Chorong dropped the plastic bags and ran to look for Hayoung. She saw Hayoung’s back, the latter was crying on her wheelchair. Chorong went closer to Hayoung and put her hand on Hayoung’s shoulder. “Maknae-yah. Why are you crying? What’s wrong?”

Hayoung did not answer her unnie. Instead, she continued to cry while covering her face with her palms.

Chorong walked to her front and noticed that Hayoung’s dress was wet. She was taken aback at first, but then she pulled Hayoung’s hand away to look at the girl’s face.

Namjoo stood behind Hayoung. She felt sorry for her maknae.

“I’m sorry. I tried to go to the toilet but this drawer blocked the way. I’m sorry. I tried to hold it. But…..” Hayoung voice sounded wobbly as she could not stop crying. “Don’t scold me, Unnie…”

Chorong knelt down and cupped Hayoung’s face. “It’s okay. I won’t get mad at you. It’s okay. Don’t cry…”  She wiped Hayoung’s tears with her thumbs. “But why didn’t you ask for Naeun’s help?”

Hayoung shook her head and cried again.

“Naeun’s not home?” Chorong asked for confirmation as she somehow understood Hayoung’s silence. Seeing that Hayoung nodded, she looked at Namjoo.

Namjoo kept her head down, feeling guilty for leaving her maknae alone. She thought that Naeun was in her room when she left for the store. She was getting ready for Chorong to scold her.

Instead, Chorong told her to put away the groceries as she pushed Hayoung to the bathroom. “It’s okay, Hayoung-ah. Don’t take it so hard.” Chorong consoled her.

“I’ll be careful next time.” Hayoung was still crying.

Chorong pulled Hayoung’s arm and put it over her shoulder to help her maknae sat on a small chair in the bathroom. “Don’t cry…. Let’s take off your dress…”

“Unnie… I’m sorry,” said Hayoung.

“Don’t…” Chorong replied short. Chorong hate it whenever Hayoung apologized for something that she should not have to. “Back then, when you were young, Bomi, Eunji, and I always fought with each other because we wanted to bathe you.” Chorong was reminisced of the past. “We enjoyed doing so because you were so cute.” Chorong smiled subconsciously. “You love waters, you always cried whenever Mom pulled you out of the tub.” Chorong gently bathed Hayoung as she spoke.

Hayoung smiled listening to Chorong’s story about her childhood.

“Namjoo always said that she would bite anyone that made you cried. So when Mom pulled you out, she would come running and bite her for real.” Chorong continued. She told Hayoung the story because she did not want Hayoung to cry and be sorry anymore.

Namjoo had finished putting away the groceries. She stood by the bathroom door and listened to her unnie too.

“During your nap time, being the quiet one, Naeun and Yookyung automatically became your guards. Whenever any of us tried to run around, they stopped us. They literally scolded us, saying that Baby Hayoung needed to sleep well so that she can have a happy dream.” Chorong met her eyes with Hayoung eyes.

The three girls giggled together as they found their childhoods were adorable.

……………………………..

Chorong called Naeun to her room after dinner to have a talk. “Naeun-ah, where did you go this evening? Weren’t you supposed to look after the maknaes?”

“I went out.” Naeun kept looking at the floor.

“To where?” Chorong asked.

“To get some fresh air.”

“What about the kids?”

“Namjoo was there. She’s old enough to look after Hayoung.”

“Namjoo’s a minor too.”

“She’s only a year younger than me.”

“She’s in high school.”

“She’s a matured kid.”

They both sounded mad at each other. Naeun kept talking back. It made Chorong obnoxious. Chorong kept questioning Naeun. It made Naeun annoyed.

Chorong sighed heavily and started to raise her voice. “Did you know that Hayoung wet herself today? She was crying alone!”

Naeun looked perplexed but she talked back to defend herself. “Namjoo was with her when I left them!”

“Did you let them know that you were going out?”

Naeun did not answer.

Chorong took it as a ‘no’. “Namjoo thought you were in your room, that’s why she left for the store.”

