off limits | petalz

4

"Hyeinnie!" Kazuha grinned, as she, Kento, and Sakura stood at the front table in the Lee family's restaurant, waiting to be seated. "Jieun-unnie! How are you all?"

"Zuha-unnie!" Hyein squealed, darting around the table to latch onto Kazuha and give her a big hug. "I'm good! How's soccer? How's college? How's Eunchae and Yunjin-unnie?"

"Gosh, Hyein, let her breathe," Jieun laughed, emerging from the counter. The two sisters were fifteen years apart, but both still breathtakingly gorgeous; Hyein had a sweet face and alluring eyes, and Jieun's perfectly proportioned features and statue-like perfection drew in many in the neighborhood. "Sorry about that, Zuha."

"It's okay, unnie," Kazuha beamed, hugging Hyein back. She was glad to see the family; due to college schedules, she didn't get to often. Hyein was fifteen and Jieun thirty, so their schedules didn't exactly coincide either. "Soccer's great! I'm on break from college right now, but the workload's been a little lighter. Eun and Jinjin have been good. I heard Jinjin likes a doctor at Eunchae's hospital," Kazuha winked, and Hyein gaped in excitement.

"Really?! Who? What's her name?!"

"Kim Chaewon, I think," Kazuha replied as Kento turned to Jieun to check in, and Sakura watched it all with a polite smile.

Jieun turned away from Kento briefly to comment. "Kim Chaewon? Really? Didn't Aeri go to college with her or something?"

Kazuha blinked before nodding. "Oh yeah! Nurse Kim must be 23, then, like Aeri-unnie. Wow, she's not really different in age from Jinjin, then."

Hyein bobbed her head up and down in agreement as Jieun led Kazuha, Kento, and Sakura to their table.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce Sakura, my girlfriend, how rude of me," Kento interjected as they walked. It was late, so most people were crowded around the bar or the bigger tables in the middle of the restaurant. However, Jieun took the group to a table in a less crowded area, so they would have better service. Kazuha appreciated that.

"Hi!" Hyein greeted brightly, to which Sakura answered with a "hello" and a soft smile. Jieun introduced herself next, and just then, another girl popped out from behind Hyein.

"Hyunseo!" Kazuha yelped, and the younger girl burst into giggles.

"Aish, stop jumping like that, you'll scare off the customers," Hyein scolded, but Hyunseo rolled her eyes and giggled again.

"You're not my mom, unnie!"

"Hyeinnie is right," Jieun said, and Hyunseo went quiet, bouncing forward to hug Kazuha and wave at Sakura and Kento.

After the introductions were finished, Jieun stayed to take their orders while Hyein and Hyunseo bounced off to another corner of the restaurant, then left soon after. Kento exhaled, then turned to everyone at the table.

"They're family friends," he explained to Sakura, who nodded, still a little bowled over from all the attention. Kento, though, didn't seem to have picked up on that, and so Kazuha stepped in.

"Sakura-unnie- is it okay if I call you that?"

The tense expression on Sakura's face disappeared and she nodded, a faint blush mingled with a smile beginning to spread over her face. "Yes, I'd like that a lot. Thank you."

Kento beamed, probably happy his girlfriend and sister were bonding using a sisterly honorific.

"Okay, great," Kazuha plowed ahead. "We should give you a Korean name, you know."

"Really?" Sakura queried. "What's yours?"

"Kang Juha," Kazuha announced. "I don't think Nakamura exists in the Korean language. Or maybe it does. It's just hella long for a Korean name."