So open your eyes and see the way our horizons meet.
And all of the lights will lead into the night with me.
And I know these scars will bleed, but both of our hearts believe,
All of these stars will guide us home.
                                                       -Ed Sheeran - All Of The Stars -

After the school bell rang, ByulHee grabbed her bag pack before dashing out of the class, leaving a dumfounded JongIn behind. She could hear him calling her but ByulHee made no attempt of turning back. Throughout the day, the boy kept talking to her non-stop even though ByulHee hardly answered more than two sentences. The only time when JongIn left her alone was during recess, and he continued trying to make chats with her once they resumed their lessons.

She had no idea why the lad was so persistent in trying to talk to her and make her exchange and she didn’t bother to ask. She thought it was clear enough that she didn’t want to talk to him by keeping quiet all the time, but it seemed that JongIn completely ignored her silence.

Why didn’t she want to talk to him? Well, she wasn’t used to having friends at school as she didn’t have any back at her daddy’s place, and she was somewhat afraid that her real status of being HeeJun’s sister would be found out. ByulHee thought that by keeping her distance from others would be a better way to make sure none of them knew that she and HeeJun were related.

ByulHee made her way towards the enormous school gate, and stood by at the side while waiting for HeeJun. She looked around and waited while gripping the straps of her bag pack when she saw HeeJun walking towards the gate, with a couple of friends with him.

As he approached the gate, HeeJun completely disregarded her being there and continued walking until he was out of the school premises with his friends at his side. ByulHee followed him from behind, shrugging off his attitude of not acknowledging her there. Probably it was one of his ways to make sure no one knew that the both of them knew each other.

After saying goodbye to his friends, it was only then that HeeJun realized his sister was behind him. He turned to her after making a quick check around the vicinity and said while pushing her to a corner, “Hey, why are you following me?! What if my friends saw that you were behind us? They could’ve suspected that you and I know one another.”

ByulHee frowned a little at the question, “Well, it’s time to go home now, right? Of course, I have to follow you. We came together so we’re supposed to head home together as well, yes? Besides, I didn’t even call out your name or whatnot. They couldn’t have suspected anything unless you tell them.” She answered, with a confused look plastered on her face.

HeeJun rolled his eyes and replied, “We can’t go home together, you dimwit. People will see that and they will start wondering whether we know each other.”

ByulHee scoffed a little, and asked with her arms crossed, “Oh, come on, what are you, a celebrity? Are you worried that a picture of you and I will come out in the newspapers the next day as if it was some sort of a controversy? As if you’re a big shot in this country?”

HeeJun looked at her with a mocking, pride look, before crossing his arms himself, and said, “You just don’t get it, do you? It’s okay, I understand. You’re just a girl who came from the village after all. You know nothing of the corporate world.  And news flash, dear sister, I am a big shot in this country. The whole of South Korea knows me and adores me as the son of one of the most famous entrepreneurs in this country. Don’t you know by now what my father does? He’s an important man and everyone looks up to him. And if the news break out that we’re brother and sister, things will get ugly for him. At least get that small piece of information into your tiny little brain all right?”

ByulHee was a little surprised at the way HeeJun was talking to her. There was no respect whatsoever but she didn’t really take it to heart, as the days gone by she was actually starting to get used to HeeJun talking to her that way.

Anyway, that matter was not her concern at the moment. What worried her most now was whether she got to go home or not.

“So what do you propose then? I want to go home too, you know. You can’t expect me to sleep at school. Besides, what would grandma say? She did mention to our parents that she‘d send and fetch us both, right? What will she say if we don’t go home together?” ByulHee asked, getting tired of this conversation. She just wanted to go home, not fighting with HeeJun at a corner while trying to not be busted by people around.

Oh well, as HeeJun said, he was a big wheel so everyone knew him. ByulHee wondered if it was really everyone. She made a mental note to ask those who worked at a ramen shop to see if it was so.

“Easy. You can take the bus home. And don’t worry about grandma. I’m sure she’ll agree with me anyway. We cannot risk of having people see you entering the same car.” HeeJun replied, and ByulHee tried not to guffaw, as it made no sense to her.

She held back a retort saying that they actually came to school together, and that itself was already a risk, but ByulHee decided not to have this conversation with a seven year old. She was tired and if HeeJun kept insisting her to go home by bus, then so be it.

Luckily, for her, she did remember the buses that headed towards her neighborhood. So waiting for the right bus was not really a problem.

“Fine.” She said at last, giving up. She knew HeeJun thought he’d won, judging from the victorious look on his face. “Cool.” The boy replied. “And you should still be grateful that we can send you to school. It’s already a risk we’re taking.”

ByulHee ignored the rest of his words as she turned and walked away, heading towards the bus stop near the school. She sighed as she made her way there, and felt a little relief that there was no one there. Of course, she thought to herself, who would ever take a public transport to go home? All the kids are filthy rich they have their own chauffeurs.

ByulHee took a deep breath as she sat on the benches, waiting for the bus. On her mind, she started calculating how long it will take her to arrive home, depending on the arrival of the bus at the same time. ByulHee sighed and shook her head, trying to be positive all together.

Only for a year, ByulHee thought. She was going to go through this for only a year. In the meantime, she was also hoping that her parents wouldn’t mind her taking the bus home. She wasn’t sure whether they allowed her to take the public transport home, and she wished that they didn’t.

She was already waiting for a couple of minutes and as the sun was burning high in the sky, she had to hang her head low, trying to bear with the heat. ByulHee was staring at her shoes when a bicycle stopped in front of her. ByulHee slowly raised her head and met eyes with the owner of the bicycle, whom she knew.

