Seungwan’s summer break can be pretty much described as something eventful.  Her mother’s marriage, their new place, and their new family (and Bae Joohyun), it’s like her life suddenly took a left turn.

She just hopes it isn’t a wrong turn.

“Come on, you girls will be late for school,” Mr Bae announces in a soft yet stern voice, wiping his mouth with a table napkin. 

It’s their first day back to school after their summer break and Seungwan isn’t looking forward to it the way she usually does.

Joohyun is just looking at her while sipping her tea. Seungwan, however, understands that look means she doesn’t want her to ride along with them. She isn’t really planning to, anyway, she almost scoffs.

“Oh, I ride my bike to school every day,” She admits while munching her bagel.

“Let me drive you to school, please?”

“That’s Seungwannie’s everyday exercise, honey,” Her mother joins their conversation, well, most likely saves her, “Let her be.”                                                                                                                                

“Right—I need my everyday exercise even though some people don’t deem me as someone sporty,” Seungwan rolls her eyes at the thought of her best friend, “I do exercise—”

“You’re literally talking with your mouth full,” Joohyun rolls her eyes, interrupting her. 

“Joohyun’s right, don’t do that, Seungwan,” her mother scolds her.                         

“Sorry,” Seungwan mumbles round a mouthful of bagel, no guilt found.

“Girls, it’s a good morning. It is Monday. Relax,” Mr Bae chuckles, turning to Seungwan. “Come on, Seungwannie, just one ride? I just want to experience driving my two daughters to school. Just once, promise. After this, I won’t push you, deal?”

Seungwan stares at her step dad, mouth agape, he surely is persistent and is quite child-like.  She turns towards Joohyun’s direction to search for the girl’s reaction to see her already with a fixed gaze on her while shaking her head slowly.

Seungwan doesn’t know what’s gotten into her, she suddenly feels like teasing her step sister.

“Okay,” she answers, not looking away from Joohyun. The older girl furrows her brows and bites her lips, she looks like she’s ready to punch Seungwan in the face. Thank goodness they’re sitting across each other and their parents are around. She gives the furious-looking girl a quick smile before turning to her step dad, “But, I’m meeting my friends in this milk tea shop before going to campus, you can just drop me off there.”

“Deal.”

 

-

 

The ride isn’t quiet, well, except for Joohyun. She isn’t used to a conversation-loaded ride to school so she hopes this is just really one time. She’s on her usual spot which is the passenger seat, she immediately declined when her father suggested for her to sit at the backseat together with Seungwan.

As the conversation between her father and step sister continues, she can only stare out of the window, fighting the urge to look at the rear-view mirror where she can get a look at Seungwan. Surely, out of curiosity, she casts a side glance at the mirror. There, she sees Seungwan, the girl’s eyes are focused on her phone while answering her father’s every question. Joohyun remembers how she was on the edge of her seat and was so ready to pounce on Seungwan when they we’re having breakfast, the younger girl obviously suddenly accepted her father’s offer in purpose.

She finds Seungwan infuriating.

The girl is blatantly showing her nonchalance when she clearly knows Joohyun doesn’t want for the school to know about them but here they are, in the same car to school. When they get off the car together, it will just spark rumours—whatever kind of rumours, Joohyun doesn’t want any of it.

Seungwan finally glances up at the mirror and their eyes meet. Joohyun heart almost jumps out of her chest and she quickly averts her yes.

“There’s the milk tea shop, you can pull over here,” Seungwan announces.

Joohyun closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, “Right,” she mumbles to herself, mentally facepalming for being too worrisome.  Right, they’re not getting off the car together.

“You sure you’ll be okay, Seungwan?”                                           

“Yes Mr—I, I’ll walk with my friends to the campus.”

“Alright, be careful on your way.”

“You too.”

Joohyun hears the car door unlocks, pulls open, and slams shuts in a manner of few seconds. She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and leans her head against the window. The tension she swears she felt when their eyes met a moment ago, vanishes.

