TIMESKIP 1 WEEK...

“Are we third and fourth wheels?”

Giselle stood next to NingNing, both of them watching their other two friends subtly flirting with each other while waiting in line for food.

“I think so, they’re so cheesy. I can’t believe they aren’t dating yet.”

NingNing sighed, “I’m just glad you were free, I don’t think I would’ve made it if I went alone with them.”

Giselle laughed, wrapping an arm around the younger girl, “I’m glad you were free too.”

The two girls giggled at each other, continuing to talk as they waited for Winter and Karina to come back with the food.

…

“No offense to Ttang Kong, but you’re the cuter puppy.”

Winter pouted at the older girl, “you always say that.”

Karina tapped her chin in thought, “well… My love for you is bigger than the cosmos.”

“Huh?”

“The Universe.”

“Oh- Well- I- You’re-”

The younger girl huffed, “I can’t beat that, I just love you.”

Karina wrapped her arm around Winter’s waist, “dah, that’s enough for me.”

The older girl’s action made Winter blush, and she looked up to the menu to avoid eye-contact while Karina laughed.

…

…

“Your order number is 34.”

“Thank you!”

The cashier nodded, handing the girls their receipt.

“You think the others will like what we picked for them?”

Winter chuckled, “I know for sure Giselle will like hers, we’ve been here a lot together in the past… This is NingNing’s first time here I think? So I hope she likes hers…”

The duo went back to the third and fourth wheels, their friends glancing up at them from watching something on Giselle’s phone when they heard them approach.

“Our number’s 34, shouldn’t take too long.”

NingNing gave them a thumbs up as they sat down in front of them, “I trust you guys when you say this place is good.”

Giselle nodded, putting away her phone, “it really is good, don’t worry NingNing-ah.”

The girls began to talk about their plans for the rest of the summer, eating their lunch when it was ready, laughing around with each other like any group of friends would do outside of school.

….

…

…

…

“That was fun!”

Winter nodded enthusiastically alongside NingNing, “really really fun.”

“Winter, you just liked the food.”

The said girl pouted at her best friend, “not true!”

Karina giggled at the two’s bickering, “hey, the food was pretty good.”

The four giggled as they walked out of the mall, the dumb and dumber duo playfully pushing each other around as the eldest and youngest watched with stifled laughs and shaking heads.

Ding!

The two stopped playing around as they heard a phone ding, and Winter fished out her phone from her pocket.

“Sorry, must be my-”

“What’s up Minjeong-ah?”

Karina glanced over Winter’s shoulder to see the message from an unknown number, the older girl’s eyebrows furrowing as she glanced around the area.

Then they heard Giselle gasp, the Japanese girl ferociously tapping Winter’s arm and pointing to a man a few feet behind them.

“Ow- what?”

Winter turned around, and she froze from who Giselle pointed to, her shocked expression slowly turning to a big grin.

Karina and NingNing stared in confusion at the two girls, wondering why their expressions changed so quickly, wondering who that man Giselle was pointing to was.

He had dark brown hair going up to his chin, slightly messy as if he hadn’t had a cut in a while, his body tall and thin, pale skin, a warm smile matching his eyes.

Karina thought he looked awfully similar to someone else.

The blonde-haired girl then began to run to the man, and the remaining three could hear the man grunt as she rammed into him, arms wrapping around his waist.

“Is that…”

Giselle nodded at the two girls, “Winter’s brother.”

The man chuckled as his younger sister hugged him, “w-woah… Easy there Mindaeng-ee.”

“Oppa…”

Winter tightened her grasp on her brother, never wanting to let him go.

“I missed you…”

Her brother smiled, patting the girl’s head, “I missed you too… But wow, you got stronger, taller too I think!”

Winter giggled, pulling away slightly to look up at the 5’10” college student. They wore matching smiles, their facial features looking almost identical.

Her brother looked back up, “seems like you made some new friends?”

