“Yah, don’t be late tomorrow, okay?” He spoke, raising a hand up to wave goodbye and she rolled her eyes, simply muttering a soft you don’t be late but before she could close the door, he caught her standing there, door slightly agape and her eyes still not looking away from him just yet as he casually waited for her to go in. He threw her a look and huffed, “Can’t you just go in so I don’t have to continue waiting here until you do?”

With a soft exhale, she opened the door a bit wider, resisting the urge to curse and it was somewhat amusing for Kai to see her biting her tongue back, “What, princess? Cat caught your tongue?”

He saw how if she was a cartoon character, smoke would be escaping her ears and she’d be in a fuming red color from the anger boiling within her but all she did was exhale calmly, muttering softly, t-thanks… for today.

That was one of the things he wasn’t expecting to come out from her lips but when it did, he could only widen his eyes and fall forward from the wall supporting his back, what?

I’m not saying it twice, she grumbled, proceeding to take a step back but then she went crossing her words, thanks…Kai, and then the door closed before he could even return the favor to say, you’re most welcome, Kwan Hee Young.

 

 

 

---

 

 

“So are you missing me already?” The cheerful voice spoke the other end, almost bringing a smile to her face as she flopped down on her bed, shaking her head, “What if I do? Are you going to come back?”

She heard how it grew silent on the other end, and for a second she thought he had hung up but then a soft whine came, ”Yah…”

“I’m kidding,” She snickered, causing him to smile, “About which part?”

“Take a guess,”

“I don’t want to guess,”

“Then might as well you tell me something else, like, how is it there?”

She swore she heard a thud on the other end, his usual oof! And then a grunt could be heard, indicating that he probably trip, fell and got up and now he’s sitting down whilst rubbing where he injured himself, “S-Sorry, I tripped—“

“I think I could tell,”

He scrunched his face but only if she could see that but his camera in his phone wasn’t working as well and there was some glitch in his phone that allowed him to only call her—at least, he got to hear her voice and that was more than enough.

“Wait, what time is it there?” Minseok asked, suddenly concerned at the thought that he might have woken her up because he’s done the calculations that if it’s afternoon at where he’s at, chances are high that it’s nearing midnight at where she’s at and chances are that he’ll get a cursing the next time he calls past midnight if he forgets once more.

“It’s fine, Minseok-ah, I’ll answer anytime you call,”

He sighed and dreamily murmured, “If only you gave me this treatment when I was still in—“

“Bring that up and I’ll block your number,”

“Hey! That’s not fair…”

She snorted, “It was never fair from the moment you left the airport, jerk,”

He grinned, “I’m assuming you cried reading my letter?”

“I’m two buttons away from blocking your number,”

“Oh, how I love that,” He snorted, resorting that he should stop with all this, though, it warmed up his heart from all the chillness he’s been feeling around here. Coming to another country on his own, missing the food he was used to when he was at where he was with her, being in a place far away from his parents, not being able to see the familiar faces he’d see on a daily basis for the past years, for such a long time in a while, he’s actually missing it all and he’d definitely want to relive them again but… this was another path for him—he was trying to make the best out of it.

From all the stories of how he moved in, meeting his roommate in an uncanny manner (the guy came out in just a towel and it dropped…), sorting out the rules between one another, being late for his first class, getting a scolding from the principal but also making friends with a few people then on after, Minseok was off to a great start and all of these only made him more and more curious of how things were with Hee Young—

“How did that pretest go, by the way?”

She sighed, shaking her head, “I ed up,”

“What about Kai?”

“That fool nearly didn’t catch me,”

“Nearly, right?”

“Minseok…”

“O-Okay, okay! Hm… ah…” His voice changed, the tone slightly lower, “W-What about your…”

“Before you ask that, remember James?”

“Noona’s boyfriend? That model-looking dude?”

“Mhm,”

“What about him?”

She definitely let it all out, not holding back in all the profanities bubbling up within, the discomfort and the disappointment of being left in the dark for so long but she didn’t particularly blame her sister either because she knows how bad she can be in accepting these kind of news but she didn’t expect her sister to lie about it, either nor think that she could go that long without telling the truth. She was partly amused with the fact that her sister came up with such lie—but she didn’t know which to think was more ridiculous; her mother hiring someone to spy on her own daughter or the fact that she hadn’t thought about it first.

