Chapter One

 

August 16th, 2008;;

 

 

Sora sighed as she clicked onto her email account like she did every morning. She already knew what was going to be there; but she decided to click on it anyways. Of course, there was one new unread message from her new step-mom, Min, as expected. She stared at the name for a few moments before sighing once again and clicking on it and begin to read.

 

 

Hi Sora!!

 

The emails always started the same, but the extra exclamation point is what got her. Her mother would have could it stupid and un called for, just like everything about her step mom.

 

  I hope you are doing well. Your father and I can’t wait to see you this school year! I’m just doing a little finishing up for the baby-to-be , and hopefully i will be done before he or she arrives! Your father has been busy as usual, locked up in his study working on his latest book; nothings really changed. I attached some pictures of the babies room so you can see it, It took a long time. Well, can’t wait in till you are here.

 

 

Min (And you father!)

 

 

She sighed and scrolled down the page to see a brown and yellow painted room with small penguins on the wall. There wasn’t a crib in the room yet but she could already tell that Min was going to go over and beyond to find something cute and comfortable for the baby. She quickly clicked the 'compose message’ button and wrote 'Lovely, can’t wait to see you too, Min!’ Along with a 'Tell dad to chill out with working all the time!’ before she logged out.

 

 

Just reading that message tired her. It wasn’t that she disliked Min in anyways, but it was just how excited the grammar of the message was. Min was completely different from her mom. Min was a bundle of joy and a house wife while her mother would throw a fit if she couldn’t find a good job. But, she couldn’t say she was happy to see her, either. And that was because of the fact that she had only met her father a year ago and was already married with him and starting a new life with her father.

 

Sora’s mom constantly said she wasn’t surprised at this. Every since the divorce, she has been going around talking about him like crazy and saying how useless he was. When Sora’s mother had her older brother, Jonghyun, she was the same age as Min, twenty-six and straight out of collage, followed by Sora two years later. She would complain about how Jonghyun cried all hours of the night and her father didn’t help her with him, claiming he had a sleeping condition and he had to have his full nine hours of sleep.

 

 

Sora’s father and Min’s courtship (At least that’s what her mom called it) happened pretty quick, only a few mounts. Soon Sora’s dad changed from being a highly recommended author to a highly recommended professors at one of the small collages in Seoul and married with Lee Min and now a father-to-be. And Sora was scared that she didn’t have a place him his newly changed life.

 

In the other room she heard the coffee maker running and she knew her mother was up, making her first batch of the days sugar rush, as she called it. She sighed and stood up from her desk chair and grabbed her book bag and walked out of the room.

 

As expected, her mother was fully dressed in her business suit with her salt and pepper hair pulled up in a bun. Her mother was beautiful for her age; but the long nights working made her face fill with stress lines. That was something her and her father had in common.

 

“You are up early” Her mother said as she turned towards her with a smile as Sora walked over to the fridge to get a yogurt, closing it with her foot.

 

“First day of school, you know how Minseok gets.” She said, a smirk spreading across her face at the mention of her best friend of six years name. Kim Minseok (Xiumin for short) has lived next door to her since she was a small girl, and every time a new term started he had trouble waking himself up. And of course, what friend would she be if she didn’t help him a little.

 

 

“Well, you better get to it, he only has twenty minutes to get up and dressed.” Her mother said, clearly knowing what Sora meant. She sighed and eat the last bit of her yogurt, kissing her mother on the cheek before running outside to the hot, early summer day. She looked up at Xiumin’s bedroom window and wasn’t surprised that the lights were still off. Sherolled her eyes and walked over to the ladder she and Xiumin found a few years ago, allowing them both to go into each others rooms without having to knock on the front door, and placed it under his window and started to climb up. When she reached his window, she smirked at the fact that it was open.

 

 

So she jumped in and took a deep breath and yelled...

 

 

“XIUMIN!!!!”

 

 

Xiumin;

 

 

Ugh

 

The boy groaned and turned away from where the girl’s voice was coming from. He knew who it was, he heard the same screaming everyday, and he didn’t want to wake up yet. He should have known to close his window the night before; even though it wouldn’t have stopped the girl from coming in his room in waking him up. 

 

 

At least he would have had a few more minutes to sleep.

 

 

Suddenly it was quiet and Xiumin gave out a sigh. She stopped yelling. Finally he could go back to sleep. And then a loud, unsettling noise started and it made him groan again.

 

 

“Ugggggggh.” He groaned loudly and sat up, coming face to face with the smirking girl. Of course she had her mp3 plugged up to his speaker, playing an awful rock song. She knew he hated rock music; so of course she would do this to him. When she noticed he was up she smiled, satisfied, and shut the music off”

 

 

“Wakey, Wakey Kim Minseok! Time for school!” She screamed, and suddenly she was running towards him, jumping onto the poor boy with funny force.

 

 

“Dammit, Sora, get off me!!” He shouted, trying to push the girl, Sora, off of him. Of course he didn’t mind the fact she was on him, he kind of like that she was on him like this, but at the same time he couldn’t let her know that, “Sora!!”

 

 

“I’m not getting off in till you wake up.” She said, matter-of-fact. They stared at each other for a few moments before Xiumin spoke again.

 

 

“I can’t get up if you are on me.” He said, and when Sora started thinking about it he pushed her off, making her land on the floor. He sighed and got up, walking over to his closet.

 

 

“Get out, so I can change.” He said, placing his hands in his hair and opening the clothes to get his uniform out. He heard Sora sigh and get up, walking over to the door.

 

“Fine, you have twenty minutes.” And with that she walked out, closing the door.

 

 

 

~~~~~

 

Twenty minutes later Xiumin made his ways down the stairs, his eyes still filled with sleep. When he walked in the kitchen, he was surprised to see that his mother and father were up, he smiled slightly at them.

 

 

“Hey, mom, dad.” He greeted them both. His mother was a short, slim lady with dark black hair. His father was sort of tall, not really muscular and his hair had a salt and pepper look to it. They both were enjoying some toast.

 

 

“Hey, dear.” His mother said. “Are you going to school now? Come gab something to eat.”

 

 

“Nah, no need. I’ll eat at school.” Xiumin said, a yawn escaping his mouth. His father shook his head.

 

 

“You know, Xiumin, if you would have slept when I told you to and not play video games all night, you would have been able to wake up yourself and not with the help of Sora.” He said, disapprovingly. iumin sighed and waved him off.

 

 

“Sora had to force him out of bed again today?” His mother asked, surprised.

 

“Yep, he stayed up all night playing that stupid game.” His father said and Xiumin rolled his eyes and pulled his bag on his shoulder.

 

“I’m leaving.” He announced and kissed his mom on the cheek and walked out, closing the door. He wasn’t surprised to see Sora sitting on his porch, frowning down at her phone. He smiled and walked over to her, ruffling her hair.

 

“Hey! Don’t do that.” She shouted, slapping his hand away, which made him smile even more, “You don’t know how long it took to keep my hair down.”

 

 

“What are you frowning about?” He asked, looking over at the small cell phone, only to see that it was a text from her dad, “You still going living with you dad this school year?”

 

“Yep, my mom leaves for her business trip tonight.” Sora sighed, standing up from the chair she was sitting in and turned to look at Xiumin, her face suddenly amused.

 

 

“What’s so funny?” He asked and she walked up a little closer to him, making his breath hitch as she wiped his mouth, showing him he had stuff on his face.

 

 

“You could at least wash your face, Xiumin. You are supposed to be Mr. Neat.” She said, “What are you going to do without me?”

 

 

And that he could already answer.

 

He couldn’t do anything without her.

 

 

He was in love with her.