Chapter VI

Check. Point. Match.

December 21, 2006

Eun Hye was busy with her Christmas shopping. She’d been all over the mall buying presents for her two BFF’s, her parents, her twin, and their house guest. She really doesn’t know why she’d even bother to buy one for Lee Donghae. But since its Christmas—the most wonderful time of the year, she decided not to be Grinch even if it means trying to get along with Donghae. She’s already picked out most of her gifts. She bought a Rolling Stones T-shirt for Siwon, a cute teddy bear for Kyuhyun, a book by Mitch called The Five People You Meet in Heaven for Eun Hyuk, a couples pajamas for her mom and her dad…all that’s left now is Donghae’s gift.

She looked around the mall and saw a shop that sells accessories for men, she looked at different displays and saw a black spiked wrist cuff that would be befitting for that guys personality, so without anymore hesitation, Eun Hye bought it.

Suddenly, her blackberry started to buzz. She took it out of her Jansport backpack. The led light was flashing. She opened the dialogue box and opened her messages. It was from her mother.

Eun Hye, Sweetie, will it be okay if I ask you to hurry home? Your cousin just arrived from Canada and he says he misses you…

After she replied to her mother’s message, she left the mall with all the things she needed and head home.

Choi Household

“Wow, this place is awesome!”

Siwon shook his head in utter disdain. He leaned on his mom’s ear to whisper. “Seriously mom, what’s he doing here? Does he need to go to reform school or something?”

Mrs. Choi laughed. “Siwon, be nice to Henry, he’d only been here in our country once, and that was when he was still three. Haven’t you kept in contact with him?” She asked.

“Nope. But I’m pretty sure Eun Hye does.” Siwon said. “How old is he anyway?” he asked his mother.

“He’s just fourteen, Siwon. So be good big brother to him, y’know he’s an only child. So please behave properly, okay?” Mrs. Choi asked her son. Siwon nodded and sighed.

“Great, I’m turning seventeen and now, I have to be friends with a fourteen year old.” He muttered to himself.

“Siwon! Show me around….please…I want to see what’s it like out there.” Henry pouted. Siwon rolled his eyes a little.

“It’s almost time for lunch so just sit still, okay? Maybe Eun Hye will do that with you.”

Henry nodded. “Okay…but what’s for lunch?” the younger boy asked. “Steak? Hamburger? Pasta?”

Siwon huffed. “I think we’re eating chicken intestines.” He said sarcastically. Henry’s face scrunched up.

“Really?” He asked. “Sounds exotic. I want to try it!” He said cheerfully. Siwon almost palmed his face. He was kidding! Seriously. His mother would never serve a guest chicken intestine, besides that’s gross.

“I was just playing with you. I’m sure my mom would whip up some traditional Korean food so just calm your horses, okay?” Siwon said.

“Oh,” Henry said. “I really thought we’re going to eat chicken intestines because I’ve read on my favorite book  that you can actually eat it…some countries think of it as street food.” He said.

“Nerd Alert!”

Siwon turned to look at the hallway and saw Donghae walking toward them. “Hey Donghae!”

“Hey, “ he paused, as he looked at Henry and flashed him a sarcastic smile. “Who’s this little shrimp?” He asked Siwon.

“That’s my cousin, Henry, he’s from Canada…” Siwon said. “He’s staying here for the Christmas break…”

“No, I’m not staying here for just the break. My mother told me that I’d be studying here, at the same academy you go to.”

Siwon almost choked on the water he was drinking. “What?”

Henry nodded. “She said she wants me to learn all about the Korean heritage…so I’ll stay here!” He said cheerfully. Then, he turned to Donghae. “High Five!” He said, raising his hand for Donghae to slap.

Donghae snickered. “I don’t do high fives, little shrimp…” He looked at Siwon. “Hey, I need to go to the baseball stadium, coach wants us to practice.” He said. “I’ll be back late, I guess.” Donghae left the two and went out of the house.

Siwon nodded.

“Does he live here, too?” Henry asked.

“Yeah.”

Suddenly, the door opened again and Eun Hye ran towards Henry lifting him up as if he weighed nothing. “My other baby is here!!!” She said twirling Henry around. Siwon almost hit himself with the bottle of water because this is just too much.

“I missed you Eun Hye!” He said kissed her cheek.

“I missed you too!” She said. Suddenly Henry pulled away.

“Wait did you just say that I’m your other baby?” He asked, pouting.