Well, as thought, Minseok gave his opinion, “You know… noona is like that—you and I know both know that. She tries her best to keep things that would upset you to herself and when she finally lets it all out, it hurts like a ,” He didn’t stop there—no, because he went on, “And she knows the consequences of how it’ll be if she hides it from you but she only does it because she loves you, Hee Young-ah. You know that,”

She nodded silently, not muttering another word and Minseok went on and on and on about why Hee Young shouldn’t give her sister the cold treatment but at the same time, he understood why she would because it’s not every day you’d find out about a lie from the one person who promised they would never ever lie to you or they’ll be cursed for the rest of their lives.

“As much as I’d like to talk to you more… I have class tomorrow,” Hee Young brought up meekly, finding it hard to break or even end the call, but she had to. She can’t be late tomorrow and she didn’t want Minseok to be late for his class either.

“Mm… I’ll call again?” Minseok grinned on the other end, not realizing that he’s been talking to Hee Young for over thirty minutes and time always seem to fly by whenever he talked to her—it was crazy.

“I’ll call instead,” She suggested, causing him to nod, “Call.”

“Goodnight, Minseok-ah.”

“Goodnight, Hee Young.”

“Hee Young?” He breathed, a second ahead of her before she could hang up.

“Yeah?”

There was a pause of five seconds.

“I miss you.”

There was no pause in between.

“I miss you too.”

 

 

 

---

 

 

The day that no one can contact her is the day that they find out she crashed her phone to pieces because her alarm did not ring. She kicked the blanket off until it dropped to the floor and she stumbled from the bed, to the floor until she fell to her knees just to groan when she realized that the broad daylight had invaded her room through the blinds and her stupid phone for not waking her up. She reached the door here the knocks were violently coming from, waking her up and part of her wanted to thank whoever for bringing her awake but the other half wanted to know who the hell this person thinks they are to be doing this.

She flipped the door open, hissing softly, “What?”

It was a person she’d never expect to meet but then she wasn’t surprised either.

“H-Hee Young-ah,”

But she was quick to her senses, “N-Not now, unnie. I’m late,” She grumbled, huffing as she left her sister to welcome herself in before she stormed off to the bathroom. Her sister stepped in and closed the door behind her delicately, only to hear the curses coming from the bathroom, something that crossed between I’ll ing break my phone one day and the one day I rely on my phone and it s up, bloody hell. Hee Min took a seat on the bed after making it nice and presentable folding the blanket, puffing the pillows and then picking up her sister’s bag from the floor and placing it onto the table before settling down.

She checked her watch and realized that her sister had ten minutes to get ready and run to class that she would be a bother if she were to talk to her sister about things now. Instead, with a pen she took out from her bag along with a memo note, she pasted it on somewhere her sister couldn’t miss to see it before taking her leave.

She just hopes her sister would read it and not tear it to pieces.

 

 

 

---

 

 

“Alright, so today—“

“S-Sorry I’m late,” The door creaked open and it took less than a few seconds for Mr. Kang to grin at the sight of her, “Of course, Miss Kwan, come in.” He used a hand to point on the floor, the vast space in the center as everyone else sat by the side and she joined them instead of sitting in the middle. She dropped down by the side, part of her trying to listen to Mr. Kang’s instructions for today, some regulations and rules about what to do and what not to do and what to take mind of and what to get rid of before the final dance presentation next week.

Hee Young’s mind can only take so much and she swore she heard a smirk forming by the person beside her.

“You know, if I remember correctly, someone said they wouldn’t be late,”

She leaned back against the wall and sighed, closing her eyes because rushing something that takes her fifteen minutes for her to do into just five minutes and running all the way here that would usually take a fifteen minute walk into five minutes as well, it was hell. It was worse than a triathlon and she feels like she should be in the Olympics at this state.

“Not now, Kai,” She breathed, opening her eyes to attempt in focusing on Mr. Kang but the hand that crossed in front of her to peel something from her bag made her eyes widen before snapping them to Kai who held onto the paper. Before he could even read it, she snatched it back, “What the hell…”

“Hey, you wouldn’t have known about that on your bag if I hadn-“ His attention span was that short, “Who is from, though?” He leaned closer, poking past her privacy bubble to see the messy handwriting but it was readable and he had a hunch on who it was.

‘Meet me for lunch later. Just you and me. James won’t be there’.

