Love is Stronger than Blood (Snowdrop Oneshots)

48- just friends part 2

Sequel to the previous oneshot.

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"Are you sure you want me coming along?" Jang Hanna asked Lee Kangmu as they both walked towards his small black car sitting in the parking lot of her apartment complex.

"Eomma made me promise to bring you," Kangmu said, getting into the driver's seat. "I haven't seen my family in over six years, so—"

Hanna smiled wistfully as she got into the shotgun seat and buckled the seatbelt. "From what I remember, your siblings are quite..."

"Insane?" He finished.

Hanna chuckled. "I was going to say 'endearingly hectic,' but that works, too."

"In case you're wondering," Kangmu said as he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road. "They knew why I left, but I made them swear not to tell you."

"I went to visit them a few times," Hanna said. "The first was about two months after you disappeared. I knew they were hiding something, but no matter what I tried, I couldn't get it out of them."

Kangmu glanced over at her. He was about to apologize again, but Hanna had told him that she'd already forgiven him. She didn't want to hear any more about it.

The rest of the ride was silent. Kangmu hated the awkwardness that surrounded the two of them whenever they were alone. Nominally, they were friends and coworkers, but he could still never think of something to talk about with her outside of work.

Why did I agree to come? Hanna asked herself as she stared out the window at the passing mountains. This was a bad idea. I should have said I was busy today.

Almost an hour later, they arrived at the Lee's home in the suburbs outside Seoul. Kangmu got out of the car, looking up at the small house he hadn't seen in six years.

"Nothing about it has changed," he said as he and Hanna walked to the front door.

Hanna knocked on the door, and a young man about her age opened it. He had the same messy dark hair and sharp eyes as Kangmu that widened once he saw them.

"Hanna noona? Hyung?"

"Gangsun-ah," Kangmu said to his little brother, four years his junior. "Annyeong."

Gangsun opened the door wider and let them in.

"Eomma!" He yelled. "Noona! Kangsuk-ah!"

"What's going on..." a woman asked as she climbed down the stairs. She froze in her tracks once she saw the two standing in front of the door.

"Kangmu-ya? Is that you?"

"Noona," Kangmu grinned at his older sister, Kanghwa. "I'm back."

"Oppa's back?" another voice chirped from the kitchen, and a younger woman, around her late twenties, ran out. The little entryway in front of the door was getting crowded. Kangsuk, the youngest Lee sibling, crushed Hanna in a hug. "Unnie!"

Hanna chuckled, hugging her back. "Suki-ah. It's been a while."

"I didn't know you two were here," Kangmu said to Gangsun and Kanghwa after giving the latter a brief hug.

"We're just visiting Eomma for the weekend," Kanghwa said. "Suki takes care of her and still lives here with her. Eomma's not up yet."

Suki nodded. "I was just making breakfast. Aren't you guys hungry?"

The five went into the kitchen, where rice cakes, kimchi toast, eggs, and scallion pancakes were laid out on the counter.

"How's your husband?" Kangmu asked his older sister. "Kim Jaebong hyung?"