“Ahhhhh! This is really delicious!” Dara said before she stuffed full with food again. It was as if she was alone inside the restaurant and that she didn’t care what people around her thought of her. She was eating like a pig!

 

“Slow down,” the guy across her said, chuckling.

 

“I’m just hungry. I skipped dinner last night because I didn’t have an appetite. This morning, I was late, so no breakfast for me. And I also skipped lunch today,” she explained after swallowing. And then she went on continuing eating like a madman.

 

Cheondoong, on the other hand, just watched her eat. Dara originally brought him to the restaurant to buy him lunch for saving her twice. But here he was, not being able to touch his food yet.

 

“Come on, eat up. Or I’ll eat your food,” Dara said.

 

“Why were you being chased by those girls, by the way?” he asked.

 

Dara straightened up and chug on the glass of iced tea to clear . She just finished eating. “I don’t have an idea at all! They said I threw their fan gifts for Jiyong. Hmp. Ungrateful people.”

 

“Jiyong?”

 

“Oh, he’s my. . .” she trailed off and gestured a pair of quotation marks. “. . . brother.”

 

Cheondoong looked confused.

 

“We don’t share a drop of blood,” she said. “I’m an orphan.”

 

“Orphan?” Cheondoong asked.

 

She nodded. “Oh, by the way. . .” Dara stood up and bowed low in front of him. “. . . thank you so much from before and for today.”

 

“Oh, noona, stand up. You don’t have to bow that low,” Cheondoong said, straightening her up while looking around him to people who were staring at them. He was as red as a tomato.

 

Dara sat back and so did Cheondoong. And when he stared back at her, there were tears in her eyes. It was a hundred-and-eighty-degree transformation. A while ago, she was just cheerfully eating, now she was crying in front of him.

 

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have gone home safe that night. My life would have been ruined, or worse, I would have been dead. If it weren’t for you. . .”

 

“YA, noona. Don’t be like that,” Cheondoong said, panicking, as the people started whispering with each other, thinking that he made her cry. Dara started crying loudly, attracting more attention. He turned to the customers and apologized quickly. “I’m sorry. She’s emotional today. I didn’t make her cry, I swear. I’m sorry. Please continue eating.”

 

“Cheondoong-ssi!” Dara suddenly exclaimed, holding him by his arms. “I am also sorry I was rude to you that night. I wasn’t able to thank you properly. I’m really bad, right?” she asked and then cried again.

 

“Ah, no. noona is not rude. Please don’t cry anymore, neh?” Cheondoong pleaded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheondoong sighed in relief as she watched Dara as if she didn’t just cry ten minutes ago. She was now eating a cone of vanilla ice cream and another 180-degree shift happened. Cheondoong was amused how this noona changes quickly. Fortunately, just a treat of the ice cream made her stop crying.

 

“Ah, noona, what’s you—“

 

“So, you’re a high school student too?” Dara asked, not noticing that Cheondoong had something to ask. It was always like this. Cheondoong couldn’t interrupt. Before he could even ask for her name, she would say something again.

 

“Ah, yes. And judging from your school uniform, our schools are just neighbors.”

 

“I’m guessing you’re a freshman?” she asked, as he nodded. “So, I was right. I am your noona,” she said. And then she reached her ice cream to him. “Ice cream?”

 

“Eh?” Cheondoong asked but chuckled and shook his head. “Noona, what’s –“

 

“I’ll return your sweater and pants tomorrow,” Dara said, cutting him off again. “I’ll see you at the park in front of my school?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Aish, Jiyong is such a paranoid baby,” TOP complained as he walked in the streets, letting his eyes search for the lady that made the dragon back in Japan call immediately just because he felt that something bad happened to her. The reason behind his ‘feeling’ being Dara not able to reply to his message asking her if she already ate.

