They said you're the one.

Seungwan's gaze hovered over the screen of her phone, hidden under her desk; the string of texts she'd messaged her older sister came to her view. There was no break in between her consecutive message bubbles inside KakaoTalk messenger which almost brought her to tears. She hoped what she heard about Min wasn't true.

If anything were to happen to Son Soomin, she'd have already known by now - was what she tried to reassure herself as she kept checking her phone for new messages from either Min or her parents. She hoped that her dear sister was not the one from the rumours.

The wait for the school bell to ring was torturous.

---

"Min? Where is unnie?"

Her question was left unanswered as she heard her mother began to sob again. The youngest child turned to her father, leaning against the wall as he struggled to stop his body from sliding down. Before she could reach out to her father, a stranger helped him by holding his shoulders while another stranger approached Seungwan with an apologetic look and introduced himself as a police officer.

The officer tried to explain the situation to her as discreetly as he could but she'd stopped listening once she learnt that her sister was the one who'd been kidnapped, exactly what the rumour said.

---

Seungwan halted at a familiar figure through the window. Her grip on the backpack strap loosened as she recognised the voices coming from behind the front door - mom, dad and…

Min. The one who'd come back after disappearing three months ago.

A loud bang was heard against the door, followed by a yelp as Seungwan pulled her into a tight embrace. No words were exhanged; Seungwan tried to speak but she couldn't stop crying.

All she could muster was a shaky whisper.

"Don't ever leave me again, Min." Seungwan sniffed, burying her face into the crook of her sister's neck.

---

Seungwan wondered how her sister's first day back at school went. She felt an urge to either text Min about her morning or bug her friend to come with her to the east wing at where the seniors' classrooms situated. Sometimes she'd catch herself watching people passing by through the windows.

She had a reason to worry.

Min wasn't the same person whom she used to remember. She knew, her parents knew - doctor told them that it could be due to her trauma. She couldn't easily ignore her mother's daily reminder about taking care of her sister before they took off for school.

"Hey, Seungwan. Your sister is here."

She looked up to find the one who was always there for her when she had troubles.

It was her turn.

---

"Min!"

Seungwan frowned at her unresponsiveness.

"Unnie!"

Min finally looked up.

"You're making a mess on the floor again."

Seungwan tried to suppress her frustration as she watched her sister inspecting her work: a spot on the polished wooden floor. It was a few shades lighter than the floor and the sandy remnant were all over her fingers.

"…Oh." Min began to pick at the spot once again and she finally felt a crack in her closed-lipped smile.

"Unnie!" 

"Stop daydreaming and clean up before mom sees that." Seungwan sat beside her, hoping that she held her attention long enough so she would realise her intention; Min's attention span easily rivalled that of koi in their manmade pond outside.

She wondered how her sister could help her in her studies when she ended up in such state.

"I'm sorry. L-let me clean this up." Her older sister stopped when she saw that the mess had already been cleaned despite that the damage was irreversible. There was now an unpolished patch on the floor. What was left was to clean Min's hands.

Resigning in defeat, Seungwan leaned her head on the other's shoulder, focusing on the dirt on her hands as she squeezed her crumpled packet of antibacterial hand wipes.

"Min, your nails are dirty."

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wished that her hopes in getting back her sister didn't falter like how her voice did. Min was the one who always took care of her and she still had not grown accustomed to the role reversal.

---

Even though Seungwan had thoughts about Min who was a burden to her, she couldn't stop worrying about her. When the bell rang for recess, she expected to find her sister waiting for her outside the door so they could have a short trip to the nearby convenience store. To her surprise, she wasn't there. Seungwan knew that she should be there by now and she doubted about Min finally returning to her former self in such a short span of time. Min was still quiet even in the presence of their family and she occasionally heard remarks from other students about how the once popular student changed into a loser.

It was scary to hear those malicious remarks coming from the same mouths which used to speak words of adoration towards the one who never failed to greet them before the unfortunate incident.

