THIRD

 

Song Yuqi is the second eldest in the Yeh household. Adopted at the age of nine, the Chinese inborn always hoped that whoever was going to pick her up from the shelter will be her forever family. But that wasn’t always the case. You see, little Song Yuqi had moved along four families in total, and she wished that her fifth time would be the last real family she ever wanted.

 

“ Yuqi. There are people I want to introduce you to. “ Sister Kim entered her little room shared by what used to be with two other girls then was now solely occupied by Chinese native. Thirteen and young stood Yuqi from her desk, following the way Sister Kim led her to.

 

As soon as she lands her eyes upon the family, the first one she saw was Shuhua. She was this creamy baby with little to no eyebrows in her not to mention the overflowing amount of luscious black hair she displayed.

 

Shuhua granted her a warm smile, which Yuqi slowly returned.

 

She sat next to Sister Kim as the parents whom introduced themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Yeh along their two daughters, were said to be Taiwanese. Yuqi’s eyes hinted a small interest in them. She has never encountered a non-Korean adoptive family before. All of the previous families that tried to take her home were strongly Korean and Yuqi thinks maybe she needs to be as Korean as she can get to be taken cared of; to be loved by any family.

 

Seeing the thirteen-year-old’s sense of hope, Sister Kim decides to let Yuqi wander the shelter together with little Shuhua and sixteen-year-old Susan to get the soon-to-be-sisters their head start of getting to know each other.

 

Yuqi quietly stands there as the two sisters bickered on who gets to sit next to her in the swing set that had three seats in them. As cute as it seems, Yuqi thinks they won’t stop until she intervenes.

 

Her shaky hands held Susan’s and met Shuhua’s little ones as well as she gets them to stop.

 

“ I’ll sit in the middle so that way, you two can sit next to me. “ The three smiled at the wonderful idea Yuqi inputted. Helping each other hand in hand sit in the swing set with a little struggle, the three managed to swing altogether bringing gentle happy smiles on their faces.

 

Yuqi was somehow contented.

 

She liked being in between the two and definitely holding each other’s hand.

 

“ We take care of you Yuqi-unnie. And love you like family.  “ Little ten year old Shuhua tries to make out with her words. She immensely stared at Yuqi as she plasters a huge smile on her face. With a hum of agreement from the eldest; Susan, the cute siblings were now swinging back and forth with pure bliss amidst them.

 

Yuqi knew that the possibilities of getting send back at the orphanage were high as the possibilities of being with the fifth and hopefully last adoptive family forever were slim but somehow from the small squeezes from their hands, Yuqi decides to trust this family a little more.

 

That night Sister Kim puts Yuqi to bed with the most reassuring smiles on her face.

 

“ I have a feeling I am not going to see you any time soon Yuqi. This family will love you sincerely. “ Yuqi embraced Sister Kim, albeit she had her fears but the overflowing warmness from her new family had brought the tears of her soul to pour out in the open.

 

True enough, she ended up spending two more years with the Yeh family. Yuqi cannot deny that those two long years were the happiest years ever since she was born. She felt genuine and tender care from her adoptive parents and very much so from her sisters.  

 

The three sisters bonded, often stuck to each other’s hip. What one would do, the rest would follow.

 

They spent those years loving one another as they promised.

 

Yuqi holds onto their love.

 

Her Mama and Papa waited for her to be comfortable around them and got her to open up, welcoming their passionate hearts into hers. When time came that the family had to talk about the change of name for Yuqi. The girl was conflicted. Sure, it would be amazing to bear the name of the family that accepted her and loves her entirely, still the ‘Song’ in her name couldn’t be easily forgotten.

 

Meanwhile, Shuhua suggests she retains her last name as ‘Song’ rather than changing it into the adoptive ‘Yeh’ in her name. She said it was to be a reminder for her unnie that no matter what, Yuqi had herself and should never feel the need to change her identity to be part of the family.

 

Yuqi swelled up upon those words coming from little twelve-year-old Shuhua. She never expected the girl to be so considerate of her situation and uplifted her to keep her original name as a bearing of her identity in assurance that the Song family name will live on.

 

The family agreed to this and never paid attention ever again to such details. After all, Yuqi is family. Nothing is going to change that.

