Sukyi’s POV

“You’re from America, but were you born there?” Hyeyeong asked as we trailed down the busy streets of Seoul. We deemed this evening a time for exploration and enlightenment, but all we really did was window shop. I hadn’t had time to find a part time job so as of now I was still relying on the limited savings I had in my bank, and I wasn’t about to use the Kims’ money for leisure. Everything we saw was unique in its own way—quite different from the kinds of things I’d see in America. Something about the way stores were operated, how the products spoke just shouted ‘Korean’ and I felt like a culturally deprived child.

“No, I was born in Seoul. I just don’t remember anything…” I sighed, explaining myself in half a lie. I did remember something, but I didn’t quite understand what that one memory meant. Whenever it crossed my mind in a daydream I’d find myself snapping back to reality as a shiver travelled down my spine. It definitely was not pleasant to me, and I wasn’t planning on sharing it with anyone.

“Hmm… You must have been pretty young when you left to not even remember how beautiful the Han River looks at night.” She concluded as we neared a small corner shop. She greeted the manager with a happy smile and I immediately assumed Hyeyeong was a regular customer here. She went straight for the back shelf and grabbed a handful of colorful gel pens, testing them on a scrap piece of paper. To entertain her last train of thought she wondered,

“Okay, then let’s share our earliest memories.” Her eyes stared upwards at the ceiling as she tried to remember her earliest story. Though the question was meant to be a light hearted ice breaker, it felt like a needle in my heart. My earliest memory? I already confirmed that I couldn’t remember anything before age five… and I was already labeled mentally delayed for it. Regular kids should be able to have memories tracing back to around the time they first learned to walk, but I had lost my early childhood and had no way of retrieving it. A sudden giggle brought my attention back to the shop and Hyeyeong as she began her story first,

“I think my earliest memory was flinging food at my parents. Wow, that’s kind of embarrassing…” She laughed a little to hide the fact that her face was turning redder by the second. My mind grew frantic when I realized it was my turn to share.

Earliest memory…

My earliest memory was sitting alone in Kindergarten, scribbling pictures of stars and coloring entire blank pages black with permanent markers. I remembered that no kid would ever dare talk to me. Every day it was just me at the same seat at the same table with the same marker coloring the same thing—a night sky with tiny twinkling stars far away. My teacher never disturbed me no matter how many blank sheets I wasted, drawing the same image repeatedly without end. She once brought it up at a student-teacher meeting and I was scolded for it, but my answer was ‘Oppa says the night sky is endless. Endless means that it’s really big so if I stop now I’ll never finish drawing the entire night sky’. I remember receiving a harsh slap for saying it, though I didn’t quite know why. Though I could remember myself saying those very naïve words, I couldn’t remember a time in history when Soohyun ever told me anything about stars or the sky.

“Sukyi? Do you not remember?” Hyeyeong was waving a hand in front of my face, staring at me strangely. I shook my head and forced a smile to hide my upset thoughts and decided a lie was the best way to go.

“I remember biting my brother’s hand when he was petting me like a dog.” I guess this wasn’t a full on lie since Soohyun had a phase of petting my head up until he reached puberty. Though it wasn’t my earliest memory, it would have to suffice. I just got to Korea and I didn’t want more people to think I was abnormal.

“Haha, older brothers are such drags aren’t they?” She nodded, completely sympathizing with my lie. The topic change came so naturally that I was able to calm myself down.

“How is your older brother?” Hyeyeong wondered after we left the little shop. She had bought five more gel pens of various pastel colors and we were now heading for a drink at a café close by.

“Ew? He has a girlfriend.” My instinctive answer caught her off guard and she began coughing and choking—probably on her own saliva. Did I interpret her question wrong? I wanted to slap myself for saying something so idiotic to flaunt my lack of social skills.

“No no no, I didn’t mean it like—“

“Sorry!” My face was now flushed red. It felt like every time I opened my mouth I would make a mistake.

“It’s okay, I was just wondering if you two got along. Like… siblings will always fight and disagree, but in the end we have to remember that blood is thicker than water.” Hyeyeong explained her question in more detail and even though she wasn’t trying to make me feel embarrassed, I couldn’t even look her in the eye. However, I wanted to answer her question correctly this time so I thought about it. Soohyun and I rarely got along and all the years I lived with him we both had the mentality that we were just putting up with each other. To be honest, I didn’t love my brother. Blood is thicker than water? Often times it felt like he and I were no more related than a dog to a cat.

“Haha, you don’t have to answer it.” Hyeyeong decided after noticing my hesitation. She probably noticed that when it came to intricately deep questions like this I always struggled to find something appropriate to say. Maybe it was my turn to ask some questions then.

“How’s your older brother?”

“I miss him.” She admitted without a shadow of a doubt. It was a bold thing to say for someone who came off as prideful as her, but I admired that about her all the same. Still, I felt guilty that she had to trade her brother and receive me as the result of their bargain. It didn’t seem worthwhile, but they were content that Jaeseop would get to fulfill his dreams abroad.

