Twenty four - It was always you

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Lia is convinced that studying is really student + dying.

 

Lia's mood has been a roller-coaster since the exam weeks started.

 

One minute, she's happy that she's exempted from the Literature exam (thanks to her whisper-yelling role, yes) and the next minute she's almost crying blood because Chemistry.

 

She hasn't seen Ryujin for a few days now too, in between focusing on her own studies and constantly dealing with her messy family, there are just too many things going on for the younger. It's no wonder why Ryujin spends most of her time in Lia's place more than her own, only really staying in her own house when Yuna is alone or when everything is really down to .

 

Lia heads down to the library to torture herself more with chemical formulas because what's the best way to spend your free period right? She flops on the library table where Winter and Karina sat, things scattered messily on top of it. Lia grunts as she dropped face down on the large table. She's not sure she can take another exam for the day.

 

"How can they expect us to learn all these ing subjects all at once, hell, one teacher can't even teach all subjects alone. This is so frustrating!" Lia ranted, earning a look from the librarian and some warning looks from her seatmates. 

 

"You need to pass your exams, Lia. You totally need that for like when you're an adult and computing taxes." Winter joked.

 

As promised, Karina has been helping out Winter with subjects she's been having difficulties with, occasionally praising the girl for understanding her explanations, but mostly reminding the girl to take it easy on herself. Winter would always feel downhearted whenever she's unable to grasp certain topics and Karina would always tell her that she's supposed to be taking lower year subjects but she's just too smart for it.

 

"Yeah, because I'd totally go and file my taxes and tell them that the ideal gas equation is PV = nRT"

 

"Exactly the whole point of Chemistry." Winter joked as well. Karina snickered beside her. 

 

"I'd rather read a 400k words slow-burn angst fanfic about Camren than read this." Lia added, tossing the printed chemical formulas she's holding.

 

"Camren?" Winter asked, looking confused.

 

"You wouldn't want to get started." Lia said, flopping back down again.

 

-

 

Yuna opens Ryujin's door and went straight to her sister's bed. 

 

Parents may as well be Gods. 


They have the power to make and break.

 

Yuna thinks their parents should just end it all. There isn't really a point in staying under the same roof when all they do every day is fight, and fight, and fight.

 

What's the whole point of trying to keep the family when they haven't really been an actual family for a while now?

 

Ryujin opens her arms and hugs her sister tight, kissing the top of her head. She feels the same way too. 

 

Their father comes home drunk, smells like a different woman with clothes stained with different shades of lipstick every single night. 

 

Their mother isn't any better. She's on her phone every time, in full make-up, video calling God knows who. She keeps on saying it's for business, yet they'll hear the flirty conversations and roll their eyes because it's just disgusting.

 

Yet, their parents refuse to divorce, going on and on about how the kids should be thankful they have a complete family they can go home to.

 

Family?

 

Home?

 

Ryujin thinks those words shouldn't really be used in the same sentence. 

 

Yuna hugs her sister more, loving the comfort it brings her. She's too tired to cry about it, so whenever she hears them yelling and tossing things to each other, she would always run to her sister to remind herself that she's not alone in this hell world. She can't wait to finish middle school and join her sister Ryujin, knowing she's walking on the same school grounds with her favorite person in the world is enough for her. 

 

She would often reminisce some of their memories back when they were kids.

 

Yuna was a hyper kid albeit a small one, and kids from school would always bully her. Her sister is one year older than her and would always have her back, so whenever she sees the younger crying on the school gates, she'd dash through Yuna's classroom the next day to scold whoever bullies her.

 

One time her bully does the same, calling her own older sister which ended up with their unnies with hands on each other's hair.

 

Whenever they would end up in a catfight, Ryujin and Yuna would always end up in the nearby playground, sitting on the rusty swings, because that's what they always do.

 

Shin Yuna and Shin Ryujin. 

 

If they could just drop their names and be whoever they want, not the daughters of an alcoholic father and a vain mother.

 

"Hey kid, do you want to go out of town for summer break?" Yuna hears her sister ask. She looks up to see the older smiling at her.

 

Who is it this time, huh? That woman from the pharmacy? You !

Quit spitting out nonsensical things, you annoy me, woman!

 

Yuna closed her eyes, willing for the noise outside to stop. 

 

"Please. Just anywhere but here." She murmurs.

 

"Hang on tight kid, we'll be able to get out of here before you know it."

 

-

 

"ing finally!" Lia yelled just after finishing her last exam that Thursday afternoon.

 

"Language, Miss Choi." 