She held the paper in one palm and Kai could see the urge her fingers held back to just curl in and crush the paper that he soothed his hand over, placing one hand over hers, his fingertips touching hers, “Don’t…”

She let out a breath she was holding in, glancing up to see Mr. Kang immersed in giving his talk that he wasn’t bothered if people were listening or not—it was almost to the finals and everyone was prepared so… he was just telling stories to fill in the time, to get them inspired and at this point, all Hee Young was inspired to do is get out of class.

“You don’t even know what I’m going to do,”

He rolled his eyes and leaned against her arm, using her as a support to whisper to her ear, “You think I don’t know you’re going to crush that paper because at the mention of James?”

She couldn’t think of anything else to say, so instead, she kept quiet and put the paper into the side pocket of her bag, keeping it in there until she figures out where or how she’s going to talk to her sister after this class was over. Kai sighed upon watching her act this way—he can feel that she cares for her sister but this conflicts coming in the way, anything relating to her mother would halt her from trying to feel good about anything, even at the slightest mention of her mother or the school principal, or to summarize it all—her parents—it would be hard for her to accept anything.

So, in hopes to help her realize how important family was… it just slipped past his mouth to ask, hey… do you have anything to do during the semester break?

She had her eyebrows raising at that question because semester break is three weeks away—and usually, she would be occupied with helping Minseok out with his projects and completing some of her own but considering Minseok wasn’t here, she could use up the final week to get things done and the first two weeks, she was as free as a bird to do anything she wanted.

Well, she planned to go on a trip, on her own with her motorcycle to anywhere but… maybe she could detour that to another time.

“Not exactly,” She mumbled, turning to meet with Kai’s gaze when he leaned away from her shoulder, fixing his eyes on her properly when she asked, “Why?”

“Let me take up one week from you,” He said, his eyes brightening at his own words that she cocked one eyebrow up, “What?”

“C’mon, you can follow me back to my hometown—my parents own a small farm, my sis—I mean… we also own a coffee shop and we need help back there sometimes.”

“And, you want me to go and help?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, “N-Not just to help, I mean, to clear your mind and make you realize how—“

“Important family is?” She guessed, already half guessing that’s his initial intention.

Like a person getting caught red handed, he nodded meekly and placed his hands back on his lap, straightening his back, “Look, I’m not forcing you but it’s a good opportunity—“

“Okay,”

“—for you to feel the—wait, what?” He bobbed his head forward, actually listening to one simple word she said before he rephrased his words, “Okay? That’s it?”

She nodded with a simple look on her face, as if what she said was a fact and she even spared him a glance that lasted for more than five seconds, “What? Changing your mind on inviting me?”

He shook his head, waving a hand hurriedly as well, “N-No! I mean, well, I thought you would—“

“Need more persuading?” She snorted, showing him a smile, showing him a bit of happiness that painted across her cheeks and he nodded with that tinge of dumbfounded feeling all over, “Yeah…”

“I guess it would be nice to feel such family love again, plus, your parents might dish out all those stories of when you were a little brat—“

“Hey! I was not a little brat!”

She could only laugh inside because she knew how he was, but pretending like she didn’t was an interesting thing, too.

“Yeah, sure you weren’t.”

 

 

 

---

 

 

“You’re… off?” Kai used his eyes, pointing to the exit doors and she nodded, mumbling softly as she tugged on her bag strap, “I have a feeling I know where she’ll be,”

“Need me to tag along?”

She gave him a look, and he took that well enough, too well, “O-kay, guess not.”

He rested his hand on her shoulder, giving her a smile, “She’s your sister, Hee Young-ah,”

She nodded and let out a sigh, gently brushing his hand off along with his good intentions, “I know,” She took one step, two steps and before he knew it, she was already on her way. He tried to wave goodbye, almost this close to saying that word but she spoke before him, “There’s no point in saying goodbye,” She reached the door, roughly fifteen steps away from the boy but he could still hear her clearly in the empty hallway, “We’re going to see each other tonight, anyway,”

And he couldn’t make up if that was a smile on her face or not when the door closed but, it didn’t matter.

He was already feeling good inside.

 

 

 

---

 

 

She tucked her bag on her shoulder securely before placing her hand on the knob, this close to going in but she heard something that could be made up as her name from the side, from a distance of five steps approximately. With a raised eyebrow, she stepped back and turned her head to the side, already meeting gazes with someone that she wasn’t too fond of seeing.