“Yo! Hyeyeong!” A familiar voice called out to greet her as footsteps approached our little table in the corner of the café.

“Yoseob! Where’s Donghae Oppa?” Hyeyeong eyed around after greeting him. I had no idea they knew each other, but Hyeyeong also knew the cute guy from the airplane? What a small world…

“Why are you always looking for him?” Yoseob rolled his eyes, a little annoyed at her inquiry.

“Because you two are always together!” She exclaimed, eyeing him suspiciously.

“Pft, no we’re not.” He denied and shifted his gaze towards me, changing his annoyed expression to a friendly smile.

“Shin Sukyi, right?” I froze for a moment, feeling like the biggest idiot ever. He was greeting me yet I couldn’t force out a greeting.

“Gross! Don’t flirt with my friend!” Hyeyeong was displeased and playfully shoved him further away from our table.

“Wow Hyeyeong you’re always so possessive of people. Sukyi’s in my sociology class, we’ve already met.” He explained, taking a seat right beside me and grabbing my drink, taking a sip casually as if we had known each other for ages. Hyeyeong turned her head away and sighed, but her face quickly lit up at the sight of someone else coming.

“Donghae oppa!” She nearly screamed in joy. At the sound of his name I turned my head and saw the exact same guy I spent hours on an airplane flight beside.

“See, Yoseob? You two are always together.” She declared victoriously, receiving a grunt from Yoseob. He got up from his seat and stood beside Donghae.

“Long time no see, Hyeyeong! We’ll catch up some other time, okay?” He then turned to Yoseob and nodded, and turned to leave but not before staring at me for a brief second.

“Ah, right, we’re visiting Donghae’s mom after buying a few fruits. You know what day it is…” Yoseob pardoned himself from us and then followed after Donghae, becoming stiffer in his walking posture.

“Sorry about Yoseob’s impulsive weirdness. I take it that you’ve already had a taste of his horrible flirting skills in sociology.” She chuckled a little and then sipped at her drink. It seemed like her and the two guys were pretty close, and I couldn’t help but kind of look forward to seeing them both more often. Yoseob seemed like a fun person to have around, but there was some kind of mystery surrounding Donghae that I wanted to uncover. Something about his stare looked all too familiar to dismiss.

Donghae’s POV

As we walked towards the small grocery market that sold my mom’s favourite fruits, I couldn’t get the image of that girl’s face out of my head. She looked so familiar, and I knew it wasn’t just because I sat beside her on the airplane back to Korea. Today wasn’t meant to be a joyous day, but the heavens must really have something against me for having a girl who looks so much like Sukyi appear in front of me today of all days.

Today was the anniversary of the day Sukyi disappeared without a trace. No matter how many years have passed, neither I nor my parents could get over it. My baby sister was taken away from me, and I wasn’t even there to try and stop it from happening. I promised my mom, even though I was young, that I would always watch over her and protect her. Up until then, I didn’t even let her get more than a small scratch on her knee! The feeling of failure haunts me still, but why today? To see Sukyi’s doppelganger and be reminded of my shortcoming was just too cruel.

It was this day of the year that my mom couldn’t bear to spend alone the most. No matter where I was in the world, I always made the initiative to spend it with her. Yoseob offered to come along and promised to limit his intentional foolishness and cry jokes, so I allowed him to. We bought a bag of oranges and some star fruit. It seemed a little cheesy but Sukyi loved star fruit, in fact, anything star shaped would remind us of her. She was a young child filled with ineffable thoughts about the stars in the galaxy. She could probably sit through a five hour lecture on constellations and still be as amused as when she started, and that was the beauty of her passion. When I was younger and told her I wanted to be an astronaut, she always begged me to bring her back a star. I promised her that not only would I bring her back a star, but I would bring her back Polaris—the brightest star in the sky so that whenever she felt sad, she could just make a wish. Until that day came. Every night she would rest her arms on the windowsill, sitting on the edge of her bed with her chin rested on her arms and stare up into the sky, her eyes filled with a curiosity that can’t be quenched. Some days I’d sit with her and she’d point up at the brightest star, repeating Polaris every night until the name was engraved in her mind. It was not long before her disappearance when I taught her a ‘magical’ incantation she believed would make all her wishes come true.

Star light, star bright

The first star I see tonight

I wish I may

I wish I might

Please grant the wish I wish tonight…

Days after her disappearance I had proven the incantation to be fake. At that young age, I was naïve to believe anything, such as the idea that saying such silly rhymes would substitute magic spells and grant wishes. Night after night I wished that Sukyi would appear again, but she never came back. Twelve years later, I still find myself wishing on Polaris for my little sister to return to us…

A/N: If I were to force out a moral in this chapter I guess it'd be something along the lines of "Cherish your siblings". I grew up knowing just how important they are... and that they're the reason we are who we are. Siblingship is a blessing to have. I enjoyed writing the bottom half of this chapter x]