When we got home, it was already dark. Chanyeol invited Kai and Sehun to our house for a snack. Upon entering the house, the two lounged in the sofa and started watching TV. I went upstairs into the room to prepare my things for tomorrow's class.

As I was sorting my books on one of the shelves, something caught my eye. It was an old-looking book. I picked it out and started flipping through the pages. Turns out it wasn't actually a book. It's a photo album.

On the first few pages were pictures of two babies, a girl and a boy. The boy looked only slightly older than the girl. They were playing in a crib together as the mother posed behind them. Next was a picture of the boy, already a toddler, riding a bicycle with his dad. Then the girl putting her fingers into a cake and the boy having a surprised look on his face. As I kept on flipping the pages, the faces of the two children became more and more familiar. Until I got to the last picture. It was a photo of me with a birthday hat. It looked very recent. Beside me was the boy from the previous pictures, but already grown up. He had a crazy smile on his face. Chanyeol.

The last page was empty, but hinted that there was once a picture there but was removed and placed elsewhere.

How come I've had baby pictures with Chanyeol? Even if our parents are business partners, I don't think that's enough reason for us to be that close. Maybe our parents set us up? Wait. Parents. In the entire album, there was only one mom and one dad that appeared in all of the pictures. What do all of these mean?

"Ya~ Chanshi! Make me some ramyun" shouted Chanyeol as he entered the room while yawning. I looked up to him with so many questions clouding my face. "Ch-chanshi?" he asked while studying my features and realizing what I was holding.

"Tell me the truth, Chanyeol" I bluntly said, giving up on making reasonable guesses by myself. "How come I have baby pictures with you? Surely we couldn't have been that close. And..." I continued as I flipped the pages to look for the pictures of the mom and dad there. "Here. Is this my mom? Or your mom? My dad or your dad?" I continued scrambling the pages in a frenzy, forcing myself to remember those two people in the picture to no avail.

Finally having enough, I threw the album across the room and screamed, "God, I hate this amnesia!" then I buried my head in my knees.

Chanyeol slowly paced the room to approach me. He knelt in front of me and called me softly, "Chanshi, I'm sorry."

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking up at him.

"I-I'm not really your boyfriend" he revealed.

I squinted my eyes and looked at him puzzled. "What do you mean?" I repeated.

"Chanshi, I..." he seemed to stumble on his own words.

"Tell me, Chanyeol" I said firmly.

He took in a deep breath and answered, "Chanshi, I'm your brother. We have baby pictures together because we grew up together. Both our parents are in China because we have the same parents."

"That is the reason why we live in the same house and why I know where your purple toothbrush is," he continued. "The reason why I know how to tie your school ribbon. You always forgot to tie it when we were kids, and I always had to teach you how to do it over and over again whenever we reach the school gates. The reason why I know you like bacon and--aish! Chanshi...I AM your brother."

I just stared at the floor wide-eyed, not processing anything at the moment. Chanyeol slowly reached out his hand to touch my shoulder.

"Then why?" I finally asked.

He withdrew his hand and let out a deep breath.

"I wanted to protect you" he replied.

"Protect me? Like this? Shouldn't you be protecting me from you then? You liar" I spat.

"Chanshi, please--"

"No! You took advantage of my amnesia to make fun of me" I mumbled.

"That is not true. I only lied to protect you. Please listen to me for one damn second!" he said in a voice that shook my senses out. I just kept silent and remained looking at the ground.

When Chanyeol saw that I was giving him time to speak, he continued, "Do you know how you ended up at the hospital?"

I nodded. "I accidentally fell off the rooftop."

"No. You JUMPED off the rooftop" Chanyeol said.

My eyes widened in disbelief. "But...but why would I do that?"

"You...confessed to a guy. He rejected you. So you ran to the rooftop and jumped off. The only reason you survived is because you landed on the fire exit staircase instead of plummeting to the earth" he said flatly, not knowing how to sugar-coat the story anymore.

I was silent for a good seven minutes. Chanyeol just let me be silent. No one moved an inch. Tears were flowing from my eyes. I don't remember when they started to. Not that I'm any good in remembering anything at all.

"So...you lied because you didn't want me hurt, is that it?" I asked in a hushed tone.

He just nodded once, face blank. Even if he wasn't frowning, I could tell it that he was having a hard time explaining this to me. Else he would have that creepy happy virus face of his.

"You told me that you're my boyfriend...so that other guys won't come near me and hurt me again, am I right Chanyeol?" I continued, finally putting the pieces together.

Again, he just nodded. I rose from where I was sprawled. Chanyeol immediately came to my aid to help me stand up. Instead of propping myself upright, I threw myself on him. His body stiffened, not expecting my actions.

"Thank you," I whispered with my arms wrapped around him, "thank you...oppa."

He let out a good laugh. "So you're finally calling me oppa?" he said while wiping the remainder of my tears.

I nodded, "You're my oppa after all. And a very kind one."

He squished me into a tighter embrace. This guy. He's done so much for me ever since I woke up clueless in that hospital bed. He must have done even a lot more ever since I was born. I smiled into his chest.

Slowly, I freed myself of him, but he held me in place.

"Where are you going, my little angel?" he asked in a calm voice.

"Pabo. I'm going to make your ramyun" I chuckled as I walked out of the room.

 

I'm glad the ramyun pack had instructions printed at the back. I must have fallen off that rooftop really bad for me to not know how to cook anymore.

I poured the still hot ramyun into four bowls and set it on the table.

"Ya~! Oppa~! The ramyun is ready" I hollered over the staircase. Chanyeol came rushing down and motioned the two guys at the sofa to proceed to the dining room.

I sat beside my brother. Yes, my brother. His crazy smile returned when he saw the steaming bowl of ramyun. His friends slowly crept into their seats like zombies. Just a little longer and their eyes would surely pop out of their sockets. We ate in silence, me and Chanyeol being really hungry and the other two...I don't know why they are acting like they just saw a ghost.

"So..." Kai was the first to talk. "Little angel is finally calling you oppa?"

Chanyeol hurriedly swallowed the noodles and replied, "Ya! I'm the only one allowed to call my sister little angel."

"Y-you told her?!" Kai exclaimed in disbelief.

Chanyeol nodded, unable to speak with his mouth full of ramyun. Kai let out a laugh.

"Well, I knew it was going to come up sooner or later" said Kai. "See, Chanshi, I told your brother that this wouldn't work out long enough. I said...what if you fell in love with him? How are you going to get married? How are you gonna make childr--OW!" He rubbed his leg, which was apparently kicked by Chanyeol under the table. I just chuckled at everything that was happening.

"So everything's settled now" Sehun said before feeding himself with noodles.

Chanyeol slurped what remains of his soup and nodded. "Yes, everything's settled now. I'm really sorry, Sehun. I'm giving her back to you now."

I was as puzzled as an unsolved Rubiks cube. What now, Chanyeol?

"Wh-what do you mean?" asked Sehun, sipping the ramyun soup. I also took a swig of mine to finish it all up.

"Ah~ well I forgot to tell you, Chanshi. But in order to protect you, I had to take you away from your real boyfriend" Chanyeol explained.

Then he pointed his finger to his friend, "Sehun is your real boyfriend."

I choked on the ramyun. So did Sehun.
 

Sehun is my...what?!