As her father drives off, Joohyun watches Seungwan enters the milk tea shop and wonders why she’s felt that way.

 

-

 

Seungwan stops before Gong Cha’s glass door and peers in, trying to see if she could spot her friends. The shop is crowded with students given that it is one of the most famous milk tea shops near their campus. Without any difficulty, her eyes fall on the corner table where her friends are seated, her friends who are looking at her rather suspiciously.

She haven’t said a thing to Sooyoung after the interrupted phone call with her that night of the wedding. With that, she knew Park Sooyoung’s wrath awaits her.

With a heavy sigh, Seungwan pushes the door open and walks in, the scent of her favourite tea immediately lingered. She bits her lips unconsciously, glances back to see the car is gone, and proceeds her way to her friends.                                                              

“What’s up?” She starts off, feigning innocence as she settles herself on the seat across her friends.

“Did you just get off Bae Joohyun’s car?” Chanyeol, her guy best friend and Sooyoung’s twin brother, asks.

“What?” She asks back, genuinely curious as to why Chanyeol knows that was Joohyun’s car.

“That was Bae Joohyun’s car,” he confirms.

“How do you even know that?”

“That’s the car that drops her off every day.”

Seungwan blinks several times, taken aback, looking at the guy as if he was crazy.

“Don’t even question him, Seungwan. You know he is head over heels for Bae Joohyun,” Sooyoung glares at her in disbelief.

“That’s not even her car, that’s her dad’s,” she mutters under her breath.

“Does it matter?” Sooyoung rolls her eyes.

Seungwan sighs, “Look, I’m sorry—”

“You were actually with Bae Joohyun that night!” Sooyoung’s eyes widen in realization, “What the is up?”

“What night?” Chanyeol asks, raising a brow, looking totally out of place.

“Oh God…” she can only groan, burying her face in her hands. Taking a deep breath, she looks back up, anxiety almost overwhelming her, “Ourparentsgotmarried,” she says so fast, making four words sounded like one.

“What?” the twins ask at the same time.

“Our parents got married,” Seungwan blurts out, clearly this time, her voice filled with exasperation though.  The twins’ eyes widen, looking like they are about to jump off their faces. They look so funny, Seungwan would laugh if not for the current situation.

“When?” the girl Park asks, a mask of shock not leaving her face.

“That night,” Seungwan replies.

“And you did not bother on telling us!?”

“I was going to tell you—I also thought that they aren’t that serious with each other, they dated for like, what? 8 months? See, not even a year—”

“Pause,” Chanyeol interrupts, raising his right hand to stop Seungwan from talking, “They dated for months and not one time, one time, Seungwan, you thought of telling us?”

“I thought of it, it’s just that I don’t want to talk about it,” Seungwan admits, leaning back into her seat. “I honestly don’t want to talk about it at all, there I said it.”

Sooyoung’s face softens at her statement, her best friend knows how close she was with her late father so she surely have understand how hard for Seungwan to actually accept the reality that her mother has fallen in love and has settled with another man.

“I get it,” Sooyoung says in a soothing voice, “That didn’t sound easy at all, still, I do believe you should have told us a thing or two, we’re your friends and we’re here for you.”

Seungwan gives Sooyoung a soft smile, “I know… sometimes, I’m stupid,” she chuckles.

“So you stupid are now stepsisters with the Bae Joohyun,” Sooyoung says in a very matter of fact tone.

“Yep,” Seungwan simply gives a shrug of her shoulders, “But, please don’t tell anyone about this.”

Sooyoung zips shut.

“Is he okay?” Seungwan asks when she noticed the guy Park isn’t talking at all and is just staring into space.

“That’s a lot for him to take. Let him process it,” Sooyoung says coolly before taking a sip of her boba. “Anyway, here’s…” she pushes a familiar large-sized fruit tea towards Seungwan, “your ridiculously specific order.”

