SUMMER SEVENTEEN XII

GRANDAD’S COOK DOES the shopping and preps the meals, but the aunties plan all the menus. Today we have cold roast chicken, tomato-basil salad, Camembert, baguettes, and strawberry lemonade in the dining room. Yoon shows me pictures of cute boys in a magazine. Then she shows me picture of cloths in another magazine. Yul reads a book called Collective Apparitions: Fact and Fiction. Soo and Hyo want me to take them tubing – drive the small motorboat while they float behind it in an inner tube.

Mummy says I’m not allowed to drive the boat on meds.

                Aunt Carrie says doesn’t matter, because no way is Hyo going tubing.

                Aunt Bess says she agrees, so Soo better not even think about asking her.

                YoonYul ask if they can go tubing. “You always let Tiff go,” says Yoon. “You know it’s true.”

                Hyo spills his lemonade and soaks a baguette.

                Grandad’s lap gets wet.

                Soo gets hold of the wet baguette and hits Hyo with it.

                Mummy wipes the mess while Bess runs upstairs to bring Grandad clean trousers.

                Carrie scold the boys.

                When the meal is over, Soo and Hyo duck into the living room to avoid helping with the cleanup. They jump like lunatics on Grandad’s new leather couch. I follow.

                Hyo is runty and pink, like Minho. His blonde hair almost white. Soo is taller and very thin, golden and freckled, with long dark lashes and a mouth full of braces, and believes he is the most handsome little guy alive.

                “So, you two,” I say. “How was last summer?”

                “Do you know how to get and ash dragon in Dragonvale?” asks Hyo.

                “I know how to get a scorch dragon,” says Soo.

                “You can use the scorch dragon to get the ash dragon,” says Hyo.

                Ugh. Ten-year-olds. “C’mon~ last summer,” I say. “Tell me. Did you play tennis?”

                “Sure,” says Hyo.

                “Did you go swimming?”

                “Yeah,” Soo says.

                “Did you go boating with Taeyeon and Minho?”

                They both stop jumping. “No.”

                “Did Taeyeon say anything about me?”

                “I’m not supposed to talk about you ending up in the water and everything,” says Hyo. “I promised Aunt Sara I wouldn’t.”

                “Why not?”

                “It’ll make your headaches worse and we have to leave the subject alone.”

                Soo nods. “She said if we make your headaches worse, she’ll string us up by our toenails and take away the iPads. We’re supposed to act cheerful and not be idiots.”

                “This isn’t about my accident,” I say. “This is about the summer when I went to Europe.”

                “Jessi?” Soo touches my shoulder. “Yul saw pills in your bedroom.”

                Hyo backs away and sit on the far arm of the sofa.

                “Yul went through my stuff?”

                “And Yoona.”

                “God…”

                “You told me you weren’t a drug addict, but you have pills on your dresser.” Soo is petulant.

                “Tell ‘em to stay out of my room,” I say.

                “If you’re a drug addict,” Soo continues, “there’s something you need to know.”

                “What?”

                “Drugs are not your friend.” Soo looks serious. “Drugs aren’t your friend and also people should be your friend.”

                “Oh, my God. Would you just tell me what you did last summer, pipsqueak?”

                Hyo says, “Soo and I wanna play Angry Birds. We don’t wanna talk to you anymore.”

                “Whatever,” I say. “Go and be free.”

So what is the real deal here???