 

x

 

At the present, Yuqi is a junior as to Shuhua is a freshman in their school, while their eldest Susan was off to college, Yuqi feels the anxiety of separation once more. She fears that once they do part ways she would be back to the orphanage in her little room, all alone. The morning that Susan left their home, she spoke to Yuqi privately before her departure.

 

“小天使 (little angel), unnie is just two hours away from home. I can come over anytime, I can be here if you want me to. Don’t be afraid. My departure will be temporary only. As soon as I am done, I am coming back here and cuddle you to death okay? “ Susan was the ideal unnie for Yuqi. She was the sister she never had but dreamed to be like. Susan was always responsible, mature, and kind. Yet the element of quirkiness and her goof made Susan a little bit more special for Yuqi.

 

Susan always reassured her when she’s scared of things. But now, she wants to try to reassure her that everything will be fine and she should go on and get that diploma.

 

“ Yes unnie. I know, I searched your school long before and I know which bus or train schedules to catch if I want to visit. “ Susan smiles at this, knowing how much of an intellect Yuqi is and her continuous attempt at being independent had led her to be like this.

 

“ Good to know 小天使 (little angel). Ah, by the way I have one last thing to ask of you. “

 

Yuqi doesn’t get the last meaning of Susan’s message but she tries to nod her head in agreement to it. Something along the lines of; ‘Shuhua is a sweet girl but needs a lot of attention Woogie. She is special and she needs you and your strength to help her ‘. They rushed downstairs as Susan finally takes off on her awaited self-discovery in college, like another chapter of life will unravel.

 

Shuhua and Yuqi stood side by side, oddly competing on who is best at saying their farewells to their beloved sister. Susan smiles and looks knowingly at Yuqi as she slips into the hailed cab, mouthing “ 小天使 “. With one last wave, Susan went away.

 

Yuqi looks beside her and stares at Shuhua, ‘ She is special, and she needs you to help her’. She puts her arm around Shuhua and promised to do what she can to lend her strength just like Susan when they all needed her. As they go along, surely Yuqi will understand it. As long as she takes good care of Shuhua, she knows she’s doing the right thing.

 

She needs me.

 

x

 

This morning was odd. First, Shuhua got up extremely early today. Yuqi peeked inside her room and finds the younger girl rummaging her closet, pulling out all her clothes. Yuqi thinks Shuhua wants to impress on her first wash-day. (Wash day is like a day wherein students get to wear their own clothes rather than wearing the uniforms. )

 

But, she never dresses to impress. Yuqi shrugs, maybe she changed her mind about her fashion morale.

 

When breakfast came rolling in, she hears Shuhua puffing in annoyance who was coming down the stairs. “ Ugh, stupid stupid clothes. Why won’t you cooperate with me? “ Yuqi widens her eyes as she looks at Shuhua’s outfit. She wore her denim skirt and some floral dress shirt that she rarely ever wears. She looks…pretty.

 

“ Yah, Yeh Shuhua! What are you wearing? “ Yuqi airs her shock and confusion towards Shuhua’s fashion change.

 

“ Yah, it doesn’t concern you. Besides, these look great on me. “ Shuhua poses in front of Yuqi as if convincing her sister that she is looking at a magazine model that could wear almost anything and make it look great.

 

“ If I wouldn’t have known, I’d say you are trying to impress someone. Aren’t you? “ Accusingly teasing her sister, Yuqi laughs at this possibility. Surely, Shuhua wouldn’t care for this crap right? Shuhua’s never been the person to place much effort into her style or her presence. She just rolls in as Shuhua. Same as always.

 

" And are you wearing make-up? “ Yuqi tries to touch the younger’s face to confirm her suspicion on Shuhua wearing make-up. What is wrong with her today?

 

“ Are you trying to be girly now? Is that it? “ The older Yeh laughed once more not noticing the agitated Shuhua in her surroundings. Shuhua kicks Yuqi in her feet, and grumps up to her room once more.

 

“ YAH! THAT HURT SO MUCH! “ Yuqi screams in pain. Seeing Shuhua storm off like that, she knew she must have upset the youngest. Yuqi furrows her eyebrows, just what is wrong with her today?

