༄ AFTER sharing some hugs and more "Happy New Year!"'s the family sat down at the dinner table.

"So, tell me," their father said, pricking his fork into the beef, "how was it?"

"Awesome!" Jeff immediately replied. Sam nodded in agreement. "We did all kinds of stuff and the house was amazing."

"Cool, cool." Sahil smiled. "I'm glad you made it alive out of a house full with teenagers."

Sam chuckled under her breath. "Wasn't so hard. Everyone was pretty caring."

Jeff hummed. Looked at her. "I'm not sure about that. But of course, since Sam is so obsessed with her boyfriend, she barely notices anything that happens around her."

Not true. Come on, she wasn't even sure what to think herself. Yes, she liked him. Yes, she'd enjoyed that kiss a lot, and yes, she had butterflies around him. Did her legs get weak? Sometimes. Did she enjoy—

Okay, fine.

"Yeah, how's Minho doing?" Her father's face lit up, her mother's face almost darkened. "I haven't seen him in a while."

"He's doing great," she confirmed. "He was actually here thirty minutes before, but you were in the kitchen and Mom," she glared at the woman, "wanted Minho to leave as fast as he could."

"What, come on, Honey." Her father lay a hand on his mother's shoulder. "I love that boy. Could've allowed him to greet me!"

"Well, I don't love him," her mother shot back, chin lifted.

"Give him a chance," Sam urged. "Come on, Mom. Minho was so polite and—"

"I've given him plenty of chances."

"No, you haven't!" Sam had to stop herself from jumping up. "You've called him an attention seeker when he needed serious help! You can't even let me be happy with someone, Mom. Haven't you noticed a change in his behavior already?"

Her eyes widened. "Please tell me he didn't tell you about that stupid—"

"He did," she cut her mother off. "I found out and then he told me. An attention seeker? Seriously, Mom? After years of hiding it, he told someone and you call him an attention seeker? He even tried to hide it when I found out!"

"I do not want you to get involved with that kind of things, Samira." Edith held up a finger. Pointed it at her daughter. "It's a dark world and before you know it, you're doing it yourself. He's gonna drag—"

Sam got up, and disappeared upstairs, into her room.

Great start.

Frustrated, the girl sat down on her bed. Could her mom just not interfere for once? Minho wasn't an attention seeker. He had apologized a million times, only because she found out and he was afraid she would be either repulsed, or affected.

Her mother wasn't gonna stop her from helping him. She'd even recreate the freaking Harry Potter scene in the second movie, where Ron and his brothers came to save Harry after the Dursleys locked him up in his room.

"Sam, Cheeni, is it okay if I come in?"

The Indian nickname had always been there, except her father didn't use it as often anymore.
"Yeah, Dad."

Soon, he was sitting next to her with an arm around her. Sam sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. "Mom doesn't even hide she hates him. Even in front of him, she shows it. And it's not to protect me from anything. It's just pure hate."

His grip tightened around her. "I love the kid, if it helps," he murmured. "Even after one weekend. He said he'd love to go fishing with me! Jeff usually doesn't volunteer like that."

Sam let out a laugh. "You're replacing Jeff for Minho?"

He held a finger on his lips. Winked. "Shh."

She smiled again. "Well, I'm glad you at least like him."

"Of course I do. As long as he treats you right." He kissed her forehead. "But he's struggling, isn't he?"

Sam nodded. Looked down. "Mom called him an attention seeker when he tried to get help after years of keeping it to himself."

"You know how she is," he breathed. "Could you tell me what's going on?"

Sam hesitated for a few seconds, then shook her head. "No. It's private."

If she'd ever tell her father, it would only be because Minho gave her permission.

"That's alright," he said. "Just know, I'm here to help too. You kids shouldn't have to handle everything on your own."

"Thanks, Dad," she whispered, and leaned in for a hug. "I love you."

"I love you." He lay his chin on her shoulder. "And I'm so proud of you, Cheeni."

Sam smiled, closing her eyes to enjoy the hug even more. "I won't have to get a wedding anymore, right?"

"Your mom and I still agree to that as long you're together with someone else, you won't have to. It took me something to convince her, since Minho isn't exactly her favorite, but I managed. As long as he doesn't make her lose her temper, it'll be fine," he summarized. "Don't worry about it."

Not a lot Minho was currently doing could make her lose her temper, right?

"Thank you." Sam let go of her father again. "I kind of missed you on holidays."

He snickered. "I was hoping you did. I missed you and Jeff too, Sam. But, sadly, you'll have to miss me even more."

Her head shot toward him. "What do you mean?"

"Business trips," Sahil sighed. "Three weeks in India."

"Three?!" She spat out, her stomach twisting. She couldn't survive three weekends with her mother alone!

"Sorry, Cheeni. But I'll call you, alright? FaceTime, or whatever it's called. I'll try to figure out how it works," he promised. "You'll be fine."

"Okay." She buried her hands in her sleeves. "I'll be fine."

❤︎︎

A week later, Sam sat in English class, listening to Mary's words. Her body felt heavy. This morning, her dad left, and that meant no one could speak up if she once again, managed to get in a fight with her mother. Jeff wouldn't stand a chance against the woman.

"That was it." Mary deleted the things she wrote on the whiteboard. "No homework, since the test will be next time. Have a good day."

Excited to watch practice, Sam left the classroom and started making her way to the sport building. She removed her jacket, readjusted her blue tie, and tried to fix the whiter blouse. She still liked the uniform.

"Catch!"

Somehow, she managed to do it right before the ball Gally threw hit her face.

"Watch out, you idiot." She chuckled. "What's up?"

"Not much. Just late to practice. Gotta hurry, come on." He gave her a slight push, then followed her inside.

"Gally!" The coach barked, blowing on the whistle so hard Sam pulled a face. "You're late! Go, go! You know what that means."

"Yes, Sir." Groaning, Gally started doing push-ups. Sam couldn't help but to smile as she watched him with crossed arms.

"Hey, Coach?" Gally looked up after a while. "Can Sam join? You know, she always watches, so she's kinda part of the team now too. And, she was also late."

"That's nonsense, Gally. But I honestly wouldn't mind seeing what our reader's made of."

Sam held her middle finger up at Gally. "Seriously? Man, I hate you."

"No, you don't," he puffed through another push-up. "Come on, let's see what you're made of, indeed."

Sam lowered herself on the ground, well aware she had been doing the useless at home YouTube workouts, which also involved ten push-ups before and after the video... so she was able to do a few.

Running, swimming, and push-ups were the only PE categorized things she was good at, though. The rest? Nope.

"Fine." She started doing the exercise.

A certain amount of push-ups later, "Damnit, Smarty. You're almost better than me."

"I wouldn't believe that," she murmured. "Hey, what are you doing? You don't have to spot me for doing push-ups."

He stood behind her. "I'm covering."

"For...?"

"Because you're wearing a skirt, Smarty." A pause, in which he hummed. "I might have to change the nickname Smarty into Dummy."

"Right." Her face heated up from embarrassment, but the butterflies formed. "Uh, thanks, Minho."

"You're welcome." She could hear the grin stuck on his face. "And you're awesome at this."

"Minho!" Another yell from the coach. "Not the time to flirt with girls—"

"She's my girlfriend, Coach—"

"I don't care. Chop, chop!" He clapped in his hands. "Practice!"

"Sorry, Sammy."
She didn't really mind, because her arms were dying. Once he took some steps back, she let herself fall, groaning.

"Well, the reader is capable of more than reading."