Sunggyu shoved Suzy inside his car, and roughly slammed the door shut in front of her. She bit her lower lip to stop herself from crying. He gave her a firm look before going around the vehicle to take the driver’s seat.

The both of them were quiet, and gripping the steering wheel tightly with his one hand, he ignited the engine with the other. The car whirred to life, and Suzy could only let out a sigh.

“You can hate me for doing this,” Sunggyu began. “But I don’t care. I don’t want you to meet people and lie to me about it.”

“But he’s a friend of mine,” she reasoned out. “And did you have to go that far? Did you really have to ask Sungjong about it?”

“Then what’s that person’s name?” he fired at her. “I have every right to call Sungjong and ask if the two of you already met. Many things could happen, especially when you’re a girl, riding the subway alone.”

Suzy didn’t reply. She only looked at her hands resting on her lap to maintain her composure.

“See?” he pointed out. “You can’t even tell me.”

“It’s because I don’t know his name!” she bellowed, at the same time glowering at him. A pause, and she added, “And he doesn’t know mine.”

Suzy’s eyes turned moist, and she started to shake with anger. It was her first time feeling that kind of disdain and she never expected the actions of her beloved brother would trigger that emotion.

“That just gives me another reason to stop the two of you from meeting,” he replied in a calm voice. “This has got nothing to do with my personal emotions. I am your brother, and I have the right to look after you.”

She choked out a wry smile, and muttered, “You’re suffocating me.”

Sunggyu didn’t respond. Instead, he looked ahead, and began to drive away. Suzy started sobbing quietly, and he let her be. He figured it was best to stay quiet than to question his sister.

<:>

“Hyung, are we going to meet Sunshine noona soon?” Daehyun asked, when Myungsoo returned to his seat.

“I’m afraid we can’t,” Myungsoo answered.

The young boy cocked his head, his eyes showing a tinge of disappointment. “Why?”

Myungsoo his lower lip, and said, “What does the girl look like? The one who dropped her pen?”

“She’s pretty,” he promptly replied. “With long, black hair and a nice smile.”

The older one stared at her notebook and phone, which rested on the table. “That girl is your Sunshine noona.”

Daehyun’s eyes widened, and the both of them stayed quiet for a while.

If Myungsoo put the right pieces together, then he could be right if he assumed Suzy was Sunshine’s real name, and the guy who followed her was her brother—the one who wasn’t related to her by blood.

What was his name again? Myungsoo thought. Ah, Sunggyu.

If he was reading between the lines right, then it would be safe to say the argument between the two of them involved him.

“What are you going to do?” Daehyun asked sadly.

Myungsoo sighed, and he averted his gaze to his brother. “I’ll keep these for now, we’ll meet again.”

“But she doesn’t know.”

“It’s okay,” he replied. “Daehyun, where do you want to go next?”

<:>

It wasn’t until they arrived home when Suzy realized she had forgotten her phone and notebook in the restaurant. She let out a tiny cry of frustration, before collapsing on her bed. She couldn’t even call Summer to tell him what had happened, and that was why she felt so upset for letting him down.

“Suzy?” Sunggyu called out from outside her room later that afternoon. He knocked twice, and after waiting for a few seconds, he turned the knob. He scoffed, upon seeing she had locked it. “Suzy, are you sleeping?”

She was wide awake, but she didn’t want to respond. Her resentment still took the better of her, and she’d rather not speak than send daggers flying out of .

“Hey,” her brother began. “Are you still going to sulk? I feel bad for upsetting you, but it’s for your own good, Suzy.”

No reply.

Sunggyu sighed, and he leaned his forehead against Suzy’s bedroom door. He closed his eyes, his lower lip and said, “If I’m suffocating you, I apologize. I just…your parents trust me so much. I don’t want you and Sang Moon to get into some kind of danger, especially if I’m the one looking after you. I hope you understand where I’m coming from.”

Suzy forced her eyes shut, in hopes she wouldn’t realize Sunggyu had a point—he wasn’t doing it out of selfishness, but out of responsibility. She drastically failed, and this caused her to finally open her door. She didn’t care if her face was tear-streaked or not. She didn’t mind if her hair was a tangled mess. She wanted to be heard, as well.

“But oppa,” she muttered, her voice not louder than a mere whisper. “I wouldn’t meet him in person with no valid reason.”

