“Sunggyu!” Yeunja pushed the other forward and that snapped him out of it.

He unknowingly began to build all kind of scenarios of what could go wrong if he said yes. Not a single one of them were looking like he’d even make it home alive. He cleared his throat, suddenly aware that he was being stared at.

“Actually, I promised to walk home with a friend so… m-maybe next time?” he tried tentatively. He was really hoping there was never a next time.

“With who, Gyu?” Yeunja asked, curious.

He didn’t mention that earlier and she had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn’t true, until she heard someone call out for her brother.

“Sunggyu!”

The brunet didn’t even get a chance to turn as he felt someone jump on his back. The intruder let out a little laugh as the brunet straightened up to get the male off him.

Sunggyu laughed as he shrugged and pushed the other away, “How many times have I told you not to do that?” he said with a slight smile.

“But it’s fun!” the new comer laughed before turning his attention to the younger guy, “Hey, what’s up man.”

Woohyun gave a quick nod of acknowledgment before clasping the offered hand and giving him a few pats on the back.

“You guys know each other?” Sunggyu asked, startled by the greeting.

“Yeah, we have Art together, right Woo?”

Woo…? He was already speaking to his best friend so casually? The guy sure moved fast.

“Yeah. Hi Yeunja! Hey Myung.”

The girl waved at him happily while Myungsoo only gave him a quick nod of acknowledgment.

“You have a class with him, too?”

“Nah, all three of us have lunch together,” he explained easily, “So what’s going on?” he asked.

“They were gonna give us a ride home, right Sunggyu?” Yeunja asked.

“Uh…right…”

“So you’re not walking home with me?” Dongwoo asked, a little accusingly.

Woohyun laughed, “He turned us down to walk with you.”

“Oh, really?” he asked, surprised.

“Yes, really,” Sunggyu said as he nudged him with his elbow, “Who do you take me for?”

“…”

“See you guys later,” Sunggyu said as he started walking away with a huff.

Dongwoo laughed, “I’m sorry, I was just kidding!” he yelled before turning to the others, “Bye guys! Sunggyu! Wait for me!”

They returned the farewell before watching as the lively teen reached Sunggyu.

“I thought your brother was lying,” Woohyun said as he turned to Yeunja before mounting the bike, “He didn’t look like he liked the idea though,” he laughed afterwards.

“I thought so, too…,” she said, smiling at the guy before the roar of the engines startled her.

Myungsoo turned to her and handed her his helmet, “Wear this.”

“Don’t you have an extra one?” she asked as she took it.

“We do, but they’re at home and we’re not going very far anyway,” he explained before instructing her where to place her feet and telling her to hold on tight.

Woohyun watched them carefully and once he was sure she was secure enough, he revved his bike a bit before changing the gear and moving forward.

Sunggyu watched worriedly as they sped past them, hoping nothing bad would happen to Yeunja before returning his attention to Dongwoo. The brown haired male (lighter than his hair color) watched after them for a second until he saw them turn a corner before deciding to speak up his mind.

“I didn’t know you guys were that close,” his friend stated.

“What do you mean by ‘that close’?” Sunggyu asked, raising a brow.

He said it with a slight emphasis that he didn’t particularly like.

“You know, close enough to get them to offer you rides,” he clarified.

“We’re not. I just met them today,” Sunggyu defended.

“Then they must really like Yeunja if they were giving you both rides.”

Sunggyu sighed, “They’re our new neighbors, that’s why they offered.”

“Oh,” Dongwoo dragged out, relaxing at the information, “That makes sense now.”

He considered Yeunja as a younger sister so he couldn’t help but to feel protective over her as Sunggyu would. He didn’t like how close they appeared to be when they’ve only been attending the school for a week. Sunggyu noticed it and smiled. They were like lost brothers. They understood each other more than anyone else ever could.

There was a moment of silence as they kept walking before Dongwoo spoke again, “They’re really handsome.”

”…That they are. They’ve even got Haneul acting stupid.”

Dongwoo couldn’t help the giggle, “What about you?”

Sunggyu groaned in annoyance, “I just knew you were gonna say something like that.”

Dongwoo laughed again, “Your sis has good taste at least.”

“She’s a cradle robber! Woohyun is a year younger than us and Myungsoo is a year younger than him!” Sunggyu exclaimed quietly, not wanting to draw attention to their conversation.

“Some people like them younger, others like ‘em older, what’s the deal?”

“…You’re right. We should invite them over to your place. From what I understand, they both seem to like older girls.”

“That’s not funny,” Dongwoo stated.