Eun Hye nodded. “Yeah, I have another one, he’s my best friend, Kyuhyun.” She said.

“I’ve been replaced.” Henry said. Eun Hye giggled.

“Aw, you’ll always be my cheeky baby…he’s just my cute and cuddly baby.” She said as she pinched Henry’s cheeks.

“I like cute and cuddly...can I meet him?” Henry asked. Siwon’s ear perked up at what Henry said.

“Sure, let’s go over to his house later.” She said. “I’m sure Kyuhyun will like you a lot. He’s only a year older than you so I pretty sure you’ll get along with him.”

“I haven’t met him yet and I think I already like him. Does he like Star Wars?” The boy asked Eun Hye. Siwon felt himself getting a teensy bit jealous because his sister will take Henry to meet Kyuhyun. He doesn’t even know why but he felt like something is being yanked away from him and he doesn’t like it.

“Yep. It’s his favorite.” Eun Hye said.

“Score! I can talk to him a lot about it!” Henry said.

Siwon felt himself starting to resent Henry. He scratched the back of his head. I don’t know why I feel this way…He thought to himself. Had he always been like this? From what he can remember, he always liked girls. There was just this something about Kyuhyun that he can’t even decipher.

Eunhyuk’s House

“Son, your friend, Eun Hye is here!”

Eunhyuk immediately went down the stairs, not really caring about the dorky Batman T-shirt he is wearing. He went down the stairs and was bit surprised to see Eun Hye with a boy. He squinted his eyes at him at first. The boy started waving at him sporadically. How much coffee did this boy drink?

“Hi Eunhyuk, this is Henry, my cousin…” Eun Hye said. Eunyhyuk’s seriousness melted and gave Henry a handshake only to find himself into a very tight hug. He chuckled a little finding the gesture really adorable.

“Is he your other baby you were talking about?” Henry asked. Eunhyuk felt himself blush as blood rushed to his cheeks.

Eun Hye shook her head. “Nope.” She paused standing next to Eunhyuk and linked arms with him. “He is like my hubby…” She said, winking at the boy next to her. Eunhyuk swallowed the lump that had formed inside his throat.

Henry smiled. “Is there something I should know?” He said. Eun Hye chuckled before walking towards her little cousin and pinching he cheeks again. “He is my first best friend.”

“Well, where your other baby?” He asked.

Eun Hye chuckled before putting an arm around Henry and motioning for Eunhyuk to come with them. “We’ll go to his house now.”

Kyuhyun’s House at the exact same moment

There was a sudden knock on the door and to Kyuhyun’s surprise, it was Siwon. “Hey, I thought that you wanted weekends off from our tutoring sessions?” Kyuhyun asked.

Siwon bit his bottom lip. “Well, I kind of forgot the whole formula for the statistical data thing.” He said, trying and failing to rack his brain for something else to say. He still remembers the formula, it’s like engraved in his brain already. It’s just that he feels uncomfortable having Henry around Kyuhyun when he’s not around.

Kyuhyun nodded, oblivious to Siwon’s thoughts. “Okay, um, I guess we can work on it again today, if that’s what you want.” The younger boy said he motion for Siwon to come inside. They started immediately. Siwon still remembers everything about what Kyuhyun taught him. But hey, lying isn’t a crime…

A knock on the door made Siwon’s temper boil a bit. Seriously? They decide to show up here now of all time? Eun Hye is really fast. Siwon thought to himself. Kyuhyun got up to open the door and was greeted by a hug from Eun Hye. “Kyuhyun, I’d like you to meet my cousin, Henry…” She said.

Kyuhyun flashed Henry a very sweet smile and it somehow ticked Siwon off. “Hi! I’m Henry!” He said as he wrapped Kyuhyun in a hug which he gladly returned. Siwon scoffed a little, trying to get Kyuhun’s attention but to no avail, he was ignored. He suddenly became impatient. “Kyuhyun, aren’t we going to continue?” He asked him stiffly. Kyuhyun and the others looked surprised by Siwon.

“Uh…okay…um, sure…” he said a little bit trembling. He turned to the others. “You guys can wait up for me in my room. I’ll come up once we’re done here.”

Siwon noticed that Kyuhyun said I’ll come up…not we…It stung a little considering Kyuhyun and him spend a lot of time together…well tutoring…but still.

This is like Siwon’s favorite board game…chess…it feels like he’s losing right now.

Check. Point. Match.

End of Chapter

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Do leave some comments!