“Jooseung-oppa! Let´s go out! There’s this new ice cream shop nearby, let’s go try it out!” Solji barged in her older brother’s room, just to find him looking at his computer screen, almost unblinking.
“I’m busy, Sol. Maybe later?” He answered without looking at her. The girl pouted and tried again.
“I’m buying! You can get as much as you want!” She knew he couldn’t deny free food. She knew that he loved when she was the one paying.
“Maybe another time. I need to finish this mission. It is giving a rare item as a reward.” After that, she shouted a couple of words she couldn’t understand and completely ignored her presence.
Solji huffed and stomped out of the room. It was the second week in a roll that her brother rejected her invitation for sibling bonding. The two were close, but lately Jooseung is giving all his free time to that stupid game. He was always like that with something he wanted; got hyped for a week and then go back to accept her invitations, even invite her to do something. So she left him be for a week to star to invite him out again. So, in this officially third week she was getting frustrated. Instead of moping about her situation, she decided to go to the ice cream shop alone.
The shop was bright and colored, with table booths, reminding american’s 50’s style. The order should be taken at the table, so she sat at a discreet corner and took a look at the chart. The ice creams had funny names, so she decided upon a known name: banana split. After the waiter received her order, her eyes roamed and she noticed a jukebox. Maybe there is a known song, she thought. Solji stood up and headed to the machine, when she was approaching the entrance door, because the jukebox was on the opposite side of the seat she chose, it opened and two young girls walked in.
“Unnie is addicted again, Jjung.” One girl sighed. She had long brown-ish hair with bangs framing her face. She was holding the other girl’s arm.
“Why is it this time?” The girl with straight black hair asked, amused by her friend’s whining.
“Apparently there is a new expansion in the game, or there will be. i don’t really know, she is beta-testing. the point is, she is ignoring me completely.” She let go of the arm, and spun to face the girl, but hit Solji halfway, who was passing by at the same moment. “Sorry!” She immediately apologized.
“It’s okay!” She accepted without even look at who bumped into her.
“Ah! Solji-unnie!” The girl jumped onto Solji.
“Heeyeonnie!” Solji hugged Heeyeon, then looked at the other girl. “Junggie!”
“I see you came for a refreshing afternoon too, unnie!” Junghwa smiled, excited.
“Yes! Let’s sit together! I was just about to check that jukebox out!” The older girl pointed at her table and then to the machine. “Give me a minute!” And Solji rushed to the jukebox.
The three knew each other because they went to the same school. Solji was in her third year of high school, Heeyeon on her second, and Junghwa in her first. Solji and Heeyeon were close because they were in the same club, the singing club. On Heeyeon’s first year, she was assigned to a duo project with Solji, and they hit it off so well, they created a duo for real and even had a name. Junghwa, though, was in the dance club, but she was best friends with Heeyeon since childhood, and despite being in a club herself, she always managed to come and watch the rehearsals.
After choosing an Elvis song, Solji returned to the table only to see Junghwa whisper something on Heeyeon’s ear, making the girl blush. She smirked at the sight, She knew that there was something going on, but the girls vehemently denied every time they were questioned about it.
“So, your unnie is ignoring you again, Hani?” Solji cleared and asked. The two looked at her while she sat in front of them.
“Yeah. Sometimes I hate that game!” Hani vented out.
“Yesterday night you loved it.” Junghwa commented, only to make her friend blush. Solji hid a smile.
“That’s not the case! She refused our invitation, even when we said it would be on us.” Hani ruffled her own bangs in frustration.
“It happened to me too!” Her friends blurted out loudly. Her friends looked at her surprised.
"Jinja!?" The two asked in uni-tone. They knew how Solji's relationship with her brother was.
"This is the third week oppa is ignoring me." The older girl pouted. "I'm starting to hate this game." She sighed. the three looked at each other and laughed. Solji's order arrived right after and the group of friends changed topics.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
It was a short break in the singing club room and Solji was absentmindedly stretching when the door opened. Piercefull eyes stared at her for a couple of seconds, then roamed away until they find who they wanted, completely ignoring her person and whatever weird position she was in. Solji didn't mind, she was used to the eyes owner's behavior.
