The next day, SungMi was having breakfast with her whole family. It was kind of the last breakfast they were having together as Mr. Lee was going overseas for a short while. He was a very busy man and though he didn’t want to go, he had to.

It was very quiet at the dining table as everyone was focused on eating the food in front of them. Mr. Lee was drinking his coffee while reading the newspaper and glancing at his children once in a while. He sighed softly, only meant for him to hear. He recalled what his wife had said few days ago, saying that he was rarely home and spent no time with his kids. Well, she was indeed right. And Mr. Lee made a promise to himself to be there for his children more than he ever did.

Putting down his fork and spoon, SungHyun asked his sister who was sitting directly in front of him. “How was the fundraising, SungMi? Was it fun?” All of them at the table knew about the fundraising as SungMi couldn’t stop fussing about it every single day before the day of the event. She did invite them to come but, unfortunately, none of them had the time to.

SungMi had already finished eating and she was only waiting for HyunSik. She nodded eagerly at SungHyun’s question and smiled as she answered, “It was very fun, oppa! Many people came and we collected a lot of money for the orphanage too. Some children from the orphanage were there as well and YoungJae and JongUp and I were busy playing with them. Well, I was supposed to be helping DanBi but I can’t help it. It was so much fun to play with the kids and to see the smile on their faces. Despite not having any parents anymore and just waiting to be picked by other couples, they seem happy enough with their lives.” SungMi grinned sheepishly.

HyunSik who was sitting beside her patted her head proudly and said, “I’m glad that you had a lot of fun, SungMi. And I’m also proud that you joined this kind of activity, to help others in need. We don’t find a lot of teenagers to participate in charity things anymore.”

SungMi grinned wider at her brother’s compliment and said nonchalantly, “Well, it would’ve been a whole lot nicer if all of you were there too. Too bad that each of you had something to do yesterday.”

SungHyun flashed her a guilty smile and said, “We’re sorry about that, dear. But I can promise you that the next time you have a fundraising event, we’ll be there. Isn’t that right, appa?” Mr. Lee, who was listening to the conversation despite reading the newspaper, nodded his head in agreement.

“Yeah, he’s right. We’ll all come next time, SungMi.” Mr. Lee added, before receiving a joyful smile from his daughter. Mr. Lee then looked at his wife, who hadn’t said anything and signaled with his eyes to say something too. He wanted SungMi to know that she had the family’s support in whatever she did and that she deserved some praise for her effort in participating. Though to be honest, it would be a bit hard to ask HyunWoo to say anything but at least Mrs. Lee should be able to say a few words.

Getting her husband’s message, Mrs. Lee nodded her head awkwardly, before continuing her breakfast. Well, at least she was doing something contributive, Mrs. Lee thought to herself. Mrs. Lee wasn’t really someone who would spend her time doing charity things. It was not that she didn’t like it, but she often felt that she had some other important things to do first. Like mingling with her friends, and taking care of her family’s business.

The table went silent again, and Mr. Lee stood up before saying that he was heading to the hospital first. After few minutes ltheir father left the dining table, HyunSik finally finished eating his breakfast. HyunSik was a big eater, to be honest and SungMi liked to wait for her brother. Her family often wondered why SungMi would always remain seated at the dining table to wait for HyunSik, though she had finished eating and was free to go. This happened during every meal they had and each time they asked, SungMi could only shrug, not knowing the reason why.

Not that HyunSik minded though. He felt it was nice to have his sister waiting for him. While the rest of the family thought it was just one of SungMi’s weird attitudes, HyunSik and SungHyun will always think that it was because since SungMi was small, she had always been attached to HyunSik, as he was the gentler one.

HyunSik stood up from his chair and SungMi followed. However, SungMi suddenly said something that could cause all of them to have a panic attack right before the two left the dining table. “HyunWoo oppa.” She called all of a sudden, and all eyes were immediately on her.

Feeling a little bit startled that she suddenly called him, HyunWoo only hummed, meaning to ask her what she wanted. With a smile that she tried to hide, she said gratefully, “Thank you for the necklace, oppa! It’s very beautiful. I like it so much and it’s very nice of you to get it for me.”

With that said, SungHyun choked on the water he was drinking and Mrs. Lee gulped while HyunSik was frozen at his spot. Both SungHyun and HyunSik looked at SungMi, who was still smiling at the perplexed HyunWoo. She didn’t notice the panic look on his brothers’ face at all as she was waiting for HyunWoo’s reply. She knew that he would be saying something not nice, but she just wanted to know what he would say. She had been wanting to tell him that for a long time already, ever since HyunWoo got home, but she was calculating the right time to do so.

With creased brows, HyunWoo asked her back rather harshly, “Necklace? What necklace are you talking about? Are you daydreaming or something? Why would I ever give you a necklace?”

SungMi was in bemusement and a little taken aback by her brother’s words. She was expecting him to say something hurtful, but what he just said didn’t cross her mind. Maybe he was just pretending that he didn’t give it to me, SungMi thought and still maintained her smile. She thought her brother was going to say something like he got it cheap or maybe he stole it, or maybe it was someone else’s before he gave it to her.

But she had never thought that HyunWoo would look so confused when she mentioned about the necklace.

“Aigoo, the necklace you gave me for my birthday, oppa. The one with the pendant of a Treble Clef. You sent it for my birthday since you weren’t here.” SungMi pulled the necklace out from her shirt, which was hanging around her neck.“This one.” She said innocently, while dangling the necklace.

