JongUp

“What do you mean? Who do you like?” I ask, quite shocked that she hasn’t bought it up sooner really.

“Oppa…” She hugs my arm tighter, swinging her legs over my lap. “I need help… I don’t think I am allowed to like this person…”

“JiEun, you have to tell me who it is so I can help. I promise I won’t tell anyone.” I cross my heart with my finger and smile.

The last time we did this was before she left, where it was all very similar. Only we were in my room gaming at the time. She had leant on my shoulder and started sleeping, or at least she tried to sleep. I swear she things that sleeping will help sort all problem.

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I woke JiEun with a slight shrug of my shoulders.

“Lululu… What’s the matter?” I ask, “You’re not normally this sleepy…”

“What are you talking about? I’m always tired.”

I nod, “Even though that is true, you aren’t that tried while we game…”

She stares at her controller, “Would you hate me if I liked someone?”

“What? No. You’re allowed to have other friends.”

“What if I wanted someone to be more than my friend?”

“Then I shall help you get that person to see you the same way.”

“You would?” She asks, sitting up and looking into my eyes, hopefully.

I nod, crossing my heart with a single finger. “Promise you. You’re like my sister; I couldn’t hate you if you liked someone, just the person you like.” I laugh and she hits my shoulder.

“Yah! Don’t hate him! He could be you’re future brother in law!” She laughs as well.

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“It’s just like last time then, huh?”

I nod, “You’re still like my little sister.”

“Well… Oppa…” She fidgets, people walking past stare at us in disgust, all because of JiEun and her need for physical contact.

“Who is it then? Is he in one of our classes?”

She shakes her head, “He isn’t.”

“Does he do our course?”

 Another shake of her head.

“You’re going to make me guess aren’t you? Like last time?”

She nods, smiling shyly.

I can’t help but sigh, so childish. “Is he older?”

She slowly moves her head from side to side.

“Our age?”

Another shake.

“So he is a young person… At our university?”

A shake.

“He dropped out of school?”

“No.”

“He’s still in high school?”

“Yes… He isn’t too much younger than me though!” She says defensively. “Only a few months…”

I run through all the high schoolers JiEun could possibly know, there aren’t many. Three or four, JunHong or the two kids that live across the road.

“Our neighbours?” I ask with a frown, not liking where this is going.

“No… Not them Oppa…” She says sadly.

“No…” I whisper, “You… No…”

JiEun moves off me and stands up.

“So it’s not like last time.” She mutters.

I stand and grip her shoulders gently.

“JiEun, if I could approve of it I could help… But JunHong… he can’t date… He’s not allowed to and I can’t break that rule. Not even for you. Not even if it meant…” I stop, I can’t think of anything else to say other than ‘you’re life’ because I don’t want to get into that… I don’t have authority to go there.

“It’s okay.” Her smile is sad but her words are sincere. “I gathered as much…”

“So, how can I help you?”

She shrugs. “I need to get over him…”

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DaeHyun

I don’t know why but for the past week five people have been acting rather strange. JunHong won’t look HimChan or YongGuk Hyung in their eyes, nor will he be in the same room as JiEun for too long. JiEun will sneak glances at JunHong while JongUp will continuously hug her and look to HimChan for help with God knows what.

It honestly seemed like there was three people that knew what was really going down, two that only knew half and two that had absolutely no idea in hell.

I had hoped that making JunHong teaching JiEun how to skate would make them realise that they liked each other… obviously that had failed…

After another few days, I got over it. I had to ask someone. I had to know what was going on, if not to help but to medal a bit more.

“Jae… What is going on with them? Weren’t they meant to get together?” I ask YoungJae once we are alone in our room. He is lying on his bed, playing with a Rubix cube. One that we have had for years.

“You’re an idiot.” He mutters.

“What?”

“They realised their feelings. They don’t realise how the other feels, but they know how they do.”

I still don’t get it. And obviously that shows on my face because YoungJae continues explaining.

“Every time JiEun looks at JunHong or his door she blushes and runs to JongUp. Right?”

I nod.

“JongUp obviously knows because he still treats her the same and holds her close whenever JunHong is around.”

“Right…”

“JunHong thinks that they are together, I mean it wasn’t like they were this close before. JiEun has become clingier. And because of this, JunHong is always retreating. HimChan and YongGuk Hyung’s have to know because they always try to comfort him but he just shrugs them off. When JiEun is alone JunHong always tries to sneak a look, and blushes.”

He pauses, sitting up and looking at me, the Rubix cube. “It is obvious what you have done DaeHyun.”

“What? What I’ve done?” I bite my lip and look at my fingers, trying to remember when I did anything. “What did I do?”

“You have made them feel alone together.” Jae sighs, laying back down, “You’re like an anti-cupid, trying to get people to realise that they can never be together because one of them is scared both physically and mentally.”

“But they can be together, right?”

Jae shrugs, “It’s not up to us DaeHyun. It is up to them to get through this.”

“I know that, but they can date right?”

“That is a question for someone of more authority.”

I sigh, “You mean YongGuk Hyung don’t you?”

He nods, no longer interested in me. I stand up and throw a cushion at him before walking down the hall to find YongGuk.

As always, he is in his office. Which is more like a studio. Or a lab. I am never really sure how he managed to combine all three into one.

I knock softly before entering, and he swings his chair around to smile at me.

“What can I do you for?” he says, showing his gums as he smiles.

“Can they date?” I ask, I am over small talk, I want to know if I can be cupid or not.

“Who? Who are dating?” his smile drops and he stands up, obviously upset that he doesn’t know details.

“JunHong and JiEun? Can they date?”

“Oh…” he sits again, nodding. “If they wish it. I can’t see why not. Just, don’t ask HimChan… He has a long, long, long list of reasons to stop them…”

I nod, “Awesome!” I start to walk out the room but YongGuk’s voice stops me.

“Don’t mess with them DaeHyun. You always seem to cause more trouble than necessary…”