Life was unpredictable, that much was certain. Life never panned out according to plans. For better or for worse, life was full of surprises. That was certainly the case for Hayoon when without realising it, had found comfort and ease with the three most unlikely people by the names of Soojung, Baekhyun and Chanyeol.

You see, Go Hayoon liked her peace and quiet, she liked to be left alone. Heck, her high school graduation quote was Friedrich Nietzsche’s:

“My solitude doesn’t depend on the presence or absence of people; on the contrary, I hate who steals my solitude without, in exchange, offering me true company.”

And that was exactly how she felt living at home with her family back in Jeju Island. It was suffocating; it was oppressing; it was lonely. A father who was never really around because of work, a mother who was always around because of no work, and an older sister named Woori who Hayoon suspected had absorbed all the luck and positivity their parents’ genes had to offer, leaving none for Hayoon. So although Woori and Hayoon were born and raised in the same family, the two had little in common, especially their relationship with their parents.

Woori was outgoing, she was social and she was always radiant. It was rather ironic that Hayoon was the one who’s name meant ‘sunlight’, yet she was anything but a ball of sunshine. Unlike Hayoon, Woori had spent much of her childhood in the company of their father Mr Go, forming a strong bond with him from a young age. Too add on top, as a blessing in disguise, Woori was always mediocre at school. She was by no means stupid — she was not book smart, but she was life smart. Thus she went through life under the radar of their mother Mrs Go, who enforced strict emphasis on education and achieving high grades.

Hayoon on the other hand did not receive such blessings. When Woori was fives years old, Hayoon was born. By then Mr Go had become a busy businessman, always going business trips to Seoul and Busan during Hayoon’s developing years. It also just happened that because Hayoon preferred spending time with books rather than the outdoors, Mrs Go saw the opportunity to mould Hayoon into the ideal daughter, emphasising time and time again the importance of education and being the top of the class. After all the lady of the household had plenty of time for that. With an absent husband and older daughter who showed no interest in excelling in education she could pour all her attention on the baby of the family.

Eventually once Hayoon reached high school, Mr Go started spending more time with the family. However it was too late, the strains formed due to his absence during Hayoon’s early years had been fossilised. The years of pressure from Mrs Go had also caused a large dent in Hayoon’s self-confidence and social skills. Above all, it had distorted Hayoon’s perception of her own emotions, valuing her mother’s happiness and satisfaction over her own.

This by no means meant that Woori and Hayoon did not get along. Ok, maybe during Woori’s rebellious teenage years, she would groan audibly every time Mrs Go would force the teen to bring her younger sister whenever she hanged out with her friends. But young Hayoon never really got in the way of Woori’s life. Eventually as both ladies grew older, and Woori re