She didn't want to see her sister to fall victim to careless gossips from people who had no relation with them. She didn't spare any thought to other possibilities when she began to look for her sister in other places, starting with the most likely place - anywhere but Min's classroom. She knew that her sister didn't like her classmates.

That was the main reason why Min came to her classroom in the first place.

Her search finally brought her to the least likely place, much to her dismay. When Seungwan spotted her looking down on the floor as though she was trying to avoid the other girl, she almost knocked into the seniors at the entrance but she managed to regain her stance quickly and continued walking towards Min. She wasn't going to stand and do nothing like the time when Min was kidnapped. 

Her fiery passion to protect her dear sister vanished once she recognised the look in her eyes when she lifted her head - the same look when she had a crush on someone during her middle school days. Watching her sister to fumble for words for the girl caused Seungwan to blush in embarrassment as she began to reflect on her impulsive actions.

At least Min had someone whose name, she later learnt, was Kim Yongsun.

---

Min finally opened up to her.

Seungwan liked the changes in Min's behaviour even though she had yet to see a trace of her former self. All she could see was a different person. Perhaps it was because of her crush which she wasn't ready to divulge to her parents. As long as she was happy with Yongsun, they didn't need to know.

She wondered about their relationship. It was apparent to her that Min was just watching her from afar because Yongsun seemed oblivious about her feelings based on her brief conversation with her sister's crush last time. She may not see any reason to look out for her sister at school but it had occurred to her that it might not go well.

"I'll be there for you if you need me, unnie," she blurted out of the blue when they were having a run for midnight snacks.

What was supposed to be a warm moment ended as a hilarious moment when Min inadvertently spat out her instant noodles and some bits landed on the younger sister's face.

A brief yet embarrassing silence ensued. Min seemed to be aware of Seungwan's rising anger because she took off, leaving her without a word.

She exploded.

---

They were lying on their backs when Seungwan began to reminisce about their childhood. As much as she liked how different Min had become, she wanted her to remember who she used to be so she could hold her head high and forget about Yongsun.

"You know, I've been thinking about our past."

No reply. Seungwan turned to see that she was in her own world again. She wanted to cry but she didn't dare to cry, not when her sister didn't shed a tear.

She had already heard about Yongsun and her boyfriend. It was obvious that it broke her sister's heart; when she came to get her from the toilet after the homeroom teacher notified her that she locked herself inside, she asked her if Yongsun was there. That night, Seungwan was disheartened at the sight of Min, lying on the wooden floor in a fetal position, scratching at an inconspicuous bump on the floor.

"Min."

Still no reply. Seungwan decided to try a different tactic. She continued with reminiscing about their childhood aloud in hopes of relaying her feelings to her sister.

"You know… you're behaving weird. Almost like a different person."

Little did she know that Min heard a different message.

---

They said you're not the one.

Seungwan laughed. She couldn't believe what the same officer from her sister's old case told her. She scoffed in disbelief, hardly suppressing the strong urge to roll her eyes at the officer as she snarkily remarked about how ridiculous those police officers had become nowadays and they should consider changing their career.

She questioned where her parents were and she heard another nonsensical answer - at the morgue to assist in identifying a five-month old corpse. She refused to listen to the details for which she didn't ask but they ignored her complaints and kept trying to dig up more information. They even had the nerve to show her the pictures of a dead body, examination results and positive DNA result.

Stop, she wanted to say but she'd already lost her voice at the revelation about Min's death and her impersonator living in her stance.

Min never returned home.

---

In a blink of an eye, what transpired between her and her fake sister disappeared - affection, bond, memories. Everything. What had she done to deserve this when she lied to them the entire time? As Seungwan stood in silence and watched the police taking her away, the belief that she'd feel nothing towards the impersonator had been shattered the moment their eyes met.

She wasn't ready to watch the one who looked exactly like her dead sister leave for the second time.