A pause, and he asked, “What is that valid reason?”

“He’s lonely.”

Sunggyu’s eyes widened. “Suzy, do you understand what you’re saying right now?”

“I do. I know he’s lonely. I know he is.”

“What if he’s faking it—”

“I swear to you he’s not.”

He paused for a moment to regain his composure. “Since when did you start talking?”

“At the start of summer,” she said, her honest eyes boring into him.

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“You never asked.”

“Suzy stop playing—”

“I’m not. If you’ve asked I would’ve told you.”

“But I didn’t know.”

Silence.

“Who called first?” he asked again.

“He did.”

“And then what did you do?”

“I called back.”

“Why?”

Suzy froze. She looked down, trying to think of anything. Why, in all honesty, did she decide on responding? She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to search for an answer. When she opened them, she averted her gaze to Sunggyu.

“Because he needed someone to listen to him.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “How can you be so sure about that?”

“I just am.”

They stared at each other, and the tension broke the moment Sang Moon arrived home.

“What about your phone?” he asked.

“I lost it.”

“Go to the shop and have it blocked. I’ll buy you a new one.”

Suzy didn’t reply. Instead, she retreated back to her room. Sunggyu, on the other hand, proceeded to go downstairs to tend to his younger brother.

Sunggyu did keep his promise. He bought his sister a new phone. Suzy, however, didn’t even bother to have her lost phone blocked. That was the only memory she had of Summer. She didn’t want to lose that, as well.

<:>

Daehyun had to return home after a few days, but before leaving he promised to spend more time with Myungsoo again. That comforted the older one. While sitting on the sofa with Suzy’s phone and notebook resting on the coffee table, he suddenly remembered just how empty and wide his apartment was. It clenched his heart for some reason. Once again the droning frequency greeted his ears, and the urge to remove the plastic stars glued on his bedroom ceiling grew stronger by the second. He held back, though, because he still wanted to hold on to Daehyun’s promise he would come and visit again.

He sighed, and took Suzy’s phone. Myungsoo couldn’t find the guts to reactivate the gadget right after he turned it off on the same day he found it. It felt like the tiny bubble shrouding them would suddenly pop, causing them to fall. His eyes shifted to the notebook, and with cautious hands, he flipped the cover to read its contents. Her spoken words were always warm and comforting. He wondered if the things she wrote would emanate the same thing.

He sat there, completely absorbed by the story. It felt so real he imagined himself being there in the world she had created in those loose pieces of paper. By the time he had finished reading the incomplete tale, he had tears streaming down from his eyes.

That was when Myungsoo took her phone again. He turned it on, and started thinking on how he could find a way to unlock her phone. The screen blinked, and he could only scoff.

She didn’t put any security password on it. He stared at her wallpaper longer than he should have. It displayed—he supposed—Suzy, sitting on the grass with her legs crossed. A glowing smile was gracing her lips. On the bench behind her sat two elderly couple, with the woman resembling Suzy. There were two other people standing behind the bench. The both of them were males, and the one on the left looked young. He had the same smile as Suzy. The guy on the right, however, had different features. He had a bright smile, but it didn’t look a lot like anyone’s. Myungsoo knew more people who looked better than him, but the one on the picture showed a certain kind of charisma. He looked able and protective. He was the guy someone like Suzy would inevitably fall for.

“Clumsy,” he muttered, before going to her contacts to search for that one name: Sunggyu.

Myungsoo decided to not touch her phone anymore. He figured he’d rather know more about Suzy by knowing her in person.

<:>

Sunggyu’s phone rang on a Sunday night. He was in his room, then, finalizing some pages from a novel he was assigned to proofread. He answered it.

“Is this Sunggyu?” a male voice from the other end of the line asked.

“Yes,” he answered. “May I ask who’s speaking?”

“I’m Myungsoo. Kim Myungsoo. I found your younger sister’s phone and notebook in a restaurant. I want to return it.”

Sunggyu paused, and finally he said, “Was the phone not blocked?”

“I want to return it,” Myungsoo pushed. “I need to talk to you, too.”

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Why?”

“I’m the person she was supposed to meet.”

And then Sunggyu hung up.

"Whatever was, is. Whatever will be, is. That’s how it always is with God."
- Ecclesiastes 3:15