The First Bell

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“Youngmin-ah, time to wake up!”

Youngmin groaned and sat up limply at the sound of Minwoo’s voice. He blearily opened his eyes to see the shorter boy grinning at him from beside his bed.

“You have an hour and a half before your first class,” Minwoo said, attempting to rouse the other. “I brought over some kimchi pancakes that my mom made. You better hurry up or Kwangmin will eat them all.”

Youngmin barely heard the last part as he rushed out of his bedroom and into the bathroom. Minwoo’s mother made the best kimchi pancakes, and he was most certainly not going to let Kwangmin have all of them. He showered quickly and hurried back to his room to change. By the time he arrived downstairs, only three pancakes were left. Youngmin quickly snatched them up before Kwangmin could take another one.

“Ah, Youngminnie!” Kwangmin protested, “I wanted one more.”

“You’ve been eating them the entire time I was showering,” Youngmin retorted but cut a piece for his brother anyway. Minwoo watched them bicker over the pancakes with amusement. Disputes like this were common between the twins. One of them would complain about something the other had done, and the guilty party would give in after putting up a feeble fight. Minwoo would be the one to steer them back on track afterwards.

Which was what Minwoo was doing now as he urged them to hurry up and get ready before they were late for class. Youngmin was fully dressed with his bag slung over his shoulder while Kwangmin ran in circles, looking for his favorite beanie. When he couldn’t find it, Youngmin and Minwoo joined him in the search.

“Why would your beanie even be out here? Don’t you keep your things in your bedroom?” Minwoo huffed as he helped Kwangmin shift the sofa to check that the beanie wasn’t hidden away beneath it.

“I don’t know. My things are never where I put them.” Kwangmin heaved the sofa back into place and stopped to take a breather.

Just then, Youngmin came running downstairs, waving a black piece of cloth in his hand and looking very proud of himself. “I found it, Kwangminnie!” He shook the beanie vigorously, scattering bits of dust and dirt around him. “It was between your mattress and bed frame.”

With the beanie found, the three of them hurried out the house, Kwangmin jamming his beanie onto his head while Youngmin locked the front door. The golden bells Kwangmin brought home six years ago tinkled merrily from where they hung on the column as though they were seeing the boys off. Being the wacky person he was, Kwangmin waved at the bells, calling, “We’ll be back soon! Don’t worry too much.”

The trio arrived on campus with a f