Chapter 5: Life Goes On

"Noona! Wake up! Stop dreaming! Ji Hyoooo nooooonaaaaa!" A frustrated 20 year old boy yelled while banging furiously at the door.

"Oh come on! I thought you said I had nothing on today? Unnie, you know I want to sleep more...ugh." Ji Hyo groggily said, wanting to sleep more. Why is she calling me so early in the morning......Unless...Wait. Did I just sleep through the entire day again?! Oh my god.

Ji Hyo sat up with a start, now fully awake. "Unnie! What day is it today? Umm, did I just sleep through my break day?"

"Noooooonaaaaaa! Remember your date with this brother of yours here? Or did you totally forget that you had a brother and was supposed to welcome him home from America? I'm not Manager Rachel for goodness sake! You are still the same even after one year!" Song Jae Suk (Not to be confused with the Grasshopper Yoo Jae Suk) bursted out. How could his sister mistake him, who had a deep voice, for her manager, who had a high-pitched and beautiful voice, perfect for singing...? Thinking of Rachel noona made him happy.

Meanwhile, his Ji Hyo noona was inside her room, panicking. Oh wait. What day is it? She checked her calendar. And marked on the 20th of November with bright red ink were the words 'Jae Suk coming home!!! Finally! Flight touching down at 9am'

Oh darn it.

She quickly unlocked the door, and quickly said, "Erm, Jae Suk ah, I'm so sorry I didn't manage to welcome you from the airport...I...kind of forgot that you were coming back because I am busier with work nowadays since I'm gaining popularity..."

Ji Hyo stopped, unsure of what was happening. She had prepared to see her younger brother, whom she had not seen for 365 days, all angry and really to kill her when the door opened. However, he was standing outside her room and giggling stupidly. What just happened again? Was I tricked or something? Huh?

"Huh? Ji Hyo noona, what were you saying? I was er...zoning out for a little while." Jae Suk snapped out of his daze a few seconds later. He turned a slight shade of pink.

"Oho! Seems like its like sister like brother eh? Spacing out seems to be our hobby? Anyways, IM SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU SONG JAE SUK!!! It has been a whole year, eh Brother?" Ji Hyo cheerfully embraced his brother in a tight hug.

"Noona! Don't hug me....so tightly! You are crushing my bones!"

"Hah. Then say what I want to hear."

"Umm....please? Please let me go?"

"Nope. Try again! Yah, are you not happy to be home?!" Ji Hyo held her brother in an even tighter hug.

"Er......I am...happy....to....see.....you?" Jae Suk said, pausing after every few words to take in some air. His sister was still as strong as ever.

"Good! There you go, little dongsaeng! Wasn't that easy to guess?"

Jae Suk coughed. "What did you say noona? Your iron grip is even worse than the long whip they use in America to hit rule-breakers!"

"How do you know? Don't tell me you broke a school rule and they whipped you before? I'm so going to tell Mother." Ji Hyo smirked as she said in an accusing tone. Jae Suk was so much better to tease than her grouchy younger sister.

"Heyyyy! Of course not noona! I'm even more well-behaved than you! At least I don't go the clubs." It was Jae Suk's turn to tease Ji Hyo.

"What? How did you....I mean....No, where did you the information from? I totally didn't!" Ji Hyo was flustered now.

"Don't lie, noona. I had a spy."

"Who? Wait. Where's your sister? SONG JI EUN! How dare you betray me!" Ji Hyo stormed to the living room a couple of steps away.

Her sister was huddling behind the translucent curtains, having heard the shout.

"Yah! Song Ji Eun! What crap did you feed this brother of ours with?"

"Unnie! It wasn't me! Really! I swear!"

"Ji Hyo ya, Ji Eun is telling the truth. It was I who told Jae Suk about what he missed. You can only blame yourself for getting yourself drunk last night." The mother of the 3 siblings appeared from the kitchen carrying a tray of dishes.

"Oh? Mother? Ah, Mother! Why tell Jae Suk about that? Shouldn't you tell him about how my popularity has been shooting up nowadays, how I am doing a live music show now, how I just filmed for the popular variety show Family Outing...you know, the good stuff?"

"And had a dinner date with a muscleman after filming?" Jae Suk cheekily added.

"Yah!" Ji Hyo gave Jae Suk a smack on his head, before making her way over to where her mother was and helped with setting the table. The clock on the wall beeped, telling the Songs that it was 2pm.

"Oww. Noona, that was painful." Jae Suk complained.

"Hah! Now you know how I feel living with this monstrous unnie everyday right? Let's hope she continues to meet that muscle guy and go dating. Then she will come home less often." Ji Eun told Jae Suk.

Ji Hyo heard all that. "Well, don't hope. I'm no way going to see that Kim Jong Kook. Come eat, everything is prepared."

The four family members sat down and started eating, but not before Ji Eun pointed out, "That's a good start, unnie. At least you still remember his name. You usually forget the guy's name within a few hours. And that dinner was already 2 weeks ago. Well done!"

Ji Hyo sighed wordlessly.

"Jong Kook ah! The composer wants to meet you for a while." Gap Jin called out the moment he stepped out of his room.

"Um. When?" Jong Kook was still a little groggy. At that moment, his mobile phone rang.

"Kim Jong Kook sshi. I am from XXX company and we would like to invite you to be the guest of XYW talk show. Would you have the time?" A crisp voice channeled through the phone.

"Uh, thank you for inviting me. Can I tell you later? I need to check my schedule." Jong Kook replied.

Just as he closed his phone shut (he used a flip phone), his home phone rang.

"Jong Kook hyung! Can you spend some time training at the gym with me? I want to strengthen myself so I can use it for self-defense just in case people try to take advantage of my...height to you know, steal my things or something...Because, well, I'm not exactly very tall right? Plus I am more free these few days. I'm taking a break from all that reggae. Not that I'm sick of it of course, I just need a break."

"Ha Dong Hoon! You are finally going to exercise! Are you sure it's not because you want to look fit in front of girls? And you finally admit you are short. Hehe. Um, you know what dongsaeng, maybe I will schedule with you later. I'm rushing off to film Family Outing. Bye!" Jong Kook said before slamming down the phone, grabbing his bag, and yelling at Gap Jin to get going before they were late.

He was busy. Very busy, especially these few days. He was going to publish another album soon, and the music producers and composers were trying to contact him all the time. And companies were also trying to get him on talk shows, events and interviews etc. Aside that he also had friends like his close dongsaeng Ha Ha asking him out for a workout and his duty as a Family Outing member.

Jong Kook worked tirelessly everyday. After working out in the morning, he went for meeting after meeting to discuss his album. On those break days, there were interviews and filming to be done. He barely had rest, and barely remembered anything about the last meeting he had with Ji Hyo. He was so busy he did not even realise that his mother had not been trying to introduce him to girls anymore for the last few weeks.

A/N: Sorry if there are any errors. I know this chapter is short. Thanks for reading.

(07/01/14)