Jiyong looked at me helpless, his brows furrowed looking all the bit helpless and though I mostly relied on him to figure out things that I could not, I realized that there were somethings that even he cannot solve. He was younger than me, for god's sake. I ran a hand through my hair, shaking the strands loose and gave out a loud sigh. I was the boyfriend not jiyong! And I needed to do as I will. There were no shortcuts to this. No one to figure out how I should go about this because this... This is my situation. Because Dara... Dara is my girl. So I stood up abruptly and jiyong gives a start of surprise.

"Hyung?" He calls out and for the first time I felt somewhat older.

"Ji," I say. "I'm taking her back to her mom."

---

I left them together even though a part of me still lingered in childish jealousy. But I needed to go to a laundromat and have her clothes dried. It was my thing to do. Not his. So I left them even if I really just wanted to stay with her... And as I watched her clothes get flung around in the dryer, I think. You know really think. Her mom is dying, her siblings taken by social services, then what of her? She can't be left to her father... That wasn't an option at all. Stay with her, her mom had said and I feel a tug on my lips. Stay had more bearing than I had first thought. Stay. Stay...

---

I brought her her clothes and she thanked me with a squeeze of a hand and I sort of mourned my clothes