Here For You | JunHao

二十九

Ding dong~

In a few seconds, the door clacked open, revealing a woman in her late 40s.

"Mom!" Minghao rushed to hug his mother whom he hasn't seen in a while.

"Honey, I missed you." Ms. Xu said, planting a kiss on the boy's cheeks.

"I missed you too, mom."

"Honey, your hair..." Ms. Xu gently pat the boy's hair.

"Oh, yeah..." Minghao put his hand on the back of his hair. "Sorry I didn't tell you."

"It looks lovely, hon." Ms. Xu said, smiling.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Xu." Junhui bowed, greeting Minghao's mother.

"Oh, if it isn't Jun!" Ms. Xu smiled. "Come in. Come in." She gestured for the two boys to enter.

They went inside, looking around, feeling the nostalgia in the place. They sat down on the couch as Ms. Xu went onto the kitchen to bring them some fruit.

"It's been a while since I've been to your place, Hao." Junhui looked around, reminiscing the plentiful of memories they had in this house. "I used to go here almost everyday after school."

"Yeah, you did. If not my house, then I would go to yours." Minghao smiled warmly.

Ms. Xu walked back to the living room, holding a plate of sliced apples, tangerines, and some watermelon. She set it down on the table and sat down on the other couch. "Honey, you didn't tell me Jun would be visiting too. I would have prepared more food if you had told me." She said, giving the boys the fruits.

"No, it's fine, Ms. Xu. I'm the one who insisted in tagging along with Hao. I'm gonna go visit my parents later as well." Junhui said, accepting the fruit.

"Oh, alright. It's good to see you Jun." Ms. Xu said, looking at the two boys in front of her. "I still remember the time Minghao had introduced you to me. You were the first friend he had since coming to Korea. You were both still young back then, but now here you are." She looked at Junhui and smiled. "Thank you, Jun, for becoming my son's friend until now."

"Mom, stop! It's embarrassing!" Minghao buried his face in the pillows on the couch.

Junhui chuckled. "No, Ms. Xu, I'm the one who's thankful to have Minghao as my friend."

Minghao blushed, looking away. "That's enough, please."

Junhui took a slice of the apple and gave it to Minghao which he accepted. "Don't worry too much about your son, Ms. Xu." He said as Minghao was eating the apple. "I'll make sure he's doing alright. You can count on me."

"It really reassures me to hear that." Ms. Xu chuckled, looking at her son who is looking away and eating the apple Junhui had given him. "How long are you two visiting?"

"Just until tomorrow afternoon." Minghao answered. "We still have class on Monday."

Ms. Xu nodded. "It's great that the two of you visited. Jun, when are you visiting your parents?"

Junhui took another fruit from the platter, a tangerine this time. "Oh, I'll visit them in an hour. It's a ten minute walk anyways." He said, peeling the tangerine. "They said that they'd be home by 4 PM." He gave half of the tangerine he had just peeled to Minghao.

"4 PM? What time is it right now?" Ms. Xu squinted to look at the small clock at the far corner of the room.

Minghao looked at his watch. "It's 2:57 PM." He said, eating the tangerine Junhui had given him.