Minseo turned three, and that was when rivalry initiated.

Up until the day Minseo was deficient in vocabulary, Minseok and she were all chummy. Since she became skilled at claiming things as hers, the truce between them was broken.

Their mother came into Minseo’s room, where Minseok was reading a children’s novel, lying on his stomach, while Minseo was playing with her teddy and Nymph. The second their parent placed a tub of ice cream on the floor, both their heads swiveled and their eyes rested on the container at the same moment.

“Share the ice cream, okay?” Their mother warned them before going outside.

The two stole glances at each other, and then quickly crawled toward the sweet treat. Minseo was fast – she scooped the tub into her arms and sat down cross-legged just as Minseok reached it.

“Mine,” she declared.

“Mom said to share, Minseo.” Minseok tried to coax the container out of her arms.

Minseo shook her head mulishly. “Mine,” she said again and yanked the lid open. “Oppa go get another.”

Accurately that was when a feral growl emanated from Minseok as he grabbed the rim of the tub; he pulled it to him, Minseo pulled it to her with her eyes narrowing to slits.

“Mine!”

“Mine, too!”

And in the tug-of-war that ensued, Minseok threw in the towel, realizing their parents would blame him only if Minseo started crying.

“All right. Yours.” Minseok did the mistake of letting go of the container while Minseo was still pulling.

It happened in slow motion.

Minseo gasped and fell onto her back; the tub slipped from her grip – it upended and landed on her beloved teddy, which had been behind her, drowning him in sweet, sticky, melted pistachio ice cream.

Upon seeing the condition of her teddy, Minseo screamed an ear-piercing, house-shaking scream and wailed. Soon, their mother turned up, saw the mess and Minseo, and of course, Minseok was the only one ge