 

Their walk to school was quiet. It was just the two of them today as Soojin, their neighbor had dance practice early in the morning for the upcoming inauguration. So Yuqi had the chance to look at her sister. She acknowledges that the youngest Yeh changed her clothes to her normal get-up of sweatpants and oversized shirt but made sure to make of it as cute-looking. She also removed her make-up and placed her hair in high ponytail.

 

Yuqi knows she must apologize. After all, Shuhua can be sophisticated and change her fashion statements to her liking. It’s not like Shuhua made fun of hers before. Yuqi sighs she absolutely knew she ed up.

 

“ Look Shushu, I’m- “ Before Yuqi could finish her sentence, Shuhua races to the entrance of their school, greeting a certain ‘Elkie’ there with a huge smile on her face.

 

Okay, that’s weird. She was just silent and mad earlier now she’s happy all of the sudden?

 

Yuqi continues to walk and when she knew that Shuhua was safe together with Elkie she made way to her classes as well. She’ll make up for it later during their lunch break together.

 

x

 

Lunch came but something was unusual. Shuhua is currently waving her arms towards Yuqi signaling her to come to her table. Yuqi sees most of her friends now Shuhua’s as well gathered around there, she sees Elkie beside Shuhua too. The other side of Shuhua was preoccupied by Soojin?!

 

“ Yah! Seo Soojin how dare you? You finally decided to take our lunch meetings seriously? “ Of course Yuqi was kidding, she’s aware of how busy Soojin is nowadays and the mere fact that she made it into their lunch meeting made her really happy. Soojin shyly smiles, turning red even more at her statement. Although Shuhua technically invited Yuqi over it seemed like the younger wasn’t proactive having her sit next to her so Yuqi took the side of Soojin and luckily or unluckily sat beside Jeon Soyeon.

 

“ Aish, Jeon Soyeon! “

 

 

Lunch break flew by but Yuqi didn’t had the time to talk to Shuhua about this morning’s events. The latter was busy talking to Soojin and introducing Elkie to the group that she kinda felt out of place. She felt dejected about how Shuhua was avoiding her and that they should really talk about what happened.

 

“ Hey? You and Shuhua fought? “ Soyeon nudges her, noticing the quietness from Yuqi who usually by now would crack up jokes and share embarrassing moments of Shuhua to the group. Yuqi looks at her and smiles slightly. She tries not to let it get to her though as she tries to change the topic.

 

“ Yeah, but she’s kinda busy right now. So, we’ll resume that later. Anyways, I heard in the halls earlier that you think I am so so so cute Jeon Soyeon? “ The brunette chokes as the rumors had finally reached Song Yuqi’s big ears.

 

“ Yes you are so cute that I wish I can squeeze the life out of you. “ Soyeon proceeds to pinch Yuqi’s cheeks real hard as the latter was holding onto her. Whining really loudly, Yuqi had the attention of the group even stopping Shuhua from her usual hugging session with Soojin.

 

“ Yah Jeon Soyeon! Song Yuqi! Let us eat in peace. It’s bad enough that we have to endure Shuhua and Soojin over here. Don’t make us suffer even more! “ Sorn spits out as the rest of the group approves. The Yeh siblings redden from the interaction resulting to a peaceful one of a kind luncheon they continued to have.

 

While everyone seems to mind their own business, Yuqi sees her sister.

 

She looks happy.

 

But for who?

 

Elkie or Soojin?

 

Doesn’t matter to Yuqi because all she knows is that it wasn’t with her.

 

Prompting the fear of her anxiety once more.

 

x

 

 

The day ends and Yuqi cannot believe she can’t muster a great apologetic speech right now. She had been practicing on how to open up the conversation to Shuhua and how to end things right. Because she isn’t used to being ignored by the youngest Yeh at all quite frankly speaking.

 

They never got to a point where they had to talk seriously about their misunderstandings, they just reached that mutual respect and understanding for one another to do so.

 

Yuqi waits by the school’s entrance, practicing on her apology when she didn’t feel the presence of the youngest Yeh yet. Shuhua coughs up to get her attention and it worked. But, sadly both of them felt awkward now to go home knowing there was something wrong in their dynamics.

