As Taeil sat in the living room, with his parents on one couch, and his twin brother and himself on the other, he had to admit that his life really did . 

Just sitting next to him, one could easily spot the differences between them. Hyungil (the twin brother in question) was already a head taller than him. His face and body looked carved from marble, like one of those aggressive and rich but secretly kind hearted CEO's in the dramas his mother always watched. It was funny, Taeil always thought that the warm interior of those men never quite made up for the s they presented themselves as on the outside. The same philosophy seemed to be true of Hyungil too. 

Hyungil was hot by anybody's standards, and long ago Taeil learned that hotness brought so much more than any other quality a person could have. Hyungil never lacked for friends or in later years, girlfriends. As a child, he learned to use those good looks and beaming smile for fooling teachers, charming every adult figure into giving him a free pass whenever he wanted. He never had to do a homework assignment, never failed a test, despite studying for no more than an hour in his entire life. His body was built for sports too; and that only contributed more to his inconceivable popularity. Even his own parents fell for all of it.

Taeil never knew what Hyungil had against him; Hyungil had everything. But he still always wanted to see Taeil fail, worse than he already had. Telling his many friends not to talk to Taeil, just so he would be alone at school. Blaming Taeil for every event gone wrong. Lying and manipulating teachers to get him to the top of the class, just to thwart Taeil's hours of studying. Talking the choir teacher into giving a different friend of his solos at the big competition, so Taeil would be stuck in the back, just like usual. 

So, Taeil threw himself into what he could do, even if it was fruitless. Less friends meant more time for studying, more time for practicing his singing, the few things he cared about. He knew that with a little patience, all of his hardwork and suffering would pay off in the end. 

But Taeil didn't care any more. No, he really didn't care, and maybe this monologue has made you think otherwise, but Taeil has long since accepted his position as the loser twin brother of a god. Maybe when he was a little kid things were different, but he was far beyond jealousy. It was fine, and it would be even more fine once he went to university. This was possible wishful thinking on his part, but Taeil always believed uni would be different. A nice, prestigous school in Seoul that would be big enough for he to lose Hyungil in it, and where none of the teachers would know about Hyungil at all. They had to go to different schools, after all. Taeil would make sure of that. 

The uni question was the reason why his parents and his brother were sat around the brown-toned living room that late afternoon. The results of their college entrance exams had finally came, and they were all to open it as a family. 

"Taeil, you go first," his father spoke disinterestedly. He knew they were excited to see his brother's score, and mostly just wanted to get his over with. But he was desperate to know, so he began to undo the letter with shaking hands. He read the letters silently to himself before his lips bloomed into a smile. 

"So? What did you get?" his mother asked impatiently. 

"Ninety percent," Taeil spoke with a massive smile on his face. 

"Oh, congrats," his mom answered. "Hyungil, you go." He casually opened the letter himself, reading over it with a blank expression. He looked up finally, still expressionless. 

"I got sixty-five percent." 

Immediately, Taeil's parent's expressions changed into one of sadness and pity. Taeil sighed, if he was the one who scored badly, his parents would have been far more angry than sad. But, at the same time, Taeil should have expected this. 

"I'm so sorry," Hyungil began to explain, choking on his words in a way that made it extremely hard for Taeil not to roll his eyes. "I was just so, so sick the day of the exam...but I didn't want to make anyone worried, so I muscled through." Taeil knew that one was a lie; the last few nights before the exam Hyungil had snuck out of the window to get drunk and go one of his current girlfriends in his car. 

"It's okay sweetie...we know you tried your absolute best. You work so, so hard after all," Taeil's mom responded. 

"I'm just...I'm just such a disappointment," Hyungil croaked. He hid his face behind his palms, but from Taeil's angle he could see that Hyungil was secretly smiling. 

"I know that a good school will take you both," Taeil's dad added. 

"Wait, both?" Taeil finally interjected, nerves pounding in his heart. 

"Of course. I know you were set on going to Yonsei, but it just wouldn't be fair to your brother now," Taeil's dad responded, and Taeil's heart dropped from his chest. His mouth opened but he stayed silent, controlling his anger. 

"You both worked so hard, but for you to go to one of the top schools and him not...your father is right, it wouldn't be fair. You two can go to school together! Won't that be nice? Hyungil can watch out for you," Taeil's mother said. 

"You two can search for a great school together," Taeil's father added. 

"So it's decided, you two will start at the same uni. You can even share a dorm room!"

"Yes, mom and dad," Hyungil answered, turning to Taeil with a smug smile. "It'll be so great." 

Taeil swallowed back his anger, his tears, his utter disappointment, knowing it was all useless. He knew that if his brother was the one with the high score, he would be going to whatever uni he wanted. But if he expressed any of what he truly felt, his parents would just call him an ingrate, a waste of space, maybe punish him worse than what he was already getting. 

"Yeah," Taeil barely choked out, forcing a smile onto his face. "I-I'm gonna go. Start researching." He stood up and began to walk to his shared room, breaking into a run as soon as they were out of eyesight. Immediately he shut the door and collapsed into his bottom bunk, covering his pillowcase with tears. Another four years in Hyunil's shadow? He didn't think he could do it.