*Krystal POV*

I banged my locker door shut after I took out the necessary books for homework tonight. I leaned against it with a hand, trying to shake off the light-headedness. These episodes seemed to be happening a little more often than I liked.

"Hey! You alright?" a familiar voice asked. 

"Y-yeah," I said and turned to find Amber grinning at me. "I'm fine."

"Oh, ok," she said. "You kinda looked like you were hungover or something." 

I gave her a weird look. "uh...ok..."

"Oh come on! LIghten up, Krystal!" she slapped my arm playfully. "I was just teasing with you, that's all! Anyway, where you headed off to?"

"Um...I was gonna hang aroung with Luna," I said, rubbing my now throbbing arm.

"Oh, ok! I'll see you around then! We should all hang out sometime...like movie or something! It'll be fun, and you  can meet my friends too!" she bounded away. "See ya!"

Strange character, I thought before I went to go meet Luna at her last class.

"Oh my gosh!" Luna exclaimed as she walked out of her physics class. "That exam just kicked my !"

"It couldn't have been that bad," I tried to appear optimistic. "You still have that final project."

She shoved me playfully. "Easy for you to say, smarty pants. You passed this class last year." She skipped ahead of me. "I'm just glad I got out of that place. I was literally dying."

I laughed. "Let's go somewhere!"

It was Friday today, and I was feeling antsy. In three days, Dad was going to take me to my sister's place before he went on that business trip. I just wanted to do something fun and forget about it for a few hours before I had to go home and face reality.

"Uh...well there's a new cafe down the street," Luna suggested. "We can go eat something and then just hang around that old park."

"Sure," I said eagerly, and followed her to that new cafe I hadn't heard about.

We ordered drinks and sat at the tables outside the new cafe. Since it was Friday, the streets were crowded, and the cafe was especially full. Today was the grand opening, and they were giving out complimentary breads to people as well. Obviously, we weren't gonna pass up some free food, but I actually did. I wasn't that hungry anyway.

"Soojung, you ok?" Luna asked, concern evident in her eyes.

"Yeah." I sipped my drink.

"Are you sure?" she persisted. "Come on, Soojung, we've known each other since grade school! Talk to me!"

I looked at the buildings across the street. "I'm fine honestly."

Luna hesitated as if she wanted to say something else, but instead she let it pass. "If you say so."

Luna is actually a grade ahead me, but we met because she saw me sitting at a table when we were still in elementary school. She started talking to me, and then a beatiful friendship blossomed from there. When I hit middle school, I placed into the same math class she was, and from then on, we had the same math classes if we didn't have the actual same period together.

We were close, but not close enough for me to tell her my family problems. I really don't think it was necessary for someone else to know my problems anyway. What could they do about it? Nothing. It was my problem, and it was best to keep it to myself. 

After we finished our drinks, and after Luna finished her bread, we wandered about an old park that was apparently not in use anymore because of the newer one a few blocks away. People still came here, but not so much. It seemed that it wasn't as attractive. All it had was an old swingset, a climbing board, and a slide, which was really tall by the way. Even though people didn't come around, it was nice to just walk in the silence with an old buddy.

"So you know Amber, right?" I asked her.

"Oh ,you met her?' Luna replied. "Yeah, we're childhood buddies, you could say. Been neighbors since we were born."

"Yeah, I ran into her yesterday when I was getting the mail," I told her. "She seems ok."

"She's alright," Luna said. "She's got a bit of a rebellious streak about her though. She's really into parkour and stuff like that--you know, kinda rough."

"But she's a nice person, overall," Luna continued. "And she doesn't drink. People say that, but she's clean as a whiteboard."

WEll, that was cleared up.

We sat on the swings and I listened to Luna talk about a cute guy in her class. "He's like...a puppy!" she exclaimed. "And when he smiles, it's like light from the heavens is illuminating his hotness!"