 

"Sorry." Lia said, placing her exam papers on their teacher's desk before heading out. She needs a Redbull or something.

 

She sees Giselle behind her passing her papers so she waits for her friend and asked her to head down to the cafeteria with her.

 

"Waaaah I can smell the summer vacation already!" Lia said happily, drinking lemon juice instead of her initial craving for an energy drink.

 

Giselle chuckled at her friend's antics, before pulling the girl down to an empty table and deciding to ask her about their summer vacation plans instead.

 

"So... I think the beach house won." Giselle started, scrolling through their group chat.

 

"This beach house, you sure can accommodate us all, yeah?" Lia asked.

 

"Yeah, I think so. There are four rooms on the second floor and two rooms on the first, so we should be fine." Giselle shrugged.

 

"Winter is right, you're rich rich." Lia said, amazed.

 

"I'm not. My parents are. That's totally different." Giselle chuckled.

 

"Exactly what a rich kid would say."

 

"Anyway." Lia said instead, "Hyunjin is the only one with a license to drive, so I still have no idea how we're gonna get there."

 

"Oh no Hyunjin won't drive this time. It's too far, and the road is a bit difficult." Giselle said, snacking on a protein bar.

 

"Then how are we going there?" Lia said, but realizing the answer as soon as she saw her friend's face. "No way. Heol. You're proper rich. Daebak. You even got a driver for us?"

 

"Not specifically for the trip, no. Uncle Soo has been our family driver since we were kids and he'll be happy to drive us there." Giselle explained.

 

"We're not going to fit in that minivan though," Lia said, continuously letting the girl know of all her possible problems.

 

Giselle looks at her knowingly, her gaze explaining that she doesn't have to worry about all that, causing Lia to smile widely.

 

"You are the , Gi!"

 

-

 

Little Jimin sat on the front porch step of their house, staring outside to the playground a few blocks away from her. 

 

There are a lot of kids running around, some are playing on the sandbox, others going up and down the slides. The little girl would always look at them and wonder how it feels to play in there, growing slightly tired with her books and toys her parents would always buy her.

 

Today is a bit different. She's not too jealous of the kids playing there anymore, because her min-min baby is coming. 

 

With Jimin's parents leaving for an out-of-town conference, Taeyeon will be sleeping over to watch over her. It was the weekend and that means Minjeong comes with her. Jimin hears her mom's thoughts by the door, making the girl turn back and smile at the lady.

 

"I'm not sad, Omma.. Min-min baby is coming." Jimin said, assuring her mother's thoughts.

 

"What a big gir

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Zaringhares
33 streak #1
Chapter 39: I love this story! Liked how there was focus on other ships as well and they all got their happy ending. Karina doesn't have to hear thoughts of others, the curse has been lifted thanks to her love.

Karina and Winter's relationship went through all those different stages of the relationship with both happy and sad moments, with kisses, fights and hugs.

Thank you so much for this story author!
Zaringhares
33 streak #2
Chapter 38: So much fluff in this chapter! Karina and Winter will be able to continue their relationship, both going long way to achieve it.

And Winter is staying with the gang! That is awesome.
Zaringhares
33 streak #3
Chapter 37: Minju seems nice, she likes to tease Winter and also knows what will happen in the future of some sorts. It seems like an argument is brooding but as Minju said , it will be resolved, hopefully.
Zaringhares
33 streak #4
Chapter 36: Minju seems like a good person, trying her best to befriend the quiet girl and when she finally does it years later they get distanced by miles.
Zaringhares
33 streak #5
Chapter 35: The date was very cute. Winter knows how to make Karina happy and vice versa. Glad Karina was able to enjoy her first game and even got a ball!
Zaringhares
33 streak #6
Chapter 34: Trouble is coming for real. It is good that Winter has friends like Ningning with whom she can talk about anything and they can resolve their fights eventually.
Zaringhares
33 streak #7
Chapter 33: Yeji and Ningning can work out. They might be different but they like each other a lot and Yeji doesn't seem like someone to give up easily.
Zaringhares
33 streak #8
Chapter 32: Finally they are dating officially. And had their first kiss which was just lovely. This chapter was very wholesome.
Zaringhares
33 streak #9
Chapter 31: Now the truth is out. Winter was mad which is understandable, when hearing something that sounds surreal to others.

I really hope that they will stay together despite the wishes of Winter's mom. She is worried about her daughter, makes sense but it also sounds like she is a bit controlling.
Zaringhares
33 streak #10
Chapter 30: Just when things turned for the best a storm is brooding with the name of Winter's mom. At least they got to enjoy a trip together. Maybe Winter will try to fight her mom's decision.