GeunSuk was in his room sitting at his desk playing a game on his old BEBOX computer. He’d had it for five years, so it wasn’t new. He heard the door down stairs slam shut. YoungSuk was home. She was 12 at the time, and had a very annoying tendency to get into big tantrums.

GeunSuk was wondering what her tantrum was about this time, when the door to his room swung open. He saw a sight that he wasn’t expecting. YoungSuk was smiling, her eyes wide and bag in hand.

She dropped her bag and went straight to GeunSuk’s bed. He turned around to see her jumping all over his homework, which he had laid out ready to do when his twentieth game ended. He was on his third. The bed creaked every time YoungSuk landed on it.

“YoungSuk! Stop it. You’re ruining my homework,” he said annoyed, swatter at her feet to try and get her to stop.

She looked at him, shaking her head. “It’s not like you were doing it anyway.” And she jumped a last time, landing on her bottom.

“What’s gotten you in such a good mood?” he asked, folding his arms and leaning back on the chair.

“I’m not telling you,” she said, sticking her tongue out at him and giggling. GeunSuk shook his head, and turned back to his game. There was no way it could be good grades, because she was always cleaver. And it couldn’t be something mum got her because her birthday wasn’t until December.

“Well, I didn’t want to know anyway,” he said, clicking away on his computer. He heard YoungSuk puff behind him. And he looked round to face her again. It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested. He just wasn’t interested.

“Fine…go ahead then…” he sighed, facing her again. He dropped his feet up on the bed, ready to listen to some extravagant story about how her friend had told her some really juicy gossip about some girl in her class who’d kissed a boy that she’d only known three hours.

“I am no longer a single gal, brother,” she said smugly. She spotted a piece of paper beside her and picked it up to study. “You’re studying this? Is it biology?”

It took a little while to comprehend what she had said, and GeunSuk sat there for  a while thinking while YoungSuk read his work.

“Wait…what?” he asked, sitting up and taking his feet off the bed.

“I asked if it was biology.” She said, looking up over the paper. Her expression was completely blank, and had no expression to depict what she had said before asking about biology. He had come to know that look. It was a look that told him she was waiting for him to ask her. Daring him to.

“Who would date you?” he asked, slightly not believing her, and when she raised her eye brow at him, he laughed and gave in. “Alright, I’m sorry. But who is it?”

She looked at him, and put a finger to her chin as if she were thinking. “You know, I don’t quite recall,”

“Stop trying to be clever, and tell me if you’re going to tell me. If not, you can get out of my room, and shut the door on the way out.” GeunSuk was getting sick of his sister’s bottom all over his school work, and just wanted to be left in peace to play his game.

“That’s no way to talk to me, I’m your sister!” she said pouting again. And then she said. “You know, I’ll get you a cookie from the jar if you let me stay,”

“…Go on…” GeunSuk said tapping the tips of his fingers together. It was a rare thing to hear  YoungSuk saying she’ll do you a favour, but to hear her offer her ninja-cookie-stealing skills, even rarer.

“You know your best friend?” she asked nonchalantly, swaying her legs back and forth; they didn’t quite reach the floor.

“Which one?” GeunSuk was starting to get worried. Surely not. Surely his friend knew her well enough not to fall for YoungSuk’s manipulating personality. Her fake cutesy smile and the way she battered her eyelashes over those deep brown, deceiving eyes, couldn’t have swayed his friends.

GeunSuk was starting to believe that his sister had brainwashed one of his friends, but he had a pretty good idea who it was. She’d always had a small crush on SeungHyun.

“Which friend do you think, GeunSuk?” she furrowed her brows as if she excepted him to know who she was talking about.

“Seriously?” he was in a little shock to think that SeungHyun would actually like her back…unless he didn’t. Unless he was playing the same fake game she was. “YoungSuk, he’s three years older than you! Why don’t you just wait until you’re older?”

His wise words didn’t sink in. They went in one ear and out the other. “You know, it’s funny; I always thought that you’d get a girlfriend before I got a boyfriend,” she sang.

He didn’t want to bring down her spirits, but he couldn’t let his sister date his best friend. For one thing, he didn’t want his friend getting hurt by his sister’s cold exterior, and he didn’t want his sister being hurt by his friend, because he’d have to hear about it at home. And another, she was only twelve and clearly didn’t know what it was to be in a relationship. Neither did GeunSuk for that matter. SeungHyun was too old to be messing around with a twelve year old. It didn’t make any sense.

He wanted to tell her all these things, but he’d never seen her this happy. He couldn’t bring himself to say it, so he said instead. “I’ve never really been interested in girls,” and sighed.