“You’re still here, Sunshine? I thought you already went home, judging from how fast you went out of the class just now. Are you waiting for the bus?” JongIn asked, a warm smile surfaced on his face.

ByulHee only nodded and shifted her attention back to the road where the bus was supposed to be coming. But it wasn’t for long when JongIn asked again, “Do you want a ride? It’s scorching hot right now. The bus will take some time to come.”

ByulHee looked back at him with a confused look, tipping her head to the side at the same time. JongIn looked sincere enough to offer her a ride, but somehow ByulHee didn’t feel comfortable in accepting the offer. They’d just met for a day, though and since she didn’t even talk to him that much, how can she take the lad’s offer of a ride home?

“No, thank you. I’m sure the bus will be here soon.” ByulHee mumbled, to which JongIn heard and the boy only shrugged indifferently before getting ready to cycle again. “Well, if you say so. I’ll be off, then. See you tomorrow!” He said happily, before cycling away.

ByulHee only watched his disappearing figure. In the meantime, she can’t help but to wonder to herself. Why was JongIn being friendly and nice to her? Did he really consider her as a friend? And no matter how hard ByulHee tried to shut him down when he talked to her, he still acted as if ByulHee and he were already friends.

Deep down, ByulHee knew it would be nice if she could have a friend for a change. That way school would probably be less boring, and she will actually have someone to spend time with at school, like any other normal kids.

But remembering her grandmother’s warning about some kids not being their true selves, it worried ByulHee a little. What will happen if this JongIn kid was trying to get close to her because he had his own agendas? ByulHee wasn’t sure whether he knew she was HeeJun’s ‘distant relative’, but surely in that kind of school, word will go around.

ByulHee sighed and tried to tell herself to be positive instead of judging other people straight away. It could be that JongIn was sincere in trying to be her friend, but considering the number of times she pushed him away that day, ByulHee doubted that the boy would still want to talk to her the next day.

Her thoughts were then interrupted when her eyes caught the sight of the bus, and ByulHee couldn’t be any happier. It was boiling hot and she cannot wait to be home, at the same time feeling excited to tell Chen about her new school.

“Oh, ByulHee dear. I’m so glad that you’re home. I’m so sorry that you had to take the bus. I hope you understand why, all right?” Director Kim said once ByulHee entered the house. She had arrived an hour later from HeeJun but she was in some way glad that she wasn’t that exhausted. In fact, she was starting to like taking the bus. She could look out at the sceneries, thinking how different it was from the village and couldn’t help planning to take Chen to the city someday.

And so, she just nodded her head at Director Kim’s words, finding the words she said to be rather odd and that she didn’t sound guilty at all. But then, ByulHee was lazy enough to think more about the matter. What’s important was that she was already home and her dear grandma can say anything she wanted.

ByulHee was just about to head upstairs when Director Kim called her again. ByulHee turned to the older woman, who was sitting in the living room and replied, “Yes, grandmother?”

Director Kim looked at her a little apologetically and said, “Well, I understand that you just got home from school and that you must be tired. But I need someone to cook dinner for tonight. The maids have gone back to their homes for a week or two and there’s no one to prepare dinner. MinSeok and MinYoung will be home soon and after a day of hard work, they must be tired and hungry.”

ByulHee thought she must’ve stared at Director Kim for a bit too long, as the elder had to call her name twice to get her attention. Did she just ask ByulHee to cook dinner? The elder didn’t even ask if ByulHee knew how to cook or not. But lucky for her, ByulHee did know despite being 12.

She’d spent a lot of time cooking with Chen from when she was young, but she could only hope that they wouldn’t mind eating the simple dishes she and Chen used to have.

“Urm, sure. I’ll just change my clothes first and come back down.” ByulHee answered, and did just that. After changing out of her school attires, ByulHee headed straight to the kitchen and began cooking anything that she knew. Since grandma didn’t specify what she should cook for dinner, ByulHee decided to just prepare what she always had when she was with Chen.

Besides, ByulHee didn’t bother to ask. She wouldn’t have known what to do if grandma asked her to cook something that she had never done before. At least, she was preparing something right now. And they can choose to eat it or not, it was their decision.

Since she was cooking for the whole family and in fact, alone in the kitchen, ByulHee took a longer time then she used to. She kept reminding herself that she wasn’t going to cook for two, but for five people.

ByulHee didn’t realize how long had she been in the kitchen as MinYoung suddenly entered, shocked to see ByulHee with an apron cooking and ByulHee was likewise, not expecting MinYoung to be home already.

“Love, what are you doing?” MinYoung asked, despite the obviousness. She was still in her formal clothes when she approached ByulHee, who was about to cook the rice. “I’m preparing dinner.” ByulHee answered, and the frown on MinYoung’s head deepened.

“You’re preparing dinner? Why are you preparing dinner?” MinYoung asked again, sounding disbelief as she watched her daughter moving around the kitchen.

ByulHee tried to look as casual as she could, before she answered carefully, “The maids have gone back to their hometowns for a week or two, right? So someone has to prepare dinner or there’ll be nothing for you and Mr. Kim to eat.” To be honest, she strained herself from mentioning Director Kim’s name, as she was the one who asked ByulHee to cook. Somehow, she thought it was best if she left that bit of information out.

MinYoung sighed and quickly rolled up her sleeves, before approaching ByulHee and began helping her once she knew what ByulHee was cooking. “You don’t have to do this, dear. I can cook for us. You’re only 12 years old