She was talking about Minho. He was supposed to be the kingka or something. I actually never heard of that before (in real life, the author has not until recently). But I do remember him from those poster ads around school telling us to vote him for class president. Well, he was actually in Luna's year, which made him a senior, so I didn't get a vote--not that I wanted to--but it was more aimed toward the seniors.

Me? When I vote, I just randomly choose names--unless there's only one person running of course. That just made the election a whole lot easier for me and everyone else, including the people counting the votes.

Anyway, Minho was really popular, and there were lots of girls from all grade levels crushing on him. He also had fanboys. The guys practically worshipped him. He was a star track runner, especially in the 500-meter, and high jump. Every time he lifted himself off the balls of his feet to clear the bar, the stands went quiet until he hit the pillowy landing. That was quoted from one of the school articles written by Luna herself. I credited her for her use of descriptive language, but I honestly didn't care about Minho too much.

I was actually in the track team for the first two years before I quit. I was in those 400 and 500m races, and hurdles. Hurdles were really fun, except for the fact that everyone looked like rabbits hopping to the finish line. I really liked track, but it was a lot of money to join the team, and my father couldn't afford it.

"So!" she grinned. "Anyone you're interested in? What about that cute guy in your class? Taemin?"

"Uh...he's alright, I guess," I said awkwardly.

The thing is, I wasn't interested in guys. They just seemed kind of gross, and full of rubbish. Well, some guys are ok, but most of them are like -addicts or something--that's what it seemed like though, especially when they're trying to check out girls.

Did that mean I liked girls?

I didn't think so. I just wasn't interested in anyone.

But then I suddenly remembered the day my sister came over to have that argumentative talk with my father. She was really pretty...even prettier than when she was younger--not that she was not pretty back then, but her beauty level had increased by a lot. 

She looked kind of hot...

"Hey! Soojung!" Luna waved her hand in front of my face. "Wake up!"

I shook my head. "Uh...what?"

"I just asked you a question," she said.

"oh...um, yeah," I said distractedly. Oh my gosh! I thought, I can't believe I was thinking about my sister like that! I tried to wipe out the image of my sister standing in front of me that day. 

But that button-up shirt really accentuated her curves, and...

"Uh....Soojung," Luna poked my arm really hard. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Y-yeah!" I said quickly.

"Well, what do you think?" she asked.

"Uh...." I actually didn't know what to say because I hadn't been listening at all. Stop thinking about your sister like that! I scolded myself.

"You weren't listening were you?" she said gloomily.

"S-sorry," I apologized. I really meant it. "I'm...I kind of have a head ache." That wasn't an entire lie since I did have a throbbing head ache earlier.

"Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed, falling for my lie. "You should go home!"

I felt guilty the whole way back home. I'd just lied to my friend--but that wasn't the first time. A couple times she'd wanted to come over inside my apartment, but every time I said no she'd ask why. There really wasn't a good reason why she shouldn't come, but I didn't want her to see the terrible conditions of my home, plus I didn't want her to see my drunken dad if he ever decided to come home early. So I had to come up with the best lie possible, which was usually that we were having guests over for business, and my dad needed me to run errands for him. And being the gullible character that she is, she believed every single word I'd told her.

Luna called her parents to pick her up from the new cafe. I told her not to walk with me like she usually did because I didn't want her to go home late.

"Well alright, if you say so," she looked at me worriedly. "Just be careful ok?"

I got home and I locked the door before I leaned my back against it. I sighed heavily. I checked my watch. 5:30PM.

The light from the living room was leaking into the hallway. Dad must have come home earlier.

"Dad?" I called as I entered the living room. I nearly gagged at the stench that filled my nostrils.

He was slumped over on the table, still holding a smoking cigarette in between his index and middle fingers. Two empty bottles of alchohol stood uncapped on the table.

"Dad?" I called out a little more tentatively. Why was he back so early? And wasted?...Smoking? 

I never knew he had gone into smoking.