 

Jiyong had been like that since he left to Japan yesterday – calling TOP even when he was asleep. Once, Jiyong called him while he was in the shower. As he heard it ringing, he ran outside knowing it was Jiyong and he knew Jiyong would fry his a$s if he didn’t answer by the third ring. Soap suds were still all over his body and on his left eye, which he kept closed and which stung a lot. Only a towel was covering the lower half of his body. TOP found himself running towards Dara’s room after Jiyong told him that she might have gone to her old ‘job’ again. But when he went to her room, Dara was sprawled on her bed while reading her magazine. Dara just blinked as she saw him and eventually her cheeks grew pink. Without a word, she covered her eyes with the magazine she was holding and then screamed at it, making TOP scream along too.

 

TOP scratched his head. He called Jiyong several times telling him that Dara was alright even though he didn’t see her in her school. He just wanted to rest. But Jiyong kept on shouting to him, “She isn’t picking up her phone. I know you’re not looking! I can see you from here.”

 

“Aish, never make Jiyong worry, Dara. NEVER!”

 

As he passed by a restaurant, he caught an unwanted sight.

 

“Who’s she with?” TOP asked in gritted teeth. The sight of Dara laughing and smiling with a guy inside a restaurant made his teeth grit and fists clench. Without much thought, he stormed inside the restaurant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Noona, I have something to ask you,” Cheondoong started after Dara talked about anything random.

 

“Oh, you do? What is it, Cheondoong-ah?” she asked. “Ah, I hope you don’t mind me calling you casually. It’s like you’re my dongsaeng already you know.”

 

“Ah,” Cheondoong chuckled awkwardly. “That thing I wanted to ask—“

 

“Ah, neh. What was it again?”

 

“What’s you—“

 

“AAAAHHHH!!!” Dara screamed as she felt herself being lifted off from her chair. She was carried like a sack of potato. Instinctively, she punched the intruder’s back.

 

“Noona! NOONA! Hey! Put her down!” Cheondoong screamed as he chased the intruder who snatched Dara.

 

“Cheondoong!” Dara screamed as she saw Cheondoong chasing them. “YAH! You ert bastard! Let go of me!”

 

“Shut up, Dara!”

 

Dara flinched as she recognized the owner of the voice. She tried lifting herself up to peek from behind her. “Seunghyun-oppa?”

 

“’Sup?”

 

“OPPA! PUT ME DOWN! NOW!”

 

TOP flinched and he almost lost his balance. Dara’s scream was ear-splitting. He was sure that people in the West heard her too.

 

“OPPAAAAAA~~~” Dara flailed her arms and legs until TOP decided to put her down. “Why did you carry me all the way here?!”

 

“You were on a date! Dara, you are still young and you should not—“

 

TOP was cut off when a punch landed on his jaw.

 

“Cheondoong!” Dara shrieked.

 

“You jerk,” TOP gritted his teeth as he saw the attacker. He straightened up and landed a punch on Cheondoong’s face too.

 

“KYAA! Stop it, you two!”

 

Cheondoong was about to return the punch when Dara run in between them and was almost hit by Cheondoong’s punch. She covered her face and screamed, stopping him midway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Ow, ow,” TOP complained as he pulled back, feeling the sting on his face.

 

“Be gentle, noona,” Cheondoong complained too.

 

“Aish,” Dara sighed in between them holding two pieces of cotton swab. “Why did you attack each other, you idiots?”

 

“He snatched you away, noona. I thought he was a kidnapper,” Cheondoong explained.

 

“Noona here, noona there. Shut your mouth, kiddo,” TOP hissed.

 

“Oppa!” Dara called, a warning tone in her voice. “Cheondoong, Seunghyun-oppa is my other brother. Oppa, this is Cheondoong, a friend I met recently.”

 

“A friend I met recently,” TOP imitated her voice. “Don’t you know that it starts there? A friend you met and then you’ll get pregnant, and he will run away and your life will be ruined and you won’t be our baby sister anymore.”

 

“Aish! OPPA!” she screamed, smacking TOP’s head, embarrassed. “Cheondoong is a lot younger, you know. I also see him as a brother. So, there’s nothing to worry,” she then turned to Cheondoong. “Don’t mind this alien right here. I’m sorry he punched you.”

 

“You’re sorry?! He punched me first, Dara. How could you betray me like that?!”

 

“Oppa! Please stop embarrassing me!” Dara complained.