“I didn’t ask you—” Seungwan stops midway when she realized it was Sooyoung’s treat. “You’re the best.”

Sooyoung rolls her eyes, “Now, I honestly think you don’t deserve that.”

“Non-sense,” she shoots back, hugging the fruit tea, “I deserve this more than anyone else.”

“Still, you owe me, Seungwan.”

“Fine. Let’s go for now, I can’t afford to be late.”                   

Before they can even stand up to leave, Chanyeol finally opens his mouth and asks a question out of nowhere, “So you and Joohyun live together now?”

Seungwan and Sooyoung stares at each other for few seconds, eyes blinking several times before bursting out in laughter. They then both abruptly stands up with Sooyoung pulling Seungwan out of the store, leaving a still processing Chanyeol behind.

“Sometimes, I’m embarrassed to have him as my twin,” the tall girl states jokingly as they both walk faster.

 

-

 

Seungwan doesn’t share the first class with both her best friends, she walks into the classroom where her first subject is held and notices there are more people in the room than normal.  The seats and desk are scattered around and the students are in a circle around something, seemingly shouting and cheering.

She sighs and squeezes through the crowd, wanting to get to a seat at the back. She barely managed to pass through most of the crowd with her head down, when she gets shoved. It happens fast, she ends up falling to the ground, unable to catch her balance.

She gasps when she looks up and sees two figures fighting right in front of her. It’s Im Nayeon and her step sister, Bae Joohyun. She tries to get back on her feet only for her to be shoved back down on the floor with Nayeon now on top of her.

“What is happening?” Seungwan hears someone yelled, seemingly sounded like their first subject teacher, Mr Moon.

Seungwan is still lying on the floor, breathing heavily, but Nayeon has gotten off her.

“Really? First day back and this? Bae and Im, you both make your way to the principal’s office and meet me there,” Mr Moon keeps on yelling, “Students who aren’t supposed to be in this room, get out!”  

She catches a glimpse of her step sister getting out of the room and wonders why she’s gotten into a fight. Joohyun is known for always being in trouble in school, still, she can’t help but wonder.

“And you,” Mr Moon stands before her, offering his hand to help her stand up, “Are you hurt?”

Seungwan shakes her head, taking her teacher’s hand to stand up.

“Since this is your first time,” Mr Moon says disappointingly, “I’m not getting you in the principal’s office but you’re in detention after classes.”

Seungwan’s eyes widen and she shakes her head furiously, did Mr Moon just think she was part of the fight? “You got it wrong, Mr Moon,” She hadn’t done anything, she just literally got pushed into the fight.

“You were on the floor, with Nayeon on top of you,” he says in a very matter of fact tone, giving her a firm look.

“But—” Seungwan groans, she knows better than to argue. Adults think they’re always right and if proven wrong, she knows she might get into even more trouble, “I have to meet coach Ahn after classes,” she reasons out instead, she can’t be in detention.

“Your golf thingy can wait, I’ll tell Ahn about this,” Mr Moon says with finality in his tone. He then turns towards the whole class, “And you all, fix your seats and I’ll be back in few minutes.”

 

-

 

Seungwan can only imagine how Sooyoung will not stop talking about this detention experience but she realizes that detention isn’t so bad. It’s been 50 minutes and the teacher who is looking after them is busy on her own paper works, she didn’t even glance at Seungwan when she entered the room. The classroom is quiet and she is able to do her homework, yes, homework at first day back to school. At least, she will have more time to watch movies or play games later at home.

Joohyun and Nayeon are also in detention with her. The last time she looked at Joohyun who is seated in the very back, the girl was just on her phone, while, Nayeon who is seated in the middle, seemed to be asleep.  

Now that there is about 10 minutes of detention left, Seungwan looks back over her shoulder at Joohyun to see what her step sister is doing. Her eyes widen when she sees Joohyun is already looking at her direction.  The older girl stands up and looks around the room for whatever reason before slowly approaching Seungwan, she then settles herself behind her.

