“Oppa, where are you taking me?” SungMi asked for maybe the tenth time, as she trailed DaeHyun’s steps. She had been following DaeHyun for almost half an hour but still her brother did not say anything about their destination after they left the cemetery, no matter how much she pestered him.

Turning to her, DaeHyun asked with a casual expression, “Are you hungry?”

SungMi knitted her eyebrows, and a look of irritation flashed across her face as DaeHyun answered her question with another question. However, she only shook her head and said, “No, I’m not. But can you please tell me where we’re going? I’m just not used to wearing dresses for so long. It makes me feel uncomfortable.”

DaeHyun’s lips curved up into a smile as he watched his sister trying to pull down her knee-length dress. The look on her face clearly showed that she was feeling miserable. He knew she wasn’t used to having her legs exposed and he tried not to laugh at the funny look on her face.

He continued walking then, still with a smile on his face and SungMi quickly caught up with him. She knew there was no point of asking anymore as DaeHyun would never answer her, so she just followed him quietly instead.

SungMi was lost in her own thoughts, as she pondered her other brothers and father, and she hoped that they were doing well at home. Out of all of them, she was concerned about HyunWoo and HyunSik the most. She hoped that they would stop feeling remorseful and would not continuously fault themselves.

Throughout her lifetime, HyunSik had always been the one comforting her, giving her strength and made her feel better, whenever she was down. HyunSik was the closest to her and she had never seen HyunSik so broken before it made her heart ache.

“The bus is here.” DaeHyun said, but as he turned to his sister, he noticed that she was spacing out. SungMi made no response to what DaeHyun just said and her eyes fixed onto the ground. She seemed to be in her own world, as her gaze seemed distant. He bet she didn’t even realize they were already at the bus stop.

DaeHyun elbowed her gently on her arm, and that jolted her back to the present. She blinked confusedly and asked, “Sorry, what did you say?”

DaeHyun sighed softly and answered, “I said, the bus is here. We’re getting on it. Is everything okay? You were zoning out.” He looked at his sister in concern, trying to know what she was thinking or whatever was bothering her mind.

Throwing him an encouraging smile, SungMi said, “Yeah, sure. Let’s get on the bus now, oppa. But you’ll have to pay for my fare as well.” They both got on the bus and after a couple of minutes; SungMi fell asleep on her seat.

DaeHyun chuckled to himself seeing his sister asleep before looking at the texts he received from his friends, mom and SungMi’s brothers. All the way to the bus stop just now, he often felt that his phone was vibrating every five minutes inside his pocket, but he did not attempt to answer them, as SungMi herself couldn’t stop asking where they were going.

DaeHyun tried not to laugh, as most of the messages he received were the same. All of his friends asked him how SungMi was doing; and even DaeHyun’s mother asked the similar thing too, only that she also reminded him to make sure that SungMi had something to eat before going home.

Meanwhile SungMi’s brothers only told him to keep an eye on her, make sure she was always safe and ‘threatened’ him that he’ll get his head chopped off if something happened to SungMi.

DaeHyun raised his eyebrow in amusement as the threat came from SungMi’s eldest brother, HyunWoo. He had his name included at the bottom of the text, and since DaeHyun already saved SungHyun and HyunSik’s number, he knew that this must be from HyunWoo.

Reading the last text, which was also the first he’d received, DaeHyun smiled wider reading the sender’s name and what was written.

See you two there.

He kept his phone back, and looked out the window while he let SungMi sleep some more. He knew just how exhausted his sister must’ve been, only by looking at her. She’d lost weight, he’d noticed and he often heard DanBi and YoungJae nagged at her for not taking care of her meals well.

DaeHyun’s heart softened as he took in the familiar sight of the scenery as their bus passed by, and once it stopped, as much as DaeHyun hated to interrupt SungMi’s slumber, he had to wake her up.

He shook her shoulder gently, as not to startle her and SungMi opened her eyes groggily, looking around and frowned, as her vicinity seemed unfamiliar. She looked confused and DaeHyun believed that it was because she’d just woken up.

“Come on, let’s go down.” DaeHyun said and SungMi got down first. Right after taking in the environment around her, SungMi smiled to herself as she finally recognized where she was. Turning to DaeHyun with exhilaration, she said, “Oppa! Let’s go to the playground! Playground!”

DaeHyun smiled and only followed SungMi from behind as the girl led the way in enthusiasm. He didn’t know whether SungMi remembered on how to get to the playground, but as he watched her struggling a little and scratched her head a few times, he knew she had no idea where she was going.

“Keep going straight and the playground is on your right.” DaeHyun instructed, and SungMi turned to him before grinning. She did as told and once her eyes caught the sight of the playground, she attacked the swings immediately.

DaeHyun shook his head and for a moment, he felt grateful that there was no one else in the playground. It would’ve been weird if other kids and their parents saw SungMi running towards the swings with her black dress while her arms thrown upwards.

It would either scare them off or they might think that SungMi was cracked, and there was a high chance that it could be both.

As DaeHyun caught up with her, SungMi was already sitting on the swing, going back and forth while cheering happily. DaeHyun’s heart softened seeing his sister smile. It was as if nothing bad had ever happened before, and the tears she cried previously were never there.

DaeHyun settled himself on the swing next to SungMi, and only moved slowly as his sister got higher and higher. Noticing that her brother was beside her, SungMi gradually stopped swinging and suddenly asked, “Oppa, what was our father like?”

Her question took DaeHyun by surprise, as he never expected her to ask that. “Why did you ask that all of a sudden?”

SungMi lifted her shoulders, and said casually, “Well, I’ve always remembered coming to this playground with you. And though it seems vague, I remember we used to come with omma as well. But as you know, oppa, I have no memories of our father. I don’t remember how he looked like, or what his personality was. What I know about him is basically what only you told me.”

She turned to DaeHyun and he could see the sadness in her eyes, “I would’ve liked to know more about our father. It’s like; I love someone who I’ve never met.”

DaeHyun reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze, “Wrong.” He said. “You’ve met him before, JiHyun. He was the first person you saw when you opened your eyes, and omma was next. He was the first person to cuddle you, the first person who kissed your forehead. I know this might mean nothing to you, but even if you couldn’t remember his face, I want you to know that he was the first thing you saw when you opened your eyes.”

SungMi said nothing, as her eyes were getting watery. She knew her nose must’ve been red by now, and she hoped that DaeHyun wouldn’t notice.

DaeHyun sighed as he looked up at the open sky. “I wish I could tell you more about him, JiHyun.” He said softly. “I really wish I could. The two of us are only a year apart. I myself could hardly remember anything more to tell you. However, all that I can tell you is that appa really loved the two of us. He really loved you.”

As if on cue, tears started rolling down SungMi’s cheeks, but she made no sound.

 “As you know, you were sick. Though babies do tend to sleep all the time, you slept excessively much because of the sickness you had. Even though I was a small boy that time