Time grinded to a halt as she waited for Seunghyun to respond. One hour passed then two, then four. All afternoon she waited, her anxiety rising as each minute ticked by. By the time dinner rolled around, she was almost cross-eyed from staring at the screen for so long.

When twenty four hours passed without a response, she was convinced something might happened or he don’t want to talk to her anymore.

“Would you put that thing away?”

Dara’s head jerked up. Her brother stood in front of their bowling lane, impatiently tapping his foot. He held a neon yellow bowling ball in his chest, which screamed. “Look at me!”  But that wasn’t even the worst part. He is wearing a neon yellow polo too.

She would have made some sarcastic retort about it except she was wearing the same shirt as him. When their mother heard they were going to spend a brother-sister time together, she ran out of the house and bought them matching outfits.

Unfortunately things didn’t go well for Dara on the bowling game. After Dongwook’s lucky strike he started to fall into rhythm. He would hit most of the pins in his first bowl, and then pick up the spares during his second. By the end of the game, Dara couldn’t even look at the scoreboard without weeping.

“What a great game!” Dongwook sighed in satisfaction as he took off his bowling shoes. “Wasn’t it a great game, Dars?”

She threw him an evil glare as she ripped off her shoes. “I refuse to bowl with you again!”

He laughed and took a picture of the scoreboard with his phone. “All that winning sure has worked me up an appetite. What do you say we get something to eat? I’ll even pay. Consider it a consolation price.”

After giving back the shoes, they left the bowling alley and walked across the street to the boardwalk. It was fairly busy for a weekend. Everyone seemed to be cramming in their last few days of sunshine before fall swept in.

Dara looked out at the beach and her gaze landed on a couple. They were wrapped in each other’s arms, laughing and talking as they stood at the water’s edge. She quickly looked away, blinking back tears. Reaching into her purse, she pulled out her phone.

Still no response from Seunghyun.

“Text me.” she said

Dongwook looked down at her. “What?”

“Text me. My phone may be broken.”

“Your phone isn’t broken.”

“It could be. Now text me!”

With an exasperated sigh, Dongwook drew out his phone from his back pocket. Seconds later, a text on Dara’s screen popped up.

My Annoying Brother

If you’ve been hearing little voices inside your head, press 9-1-1 and then hit send.

“Oppa…”

“Just trying to be helpful.”

She tried to stifle the disappointment welling inside her. So her phone wasn’t broken. Which meant he either was too busy to respond or he just really didn’t want too.

“You know, Eric doesn’t have a date on the party yet.” Dongwook suddenly said.

She closed her eyes. “Please tell me you’re not trying to set me up with your friend.”

“He’s a good guy. And he’s been crushing on you for a while now.”

“Not interested.”

“Give him a chance. He may surprise you.”

“I’m not going to that party even if I wanted too. I’m working that night.”

Dongwook just shrugged and shake his head. “Get over Choi already, Dars. Looks like he does already.”

She never replied to what he said and they became quiet until they got to the restaurant, she followed him inside and discovered the place was packed.

“We can go someplace else. I know you have that group project later today.”

“It’s fine. They said they could seat us in ten minutes.”

As they waited for their table, they chatted about school and what to buy their parents upcoming wedding anniversary. When Dongwook’s name was called, they got up and followed the waitress to their seats.

She wasn’t paying much attention to what was happening around her so when Dongwook suddenly stopped in his tracks, she plowed right into him.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Dongwook muttered in a harsh tone.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

When he didn’t answer, she placed her hands on his back and looked around his tall frame. Instantly, her body froze. Sitting at a booth not ten feet away from her was Seunghyun. He was surrounded by a group of friends – all guys she happily noted. Including Seungri and Daesung. His face was lively as he talked, his eyes flashing with excitement. Daesung said something and Seunghyun threw his head back and laughed. The deep, throaty sound floated through the air, shredding her nerves.

“Let’s leave.” Dongwook said, grabbing her upper arm. “You don’t need this.”

“No. I can handle seeing…” she swallowed, unable to say his name.

“If you’re trying to convince me you’re alright, you’re doing a crappy job. Now let’s go.” He ordered.

He started pulling her toward the exit, but she resisted. She didn’t want to run away, not again. That’s when Seungri glanced up and saw them standing there. She almost flinched at the scorn she saw in those dark eyes. He looked her up and down before flashing a cruel smile.

Quickly, she turned to her brother. “You’re right. Let’s get out of here.
 

But it was too late.

Seungri nudged Seunghyun and then jerked his head in Dara’s direction. It felt like all the air was being out of the room as Seunghyun’s head turned. His eyes met hers in one blinding moment. The connection between them clawed at her skin, then he blink and those eyes turned ice.

“Hey nice shirts.” Seungri called out.

Dara’s cheeks flamed. She’d forgotten all about their, matching t-shirts. She l