Dongwoo had two older sisters, Jinju and Kkotip. Jinju was a year older than they were and the other was Haneul’s age. He was also the only guy in the family (it was that particular situation that drew them close) and he was the youngest. As fate would have it, they met because of Haneul and Kkotip, who were friends during their middle and high school years as well.

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Perhaps they were both a bit overprotective over their sisters.

“Oh my God, Gyu! That was really amazing! You don’t know what you missed!” Yeunja exclaimed later on in the day after they were all gathered in the living room.

The family usually set aside Friday nights to hang out. Mrs. Kim and Mr. Kim allowed the children to choose what they wanted to do. They’d usually pick a movie, play board or video games or go out to eat.

Haneul was pouting. Yeunja got home and would not shut up about how she rode Myungsoo’s motorcycle with him on it. No she was not jealous, just annoyed. Sunggyu laughed at the older sister’s expression.

“What are we doing tonight?” Choonyei asked excitedly.

Sunggyu’s phone started ringing and almost immediately the entire room started to sing along to the song, making the male laugh. The ringtone gave away the caller. It was his oldest sister, Aecha.

“Hello?” he answered as he covered one ear to try and keep the noise down despite the fact that his sisters were singing the song like their life depended on it.

“What’s going on? Sounds like you’re in trouble.”

Sunggyu laughed, “They’re singing your ringtone sis, what’s up?” he asked as he finally got up to walk into the kitchen in order to hear her better.

“Oh, really? They sound passionate back there. But anyway, I was calling to let you know that Mom and Dad aren’t making it tonight. We were invited to have dinner with the company reps,” she explained.

“Ah, well that’s okay. I’ll let the girls know.”

“Please do. I’ll talk to you later, Gyu!”

“Bye.”

The brunet stood in the kitchen for a couple of seconds, “We can probably do video games tonight since they won’t be here…,” before nodding and making his way towards the living room.

His phone rang again, this time signaling he received a text message, “Wow, I’m popular today.”

It was Jinki, a friend of his. He was an only child but the guy was smart and really polite. Sunggyu really liked him.

Hey my cousin is coming to visit soon. he says he really wants to meet up with you when he gets here.

He started typing a response in the little pop-up window, letting the song of the message play on before singing the last lines at the top of his lungs.

“Girls, Mom and Dad aren’t maki—” Sunggyu stopped in the middle of his sentence as he noticed two new faces.

He felt his face heat up in record time before hearing the living room erupt into laughter. Woohyun and Myungsoo were standing at the threshold of the room and witnessed Sunggyu’s impromptu performance.

“Mom and Dad aren’t making it tonight,” he said finally, smacking Yeunja who was still giggling as he passed her.

“So what are we doing then?” Choonyei, the second youngest, asked.

Yeunja quickly proceeded to sit the boys on the couch as she moved to sit on the armrest next to Sunggyu.

“I don’t know…” he said, forgetting his earlier thoughts.

“Let’s play Scrabble in teams!” Yeunja exclaimed.

He turned to glare at her, almost reading her mind before counting the people present. They were off by one person.

“Jinho can be in a group of three,” she continued to explain.

Kim Jinho, the seventh child of the Kim family and the sixth girl. She was ten and she tended to admire Haneul because of all the ‘pretty’ things she did. Her hair was shoulder length and also black.

“I call Myungsoo!” Choonyei yelled suddenly, startling the occupants of the room.

After being looked at funny she turned to the boy, “That was your name right? Myungsoo?”

The younger brother nodded, “I’m Choonyei! Come sit over here!”

Myungsoo smiled, thinking the teen was rather cute before following her instructions as she went to go pull out the board game.

“I pick—”

“I’ll get Woohyun!”

It was Yeunja’s turn to glare at her brother. He had to have known that she wanted to pair up with one of the boys. Why was he being like that?

“But—”

“It’s okay, right?” the brunet asked the dark haired male, his eyes almost daring him to say otherwise.

It was pretty clear that Sunggyu was being protective of his sisters so Woohyun really had no place to argue. What could he say? Besides he really wanted to befriend Sunggyu. He had to appeal to the male if he ever wanted to date his sisters. Wasn’t that the general rule?

“It’s fine,” he agreed.

Sunggyu moved to go sit on the other end of the coffee table, closer to Woohyun. Haneul pulled the annoyed younger sister down to sit with her as well before calling Jinho over to join their team. Choonyei pulled out the board and had Myungsoo draw a tile before proceeding to go around the table.

The order was decided quickly. Sunggyu and Woohyun would be going first.

“I think there should be a punishment for the losers…,” Myungsoo spoke up.

