Family
Alpha Dog
I watched the seoul streets pass by as I leaned back into my seat. My muscles relaxed at the warm touch of the leather seat. The heater was toasty, melting my freezing skin. The hum of the engine and the latest kpop songs floated into my eardrums, a sweet lullaby to my fatigue eyes. I wasn’t able to sleep properly during my float because the old lady beside me decided I was the best person to brag about her grandchildren to.
“You look tired. Go take a nap, it’ll take some time to reach the dorm to go rest. I know you had a long flight so you must be exhausted.”
I managed a soft thanks before leaning against the window. The gentle buzz massaged my scalp and made me sleepier. Sleep consumed me within seconds. As I slept, I dreamt about meeting the rest. It’s been years since I’ve last seen them, after the……. Incident. There were five of us, as close as siblings. We were all orphans in the same orphanage which technically made us siblings. We grew up together like a family, experiencing the same hardships and happiness.
Solji noona was the eldest. She was like the mother of the group, taking care of us and watching over us. She was the target of our rants, the one person we felt safe to share our secrets with. She was the one who would stand up for me when I caused trouble, and yet she was also the one to screw me upside down when we were alone. I remember clearly, once, I got called to the principal’s room for getting myself into a fight. I had no parents to call so obviously they called Solji noona. She was my official guardian. Watching her stand up for me, fighting for my innocence and justifying my actions, I couldn’t help but feel that she was all I need in my life. She will forever be someone I will look up to.
Then there was LE noona. She was the chic one in our group, the cool, quiet one. She had always been dreaming of being a musician, so she always spent most of her time practicing her rap and writing songs. But she will always have time for us, especially if it involved pranks. She might be the cool one, but she was the mastermind behind most of the pranks we committed in the orphanage. Just like Solji noona, she was protective of her younger ‘siblings’, standing up for them be it in school or outside. She was quite the fighter, which meant she was the one giving the beatings when we caused problems (without her).
Finally, the triplets. Hani, Jun and I. We were the terror triplets. Since we all arrived at the orphanage at the same time, we all assumed we had the same birthdays, even though we were dropped off at different timings. There were no documents or papers when we were dropped off. We were apparently admitted since we were 1, so obviously we couldn’t remember when we were born. In the end, we decided to celebrate our birthdays on the day we arrived at the orphanage.
“You look tired. Go take a nap, it’ll take some time to reach the dorm to go rest. I know you had a long flight so you must be exhausted.”
I managed a soft thanks before leaning against the window. The gentle buzz massaged my scalp and made me sleepier. Sleep consumed me within seconds. As I slept, I dreamt about meeting the rest. It’s been years since I’ve last seen them, after the……. Incident. There were five of us, as close as siblings. We were all orphans in the same orphanage which technically made us siblings. We grew up together like a family, experiencing the same hardships and happiness.
Solji noona was the eldest. She was like the mother of the group, taking care of us and watching over us. She was the target of our rants, the one person we felt safe to share our secrets with. She was the one who would stand up for me when I caused trouble, and yet she was also the one to screw me upside down when we were alone. I remember clearly, once, I got called to the principal’s room for getting myself into a fight. I had no parents to call so obviously they called Solji noona. She was my official guardian. Watching her stand up for me, fighting for my innocence and justifying my actions, I couldn’t help but feel that she was all I need in my life. She will forever be someone I will look up to.
Then there was LE noona. She was the chic one in our group, the cool, quiet one. She had always been dreaming of being a musician, so she always spent most of her time practicing her rap and writing songs. But she will always have time for us, especially if it involved pranks. She might be the cool one, but she was the mastermind behind most of the pranks we committed in the orphanage. Just like Solji noona, she was protective of her younger ‘siblings’, standing up for them be it in school or outside. She was quite the fighter, which meant she was the one giving the beatings when we caused problems (without her).
Finally, the triplets. Hani, Jun and I. We were the terror triplets. Since we all arrived at the orphanage at the same time, we all assumed we had the same birthdays, even though we were dropped off at different timings. There were no documents or papers when we were dropped off. We were apparently admitted since we were 1, so obviously we couldn’t remember when we were born. In the end, we decided to celebrate our birthdays on the day we arrived at the orphanage.
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