[Year 2000. Myeongdong, South Korea.]

~ Leeteuk’s POV ~

It is mid-January, and at this time I can really feel the coldness of the season as I walk on the busy streets of Myeongdong. My winter vacation will end next week so I am already enjoying the last few days before I start school again. For today, my older sister woke me early to accompany her to buy something.

“It is so cold, noona why can’t you just go on by yourself? I’m still sleepy,” I complained to her on the way.

“Come on… all you have been doing was sleep and eat. Stretch your muscles for once,” she replied.

“Ugh… but the weather is so cold. If I move my body would shiver,” I said not willing to lose the battle. We as siblings are like this. Sometimes we argue, sometimes we agree, but we always know that we care for each other.

I continued complaining but she ignored me. “Look over there…” she points to a nearby bakeshop down the road. “I think those cupcakes were delicious, do you want a treat?”

I was about to say something when she just grab my hand and dragged me towards the shop. Yeah, she never waits for my reply, I thought in my head.

My sister and I entered the shop and she began choosing some pastries to buy not only for us but for our grandmother at home. I just stood there waiting for her and observed the shop.

The pastries were really delicious looking and there were also quite a number of customers. There is an old lady with a young child, probably her grandchild, buying some sweets.  There is also a middle high school girls chatting and eating at a table at the side. And then, I noticed a man seating at the opposite table drinking his coffee while reading some papers. He sips his coffee and as he put it down on the table he looks up and meets my eye.

I looked away and walked towards my sister to bother her. Unknown to me, the man continued to look at me with interest.

After a few minutes we finally left the shop and decided to stroll on the streets as for our bonding time together.

“How’s school these days? Are you doing well?” she asks me suddenly.

“Its fine, like always,” I said. I’m an average student and I usually love sports and other extracurricular activities.

“Good. You will soon have your college entrance exams. Do you have any plans already?” she asks again. At times like this she really acts like my mother although there isn’t a big gap in our age.

“Plans for what? Are you talking about the school or the course I’ll be taking?” I looked at her.

“Both.”

I paused for a while. I didn’t have any plans yet. I am already a high school student this school year and as for now I am just enjoying being a teenager. “I don’t know... Noona, what do you think I should do?”

“Why are you asking me?” My sister stopped walking a looked at me. And then she smiled sincerely, “You don’t need other people to dictate you on what you would be. It’s your life, you have to live it with your own decisions and responsible for it.”

“But what if I choose the wrong decision?” I asked.

She patted my shoulders and said, “You’re still young. There is still time to decide, who knows what will happen?”

I looked at her and pouted. She pinched my cheeks and said, “Stop that, you’re acting like a baby again.”

“But I’m y