“SungMi,” HyunSik said, “HyunWoo is here.”

SungMi’s eyes were on stalks, as she stood rooted to the spot, while listening to HyunSik’s declaration. She did not expect this coming at all. All the way home from the orphanage she was only looking forward to her mother coming down on her like a ton of bricks for arriving home late. She was preparing herself to face the music when, lo and behold, her eldest brother was finally home.

However, her shock only lasted for a very short moment as her eyes then glittered with joy. SungMi jumped up and down happily like a dog with two tails as she exclaimed, “Oppa is here? Really ?!”

HyunSik only nodded and tried to force himself to smile. He knew that his sister would react like this. HyunSik knew that SungMi would get super elated upon hearing about HyunWoo’s arrival though he knew later on that she would only get upset later. She might not show it but HyunSik knew. It was like this every year.

“He’s in the living room. But, SungMi-”

Without wasting another second, SungMi dashed to their living room without giving HyunSik the chance to finish talking. HyunSik sighed as he quickly trailed after her. The initial plan was that he wanted to warn her not to straight away go and meet HyunWoo and getting super excited now that he was here. That was why he waited for SungMi secretly near the front door because he wanted to tell her that. Sometimes SungMi tended to forget that HyunWoo did not like her very much and that she must give him some time before slowly trying to approach him.

Sadly, HyunSik thought maybe he was a bit too slow to remind SungMi that. And it turned out his predictions were right. The moment he arrived at the living room, only a few seconds late after SungMi, the girl was already enveloping their eldest brother into a hug.

All pairs of eyes, excluding SungMi’s, widened in shock with SungMi’s action. HyunWoo especially had an obvious expression on his face to say that he did not like the hug at all. He did not hug SungMi back, and a look of disgust plastered on his face. HyunSik sighed as he realized that he was late again.

In a split second, HyunWoo harshly pushed SungMi away from him and the girl stumbled before trying to regain her balance.  HyunSik quickly grabbed her hand while SungHyun frowned and said, “Hyung,” as to tell HyunWoo that he did not like him to push SungMi away that hard. Their mother, Mrs. Lee, seemed to be shocked too.

SungMi, in the meantime, did not seem to mind about it and said with a bright smile, “I’m so happy that you’re home, oppa ! Did you have a pleasant flight ?”

HyunWoo only glanced at her before giving her a curt nod without looking at SungMi. His eyes soon noticed the skateboard on the floor beside SungMi’s foot. “You’re still playing with that piece of old wood ? Huh. When will you ever grow up ? Are you planning to be a kid for the rest of your life ?” He asked with a scoff and a menacing smirk on his face.

SungMi was caught unawares and only stared at her feet, at the same time trying to push the skateboard away out of their sight with her right foot. She knew that HyunWoo had always hated her skateboard. She did not know why. It was not as if the skateboard was HyunWoo’s in the first place. As years gone by, SungMi only liked to assume that it was just one of the ways for HyunWoo to pick on her.

Coming to her defense like always, SungHyun calmly said, “Let her be, hyung. That is what she likes to do so it’s okay. Besides, she has never troubled anyone with it before.” Though in his tone he seemed to be calm, there was a slight urge of protectiveness towards his sister and that caused HyunWoo to scoff again.

SungMi had noticed that HyunWoo liked to do that each time he was home and every time SungMi was around and she had to admit that that scared her a little. None of her other brothers ever talked to her the way only HyunWoo did.

After being silent, Mrs. Lee interfered and said, “Well, it’s true that she’s been playing around with that, HyunWoo. However, we are getting rid of it soon, aren’t we, SungMi ? I think you know very well too that you can’t be playing with that skateboard any longer. We need to throw it away.”

SungMi’s eyes widened in shock as she couldn’t believe what her mother had just said. Mrs. Lee’s words were like poison in her ears when she said that they were getting rid of her skateboard soon. No one had said anything about taking her skateboard away from her. Why now ? Other than HyunWoo, SungMi knew that her mother actually hated her skateboard to the core. She often scolded SungMi for playing with it and can’t seem to part with it but never for once did she say that she was going to throw it away.

“Omma, that is hardly fair. Why are we getting rid of the skateboard all of a sudden ? She hasn’t done anything wrong with it or cause a problem. You know how much she loves her skateboard. You can’t take that away from her.” HyunSik added and accidentally raised his tone a little without him realizing. SungMi gripped her brother’s hand, meaning to tell him not to say another word anymore.

Mrs. Lee frowned in anger and replied, “Why can’t I ? Don’t you think it’s time for us to throw that skateboard away ? She has been fooling around with it for ten years now ! And she is not a kid anymore ! She’s already 16, and it’s time for her to act like one. I will not have my one and only daughter to behave like this. You’re a girl, SungMi.”

HyunSik was about to say something when SungHyun gave him a look, forbidding him to continue. Nothing will be achieved if they kept arguing. They can never reason with their mother so might as well just put the matter at rest for the time being. Meanwhile SungMi herself was feeling uncomfortable with the situation. They were supposed to be celebrating HyunWoo’s arrival, not arguing whether or not she should stop playing with her skateboard.

She felt bad and guilty, and was hoping that she didn’t really cause the supposed-to-be happy day turn ugly. Even her mother, who seemed happy earlier with HyunWoo being there, now did not seem to be happy anymore. All because of her skateboard issue.

Tapping his finger on the arm rest, HyunWoo said nonchalantly, “Looks like she’s not turning out to be what you have hoped, eh, omma ?” He looked at his mother and noticed that the woman looked petrified, not knowing what to answer. There was a defensive look on her face and HyunWoo smirked. He looked at SungMi who was sitting next to HyunSik and added, “Not really what you said she would be ten years ago. In fact, she turns out to be quite different, if you look closely. I think you picked the wrong girl, omma.”

“HyunWoo.” Mrs. Lee said with an obvious warning in her tone telling him not to say another word. With a heavy sigh, Mrs. Lee stood up and walked up to her room, saying that she was having a headache and needed to lie down. HyunWoo who was still smirking did not say anything after that, but what came from his mouth earlier was enough to draw SungMi’s attention.

She had no idea of what HyunWoo was talking about but she did not dare to ask under the circumstances. The atmosphere seemed to be heavy and so she thought it might be best for her to keep quiet. However, the only question that kept lingering in her mind was what did HyunWoo mean by her mother picking the wrong girl ?

SungMi frowned to herself while repeating the question in her mind, though she knew that she would not find the answer. One of them had to tell her the truth somehow but SungMi knew that that was not the right time yet. Once things had cooled down a bit, maybe she could ask SungHyun and HyunSik, hoping that they would tell her what HyunWoo meant. Moreover, she could not help but to notice that her mother seemed to be defensive with the statement too. If it did not mean anything important, why was she so angry about it ?

Feeling that the silence was overwhelming, SungMi smiled and politely asked HyunWoo, “Oppa, have you eaten ? Do you want me to make you anything to eat ?” Despite her brother’s cold treatment towards her, SungMi always wanted to try to get close to HyunWoo. She had never known the reason why HyunWoo disliked her so much and she did not dare to