“N-No, wait!” He breathed out almost too quickly, his hands darting out to hold onto her shoulders, bringing her to the side and he was not expecting her to thrash around and shove him off, making his back land against the glass window with a grunt and when his eyes opened to meet with hers, all he could see was a venomous glare.

“What do you want?”

He shook his head, fixing his clothes by flattening them with his palms before sighing, “I… I saw Hee Min driving up here,”

“Means you have good eyesight,” She muttered under her breath, looking away to the ground and that’s when he took one step closer, testing the limits and when he tried to take another, she lifted her chin up and was once more greeted with that look in her eyes. Alright, so one step is enough…

“H… Hee Min isn’t to blame for this,”

“Then who? You?”

“I mean… It’s true, I took up the job from your mother because I thought it was a good change of a job but I didn’t know about needing to spy on her until a week after I settled down with the job. I only agreed because—“

“You already like her,”

He swore he looks much dumber than her because of the look on his face, “W-Wait, how did you—“

“Everyone likes her,” She mumbled as a matter of a fact because it’s true, there was no human being in the world that could ever not like her sister. “It would only be a surprise if you didn’t.”

James took an inhale of air, clearing his throat and mind, forming the sentences properly before he’d mumble anything else stupid but it clearly wasn’t working when he didn’t expect his girlfriend’s sister to be this intelligent or this snarky with her comebacks. And it wasn’t even rude to begin with it’s just the way she’s able to directly say what’s on her mind makes it all the more mysterious and it was undeniable that she has this certain charm like her sister does.

It was crazy to the similarities and differences two sisters had with one another.

“I… I just don’t want you to be mad at her… you’re all she has…”

“I wasn’t mad at her,” Hee Young clarified, straightening her back, “I was disappointed, there’s a difference.”

James bit his lower lip, out of habit and Hee Young already knows that from the countless times her sister has mentioned it but seeing it up close, she didn’t know if she should point that out or just keep quiet about it. Yeah, she chose the other option.

“Is there… anything that I can do to make you not be disappointed in her?”

She took a moment to think, as if she was digesting all his words in and deciding what she should do. She contemplated in blaming everything on him instead of her sister, she was torn between deciding if she was really disappointed or if it was just giving her a reason to be—but, she came a conclusion. Her arms slowly crossed as she looked up, meeting with his eyes that seemed so desperate, eyes of a man who truly loves her sister, a look from someone who cares so much about the relationship between his partner’s family issues that he’s going this far in trying to sort things out—she didn’t know if she was stupid to have brought him into this rollercoaster ride of disappointment or if she should congratulate her sister for finally finding someone who would do so much for her as she would for him.

“Three questions—all honesty,”

He nodded twice without hesitation, “Ask away.”

“Do you still contact my mother about my sister?”

“Sometimes, but usually I ask your sister beforehand.”

“Does my mother still come to work?”

“Not anymore.”

“Lastly…” She bit the inside of her cheek unsurely, her eyes gazing towards the side of him to the motif on the wall before mumbling, “I’m sorry.”

“What?” He breathed almost too soon, as if he didn’t believe the words he was hearing that he bobbed his head forward in hopes she’d repeat the words again but like he thought, it wasn’t going to happen.

“For leaving the dinner just like that...”

His lips formed a small ‘o’ shape before he nodded, “Oh…” Letting her words sink in, he waved a hand, “I-I understand, it’s normal.”

There was a pause of silence between the two and he was the first to awkwardly break the silence, “So…”

“Don’t worry,” She blinked up to him, noting his worried expression that dissolved when she said, “I’ll talk to her,”

Overexcited, overwhelmed by the joy, his arms stretched out and he brought her into his embrace, his excitement coming off like a little high school kid, “That’s great!”

She understood why he was acting this way, how happy and relieved he must’ve been but…

“Uhm…” She cleared , lightly patting his back, “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t try to squeeze me to death,”

He automatically stepped away, bringing his arms to himself, “S-Sorry! I’m just…,” He straightened his back, happiness radiating off his face, beaming with his cheeks widely, “I’m glad that things are going to be fine between you two,”

He was very much tempted to give a hug when she saw how his arms flinched but she was quick to put a hand between their bodies.

With a bit back grin, he reached up and shook her hand.

 

 

 

---