Sohyun pressed the end call button and slowly placed her phone in the pocket of her work blazer. Stunned by the discussion she just had, she slowly approached Minhyuk at the register. She didn’t know how to relay the issue to him although he was in a good mood casually speaking with Peniel and a returning customer.

“Mr. Lee.” She excused him from the conversation and they spoke to the side. Her face was pale and she felt sick from anxiety. “Is it ok if I take my break early?”

He frowned at her. The request was way too sudden and the shop was starting to get busy due to Eunkwang calling in sick. He denied it.

“It’s extremely urgent.” She pleaded but didn’t want to go into details when Minhyuk asked her the severity of it. “It’s a family emergency. I just need to do something really quick. It shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes, I promise.” She was doing that thing where she was so desperate that she tugged on Minhyuk’s sleeves and crouched down almost to the point of kneeling.

“Ok, ok,” He gave in, “Your begging always gets to me. Twenty minutes and not a second longer. Go.”

She bowed and thanked him a few times before scurrying off to Sungmin’s school. There he had already been escorted off the premises with his homeroom teacher waiting for Sohyun’s arrival outside the school gate. This time it was fighting, and he’d be lucky enough if the other student’s parents didn’t sue.

“He’s suspended for a whole week.” The teacher informed Sohyun almost in a scolding manner. This wasn’t the first time and there seemed to be no end to Sungmin’s troubling antics. Sohyun bowed to the older adult, apologized and dragged her brother away from the location. She didn’t realize she was crying until hurt from trying to talk. They stopped in front of a convenience store where she could gather her thoughts and then proceed to beat him senselessly in public. Sungmin let her get a few hits in but when he had enough he restrained her arms. Sohyun didn’t know when her brother had gotten so strong, it was usually easy to punish him but Sohyun found it both difficult and futile that day.

“When are you going to learn?” She cried, her wrists still in her brother’s possessions. He loosened his grip and let go altogether when he saw how tightly he was holding his sister. Angry and unremorseful, he apologized. Sohyun snuck in one last shove and turned away where she noticed a figure outside the convenience store looking at her. He turned away when their eyes met, but Sohyun did a double take, and she wasn’t seeing things.

“Sunbae!” Sohyun called out for Eunkwang who tried to leave as fast as he could, but he slowed and gave in, turning around to face his co-worker’s crying face. She was smiling when she greeted him but he had witnessed her whole tantrum with her sibling, unfortunately. “I thought that was you.”

Eunkwang nodded, trying to show common curtesy in front of the siblings but he wanted to leave already. Sohyun noticed the cheap medicine he bought from the store.

“So you really are sick.” She said as a matter of fact. Eunkwang’s expression turned sour.

“What’s that’s supposed to mean?” He was legitimately offended but Sohyun cutely laughed it off.

“Nevermind. Sunbae, I have a huge favor to ask of you.”

“Forget it.” He said pissed off. He already knew he wasn’t going to like what she had to offer and started to walk off but Sohyun jumped in front of him. “Aiissh.”

“Sunbae, please, I just need you to watch my little brother until closing. You can just put him in the corner of your room pretending he doesn’t exist.”

“Ah, Noona, I don’t want to.” Sungmin protested as well. Sohyun snapped at him and went back to pleading with Eunkwang.

“I’ll give you half of my next paycheck.”

“Ok.” Eunkwang responded quickly and wrapped his arm around Sohyun’s brother as though they just became new best friends. “Closing hours. Until then.”

Sohyun bowed, almost in tears again, but she wasted no time and ran off to get back to work. Eunkwang had no choice but to stick to the deal, he realized, and sulked his way back home with Sungmin following. His apartment, if one could even call it that, was one room. There was no bathroom.

“There’s a public sauna right across the street.”

There was no kitchen.

“Didn’t your sister feed you before you came over?”

Not even an AC unit. Eunkwang didn’t complain about the heat, either he was already used to his living conditions or he was too sick to care.

“I just want to sleep.” He moaned, swallowing his medicine and then retreating to his bare floor covering a wet rag over his face. Sungmin sat in a corner just as his sister suggested but then he stood and wandered around the small room. There was nothing to entertain him except for a window and the sickly body that sprawled across the floor.

“You should just put the rag over your forehead. Having your pores being soaked will only get you sicker.”