 

“This is all your fault, young lady. Don’t you know how worried Jiyong was? He told me to look for you just because you didn’t respond to his text asking you if you already ate. I mean, how ridiculous was that? And yes, because of that, I mistook this ugly kid here that he was yo—“

 

“Jiyong did that?” Dara interrupted.

 

“Aish,” TOP said, covering his mouth and turning away. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

 

Dara took her phone from her bag and saw that there were a bazillion missed calls and texts. She smiled inwardly. Just then, TOP’s phone rang. Before TOP could even answer, she snatched it from him and answered.

 

“YA! You lazy sloth! Have you found her yet?! You aren’t looking for Dara, are you? Don’t you know that I can’t eat now? I couldn’t even work pro—“

 

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Dara laughed, cutting off Jiyong from the other line. “How ridiculous could you get, Jiyong?! I’m alright, okay? Don’t bother Seunghyun-oppa anymore and just work there.”

 

“D-D-Dara?!”

 

Dara laughed some more. “Yeah, it’s me! Ppyong.”

 

“But, wait—“

 

Dara grinned like a crazy kid and returned the phone to TOP. “Paranoid.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“So, he’s just a friend?” TOP asked for the nth time while they walked by the park, while Cheondoong already went home, saying he had some appointment to attend.

 

Dara nodded, not the least bit impatient at answering the same question over and over again. She was just too overwhelmed with how Jiyong acted. It was so cute and touching at the same time. She deliberately laughed aloud a while ago to embarrass him and she knew he was probably sitting in the corner with his face red from embarrassment. Inside, she was really moved. She knew how protective Jiyong could be, but this side of him being paranoid over her was totally new, since it was their first time being away from each other.

 

Later, TOP stopped asking. Curiously, Dara whipped her head towards him. He had his head bowed with his hands buried inside his pockets.

 

“YA, you alright?” she asked.

 

TOP lifted his gaze to her and nodded; a small smile on his lips.

 

“Are you still thinking about Cheondoong? I told you he was just a dongsaeng, like a little brother I never. . .had.” Dara was about to say ‘met’ but forgot that she hadn’t told him about her story yet.

 

“He reminds you of Sanghyun?”

 

Dara widened her eyes. “How did you. . .”

 

“A little bird whispered to me.”

 

“Jiyong,” Dara menacingly whispered.

 

“Cheondoong looks a little like y—“

 

TOP was cut off as his gaze was fixed on something from afar. Dara followed his gaze as he was staring at a lady pushing a stroller in front of her.

 

“Someone you know?” Dara asked.

 

But TOP ignored her and ran towards the lady. Dara followed suit, to try to stop him, but he already grabbed the lady by her shoulders.

 

“Noona. Noona. Don’t you recognize me?” he asked.

 

“Oppa, stop this. You must have mistaken her,” Dara said, trying to pull him away from her.

 

“Noona, it’s Seunghyun, your little brother,” TOP said, his face already tainted with tears.

 

Dara’s hands froze and they eventually fell to her sides.

 

“Seung. . .hyun?” the lady muttered.

 

“Noona, how are you? Is Father treating you well? How are you living? You can run away with me. Stop being Father’s pawn, noona.”

 

“Seunghyun, h-how dare y-you?” the lady said, trembling. “I am not . . . like you. No wonder Father disowned you.”

 

Slowly, TOP’s hands fell to his sides, hearing those words from his very own sister. He only helplessly watched his sister walk away from them, not even sparing one last glance behind her.

 

“I . . . I missed you and Mom, noona.”

 

Dara didn’t know what to do. TOP looked hopeless and pathetic. With trembling hands, she rubbed his arm. TOP’s cries were heard and so Dara took the initiative to hug him and rubbed his back. TOP buried his face on her hair.

 

“I missed a lot from them. Noona married and I wasn’t there. I had nephews but I wasn’t by her side either. What kind of brother am i?”

 

Dara had no words but she provided company and a shoulder to cry on. She shushed him, rubbing her hands on his back, wishing for the old Seunghyun-oppa she knew to come back. Seeing him cry like this made her ache more. Without notice, a tear escaped her eye.