Azalea

Azalea didn't talk about her family. It wasn't like I never asked - because I did, a lot. And she just gave me vague answers - oh they're around - and I let it be because I guessed she just didn't like to talk about them. And then she called me about two weeks before Valentines' Day (which happened to be her parent's anniversary) and asked me if I wanted to meet them.

"I mean, you can say no. Actually, I would rather it if you said no because it's really going to suck and be awkward and weird. So you know, say no."

"Why? I think'll be nice," I say, stealing a bite of Jonghyun's abandoned kimchi - he was getting something from the kitchen - laughing a little. "It'll be nice."

"Yeah? You really wanna? 'Cause you don't have to. It's okay. I don't want you to feel like you have to. Because it's cool if you don't want to. I like being the only one of my siblings who doesn't have any kids or is married or anything. It's great. And my parents are going to start grilling you and start asking you a lot of personal questions and like - they just have no filter. Especially my mom. She's bad. I mean, really bad."

"She can't be as bad as my mom."

"Yeah, but your mom has a semblance of a filter."

"Sometimes. When she wants to. Not really."

"She's going to ask you about things I don't even know. She doesn't care. And my dad's like, really religious so you're gonna have to kiss all of this goodbye for a whole week 'cause we're going to be staying in separate rooms. I mean, that's a real sacrifice, okay?" I laughed. "I'm serious! Like, he's just spend the entire visit staring you down and grumbling because he's going to think you're defiling his little girl or something."

"I'm sure we can get around your dad somehow."

"You're really sure about this then?"

"Yeah! I can take some sick days off of work and everything. It'll be great, you'll see."