“So, Yukwon, why are you in detention?  I mean, I totally understand why Minhyuk’s here, since he never listens to anyone, but you seemed like a good person,” Minyoung asked.  She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Minhyuk and I got in trouble today,” Yukwon replied, trying to ignore Minhyuk’s death glare.  “I should be studying at home, but I’m stuck here instead.”

“It’s a pity, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

Minhyuk interjected, “What’s up with you, Yukwon?  You seem different…not as angry?”

“When was I ever angry?”

Minhyuk shrugged.  “Could it be?”  He ran a hand through his dark hair.  “No, I don’t want to believe it.”

“If you don’t finish your question, how am I supposed to answer?” Yukwon grumbled.

Minhyuk walked closer to Yukwon, which caused the other to shrink in his chair.  However, Minhyuk continued to lean in until he was right in Yukwon’s face.

“Do you like my sister?”

, how’d he know?  Was it obvious?  Yukwon cleared his throat.  “I’m sorry, but can you get out of my personal space?”

Minhyuk pulled away, walking toward the door.  “You know what?  Detention is pointless.  I’m out of here.”

“Wait!” Yukwon called.  “You can’t just leave, can you?”

“Watch me.  Let’s go, Minyoung!”

“Okay!” came the cheerful reply.  “Bye, Yukwon.  Nice seeing you again!” She waved.

They aren’t leaving me here.  “Hey!  Wait up!”

<:>

While Minhyuk walked ahead, Minyoung and Yukwon lagged behind.  He couldn’t do much about it though, because he knew that his sister wouldn’t listen to his complaints.  All he could do was remain silent and walk ahead, sullenly carrying both his bag and Minyoung’s backpack. 

“Hey Minhyuk!” Minyoung exclaimed.  “What are you doing walking so fast?  Get back over here!”

He sighed.  If she wasn’t my sister…

“Okay.”

Even though he didn’t want to, Minhyuk turned around and walked back toward the two.  For Minyoung, he would do anything…within reason, of course.  If she told him to dance, he would dance.  If she told him to help her hide a dead body, on the other hand, that would be different.

Minyoung was one of the few people he didn’t mind being around.  Sure, they were twins, but something about her personality made her simply likeable.  She wasn’t actually as cheerful as she pretended to be, since she seemed to have bad days at least three times a week, but she always stuck to her promises and morals.  And that, in Minhyuk’s eyes, made her more than an angel.

There was something he always wanted to know about his twin, though—whether or not she was truly happy.  But that, that would have to wait.  He knew she wasn’t ready to talk about her source of unhappiness, so he decided not to press for information until then.

“You’re in Yukwon’s class, Minhyuk?” Minyoung asked curiously.

Minhyuk scoffed. “Is that why you called me?”

“Well, you talked about him once in a while, but you never said you two were in the same class, so I didn’t know.”

“Fine.  Yukwon is in my class.  Are you happy?”

She shrugged, a small smile evident on her face.  “Yes, Minhyuk.  I am.”

“Ah, are we going to visit Taeil hyung today?” Minhyuk suddenly thought of their older brother, Taeil.

“Free food?”

“He’s obligated to give you free food, Minyoung.  You shouldn’t take advantage of that.”

“Well, now that I think about it, we haven’t visited Taeil oppa for a long time.”

“You just want the free food.”

She grinned.  “You know me so well.”

Bidding Yukwon farewell at the bus stop, Minyoung walked slowly while her grumpy twin attempted to walk faster.  She loved irritating him and knew that he wouldn’t do anything to stop her.  After all, even though Minhyuk was older by three minutes, she was the one in charge.

Anyway, Yukwon wasn’t even as bad as Minhyuk said.  In fact, Minyoung thought that he was kind of cute when he smiled.

“If you don’t hurry, we won’t make it there in time,” Minhyuk threatened. 

His twin smiled, showing her gums on purpose.  “You can’t fool me like that.”

He sighed.  “It was worth a shot.”

<:>

“Oppa!” Minyoung exclaimed, walking into the empty restaurant.  One person sat behind the counter, head down on the table.  Both twins knew that their older brother was sleeping—his favorite hobby.

Taeil’s restaurant was a small place, something easily overlooked by the other prominent restaurants in the mall, since Taeil refused to decorate it with any sort of flashing lights or play pop music through the speakers.  The restaurant attracted families with children as well as the elderly, though, which brought in enough for Taeil to keep the business running. 