“You’re pretty confident over there,” Woohyun said as he let Sunggyu set the tiles on the wooden rack.

“What kind of punishment?” Choonyei asked, excited.

She liked those kinds of things. Her friends always had those whenever they played a game (she usually only played with guys). Usually the worst punishment they could give each other was ttakbam. There was a moment of silence in which they thought.

“How about drinking a full glass of water?” the younger brother suggested.

Choonyei was the only one who made a face at that. That was so boring.

“Let’s do ttakbam!”

“No ttakbam,” Sunggyu said sternly, sending her a look, “You cried last time, remember?”

Her cheeks colored when she heard the distinct laughter of the two brothers and she pouted before deciding to keep shut. She was only embarrassing herself.

“How about loser sings?” That brought on more chuckles and this time Sunggyu’s cheeks were slightly dusted in pink.

Yeunja said it with the intention of getting back at her brother. She really was annoyed that he was acting so protective over them. Haneul had boyfriends before, but Sunggyu seemed to make sure she didn’t get any (although her thoughts were definitely an exaggeration). It wasn’t that the guys were falling all over her, she was pretty but she didn’t have the entire population of boys tripping over themselves to ask her out. She just seemed a little too smart and a good girl to attract the idiots. That was okay with Sunggyu, but he definitely had no hand in any of it.

“Sure, they already heard me anyway…,” Sunggyu said, trying to act cool and unaffected.

It worked but the laughter that erupted from Woohyun startled him. He turned to the male and saw him gesturing to his sisters and when he turned, he saw the look of disbelief on Yeunja’s face. It wasn’t extremely noticeable but the color drained from her face and her teasing smirk had fallen.

“Call!” Woohyun said still laughing.

opened at hearing that, “Woohyun!”

He wasn’t making things any better and the echoing consent from Myungsoo and Choonyei only made it worse.

“Haneul!” she called as she turned to her sister who only shrugged.

“You dug your own grave.”

“So you like Nell?” Woohyun asked as the game slowly started building up.

Everyone had already taken three turns and they just finished their fourth. It went by quietly, finding themselves with not much to say after laughing so much. Sunggyu glanced up at the male next to him as he rearranged the tiles.

“Yeah.”

He nodded to himself, “I’d recognize those lines anywhere. Cliff Parade, right?”

The brunet chuckled lightly as he confirmed the answer to the question, “You know them?”

“I know my way around,” he stated.

Sunggyu wasn’t sure if he was trying to sound cool or not but he dismissed the answer with a nod.

“You have good taste,” Woohyun said with a smile as he assessed the word that Myungsoo set down on the board.

“I know.”

Woohyun couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him as well.

Sunggyu was lightly biting his thumbnail and it sounded pretty loud in the quiet room.

“Hyung, could you please stop that,” the older brother asked as he took the ‘R’ and placed it at the beginning of the remaining four tiles that they had. They unluckily acquired a Q on their last draw. The Q was worth 10 points, which would be deducted from their score if they still had it by the time someone placed their last tile on the board.

“Can’t we use IQ?” Woohyun asked secretively, taking hold of the tile.

“No!” the other nudged him to stop him.

“You’ve been staring at these for almost a minute! I don’t see any other way out of this!”

Sunggyu waved his hand away as his eyes darted from the board to the tiles.

“Gyu, you’re taking too long!” Choonyei complained.

Their team already had the perfect word to use and they had their heart set on the ‘I’ from the word TRAIN.

“Hold on…,” he said as he started to move the tiles to his liking on the rack.

He placed the ‘R’ towards the back again and placed the ‘F’ at the front followed by the ‘A’ and then the ‘Q’. He glanced up again at the board and it finally clicked. He snapped his fingers in victory as he began to set down the tiles as FAQIR.

“Is that even a word…?” Myungsoo asked as he stared at the odd word.

“Of course it is!” Sunggyu defended himself. There were plenty of times where it’d been used in previous plays, “It’s a word for some religious guy… I can’t remember,” his confidence slowly diminished, he didn’t sound so sure.

But just as everyone else was about to pull out their phones to check, Haneul quickly piped up, “He’s right. It’s a religious and virtuous Muslim.”

“Your vocabulary ,” Sunggyu said as he leaned back against the couch.

The room was filled with tension ever since Haneul started counting the score.

“It doesn’t! It’s not my fault that the words I used happened to mostly have all one point letters…”

“Of course not…”

“At least we weren’t last?” Woohyun stated uncertainly.

“At least.”

They avoided last place successfully and claimed first place thanks to the odd word that Sunggyu luckily remembered.