“Where are you going? Wait for me!”

You started walking even faster when you heard how close your brother was to you. It’s not that you didn’t like your brother, in fact you loved him to death. The only problem with being Cha Hakyeon’s little sister was that he loved you and made sure everyone knew about it.

Today you had thought you could escape him by leaving the house extra early for school. Unfortunately for you, it seemed as if your brother was some sort of vampire and never slept. As soon as you stepped out the door he was ready to come along with you.

When Hakyeon finally caught up to you, it was at the school gates. You breathed a sigh of relief when you realized that there didn’t seem to be anyone around yet. He stepped in front of you and crouched down until he was at your height.

“Why did you want to come so early, Starlight?” he asked.

You cringed at the use of the nickname he had given you all those years ago. He thought it was cute and whenever you asked him how he came up with it he would say something cheesy like, ‘Your smile is as bright as the stars in the night sky.’

“I just wanted to get an early start on my work for today.” You mumbled and walked away before he could ask you anymore questions.

“Have a great day! Remember that out of all the stars, you shine the brightest!”

Did he ever run out of those cheesy lines?

~

You went by the rest of the day without seeing or thinking about your embarrassing older brother. You were just about to sit down and enjoy your lunch when you heard a familiar voice calling your name. You decided to ignore it and realized that was a bad idea when he started calling you by your nickname instead.

“Starlight! Starlight! Come over here and eat with us!” he was shouting so loud that everyone in the cafeteria was staring at you. You decided that you would walk over and eat with him since that was all it took to shut him up.

“Are you feeling okay? You seem down, even since this morning.” He asked while frantically checking your temperature, your pulse, and everything he could think of to make sure you were okay. You just nodded without saying a word and sat down next to him.

He was sitting with his group of friends that he’s known since elementary school. Taekwoon, Jaehwan, Wonshik, and Hongbin were practically your brothers too due to how much time they spent at your house with Hakyeon. Hakyeon also liked to tell them about every “cute” thing you did, so it wasn’t like there were any secrets between you and them either.

“Hey, here comes the new student the principle asked me to mentor.” Wonshik suddenly said. Then he stood up and shouted “Hyukie! Over here! Come sit with us!”

The poor boys face turned a bright red and he practically ran towards the table. You knew what it felt like to be embarrassed publicly so you smiled at him when he sat down right across from you. His jaw suddenly dropped and the boy pointed at you.

“Aren’t you in my class?” he asked.

At first you were very confused, but after a while you remembered the teacher introducing him at the beginning of class. “Han Sanghyuk?” you asked.

The young boy nodded and was about to speak until he was interrupted by Wonshik, “Yeah, but I call him Hyukie.”

You turned back to the boy and asked if he was okay with being called Hyukie or if he preferred another name.

“Hyukie’s fine. I don’t mind it but you can call me anything you want.” He said and smiled a wide smile. You had to admit it, this was boy was adorable.

“It’s nice to meet you Hyuk. I’m Cha-“

“Starlight. Her nickname is Starlight and I’m sure she’s fine with you calling her that.” Hakyeon interrupted. You wanted to kill him right then and there, but you knew how much he loved that nickname so you just sighed and gave Hyuk a weak smile.

“Speaking of my little Starlight, Hyukie did you know she’s a great cook? Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and she’s in the kitchen putting together all the food she can find. At first I thought it was kind of gross, especially this one time she made some kind of rice, kimchi, and ham sandwich but when she left the kitchen I ate a bit and it was actually really tasty. She also dances around when she’s making food. It’s absolutely adorable!~”

Hyuk chuckled a bit at your brother’s way of describing your private eating habits while you slumped down in your chair, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. You were mortified that Hakyeon would make you look like a fatty around a cute boy like Hyuk. Taekwoon took notice of what Hakyeon’s words were doing to you and politely interrupted him to ask him about the homework for their math class. You sighed in relief and sat in silence for the rest of the lunch hour.

~

Hyuk walked you to all of your classes for the rest of the day. He even walked you to your locker after the final bell.

“Hey, so um, I was wondering if you, um, wanted to hang out sometime, maybe?” he asked while looking down at the ground.

You felt yourself blushing and stuttered out a ‘yes.’

Hyuk looked up and smiled at your response. “Really? Great! To tell you the truth, I asked Hakyeon earlier if he could tell me a little about you because, well, I thought you were really cute when I saw you in class this morning. He told me you were the cutest girl in the school and praised my good taste. He really loves you so I was kind of scared he wouldn’t be okay with me asking you out, but he gave me advice and everything. He invited me over tonight for dinner, how about we go out for ice cream after?”

You couldn’t help the huge grin that took over your entire face. You just got asked out by a cute boy and your annoyingly loving older brother had convinced him to do it.

“That sounds great! See you tonight!” you responded and started running towards your house.

~

You barged into the living room and found Hakyeon surrounded by his best friends. It looked very similar to an intervention. As soon as your brother realized you were in the room, he immediately jumped up and ran towards you. He scooped you up in his arms and started babbling apologies.

“Hakyeon what are you apologizing for?!” You yelled so that he could hear you over his sobs.

“Everything! Embarrassing you in front of the entire school, telling Hyukie something private about you, and calling you Starlight! You’re a young woman now and I guess I never realized that. To me you’ll always be a baby but I promise you, I will no longer treat you like that!” Hakyeon pulled away from you and looked you in the eye as he promised you.

“But I don’t mind it.” You said wiping away your brothers tears.

“WHAT?!” exclaimed Hakyeon and his friends.

“Hyuk told me you encouraged him to ask me out and he did! I really like him too so thank you. Also, who cares what other people think?” You smiled at your brother and hugged him.

“You’re welcome? Well, I’ll promise to stop calling you Starlight. I will only call you by your real name from now on Cha-“

“No! I like Starlight. It shows me how much you love me. I’m sorry for acting grumpy and trying to avoid you. I love you Hakyeon! You’re the best older brother I could’ve asked for. Now if you all excuse me, I have to get ready for my date tonight.” You hugged Hakyeon and gave him a kiss on the cheek before running up the stairs to your room. He may be annoying and tends to embarrass you very often, but he was still your brother and you wouldn’t trade Cha Hakyeon for anything in the world.