- s u z y -

Family.

Everyone has that special bond with a group of people. Whether that bond is made by blood, or whether its made by heart, or both, everyone, somehow, is related and therefore, connected to a certain group of individuals.

To some people, family is the most important word in their life, it's their motto, their way of living. “Family is the most important thing” they say. I wish I could think that way, and I wish I could have that view and concept of my relatives.

But I don't.

The situation in my family is complicated, bonding and caring are words that never existed within most of my consanguinity. Stories of betrayal, hatred, and rivalries have always prevailed, generation after generation, it never seems to end, kind of like a rivalry between countries... or even between different sports' fans as an example. Generation after generation we inherit the conflicts from the past. And yes, I believe it is exceptionally absurd, but it also is something that goes beyond my control.

I don't often gather with my relatives for reasons that are more than obvious, however, during the most unexpected moments of my life, a reunion tends to generate from time to time, for different reasons.

A marriage, a special celebration...

Or someone's arrival.

This is one of the occasions that I have the misfortune of participating in.

The name's Jieun, a.k.a stonebrains, a.k.a my cousin.

Oh, where to begin.

When little, the small amount of relatives that my parents would get along with were a selected group of aunts and uncles -and their kids- from both sides, my mother's and my father's. We had some nice individuals like my older cousin Hana, who would braid my hair and play tag with me... or even the little Byung Hee, who, to be honest, wasn't the brightest kid ever -he ate the dirt from the ground- but who was the cutest and most loving child I knew... besides, his chubby cheeks were to die for.

But of course... some people were just plainly annoying, and Jieun was one of them.

During my whole childhood I had to put up with her shenanigans. She would portray a dainty and innocent image on the outside, but on the inside it was a whole different story. Breaking things, lying, cheating, causing troubles, you name it, she did it. That girl was pure evilness on the inside, I just cannot understand how their parents never suspected anything... that mischievous Jieun would get away with everything.

However, the little Jieun wasn't perfect. Unfortunately, she could be very naive at times, and with a little usage of complex words, she would buy even the most absurd thing. Which leads to my favorite anecdote of her.

One day, Jieun was simply under control, I had never seen her more unbearable before, she literally was at her peak. She even broke my favorite belonging on purpose, a porcelain tea set that I had wanted for years and that my parents finally had bought me as a gift. I still don't forgive her for that... I could only drink tea from those cups twice...

Anyway, I was so mad at her that day for breaking my most precious belonging, that -after disconsolately crying a whole river- I decided that the girl would have to learn her lesson once and for all. Revenge was going to be mine.

The plan was simple yet effective. With a little help from Hana -which by the way was Jieun's angelical sister- we got to trick Jieun into thinking she had a strange condition that implied developing stones in her whole body, and eventually reaching her brain, caused by the excessive amount of wrongdoing.

“The more you lie, cheat, and destroy, the more the stones will grow into your organs, and by the time they start appearing in you brain, you will be lucky to get away with it alive”

I remember those words Hana and I pronounced by memory, and how could I forget Jieun's priceless expression. We probably traumatized her childhood, but it served her well.

Ever since, I started calling her 'stonebrains', and she never dared to break anything that belonged to me again. Besides, the name fit her pretty well, since it seemed like she had stones for a brain to be so naive and to behave that way. Her y attitude didn't change whatsoever, but the fact that she wouldn't annoy me again, was definitely something to me.

Serves you right, stonebrains.

I haven't seen her for years though, she moved a while ago to Japan, so her days of torturing me didn't last forever, thankfully.

Everything was doing relatively 'well' without her around, but now I will have to bear with her y attitudes once more, since she's returning to torment my life again. And unfortunately, Hana will not be around to make the experience less aggravating. She got married and is now happily living with her spouse on the other side of the country. How great is that...

Today is the day I will have the unfortunate encounter with my lovely cousin, and it is also the day I'm returning to my parents' house for a couple of days, since my mother insisted I need to spend some 'bonding' time with the family... and by family I'm also talking about Jieun.

What a great way to enjoy my vacations...

Pastel colored blouses, tulle skirts, beige wedges, pearl necklaces, accompanied with neck lenght auburn locks of hair and a fringe covering her forehead , and with a side dish of a floral fragrance that was more than annoying to my nostrils. Without mentioning her high pitched and enthusiastic voice, spoiled attitude and despicable personality. Those were the elements that basically defined my obnoxious cousin.

Or at least that's what I expected to encounter...

To my astonishment, what I found in front of me was a complete different individual.

Once I opened the door to my parents' house, I instantly came upon to the now older Jieun, quietly sitting in the individual couch my mother would spend most of the day at, whether it was for knitting or reading one of those self improvement books she was so fond of.

My eyes focused firstly on her attire. She was wearing a black, see-through shirt; black leather pants; high heel low boots... also black, and lastly, a studded ring and bracelet which adorned her hand. Afterwards I could not help but also examine her hair, she now possessed waist-length locks in the color of gold, and a fringe was no longer covering her forehead. Strange...

In spite of that shocking appearance, what amazed me the most was not the hair, nor the clothes or dark jewelry...

But her facade.

Before, she used to sit in the most dainty and chic way possible, with legs crossed and back as straight as a board, and her nose as high as if she could reach the sky with it. Now she was sitting in a much more reserved way, as if trying to go unnoticed... that was definitely not the Jieun I knew.

My cousin, the annoying stonebrains, would do whatever that was at her reach in order to be the center of attention, so why was she now behaving this way? So shy? So serious and gloomy? Her face was so sullen it didn't feel like it belonged to her.

Either the Japanese changed her... or she went through a traumatic experience over there.

Whatever it was, it had to be very big in order to change her so dramatically.

“Done with staring?”

Those words sent chills down my spine and didn't fail to make me jump a little.

Not only the looks and the attitude were gone, but the high pitched, annoying voice as well.

Now she had a low, raspy voice, and spoke in a quiet and mysterious manner. It was as if the old Jieun, the cousin I knew, had been replaced by a completely different persona, if it weren't for her distinctive facial features I would have believed she was a total stranger. Hell, I'm still not sure if the girl I'm looking at is actually my cousin... or a very similar person...

“Jieun?” Was all I could say.

The girl standing in front of me got up from her seat and walked towards me, she would have looked like a brainless Asian Barbie in my eyes before, but now her whole appearance intimidated me, it was simply unbelievable.

She stood up in front of me and examined my face, the room was deadly silent. She met her eyes with mine and I couldn't dare to look away. That was when she let out the words that erased any past suspicions from my head...

“Who else would I be, cousin?”

Her words were so emotionless, her face was simply expressionless. As time went by my worries increased, how could someone change so radically? Moreover... why?

If the situation was confusing to me before, what happened next didn't help me clear any of my doubts either. For the first time in my life, my cousin extended her arms and brought me into a hug with them.

A hug, the purest sign of affection, something I had never shared with someone like her before. Could things get odder?

Certainly, they could.

“Aren't you going to hug me back, cousin?” She said in that emotionless voice. I don't know why, but oddly, I did as I was told and slowly brought my hands around her torso as well. We were hugging, but it just didn't feel alright.

“I missed you, Suzy”

A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope you like this update, see you soon!