CHAPTER 8     

 

 

It's three in the morning and Joohyun had been turning and tossing for a whole hour.

 

Little sister?

 

Joohyun scoffed at the thought because

No one told her about this. She didn't sign up for this. She doesn't want to babysit some paper-eating five year old!

 

She kicked her new purple plush pillow in frustration. The night was supposed to be calming but it somehow didn't calm her.

 

But then, she took a longer look of her new bedroom. Everything was colored with purple. All of clothes were new and they smelled nice. It was raining so hard earlier but the roof didn't leak at all. And above all, she ate tteokbokki during dinner.

 

And she thought that maybe... just maybe... that if the price of not living in their old leaky trailer park meant taking care of Jisoo, then maybe it was worth it?

 

Jisoo couldn't be that bad...right?

 

 

 

Well, Joohyun was wrong. Jisoo was the very definition of clingy and annoying.

 

It happened the next morning while Joohyun was drying her hair in her room for her first day of school, she heard the door open slowly. She assumed that it was her mom but alas, it was the five year old kid.

 

"Goomowning, uwnnie!", a very disheveled Jisoo came in. She was clutching a lunch bag. "Papa swaid I'll go to your school next wir!"

 

Joohyun didn't give much reaction and just nodded.

 

"Ow! That's wight! You down't speak, you are special! Here!" Jisoo handed the lunch bag. "Special lunch for my spwecial unnie! I helped Dad pwepare that!"

 

"Joohyun dear, you're awake!" their mother greeted them with a smile in her face. "Chang Min and Jisoo were so excited for your first day of school that they prepared your lunch even before I wake up"

 

"That's me!" Jisoo pointed her thumbs to herself.

 

"Yes, that's you sweetie" Eun Joo got on her knees to level with Jisoo and softly patted the kid's hair. Little Joohyun huffed because it's no fair! Only she gets to receive her mother's special pats.

 

"I'm so excited to go the aquarium with Daddy... " Jisoo said as she grabbed Joohyun's hand, "and with Unnie and..." and then she stared at Eun Joo, "and with you, Mommy!"

 

Joohyun clenched her fist for she, of all people, hates the feeling of losing what is hers. Her mom is 'her' mom alone!

 

Joohyun harshly removed her hands from Jisoo's and went downstairs without even saying goodbye. On her way to the door, she saw Chang Min holding laundry.

 

"Joohyun, where are you going? You haven't eaten yet!" he said but it fell into deaf ears as Joohyun beehived her way outside.

 

"Joohyun, wait up!" Chang Min grasped Joohyun's elbows softly but when Joohyun turned around, the worry in his face turned into fear as Joohyun glared at him. He was so shocked that he immediately let go of her elbow.

 

And so, Joohyun continued to walk into her first day of school.

 

 

 

Or so she thought...

 

Because as she was nearing the school gate, little arms suddenly surrounded her waist. She turned around and saw that it was Jisoo hugging her with tears in her face.

 

Joohyun easily broke free from the younger kid's arms. She turned around and looked at the kid without displaying any emotion.

 

Jisoo got the hiccups as she cried and uttered the words, "Unnwie, don't you like the l-lunch box?"

 

Joohyun gulped and couldn't look at Jisoo in the eye. She couldn't believe this because right in front of her is a five year old kid running out of breath and obviously ran her hardest to catch up with her. She almost hugged the kid when—-

 

"Jisoo! Baby, where are you!?" She heard her mother's voice from afar. Joohyun's irritation resurfaced and so she ran to the gates, leaving the crying Jisoo alone.

 

 

 

It was the end of the school day and the word that there was a new pretty transferee had spread like a wildfire. A lot of boys same grade as Joohyun's hurriedly came to her classroom to see if the rumors are indeed true and upon seeing her angelic face, their jaws dropped.

 

Joohyun sighed, stood up from her seat. Her first days of school were always like this. She quietly packed her bag and headed for the exit door. A lot of boys were there to see her but she gave them nothing, not even a mere glance.

 

When she was nearing the school gate, she saw her mom waiting for her. Eun Joo smiled and Joohyun's thoughts suddenly cleared up and Joohyun smiled back at her. But upon running closer to her mother, she saw that Eun Joo was holding hands with the one and only, Kim Jisoo.

 

"Joohyun, sweetie. Why did you storm off like that earlier?" Eun Joo said softly, without a trace of anger in her voice.

 

Joohyun looked at her mom's hand that was linked with Jisoo's and glared at her mom. Joohyun crossed her arms and huffed.

 

"We're here to come pick you up sweetie. We're going somewhere" Eun Joo said while Jisoo couldn't look Joohyun in the eyes. "Chang Min is already waiting in the car so let's go?"

 

Joohyun sighed. It's not like she had a choice anyways.

 

 

 

Joohyun thought it was strange. She couldn't believe that they were actually going to a cemetery. She gave her mother a confusing look to ask what they were doing in such a place like this but her mother did not say anything and smiled at her instead.

 

The aura was gloomy. Chang Min was smiling but it looked a bit forced while Jisoo didn't utter a word ever since the incident before school.

 

"We're here" Chang Min said. Joohyun and her new family got out of the car and walked near the hill. As Joohyun was nearing to the hill, she saw a tomb stone. She saw a picture of a breath taking woman on it. Now that she looked at it more, the woman awfully looks a lot like Jisoo.

 

"Hey, Soo Jin. It's been a while" Chang Min talked to the grave. He gently held Jisoo's wrist as if to show Jisoo. "This is Jisoo now. Day after day, she's starting to look like you"

 

"Eun Joo is here to pay respect too! And Joohyun here, she's going to be our Jisoo's sister"

 

Chang Min smiled and looked at Jisoo. "Princess, why don't you say hi to your mom?"

 

"I don't want to!"

 

"Princess, we talked about this before"

 

Joohyun subconsciously raised an eyebrow with Jisoo's sudden outburst. The younger kid stomped a feet and said, "If shwe weally loves me, then why? Why did she leave me?" Tears fell out of Jisoo's face. "Why do the other kids have mom and I down't?"

 

Chang Min worriedly looked at Eun Joo and Eun Joo gave him a knowing smile. She tapped Joohyun's shoulder and said, "Baby, I think we should sit by the bench and let them be for a while"

 

Joohyun nodded with understanding as she let her mother take her away.

 

 

 

"Jisoo never really knew her mother" Eun Joo said to Joohyun while looking at the skies. She inherited this habit of her mom's : sitting back and enjoying what the skies have to offer.

 

Joohyun nodded as if telling her mom to continue the story.

 

"Changmin told me..." Eun Joo held her daughter's hand. "... that the only memory Jisoo has of her mother is when they took her to an aquarium when she was a toddler. It was her first and last memory of her mother. Poor Jisoo."

 

Joohyun gulped for she suddenly felt guilty. She remembered how excited Jisoo was earlier this morning. How her little hand reached out to Joohyun's and how excited she was to take them to the aquarium.

 

But then, Joohyun never really liked sharing what's hers. Joohyun crossed her arms and huffed.