“Namjoo should have looked for me before heading out!”

“We are talking about your responsibility, right now! Don’t drag others into this!!!” Chorong could not hold her anger. She raised her voice at Naeun.

Bomi and Eunji stood in front of Chorong’s room. They had been eavesdropping since the minute Chorong called Naeun. The twins saw the look on Chorong’s face at dinner table. They had a hunch that something happened during the day.

The two maknaes silently hold their ice creams in front of the television, unable to eat them as they were scared. They could not hear Naeun and Chorong’s conversation but they knew what it was about. They both felt guilty about what happened.

“So what do you want to say?!!” Naeun glared at Chorong.

Chorong was shocked. She had never seen Naeun this mad. The girl even glared at her with a fiery look in her eyes. Chorong could not stand Naeun’s behaviour. She tried to calm herself down before continuing the conversation. Chorong stood up and looked outside. She inhaled and exhaled a couple times. “I noticed that you have been avoiding and ignoring Hayoung since the day she woke up. Why would you do that?” Chorong asked tonelessly.

Naeun looked at the floor again, and closed her eyes. “I’m busy.” She lied.

“You can’t hate her for surviving, Naeun-ah.” Chorong said in a calm voice. She knew what Naeun had in her mind. The older girl walked closer to Naeun.

“I don’t. I just……. I’m confused with my own feelings.”

Chorong grasped Naeun’s hand.

“Every time I looked at Hayoung’s face I saw Yookyung. I want to sit with Hayoung too and asked her whether she’s okay or not. But I just can’t…” Naeun confessed.

“You can’t let your bad feelings get to you. Yookyung is your twin sister, but aren’t you Hayoung’s unnie, too? You guys were closed,”

“I’ll try.” Naeun grasped Chorong’s hand slightly harder, “And I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I left the kids, I’m sorry that I was rude to you.”

“It’s all right, but don’t do it again.” Chorong stopped for a breath. “I know that Namjoo is a matured kid, and she’s only one year younger than you. But I don’t trust her to take care of Hayoung. I can’t let the maknaes be together without anyone to look after them. You know how naughty they are. Who knows what will happen if they started to do crazy experiments.”  She expressed.

“I’ll be better in the future.”

………………………….......

(A FEW DAYS LATER)

Her sisters tried to stop her from dropping out of college, but Chorong was determined to do so. Her decision was conclusive. Nothing could stop her. She began to focus on taking care of her sisters while doing part time at the same. As much as she wanted to, Chorong could not have more than one job, as she had to look after Hayoung. Her five hours part time job started in the evening and ended after dinner.

Bomi attended her classes and trained as usual, except, she had been offered a part time job from her professor as an assistant-instructor. Her professor, Mr.Lee Dongjun owned a Taekwondo-dojang. Mr.Lee knew about Bomi’s current situation and decided to help her. Above all, Bomi was offered the job because of her explicit skill in the martial art.

Eunji managed to get a part time job in a café when she went to look for one with Bomi on the other day. However, after discussing about it with her unnie, she politely informed the café’s owner that she could not do it. The job required her to work in the evening. But, Chorong had to work in that period, so that leave Hayoung and Namjoo with no adult to manage them. Because of that, Eunji had no choice but to cancel her intention to do part time job. Eunji was lucky that she majored in piano. Her orchestra team in college often got called to do performances in various events, and one of the benefits is, she could earn some money through that. It was not something new. She had done it since her freshman year.

Naeun was in her first year in college so naturally she got packed schedules to attend. From formal classes to club activities, Naeun could barely get home during the day. She only went back home to have lunch with her sisters. Assignments had piled up since she had been off of school for a few days. She was busy to finish them all.

Namjoo went to school like she normally did. The only difference was that Hayoung was not beside her whenever she walked to and back from school. The two maknaes used to go to school hand in hand. Sometimes, they even played rock-paper-scissors to decide who should be the bag-carrier. Sometimes, when they were craving for snacks after a tiring day in school, they would stop by at their favourite food truck to eat fishcakes and tteokbokki. Sometimes,