“Jo Youngmin! Jo Kwangmin!”

The twins froze on the stairs, eyes wide and hearts pounding. Their mother was calling for them from the backyard, and she sounded furious. They looked at each other, silently asking the other if they did anything wrong recently. The identical looks of confusion on their faces indicated that neither of them had any clue as to why they were in trouble.

Their mother yelled their names again. Youngmin and Kwangmin snapped out of their fearful trance and scurried down the stairs and out into the backyard, where they were confronted by their enraged mother and a broken flowerpot.

“Which one of you broke this?” Her eyes flicked between the twins as though trying to catch one of them looking guilty.

“It wasn’t us, Mom,” Youngmin and Kwangmin said together.

Their mother was not convinced. “Well, who else could it be? It was fine earlier this weekend. Hyunmin has been at his friend’s house all weekend, so it couldn’t have been him. Your father never even comes back here, and I’m certain I didn’t break it.”

The twins remained adamant in their claim of innocence, but their mother remained equally adamant that one of them must have broken the flowerpot. In the end, she told the twins to go to their room and stay there until they were ready to confess while she began preparing dinner.

The two of them sat on their own beds, silently steaming in anger over their mother’s accusation. Youngmin fiddled with his phone, trying to distract himself from the issue. Kwangmin played with the stuffed Pikachu doll he kept on his bed, waving its tail around and flicking its ears. The tense stillness was broken by Youngmin asking, “You really didn’t break the flowerpot?”

Kwangmin stopped playing with Pikachu to gape at his brother. “Eh?”

Youngmin opened his mouth to repeat the question, paused, and shook his head. “Never mind.” He returned to his phone, but Kwangmin didn’t go back to playing with Pikachu. Instead, the younger twin sat up, still holding the yellow mouse in his lap.

“I did not break the flowerpot, Youngminnie,” he said seriously. Youngmin barely spared him a glance before turning back to his phone. Frustration bubbled in Kwangmin. “Why are you doubting me?”

“Look, Kwangmin.” Youngmin had fully diverted his attention from his phone to his brother. “You’re always off in your own world. Maybe you weren’t careful and accidentally broke it.”

Kwangmin couldn’t believe his ears. “What are you saying? I’m certain I didn’t break it! Did you break it and now you’re trying to pin it on me?”

“I didn’t break it!” The twins’ voices were rising alongside their tempers. The argument would have escalated as well, but their mother chose that moment to call them down for dinner. Dinner was rather tense. All throughout the meal, Youngmin and Kwangmin sat next to each other but refused to look or speak to the other.

Towards the end of dinner, the twins’ father cleared his throat and addressed their mother. “Honey, there’s something I should tell you.”

She lowered her chopsticks. “Yes?” Youngmin, Kwangmin, and Hyunmin paused in eating as well, curious as to what their father had to say.

He looked slightly nervous as he spoke, but his words were still clearly heard. “You know that flowerpot you keep outside by the back door?”

The room was deathly silent now. Hyunmin and the twins watched the conversation apprehensively, each of them already imagining several ways the exchange could end. Their mother also figured everything out but wanted to hear her husband finish what he had to say. “Yes?”

“Well, you see. I went out into the backyard this past weekend and accidentally kicked it over. I came home late today because I went out to buy you a new one. I’m sorry I broke the old flowerpot.” Their father hung his head slightly in shame.

Youngmin and Kwangmin slowly turned to look at each other, bursting into fits of quiet laughter when their eyes met. Their mother looked embarrassed while their father and Hyunmin looked confused.

In the end, their mother explained everything to their father and Hyunmin. She accepted the new flowerpot and apologized to the twins for falsely accusing them. Youngmin and Kwangmin gladly accepted her apology, happy that the issue was solved and that they weren’t in trouble anymore.

After dinner, the twins retreated to their room. They laid down on their own beds, but neither intended to go to sleep just yet. There was still something they had to do.

“I’m sorry,” they said in unison. Just like that, the twins felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off their shoulders. Kwangmin started laughing, the sound filling the room. Youngmin joined in with his own chuckles, unable to hold back his own amusement at the sound of his brother’s contagious laughter.