When she heard a click, she turned the knob and walked in.

She took off her shoes and placed them on the stand by the door.

Then as if some force has possessed her, she skipped gleefully to the living room. Ever since lunch, Seulgi had been in a good mood for some unknown reason.

She hummed a small melody; her hands swung beside her with each bounce as she entered the living room. But she quickly froze when she saw her stepsister.

 

Irene was already home from classes and she sat there on the couch flipping through a magazine. Luckily, the girl didn’t notice Seulgi’s embarrassing demeanor.

Seulgi hastily straightened up and cleared , prompting the girl to look up.

 

“Oh, you’re home,” Irene closed her magazine

 

“Yeah,” Seulgi placed her bookbag down beside her,

“You..uh...home alone?”

 

Irene only nodded. Their gazes lingered on each other for a few seconds before Irene broke away,  turning back to her magazine.

 

Seulgi looked away too. She glanced at their TV and then she glanced at the stuff below it.

 

“Hey,” Seulgi walked over and picked up something,

“Do you want to play Wii?”

 

Irene raised her head again and looked at the remote controller in the girl’s hands. Then she looked at the taller girl. Her eyebrows were cocked; her eyes gleaned; and she had a stupid smile plastered on her face. She kinda looked adorable standing there holding the remote, waiting in anticipation.

 

“Sure,” Irene closed her magazine once more. She got up, and walked closer,

 

“I’d love to.”

 

 

------

 

“How could you break it?!” Seulgi exclaimed.

 

Their game of Wii volleyball was going well until they both got too excited for the spike and they both reached to jump for the imaginary ball. That was when Seulgi accidentally bumped into Irene, and Irene was sent flying, bumping into a flower vase that was set on top of the fireplace.  

 

“You bumped into me!” Irene retaliated

 

“You- ”

 

“Newton’s first law of motion; an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an unbalanced force,”  Irene abruptly cited, walking closer to Seulgi until she was right in front of her.  

 

“And.

“You.”

“Were”

“That.”

“Unbalanced.”

“Force.” Irene said, jabbing the younger girl on the chest with each word

 

Seulgi felt herself getting hotter with each jab; from anger as the girl was mocking Seulgi again with intelligence; and from something else.

 

“And you were that unbalanced force that bumped into the vase!” Seulgi snapped back, swatting away the girl’s hands,

“And don’t touch me.”

 

Irene threw her hands up and sighed,

“Fine. We both were at fault, okay?”

 

She was surprised Irene didn’t bicker back,

“You were more at fault, ” Seulgi pouted.

 

“Fine whatever, I was bumped into it so I was more at fault,” Irene breathed,

“Let’s just clean up.”  

 

“Whatever,” Seulgi muttered, lightly kicking the dirt on the floor. She felt slightly irritated that Irene had conceded so easily, allowing Seulgi to win. But for some reason, Seulgi felt like she lost instead.  

 

“Here, I’ll sweep it up and you hold the dustpan,” Irene said, handing Seulgi the dustpan

 

Seulgi grumpily snatched the dustpan. When she did, her hand accidentally grazed Irene’s hand, startling her a little. She felt a sudden warmth creep up the back of her neck, so she quickly kneeled down and held the dustpan as she was told.  

 

“Hold it down tighter,” the girl commanded

 

Seulgi clenched her jaw, and pressed down on the dustpan as firmly as she could. She waited until Irene swept up the mess before she got up and made way to the garbage bins. She lifted up the first bin cover and was about to throw out the mess until she heard Irene call out,  

 

“Make sure you throw it out in the second black garbage bin!”

 

“Shut up,” Seulgi grumbled to herself, dropping the first cover and lifted up the second bin cover,

“Don’t tell me what to do.”  

 

 

 

------

 

“Wasn’t there a vase here?” their mother gawked at the empty spot on top of the fireplace.

 

Seulgi and Irene glanced at each other.

 

“No, mom.” Irene replied flatly, scrolling through her phone

“There wasn’t.”  

 

“Are you sure, honey?” her mother turned to face the older girl. “It feels like something’s missing?”

“Doesn’t it feel like something’s missing,Seulgi?” their mother turned and asked the younger girl

 

Startled, Seulgi looked up at her stepmother. Her eyes darted to the spot behind the woman and then her eyes darted to Irene.

 

Irenel had also looked up; her body froze; her fingers still attached to the screen of her phone. Her forehead creased while her eyebrows cutely furrowed as she anticipated Seulgi’s response. Irene’s soft brown eyes locked into hers as the older girl plead with her gaze. She saw the girl adorably moving to form a pout, as in silently saying “please.”

 

Seulgi wanted badly to rat the girl out. How great would it’ve been to get her in trouble. She wanted to see the anger on Irene’s face when she spills the truth.  

 

Seulgi smiled and looked back at the woman.She opened to snitch only for her words to fail her, as she replied with,  

“No, it’s perfect the way it is.”

 

------

 

“Seulgi, can I get the remote?”

Her voice was soft.

 

“No.”

 

“Give me the remote.”

Her voice hardened.

 

“No.”

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