Seungwan quickly turns around in her seat, going back to her homework.

“Why are you here?” Joohyun asks in a whisper, trying to get her attention.

 Seungwan closes her eyes and breathes in deeply, she fixes her notes and put them back in her bag, she was obviously trying to ignore her step sister.

She can sense Joohyun is staring at the back of her head, waiting for an answer. She sighs and turns around to meet Joohyun’s eyes, “Are you sure you want to talk to me? Here?”

Joohyun shrugs, “I was just asking a question.”

Seugnwan sighs, “Apparently, Mr Moon thought I was involved in your fight with Nayeon,” she gestured towards Nayeon’s direction.

“Oh,” Joohyun crosses her arms, staring at Seungwan.

“So?” Seungwan bites down on her lip and stares back at Joohyun, expecting at least a simple “sorry” from her step sister.

Joohyun looks up at something and back to Seungwan, “Too bad,” she taps the desk with both of her hands before standing up.

Seungwan frowns and looks up to where Joohyun was looking at, the clock. She sighs when she realized their detention time is up. Her step sister just got away from that apology. She turns back around her seat and gather her things up as Joohyun and Nayeon walks out of the classroom.

                  

-                                                        

 

Seungwan’s favourite part of the day is cuddling with her Bubbles. It is 9 o’clock in the evening, she and her Labrador are in the bed, watching The Empire Strikes Back on her laptop for the nth time, the episode V is Bubbles’ and her most favourite out of all Star Wars movies. She actually almost named her dog as Vader.

Right after the scene where Luke Skywalker shouted “NOOOO” when he found out that Darth Vader was his father, Bubbles suddenly sits up and stares at Seungwan’s bedroom door.

“What is it, Bubbles?” Seungwan pauses the movie and stares at the door as well, but, she sees nothing.  

Bubbles tilts her head to the side and continues staring at the door, scaring Seungwan a little.

“Don’t scare me, buddy,” she whispers to her dog, scratching the dog’s head, “at least bark if you’re seeing a ghost.”

Don’t bark, she says inside her head.    

Bubbles then jumps off the bed and runs to the door, she isn’t barking at all but is just sniffing the door.

Seungwan follows her dog and kneels, levelling eye contact, “Hey, what is it? Should I open the door?” she asks in a whisper.

Bubbles wags her tail faster in response.

“Okay,” Seungwan kisses Bubbles’ head and stands up. She glances back at her dog who is patiently waiting and can’t help but adore how cutely excited she looks at the moment.

Seungwan finally opens the door and is met by Joohyun who looks like she was about to knock.

The older girl’s eyes widen and immediately retracts her hand, “Hey,” she manages to greet the equally startled Seungwan shyly.

Bubbles barks excitedly, beating Seungwan to greeting Joohyun back.

Joohyun jumps, covering her ears with her hands, obviously startled at the Labrador.

Seungwan immediately kneels, “Hey buddy, I know you’re excited but she isn’t used to you yet, back to bed for now.”

Bubbles obeys in a heartbeat.

“Good girl,” Seungwan says, standing up.

“You really talk to your dog like that?”

“We understand each other,” she chuckles, scratching her head. “How can I help you?”

“I just want to say I’m sorry,” Joohyun starts, fidgeting around with her hands, “I’m sorry about getting you into detention.”

Although Seungwan was waiting for an apology from her step sister earlier in the classroom, she knows the girl didn’t owe her that at all so it was definitely a surprise to hear this from her. Seungwan looks down, feeling a little guilty.

When Seungwan didn’t say a word, Joohyun continues, “If I would have known they were giving you a damn detention I would have said something,” she says sincerely, making Seungwan look over at her.  She has never seen Joohyun this sincere even from when she was just seeing the older girl at school back when they’re not related all.

Their eyes meet for the nth time today but this time, they give each other a smile.