SungHyun cleared his throat and tried to call for her, “Sung-”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about and I have no idea what’s going on here. But all I can tell you is, that I’ve never seen that necklace before and I am sure as hell didn’t give you that. You have got it all wrong and you could be either hallucinating or simply making it up. I don’t know how that story existed in your head but never in my right mind would I give anything to you. You aren’t my family. When’s your birthday, anyway? Is it too late for me to wish you?” HyunWoo spitted it all out in one breath and it felt like a slap on SungMi’s face.

The girl was simply stunned and her feet were cemented to the ground, as her ears were taking in every single word from HyunWoo’s mouth. SungHyun and HyunSik face palmed themselves, regretting everything that had happened. They didn’t wish for this to happen like this. They knew this day would come, but it was their fault for not preparing for it.

Mrs. Lee, who was flabbergasted, hissed at her son, “Lee HyunWoo!”

Standing up, HyunWoo continued while crossing his arms, “What? It’s true isn’t it? On which part do you want me to embellish, then? The family part or the necklace?” Stepping away from the chair, HyunWoo looked at the frozen SungMi with a mocked pity and smirked, “Anyway, I don’t have time for this. You might want to ask your two dear brothers for explanation regarding the necklace.”

He left the dining room, with the four of them at a loss of words. SungMi could feel tears were glistening in her eyes and she hated herself for wanting to cry so easily. She wasn’t one who would spill her tears leisurely, but lately it felt as easy as pie to let her tears fall.

HyunWoo’s words were like poison meant only for her. Throughout the years, though she was used to HyunWoo’s mean words, it still broke her heart when HyunWoo said that, as if she had no feelings whatsoever.

“S-SungMi,” HyunSik called and was about to reach out for his sister when she abruptly turned, tears cascading down her cheeks as she exchanged glances from SungHyun to HyunSik and slapped HyunSik's hand away. She then met eyes with her mother who was stunned to see her daughter cry. SungMi smirked mentally as she was sure that her mother must've not seen her cried before.

“Tell me the truth, oppa.” SungMi said to no one in particular, not meeting anyone’s eyes and simply stared at the open space, letting her tears fall, wetting her entire face.

SungHyun and HyunSik looked at each other, not sure who should explain first. After few seconds of arguing silently, SungHyun sighed and decided to be the one who did it. “We’re sorry, SungMi, but we just can’t help it. You were hoping so much that HyunWoo would call or come back on your birthday when to be honest; he doesn’t remember your birthday at all. We knew how disappointed you’d get each year when he didn’t call or come back to celebrate your birthday with you. And so, HyunSik and I thought maybe this year we could do something about that.”

With a nod, HyunSik decided to take it from there, “We picked and bought the necklace for you, SungMi. After all those years, we didn’t want you to be sad on your birthday anymore. Not to mention that not only HyunWoo wasn’t here that day, but appa wasn’t too. We thought by saying that the necklace was from HyunWoo, it might brighten up your day. We’re sorry, SungMi.”

“And from the beginning I told you that it wasn’t a good idea.” Mrs. Lee chimed, looking at her two sons who looked extremely guilty at the moment. SungHyun sighed and looked at his mother, “Omma.” He said, and with that, he was hoping that the lady won’t start nagging.

“SungMi, say something,” HyunSik said, feeling worried that SungMi was being awfully quiet. He didn’t want to see his sister sad, and that moment he was regretting the choice SungHyun and him had made. They meant it well, actually but they didn’t think that it would finally come to this.

SungMi roughly wiped the tears off from her face and said to her brothers, “And you couldn’t have told me at all? For how long were you planning to keep this as a secret? Didn’t it ever occur to you that I might find out someday? All these while you’ve been lying to me, making me believe that it was really a present from HyunWoo oppa when to be honest he doesn’t even know or remember my birthday!” SungMi wailed and her mother flinched at her sudden raise of voice.

“SungMi.” HyunSik called and he started crying too. He was regretting it very much and hoped that he could turn back the time. But he knew that the ship had sailed, and the only thing he could do was to comfort his sister. SungHyun was tongue-tied, not knowing what to say. He had a feeling that SungMi wasn’t finished with her vent.

“And you know what hurts more,” SungMi whispered, “to hear all those words from HyunWoo’s mouth. It hurts oppa. And just the mere thought of it is making me feel like I’ve been kicked in the gut. I was embarrassed, and I thought I was making a fool out of myself. And when he said I’m not his family, well, it’s like adding salt to the wound. No wonder he never remembers my birthday, to him I’m not a family.”

SungHyun was about to say something but before any of them could open their mouths to speak, SungMi grabbed her skateboard, and dashed out of the house. She skateboarded as fast as she could, as if she was chased by whatever she was scared of that moment.

“SUNGMI!” HyunSik called and was close to chasing after her when SungHyun grabbed his arm, and Mrs. Lee was holding him back too. “Let her go.” SungHyun said. HyunSik shook his head and said, “No. Do you remember the last time we let her go to cool down? She got wetted by the rain and almost got a fever.”

“But she was fine then, wasn’t she? And she will be again, HyunSik.” Mrs. Lee said calmly.

“But this isn’t the same, omma!” HyunSik screamed and SungHyun shot him a look. “Get a grip on yourself, Lee HyunSik.” He said sternly. “What do you even expect to achieve by runn