The interior of the shop wasn’t anything fancy.  There were a couple of booths, a few tables, and seats at the counter.  The floor was plain white and polished, while the walls were a dark red—a color chosen by the twins years ago.  Minyoung enjoyed sitting at the counter because Taeil worked there, but Minhyuk preferred the booths, where he could stare out the windows.

“Hyung, are you napping on the job?” Minhyuk asked, a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

“I’m not sleeping, Minhyuk,” Taeil muttered, still face down on the counter.  “I’m staring at the inside of my eyelids.”

“Right.”

“There’s no one here, so I can sleep as much as I want!” Taeil exclaimed, finally looking up.

Minhyuk smiled.  “Anyway, hyung, Minyoung is hungry again.”

“Tell me something new.”

“And that’s why we’re here.” Minhyuk turned toward Minyoung, saying, “I’m not hungry, so you can order whatever you want.”

“Minyoung-ah, find somewhere else to eat,” Taeil whined.

“But your cooking is the best,” she replied, taking a seat at the counter.

He sighed.  “You know how much I love compliments.” 

So Taeil made Minyoung a bowl of ramyun and handed her the bowl of kimchi from the fridge.  He watched her face light up and suppressed a smile of his own.  “How’s school?” he asked, curious because neither of the twins mentioned anything about it.

“Fine,” Minyoung replied.

“Really?” Taeil’s eyes narrowed.  While Minhyuk could lie easily, Minyoung was a bit different.  Whenever she lied, she tended to touch the back of her neck.  Even when she was young, both Taeil and Minhyuk saw through every single one of her lies after noticing her habit, though they thought it was cute.

“Well…”

“I’m waiting.”

“Minhyuk got detention today,” she blurted out, staring at her twin in guilt.  Minhyuk gave her a shrug and a sigh, knowing that she wouldn’t have lasted long anyway.

“What were you doing at that school that made the teachers give you detention?  I mean, when I was there, no one got in trouble,” Taeil replied.

Minhyuk replied, “This other kid and I got in trouble.  That’s about it.”

“And let me guess,” Taeil grumbled.  “Your twin followed you there.  Because where one goes, the other must follow.”

“Oh oppa, you know us so well!” Minyoung snickered.

“So you did go to detention with him!”

“Nothing is fun if Minhyuk isn’t there.”

“If Mom and Dad were here—”

“When are they coming home?  I swear that they’ve been gone for months now,” Minyoung interrupted.

“Dunno,” Minhyuk replied.

Taeil sighed.  “They’re coming back soon, I’m sure.  They’re working hard to expand our business abroad.”

“Does that mean that they won’t be back for our birthday?” Minyoung asked. 

“Sorry, Minyoung.  I think they’ll come back soon.”

<:>

“I’m doing homework here,” Minyoung announced.

“Do you need anything else to eat, my dear sister?” Taeil replied with a hint of sarcasm.  “If it weren’t for you two, I’d be upstairs sleeping right now.”

“Do you want us to leave, hyung?” Minhyuk asked.

Taeil shook his head.  “Who said that I didn’t enjoy the commotion?”

“Hah,” the younger one replied.

Minyoung took a package of cookies out of her backpack and started on her homework.  Minhyuk looked on in amusement.

“Why do you have cookies in your bag?”

“Concentration.”

“Oh.  Can I have one?”

“No.”

“Why not?” Minhyuk whined.  “You just don’t want to share.”

“Life ,” she grumbled.  “Why don’t you eat ramyun since we’re here instead of mooching off of me?”

Suddenly, Minyoung’s bag fell on the ground, and a whole bunch of snacks came out.  Minyoung stared at the mess in horror while Minhyuk tried to hide his laughter.  He reached for another bag of cookies and opened it, to the irritation of his twin.

“I was saving those,” she said.

“Why do you carry so many snacks in your bag?”

“Where else would I put them?”

“But…”

“And I eat everything before it expires anyway.”

“How about I buy you some flowers to make up for it?”

“You can’t eat flowers, Minhyuk,” she replied.

“What about daisies?”

“Hm…fine.”

Minhyuk smiled again, relieved to see that his twin was happy.  After all, his main goal in was to protect Minyoung from harm, especially when she couldn’t protect herself.  His life revolved around her, and he’d make sure that no one would hurt her ever again.