“I’m congested.” Eunkwang’s voice trailed, obviously sounding like he was forcing himself to speak at that point.

“That’s why you shouldn’t buy cheap medicine.”

“Can’t you be quiet?” Eunkwang sat up and threw his rag at Sungmin. The younger male didn’t know how to react and just gave the cloth back to his senior.

“That’s just what my sister does for my family…” He pointed out.

Eunkwang wasn’t impressed. He laid back down and stubbornly slapped the wet rag on his forehead. The two sat in silence for a while and Eunkwang realized he wasn’t going to get his nap.

“How many siblings does Sohyun have anyway? Is it just you?”

“No. She’s the oldest of five.” Eunkwang sat up again, his body was sore but Sungmin was right about that medicine being cheap. It didn’t help him any. Talking was the only remedy to take Eunkwang’s mind off the pain. “She, my mom, my dad, they all work, but their incomes combined can still barely feed the whole family. It’s ridiculous.”

“Then knowing all that, why are you being a little ?” Sungmin had a demeanor about him that was easy to point out. His face read like a book about uncaringness and full of conceit, a dangerous combination that could be found in his body language as well. He simply shrugged and Eunkwang almost laughed. “Do you know why I tried to walk away from your sister when she happened to see me today?” Sungmin shook his head naively. The boy had no clue. “I…dislike your sister. She’s been nothing but an eyesore since the moment I’ve met her.” Sungmin’s expression didn’t change, but his body went stiff. He looked like a frozen statue standing by the window trying to seem stronger than he was. “I dislike your sister to the point of wanting her to either quit or get fired. Did you know that?”

Sungmin shook his head slowly. The aura Eunkwang gave off was different from the encounter he had with Sungmin’s older sister. Eunwang wasn’t just funny looking, he just looked that way, however he was actually from an extremely dark place, one darker than Sungmin ever ventured to. With an unwavering gaze, Eunwang continued to speak down to Sohyun’s little brother.

“You young bastard.” He said quietly at first, but patience wasn’t one of Eunkwang’s many talents. “Why does your sister have to suffer at the hands of a jerk like me, then turn around and deal with a jerk like you? Huh? Every day I pick on her and tell her to quit and it pisses me off when she doesn’t. I give her everyday not caring if I’m ruining her life and the people around her essentially meaning yours. So why does she have to get her life ruined by her own brother too? You little who’s not even older than the food in my refrigerator, who the hell do you think you are?” His voice raised louder with each damning statement. He kicked his foot at Sungmin but his body ached too much to make actual contact and he stopped raging for a moment to work out the Charlie horse in his calf. “Yah, just run away. If you’re going to continue being an inconvenience, don’t show up in front of her, or your family. Ever.”

Sungmin pressed himself against the wall and curled his body. He was sniveling like the child he was and should have been acting. Eunkwang didn’t feel sorry for him.

“Why are you crying you bastard; I’m just telling you the reality. You’re going to keep disappointing your family until they cut ties with you. And then you’ll end up just like me.” The presumption that Eukwang was once a problem child came to light. The younger male apologized but Eunkwang told him to be quiet, returning his head to the bare sticky floor and closing his eyes. “Save those words for your sister. You’ll do best by showing it through your actions.”

✮✮✮

The apartment complex was a lot smaller than Sohyun imagined, but she was at the right place according to the address Eunkwang text her. She stood outside his unit and knocked on the door, waiting for a response. There was brief movement and the door was opened by Sungmin himself. He looked tired and older.

“Noona.” He almost choked on his own words when he hugged her. Sohyun couldn’t remember the last time her brother embraced her. The gesture was sudden and almost incomprehensible, but Sohyun hugged him back, patting him on the head as well.

“You must have been bored out of your mind.” Sohyun said. Eunkwang greeted her at the door without a shirt, Sohyun wasn’t even surprised. She handed him a small white paper bag. “It’s ginger for your cold. It doesn’t look like anyone else is taking care of you so you should look after yourself properly.”

Eunkwang stared at the bag of medicine straight faced. Ginger was expensive. He finally looked at her when they bowed to say their goodbye. He slowly raised his fist and gave a soft knock on Sohyun’s forehead who still flinched. “Don’t…give up on your brother. Ever.” He closed the door and then opened it back up, waving the ginger. “This will be enough for payment.” He closed it again.