The 1st Beginning

There are a lot of ways that I could tell this story. And there are so many places that I could begin, because there is more than just one beginning. This is a story that not many people could tell, but I’ll tell it because its true, and there’s only so much that you can do with the truth.

The first beginning was the change. It was gradual, so I can’t really pinpoint it exactly, but it was still there.

My brother, Hyukjun, went to university to study International Business when he was about eighteen. His confidence grew, he bettered his looks, and about a year after he’d started we found out that he’d gotten himself a girlfriend.

It was shocking really. Being his little sister, I never really saw why any girl would want to date him. He was lazy, not exactly the nicest person, the only thing he had going for him was his face, and even that wasn’t a great selling point.

But like anything in life, the idea became normal. Maybe she was just as weird and unattractive as he was? If that was the case, then it made sense.

“What’s her name?” My mother had asked, just as flabbergasted as the rest of us.

Hyukjun smiled. “Jessica. Jung Jessica.” 

She had a name after that, but no face. And I did wonder what she was like, what her face was like and how she spoke and whether she spoke funny because she was from America.

Hyukjun would come home, smile like a wedge of watermelon and say: “Jessica and I had a great time today. She was so adorable, and we went…” And then he’d go onto boasting and drawling on and on about Jessica and how amazingly brilliant she was.

Then one day I ca