Also, one of the windows had a gaping whole in it where he might have done some damage. Either he punched it or chucked something out of the window. Great. We had more money added to the check. We were already way behind. How were we going to pay it off if he was finding more ways to get us deep into debt?

"Dad, are you awake?" I asked again.

He groaned but didn't move. Maybe he already passed out from the alchohol. That was quite a lot he had consumed. 

I was afraid the still-smoking cigarette would cause a fire and set off the fire alarm so I pried it from his fingers. I wrinkled my nose and held it between my thumb and forefinger while I held my breath. I was about to turn and toss it in the sink before actually throwing it away, but my dad suddenly grabbed my wrist. I dropped it in my surprise and he grabbed me by my shirt. He pulled up close to my face and snarled as if I had done something wrong.

"You !" he growled. His stinking alchohol-cigarette-smoke breath hit my nose, and I coughed.

"L-let go, Dad!" I cried, and struggled, but his grip was relentless.

It was starting to hurt. I felt he was going to crush my bone in his iron grip.

"How dare you?" he snarled. "Just leaving me alone like this? Do you know how much the rest of us have suffered because of what you did? I've already lost so much! First you, my job, my daughter...and the youngest has to put up with this ing sh*t!" Tears sprung in his eyes. "I can't even give her the kind of care she needs from her parents! Her sister doesn't even care!" He broke down on the floor. "I can't even call myself a father if I can do nothing for her! If you hadn't brought her into the world and dropped her like that, I wouldn't have had to send Sooyeon away! I wouldn't have to leave Soojung behind!" He sobbed violently and banged his fist against the floor. "Stupid! Stupid!"

"D-dad, it's me!" I cried. "Please, let go! You're hurting me!"

He looked at me, and suddenly fear entered his eyes. "S-Soojung...Oh my god. F-forgive me please!" He finally let me go, and I started to back away.

"I'm sorry!" he cried. "I-I didnt' mean to hurt you!"

I ran away, leaving my dad and the cigarette on the floor.

I camped outside my apartment door. I was too scared to stay in the same area he was. 

That could have been really dangerous. What if he had actually beat my face in? He was roaring drunk to the point he didn't know it was me. But who did he think I was? He was talking to me as if I were somebody else? Was it mom?

I hid my face in hands, completely freaked out by what I'd just seen. We were a broken family. In fact, we were already broken since I arrived into the world. 

I have a mom who doesn't exist, a dad who can't even help himself, and a sister who absolutely hates my guts. Then, there was me, the youngest, trying to figure out  what the heck was even going on.

The door opened and slammed shut. My dad stormed down the hallway with the alchohol bottles--one in each hand. He hadn't noticed me sitting outside, and he continued around the corner without any hesitation.

I was scared. I had no one in reality. No one I could rely on...not even Luna, who I considered my best friend.

I played around with my shoelaces and leaned my head back against the wall. 

This was the beginning of a nightmare.

*Jessica POV*

I couldn't believe my father would just ask me to take in my sister like that. How could he? We hardly even knew each other and I already had enough on my plate without having to worry about her. I was really frustrated. How could he think he could just hand her over to me like that?

"Sica, they're your family," Tiffany said. "Don't you think you should show some concern for them?"

"You don't understand," I said with annoyance. I really needed someone to talk to so I thought that my two closest friends would be able to hear me out. "He's just dropping her on me like mom did to us."

"Well, forget about what your mom did," Tiffany said. "Don't you think you might be doing the same thing your mother AND father are doing to your sister?"

"This is different!" I protested. I was mad because she did have a point, but I didn't want that little mutt anywhere near me. "I can't take care of her!"

"Yes you can," Tiffany persisted. "Don't you think you've already made a bad enough impression on her after all these years? You even told me yourself that you'd been kind of snappy and short with her back then."

"She was being annoying," I argued.

"You guys!" Yuri cried. "Stop arguing!  This isn't taking us anywhere." She put a hand on my shoulder. "This is really not our business, Fany. If Sica doesn't want to do it, she doesn't have to."