"I'm heading home, Heeyeon-ah. Today is the last day and I still need to send the review. So don't call until I leave the room, ok?" The owner of the strong gaze, a girl with long bangs combed sideways, announced with a somewhat husky voice, seeming bored with the world.
"Okay, Hyojin-unnie..." Hani sighed and pouted from where she was, laying on the floor with her head leaning on her friend's belly. With a straight expression, Hyojin closed the door and left school. "Again..." Hani sulked, shifting to her side. Almost immediately she heard a growl coming from her friend's tummy.
"Hungry already? Hyerin, you just ate before practice!" Solji reacted before Hani.
"Sorry, it's just that singing makes me hungry." The girl explained not feeling sorry at all.
"Hyerin, let's go to that cake shop since I won't be able to play with unnie when I get home." Hani invited, sitting up.
"Thanks for making me a second option, unnie." Hyerin pouted, patting her belly. "But since it's for food, I accept."
"Let's all go together." Solji intervened. "My brother will totally ignore me today too."
Though the invitation was for everyone in the club, in the end only Solji, Hani, Hyerin, and Junghwa went to the shop. Junghwa appeared after the rehearsal and tagged along. She and Hyerin were classmates, so there were no awkward atmosphere.
"Dumped by Hyojin-unnie again, Hani?" Junghwa asked amused, after their orders arrived.
"Tell me about it..." The girl pouted and shoved a fork with a strawberry cake piece into . Junghwa giggled at her behavior.
"Hyojin-sunbae looks so scary." Hyerin commented eating another piece of cake. She was so eager to eat she ended up dirtying the corner of and the tip of her nose with glace.
"Don't talk with your mouth full, hyerinnie!" Solji reprehended the young girl, and started to clean her dirty face. Hani and Junghwa laughed both at the remark and the cute scene in front of her.
"Okay, mama." Hyerin complied, yet with full mouth again, making all at the table laugh.
"Hyerin-ah, unnie may look tough, but she is an adorable cat inside." Hani started to explain.
"Heeyeonnie, I'm sorry, but i find it hard to believe. She ignores basically everyone, your friends included. Even me, who often go to your house to practice." Solji pointed out.
"She really isn't that bad. She is just shy, but she is a nice person." Junghwa reasoned. "Well, mostly when she is not bickering me."
"Junghwa, she bickers you because you date her sister since your childhood." Solji jested, making the two mentioned girls choke and blush hard.
"Anni!" The two said at the same time. Hyerin seemed unaffected by the statement and its reaction.
"Just give up on denying already." Solji smirked. Oh she loved to tease the girls about it. She earned another round of blushing.
"Ah! that's it!" Hyerin raised her voice, startling the other three.
"What?"
"Since they are ignoring you because of the game, why don't you start playing it too?" Hyerin raised her fork, trying to look smart. "So you can spend time with them in the game at least."
"I'm too lazy to learn that. Too much controls. Too many places to look at the same time." Hani complained.
"This you really are." Junghwa nodded, getting a piece of her cake.
"Yah!" Hani hit Junghwa's arm, making everyone giggle.
"Hum, I'm not very much fan of online gaming, but if it's for some time with my brother, maybe I can make an exception..." Solji wondered.
"Unnie, online gaming is so confusing. At least the one Hyojin-unnie play is. What's the name of the one your brother plays?" Hani asked.
"Hum... Good question... I'll check it out when I get home." Solji sighed, realizing she know nothing about the game she often complained about.
"Aish! How are you going to get the game like this? Ask him directly." Junghwa's tone was demanding.
"I want to surprise him!" Solji whined. "I want to go to him in a couple of days and ask him to play with me, so i need to learn it before-handed."
"I think Junghwa is right, umma." Hyerin said after swallow. "You should ask him to teach you. Wouldn't this be nice bonding time?"
"You may be right, but I want to surprise him. Like 'Hey, you left me aside for this, for so long that I even learned it!' type of surprise." Solji beamed with sparking eyes.
"This sounds more like a revenge..." Hani commented, while Junghwa and Hyerin nodded.
"Surprise it is!" Solji insisted. The younger girls sighed and gave up on trying to convince her otherwise.
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