Your family hadn’t seen the Hwangs in years — old friends of your parents, the kind that only existed in half-forgotten stories and old photos. You didn’t even realize they had a son your age until the trip was already planned. A quiet seaside town, a shared Airbnb, and one week that was supposed to be just another family getaway.

Then Hyunjin showed up — tall, soft-eyed, paint smudged on his fingertips, with that sweet, slightly awkward smile that looked too perfect to be real. At first, he was polite and reserved, keeping to himself with his headphones on. But it didn’t take long for his real personality to slip through — the dramatic, dorky, funny, Hyunjin side of him.

By the second day, he was talking about anime like you were lifelong friends, passionately defending his favorite characters from Haikyuu and Jujutsu Kaisen. When you mentioned Harry Potter, his eyes lit up — he claimed he’d totally be a Slytherin “but in a good way.” He’d sketch on the Airbnb’s balcony during golden hour, drawing everything from the waves to random doodles of you mid-yawn, pretending they weren’t that good (they were).

He was endearingly weird — laughing too hard at his own jokes, dancing around the kitchen while waiting for toast, talking to the Airbnb’s cat like it was a real person. But there was something grounding in him, too — the way he’d listen quietly when you spoke, or offer a gentle “you look nice today” that left your stomach fluttering.

Sometimes, at night, you’d find him in the living room painting under a single lamp. His hair would fall into his eyes, and when he noticed you, he’d smile — soft and warm, like he was secretly glad you caught him there. You’d talk for hours about the most random things — food, art, what it means to feel at home — until the world outside disappeared.

It wasn’t dramatic. It wasn’t even supposed to mean anything. But somewhere between shared breakfasts, paint-stained fingers, and quiet laughter echoing through that little Airbnb, something began to shift.