“So, are you going home with Dong Hae again today?” Eun Hye asked as I stuff fries down my throat at her millionth question about Dong Hae.

  “I can’t believe you never told us about your tight friendship with Dong Hae.” Han Byeol said in disbelief.

  “I had a reason.” I muttered and stuffed another fry.

  “You know you could’ve introduced us to him.” Min Young said and took a bite of her small carrot from her bundle she had packed from home. It was a carrot diet or something she told me.

  “Were you trying to keep us away from him so you could have him all to yourself?” SoRi asked me out of the blue and I choked yet again.

  This time I drank half down the contents of a mineral water before saying, “Say what?”

  “Yeah, you’re right SoRi. She wants him only for her taking!” Eun Hye said in a joking manner and laughed.

  “Oh come on Hye Ryung, learn to share!” Min Young added playfully and I just couldn’t stand it.

  I stood up from the table, left my half eaten food and stormed out of that place. I couldn’t stand it.

***

I was talking to my guy friends, Eun Hyuk and Ye Sung. They were discussing about the size of they’d like their girlfriends to have. It was too ridiculous to join to so I half-listened while looking across the cafeteria to look at my sister. As always she was reading a book while eating.

  She carried the habit all the way home. Nowadays her moods had been on the low side. I wondered why but every time I asked her, it seemed uncalled for because a second later she was laughing her heart out at some comedian she was watching online.

  One minute she was mumbling something, next thing I knew she had stormed out of the cafeteria. “Hey, guys,” I called out and said, “I’m going to go get something.”

  “Sure,” Eun Hyuk said.

  “Go ahead, knock yourself out.” Ye Sung said.

  I stood up from my seat and walked over to their table. They were discussing about something until Eun Hye started to shake a friend of Hye Ryung’s arm.

  “Hey Eun Hye,” I said with a smile and stood in between a friend of hers so I could ask, “I saw Hye Ryung walk out, do you know where she’s headed?”

  “You’re her best friend, you should know.” Eun Hye answered with an impish grin.

  I smiled back and thought, ‘Thank you for the idiot-like answer’.

  I walked away from the awkward crowd and went out of the cafeteria, racking my brain for any possibility of where the place Hye Ryung would be. I thought she might be in class but it was too early. The school garden was an option but it was off limits, she’s too goody-to-shoes to break the law. I thought library and ran my way there.

  Once I got there the doors were locked and there hung a sign, ‘CLOSED’. Then, the bell rang and I knew it was too late to go look for her now. As I trudged off to my class I suddenly bumped into someone and wanted to say sorry when I found out I had bumped into Hye Ryung.

  “Hye Ryung!” I exclaimed and wrapped my arms tight around her. “I’ve been looking all over for you! Where have you been?”

  “I was in the bathroom, what gives?” she asked as I tightly grab her shoulders.

  “Just . . . never mind. I’ll talk to you after school.” I said and left her like that.

***

We’d been walking in complete silence. Eun Hye had decided to leave us alone because of what happened today. I had stormed out of the cafeteria because of the topic they were talking about. Having pressured like that, it was unbearable.

  From the corner of my eye, I noticed Dong Hae watching me. I knew he was trying to strike a conversation but didn’t know how. When he did, he was abruptly interrupted by a phone call.

  He let it ring for a moment before I said, “Aren’t you going to answer that?”

  “Right,” he said and smiled briefly before fishing out his black cell phone.

  “Who is it?” I asked when I saw his brows furrow.

  “It’s mom. Probably wants to tell us she’d be home late again.” Dong Hae said with a sigh and then flipped it open so he could answer. “Hello.” Dong Hae said.

  It was silent until he halted and his expression changed to shock. “What? What’s wrong?” I asked but he stayed silent. He turned away from me and said in hushed tones.

  I drew near and heard him say, “Al-Alright . . . I’ll tell her, don’t worry.”

  When he flipped his cell shut, he placed the end to his lips the way he usually does every time he was having difficulty telling me something. Dong Hae suddenly crouched over and buried his head in his arms as he raked his fingers through his hair. I crouched beside him and shook him a little at the silence that now was filled with sobs.

  “Dong Hae, what’s wrong? Tell me what’s wrong?” I asked with tears in my eyes. I never liked seeing my brother like this.

  He slowly lifted his head and I saw his eyes, red and puffy from his tears. He said in a broken voice, answering my uneasy heart, “Dad’s gone.”

  Almost instantly, I dropped to the ground and joined him in tears.