more instead of getting the work done. But they look happy, his mind counters. Albeit they do. The family, to him, was a ray of sunshine. Just like his parents had described them, it was a family like no other. The two people, beautiful in their own ways, were enough to make someone's day.

They're kind, his father had said.

They're the dearest friends we've had, his mother had smiled.

From their smiles alone, Heeseung, 7 years of age, realised it was special. Whatever they had with the family, that is.

"Where's the baby?" He hears his sister mutter restlessly, pressing further onto his back.

Admirations aside, Heeseung wanted to throw her off the car.

The boy rolls his eyes, "It's somewhere out there."

"But the baby always stays with the parents, doesn't it?"

Fair point. Heeseung can't argue.

"Why are you hanging out of the car like that?" His mother chuckled in a way that screamed oh what will i ever do with you two.

"Where's the baby of the family?" His dumb sister asks, and heeseung so wishes that the ground underneath cracked open, making it easier for him to dive into it from all the shame.

The woman lets out a hearty laugh.

"Well, she's a little too good at hiding, I see."

An unfamiliar name rolls out of her lips fondly, and Heeseung notices something he didn't at first. A small (almost like one of those cardboard figures at his school because of how far he was from the actual scene) figure moves in the shadows right behind his dad and his friend.

A head peeks out from right behind the man and he too, chuckles. He sees the kid's pudgy fingers curl around its father's pants, fisting the fabric tightly as it tries to stand strong against his attempts to bring it out of the shadows.

At a glance, Heeseung can't tell if it's a boy or a girl. Black air chopped into almost nothingness (it's a pixie cut! He feels Becca's voice echo inside his head and he is quick to shake it off), making it resemble a dandelion from afar.

Was dandelion a gender? Heeseung didn't know, they did not start teaching much about it at school.

But then, in the dark, he notices the small, pink Disney Princess backpack hanging by your shoulders. And that's when he knows.

"Is that a boy or a girl?" He hates how his sister speaks his mind at times, even though it's comically late for most part.

"Girl."

"She's the best."

Heeseung rolls his eyes. "And how do you know?"

"She's so big."

Heeseung can't help but shake his head in disbelief. He had just wasted 40 precious seconds of his life listening to his sister's incoherent thoughts.

But there wasn't much of a lie though.

You were pretty tall, having already reached as far as your father's hip. He looks at you, sleepy and too shy to look at anyone, arms wrapped tightly around your dad's neck with your face nuzzled into his chest. He had finally succeeded in bringing you out of the shadows and was currently carrying you to the car.

Heeseung and his sister move like robots, quick and precise- making space for the others to get in. His sister throws a fit to be seated right next to you, and both families happily oblige.

Lee Heeseung was seven, still too young to understand what that unlikely smile on his dad's face, that glow on his otherwise mother's face meant that day. Maybe because he was too young to realise how it all worked. Or maybe, just maybe, Lee Heeseung was focused on observing the unlikely child being blown away by his sister's constant ramblings,

You.