 

“ Want to go for an ice cream stop first? “ Yuqi hesitantly asks. Shuhua nods after that. It’s just the two of them still due to the morning and afternoon-night practices of Soojin that had been sending lately. The redhead had practically been living at their school in preparation of their upcoming performance. The Yeh siblings were self-conscious as they didn’t know how to deal with their situation as this has never been a problem before.

 

They reached the nearest convenient store around their school premises and Yuqi proceeds to pick their ice cream flavors. “ Choco? “ Yuqi looks at Shuhua, which resulted the younger to smile her way. Yuqi feels a sense of relief somehow that calmed her nerves for a second. She went on to pay for their ice creams and gone their way to their home.

 

“ You know Ma’s not going to be happy to us eating ice cream before dinner right? “ Shuhua states more than questions. Yuqi shrugs, “ Just as long as you don’t tell her, we’ll live. “ Smirking at that, Shuhua off the rest of her ice cream and gripped on her backpack.

 

Just before the sisters went inside, Yuqi stops. “ I am sorry Shu. I know that you tried to be different today, you know good different and I just ended up to be an that I was and you even changed your outfit today. And it’s supposedly your first wash-day ever at school and I ruined it and I- “ Right before Yuqi cries, Shuhua hugs her and soothes her by rubbing her back. “ Unnie, it’s okay. It was kinda my fault anyways. I was just mad for no reason. “ Shuhua reassures her sister that it wasn’t her fault and knowing Yuqi’s tendencies of self-doubt and insecurities, it was best believed that she would not let her sister think that way.

 

“ I-I’m still s-sorry. “ Yuqi hugs her tighter. Shuhua knows that Yuqi is just being herself and there was nothing to worry about. She continues to pat the older’s back anyway and ushered her to calmness. Yuqi just cares for her a lot and it shows, Shuhua’s really grateful for that.

 

“ Yah Yuqi! Stop crying now! You look like an ugly baby gorilla. Stop it okay? “ Shuhua plainly thinks that it had something to do with her blooming puberty hits these days. Lately, she’s been acting up towards Elkie and even Soojin. Yuqi just experienced it today so, it may have been a shock to her sister.

 

But she isn’t going to tell Yuqi that.

 

She rather have this pleasure of seeing Yuqi ugly cry than having her some more about her mood swings.

 

“ Yah! I am trying to apologize here. “

 

“ And I’m trying to tell you there is no need to. “

 

The sisters smile as they break apart their tear-jerking hug. Shuhua laughs at Yuqi’s current state as the older just motions to punch her instead.

 

“ Go on gorilla, enter our home now so we can dispose of our ice cream adventures from Mama. “ Yuqi widens her eyes and takes her’s and Shuhua’s ice cream trash and rushes inside. It is best to burn the evidence. Yuqi hurriedly got a lighter from the kitchen.

 

Shuhua endearingly smiles at the figure of her sister. She understands the nature of Yuqi’s actions. She was just like Susan before. But what Shuhua yearned to tell Yuqi was that; she was annoyed at Yuqi’s reactions because she wanted to look different today. Cute and girlish for someone. Someone who we shall call by their oh-so-hot-yet-cute-and-beautiful-neighbor-whom-Shuhua-thinks-about-all-the-time someones. Yuqi is about Soojin’s age and if Yuqi thinks Shuhua’s outfit of choice was ridiculous enough to be laughed at, then maybe Soojin would laugh at her too in their usual morning walks to school today. What made her even angrier was the fact that nobody told her Soojin wasn’t going to be present in their said walk to school prompting her silent treatment throughout. Or how she got overly excited having Soojin at lunch today that she waved at her forgetting the fight long before. 

 

But, she wasn’t going to tell Yuqi that. Afterall, Yuqi’s not Susan. Susan would understand. She doesn’t know if Yuqi would too.

 

Shuhua looks at the Seo residence. Staring at the gate and then at their pathway to imagine Soojin being there. She smiles earnestly.

 

“ Good night Jinjin, see you tomorrow. “

 

 

Shuhua’s just going through puberty.

I know, I can’t think of another name so lets pretend Susan is her older sister okay?

 

x;_kingwoolf