Tiffany fixed us with a stern look. "I'm saving you from regret, Jess. You think you hate your little sister, but you hardly even know her. Who are you to just assume that she's gonna pull you down?"

I couldn't answer that. I was fuming though because I knew that Fany was right.

"Just leave her alone, Fany," Yuri said firmly.

Tiffany scoffed. "Yuri, you don't need to intervene us. I'm just telling her, as her friend, that she needs to slow down a bit and give her sister a chance." She fixed me with sharp eyes. "Are you really going to turn her down when she arrives at the door?"

"He won't actually drop her on you," Tiffany continued. "Didn't he warn you in advance? Do you call that just dropping her off on you? You said so yourself that your mother left deliberately after your sister was born. He's just leaving her until his business trip is up."

"Don't talk to me like you know my family!" I snapped. "I guarantee you that it was all a lie! He's giving her to me because he knows that he can't take care of her the way she needs to be! Even I know that!"

I stopped, heart beating quickly. He can't take care of her the way she needs to be...

"Well, then what do you think you should do?" Tiffany persisted. "Since you already know how she should be taken care of."

"She's independent, she can take care of herself," I mumbled, angry that she had me beaten in this argument.

"Fine. You can leave her alone, then, if you let her stay here. I'm sure she'll respect your wishes. She seemed like a quiet and shy girl the first time I saw her."

All an act, I tried to convince myself. "It was all an act." She's an annoying little sister, I thought to myself weakly.

The truth of the matter was that Fany was right. I didn't know her. I didn't know anything about her at all. I wasn't even sure if she was an annoying brat like I had always labeled her in the past.

"Go away," I said grumpily.

Yuri put her arm around my shoulders. "It's ok, Sica. I'm sure your father may find another way...or maybe you can."

Tiffany squinted her eyes at us. "Don't encourage her, Yuri. This is family we're talking about." She pulled out her car keys from her pocket and was about to leave. "Think about it, Sica. I know you'll make the right choice. You're not a bad person. Just try to think in your sister's perspective for a change, instead of moping around and making up lies to victimize yourself. You're not the only one who's suffered for so long. I believe your sister has suffered just as much if not more, if she has to live in that dump you just described to us with her alchoholic father." She sighed. "Of course she'd be independent. She has to. No one is there to take care of her. If there is anyone to feel bad for, it would be your sister and not you." 

She shut the door loudly, and I heard the engine of her car as she pulled out of the parking lot.

I sat down on the chair and buried my face in my arms. Why did Fany have to be so right?

"Sica, it's ok, really," Yuri said. "She's just poking her nose where she shouldn't."

"Thanks, Yuri,"  I said and offered her a smile of gratitude.

But after that talk with Fany, my heart felt heavy with guilt.

I was still mad though. Why couldn't Fany see that I was hurt? At least Soojung didn't have to see mom leave! She didn't have to see mom and dad fight before she stormed out of the door and drove away forever.

Tears fell from my eyes as I remembered Dad saying that everything would be alright and she'd be back. He knew she would...

It was all a lie of course. I figured that out really quickly. I hated him for that. I hated him, and mom for just leaving us, and leaving the little sister that had just been born.

I hated dad for making me go to California to live alone at a boarding school until high school. It was the best school, but I didn't care. Why did he have to throw me out like that? 

At least Soojung got to stay with him.

There was no need to feel sorry for her. She had father.

And knowing that Tiffany was sympathizing with her wasn't helping at all.

"It's alright, Sica," Yuri said. "Cry your eyes out. It's not good to keep your emotions all inside of you." She rubbed my back. "Tiffany was just trying to help, but she doesn't really understand what you're going through. We can figure something out together if you really don't want your sister hindering you."

Was I being a bad person? Was I being selfish?

I couldn't stop Fany's words from replaying in my mind.

She didn't understand. She couldn't understand. 

No one could.