Winter rolled her eyes as she pulled away, “I’m not a oetol-i.”                (Pronounced weh-tori // “Loner”)

The older boy headlocked Winter and ruffled her hair, “I know my dongsaeng isn’t a loner. Look at you trying to act so tall.”

Winter grumbled in annoyance, but unable to keep up her annoyed expression, she grinned, missing how the siblings used to tease each other all the time.

She fixed her hair as he pulled away, her friends walking up to them both.

“Ayyy back from sleeping, hyung?” 

“Ayyy Giselle, good to see you’ve been well.”

Karina slightly leaned closer to Winter’s ear, “Giselle knows ‘hyung’ is only for boys to older boys right?”

Winter sighed, “she knows, but I don’t know why she keeps calling him that. She says it suits him better.”

The Japanese girl and Winter’s brother did an intricate handshake, the sister face-palming her forehead in embarrassment as the other two girls stared in amusement.

The brother glanced at Karina and NingNing, nodding with a smile, “nice to meet you two.”

“Same here, I’m NingNing.”

“And I’m Karina.”

“Karina? Like- Jimin, Karina?”

The oldest girl stared with a puzzled expression, “uh yes, that’s my Korean name.”

He raised an eyebrow at her, then turned to Winter, “so she’s the one Mom’s been talking about ever since I woke up.”

Giselle and NingNing bursted out in laughter as the two girls in question bursted into blushes.

“S-she what?”

The boy chuckled, “you know Mom can’t hide anything from me. Don’t worry though, Minjeong-ah, Dad wasn’t there.”

He pointed at Karina, giving her a smirk, “take care of my younger sister.”

“Oppaaaaaaa.”

Karina glanced back and forth between the two siblings as Winter groaned, covering her face with her hands.

“O-of course…”

“How’d you know I was here though?”

The brother chuckled, “Mom told me you were here with your friends. I asked her to drop me off so I could surprise you.”

Giselle questioned the boy, “wait, I thought you could drive?”

He stretched, “I can, don’t you remember? I dropped you off before. Doc said not to for a few days just in case though.”

He then glanced at the whole group, “sorry to intrude on your day but, our mom’s waiting for us.”

“She is?”

“Yup, you think she’d leave me if she knew I couldn’t drive?”

Winter stared with slight annoyance at her brother before turning to her friends.

“Well, today was fun. I’ll see you guys later.”

Before leaving, she walked up to Karina, only to change her mind at the last minute and hugged the taller, confused girl instead of what she originally planned to do.

“Okay okay, I’ll turn around if you’re going to ki-”

“Yah!”

“Don’t you ‘yah’ me I’m two years older than you.”

Winter’s brother turned around, “and Mom won’t be able to see from where we are.”

The two girls flustered up, Winter grumbling incoherently as she turned back to face Karina. After a few seconds of awkward shyness, she pulled the older girl closer by her arm, giving her a peck on the cheek.

Winter muttered in the girl’s ear, “see ya, Karomi.”

“You’re not going to call her ‘jagiya’?”

“S-shut up Giselle!”

Karina’s blush deepened in color as she pushed Giselle with one arm, “l-listen to your best friend… Bye, Gyeoulie.”

Winter waved at her friends and then quickly ran away to where her brother waited, punching his arm as she passed by him in what seemed like a very hard manner.

“You two look cute together.”

“S-shut up, oppa.”

“Was Giselle joking about the ‘jagiya’? Or do you two actually call each other that.”

Winter leaned up to shut her brother’s mouth by pinching his lips together, “no more talking about me and Karina.”

The boy laughed, “fine fine, I’ll stop. Mind catching me up on what’s been going on though for the past year?”

Winter then grinned, “of course.”

With that, the younger girl began to vividly talk about the world’s happenings for the past year, her brother listening intently as they walked to their mother’s car.

Winter felt euphoric, talking to her older brother…

She felt as if she was finally whole again…

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Older brother Kim in the houseee

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Sorry uhhh 🤡 Hope you enjoyed, as I said in a previous chapter, Winter's brother's personality and looks is all my imagination :) -Minah