The next morning Dara was woken up by the voices that seemed to be arguing. Curious to see what was going on Dara headed downstairs. Her older brother was sitting on the couch with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Her mother was sitting on a nearby chair shaking her head, frowning while her father was pacing the living room, wildly gesturing and shouting.

“You could have gotten yourself killed” He roared

“Dad-.” Dongwook started to say but their father cut him off.

“What were you thinking?” he shouted at Dongwook. His face getting red from anger.

“Dad” My brother started again.

“Obviously you weren’t thinking, were you?” their father continued to rant. “You put yourself and everybody else on the road in danger!”

“I said I was sorry!!” Dongwook shouted resentfully, finally able to get a word in. “And nothing bad happened!” he knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as it left his mouth.

My father’s body stiffened as he clenched his fist into tight ball and with his gritted teeth “You will be doing yours and Dara’s chores for the next month!”

“That’s not fair!” he instantly protested. “Football practice starts this week! You know how hard the Coaches works us”

“You should have thought about that before drinking and driving!” their father bellowed before storming out of the room.

Dara’s head snapped in surprise at that statement. Her brother was never that irresponsible. He always got a designated driver when he was partying.

Dongwook looked at their mom, sitting in the corner. “Mom, please talk to him” he pleaded

She shook her head. “I’m sorry Dongwook. I agree with your dad”

Dongwook huffed and stalked out the room. He came to an abrupt halt when he saw Dara. His eyes spewed venom as he approaches her. “It’s all your fault!!” he hissed

Dara was taken aback by his anger. “What did I do?” she asked him.

“You know exactly what you did Dara. How could you do that to me?” Dongwook asked with obvious resentment. “I thought we had each other’s back. Guess I was wrong little sis” he sneered as he emphasized the last word. Dongwook brushed past her and marched toward his room.

Dara ran after him “Wait! Oppa!” she grabbed his shoulder but he forcefully shrugged it off and continued down the hall. “Dongwook oppa!” Dara shouted after him but he didn’t stop.

“Leave him alone for now sweetheart. You know he needs time to cool off” our mother told me. “Let’s go make some waffles. That will put everyone in a better mood.

Breakfast was awkward to say the least. Domgwook refused to talk to anyone. Dara and her mother chatted amiably about mundane topics to cover the tension in the room. When their father ordered Dongwook to clear the table and wash the dishes. Dongwook visibly clenched his jaw and slammed his fork on the table. He yanked all the plates off the table and dumped them in the sink with a loud clank.

Dara stood next to him as he angrily scrubbed the dishes. “Why are you mad at me? I don’t understand what I did wrong”

Dongwook threw the sponge and whirled on her. “You hang up on me when I called and didn’t respond to any of my texts” he said fuming. “You left me out to dry. That’s why I’m mad at you!!”

Dara feel horrible. Though he always trashed talked his brother they are still closed.  They are only a year apart. We tell each other what is happening on each other and we don’t hide anything from each other even if we don’t agree on it. “Oppa, I’m so sorry” she began.

“Just don’t” he said coolly, his eyes were hard and bleak.

“I didn’t have my pho-.” She tried to explain but he turned his back to her and picked up the sponge.

“Leave me alone Dara. I don’t want to talk to you right now” his voice left no room for discussion.

Dara lowered her head and went back to her room. She felt it was partially her fault. When Dongwook had started to party, Dara had promised to drive him whenever he’s  drank.  Dara then grabbed the phone lying on the nightstand and dialed her number. She waited impatiently for Seunghyun to answer but it went to voicemail, about two minutes later the phone beeped with a text.

Seunghyun

What do you want? Can’t talk right now.

Dara<