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She had never imagined public transportation would be fun, but after riding the subway to meet Brad for lunch she practically couldn't wait to do it again. First, though, Hae-min was going to sit down with her oppa and have lunch. Then she would go sit and stare at the advertisements in New York's subway system. It was funny to watch them change, and sometimes get stuck.

"I so glad you could make it," she said with a happy smile, straightening her long-sleeved black t-shirt. To tell the truth, she had been worried that someone who wanted to employ him as a Host would take this time away. The thought of that made her very unhappy- but it hadn't happened, so there was no reason for her to frown.

Carefully, she laced her fingers together and looked out the window. It was kind of hot out to be dressed as she was, but she was used to heat from all her gardening. After a moment of watching people pass by, she flattened her hands on the table and leaned forward a little. "Look, oppa... That woman looks like you." She smiled even wider, the thought not even occurring to her that Brad's sister might also live in New York.

"Like you," she had repeated, but something had prompted Brad to swallow his water wrong- she had started to get up to make sure he was really okay, but he seemed fine, but then he was jumping up. Hae-min stood also, wondering if he would start doing calisthenics next... and then the lady spoke.

Since she had never studied Italian, she ought not to have understood the relation, but it was obvious if you looked. Obviously they were related- and if she thought back to her studies in Latin, she guessed fratello might mean brother. She met Brad's glance squarely, eyes a little wide at this interruption- not like she minded, if the lady was family of her (adopted) family then she had every right to intrude. To the first question, she shook her head, already turning an adorable shade of pink; at the second, she just stared- sometime she did plan to drop in on Brad at the club, but right now they were there as friends!

And then the third comment, Brad shouted, and Hae-min clapped both hands over her ears until it looked like it was quiet again. It was almost surreal to ever think of her oppa as angry- he had never seemed that way around her before. Actually, she had begun to think that he just couldn't get angry at all.

She bowed in her seat to Alex, but was occupied looking at her friend worriedly. "It nice to meet you. My name is Hae-min." She had seen Brad a lot, and unconsciously she wondered if it had been because of her that the two relatives hadn't seen each other for a while. To cover the (awkward) silence, she started braiding a section of her hair.

"I not dating Brad. He is my oppa," she said, abruptly but firmly. Dating Brad would just be awkward, like dating Tae-yul. Perhaps not like Gin-hul, though, since he practically was a stranger for all the fact that he was only eleven years older than her. "I not thinking he is a hermit, either," she continued virtuously. Heavens, he knew more people than she did, and seemed to have met so many of them in the same frame of time she had been in the United States.

She shook her head, but didn't deign to explain. Brad knew what she meant, and that was really all she cared about. "You do not use your first name? Alessandra is very pretty." The pronunciation came very awkwardly to Min, comprised of syllables she hadn't yet heard strung together as it was. Her eyes were wide, and a little confused. How strange, that someone should pick their own name... Hae-min might have changed her name, because to be named 'bright cleverness' was more unfairness than she or anyone should have to deal with, in her opinion.

"Brad is very busy," she objected, a little offended on her friend's behalf. The two siblings really did have a strange relationship- at least, in her eyes. She had never dared to tease any of her siblings, not even Tae-yul, because he was a boy and such things simply weren't done. If she ever spoke that way to Gin-hul, her parents would have locked her in her room for weeks. "Besides, I not think he is able to grow moss. He is not rock." It didn't occur to her that Alex might be teasing.

For a moment, she was glad the other woman was leaving. This was her time with Brad. But jealousy, she remembered, wasn't very becoming in a young lady. And she had said she hadn't seen her brother in a long time. "Ah... if it is alright with Brad, I would not mind you staying," she lied, with an admirably straight face. The woman even managed a very natural-looking smile. "I would like learn more about Brad's little sister."

If he thought he'd been subtle with the strange look he'd given her, Hae-min thought he should re-think it. But it really was her fault; Korean morals, after all, weren't American or Italian morals and some things were bound to get lost in translation. She glanced again at Brad, apologizing with her eyes because it would be rude to say it aloud. Didn't he know that she valued her time with him, too? More than ever, now that the host club was open full time? Alex had a claim on him too, though, and it was much, much stronger than Min's could ever be.

"Americanized," she repeated, thinking about that instead of other, more uncomfortable thoughts. It seemed to be pretty disrespectful to one's parents, at least to her. She remembered- vaguely, but she did recall- her eldest sister's months of agonizing over the name of her daughter. A Russian name or a Korean one? Hae-min didn't recall, but knew the middle name was Haneul-yoon. (It was almost worse than Hae-min, she reflected with a tiny sigh.)

Then a thought struck her, and she turned to Alex again. "If your," she paused to think of a good word to use here, "birth name is Alessandra, that is Italian... Is Brad not American name? Your parents very strange," she said, confused. Even though she did her best to hide it, it showed most especially in the way she had leaned forward to rest her chin in the palm of her hand- something Min almost never did. She looked between the two siblings, very plainly hoping for an answer that would not only make sense, but make good sense to her.

She opened her mouth to take the question back the second she saw the look on Brad's face, but Alex was already talking and she would be horribly rude to interrupt. So she sat back, folding her hands politely in her lap and listening quietly. To be named after grandfathers wasn't odd; Tae-yul's name was from grandfather Tae-joong.

"I like the American name," she said softly to herself as Alex spoke. A little rude, yes, but still, to go against one's brother's wishes like that... She reached across the table to pat Brad on the shoulder, already very sorry she had asked- at least here. The whole ordeal seemed to have a bit of a secret about it, though, and she couldn't- wouldn't pretend she didn't like that. As few secrets as she had, learning what others kept close was inordinately fun.

As for fathers not being nice to mothers... Hae-min knew that it wasn't in line with American morals, but she had been taught that once you were married, a woman's place was the home and the man's place was... the workplace. Even holding a job now would make Abeoji very angry with her, because she was engaged. And it was the husband's job to keep the wife in line, no matter what. She bit her lip, looking a little uncomfortable herself and leaning back into her seat as Alex smiled at her brother.

She blinked at the name, mouthing it to herself a few times. "Ber-nar-do," she said aloud, to make sure she got it right. Then Hae-min smiled, because it was fun to say. "I like Brad," she continued sweetly. "Even though Bernardo very nice, too." Brad just seemed to fit Brad better. Bernardo... Well, it was silly, and Brad just plain wasn't silly.

Then she identified something else they'd said. "You leave home at sixteen?" Her brow furrowed. When she was sixteen... Well, whatever. She smiled warmly again. Brad's secret was safe with her!

She nodded, happy to feel like she was being trusted with something so important. "Ahh," she sighed. That made sense to her. Tae-yul had often said if he'd been allowed to go to a school far away, he would have never come home. So she could understand that.

Bernardo. Well, gosh, she would have never guessed that was Brad's real name. Not in ten thousand years, not even if her siblings had danced around in- bikinis or something. She blushed that that mental image and shook her head to clear it. To distract from that rather embarrassing thought, Hae-min finally flipped over the sign that the host said would call a waiter over. All of the people she could see were busy, though, so she sighed and began to stack the drink coasters.

It was something she was quite good at- building card castles. Gin-hul, back from lessons early once, had taught her how when she was rather young. And it was a way to pass the time. The flimsy cardboard coasters were almost the same thing, so in no time she had a small pyramid of 'cards'. "Ta-da," she said, shrugging in embarrassment. The shrug itself was something she had picked up in her time in America, mostly because it was rude to shrug in front of your parents and elders, and she had so many of those.