20XX

“What?”

“Yes, I stay with mom, you go with dad.” The girl said as she plopped down on the couch and crossed her legs, the older male sighed at his sister.

“How..And how did you come up with this conclusion, sweetheart?”

“Well, you’re a boy, so stay with dad. I’m a girl, so I get mom.” She shrugged, and then her eyes narrowed.

“And, do not call me that, oppa.”

“Ahyoung-ah, what you just said, simply doesn’t make sense. We can’t decide on that like this, maybe talking to~”

“Oppa, think about it, you’re the athletic child, so go with appa. You swim, I don’t.” She pointed out, the older male paused and chewed on his lower lip. The brat made sense, painfully, a lot of sense. His sister was always like this, she decided on things quickly. She didn’t like it when it got complicated for her, always preferred the easiest way to fix things.

He was so worried about her when their parents sat them down to discuss about the divorce. But, Ahyoung took it well, she even asked questions.

The older smiled and nodded.

“Fine. I guess that wouldn’t hurt.”
“Exactly, school starts in a few months, oppa. I know you already have a spot in the swim team.”

“Are you going to stay at your school?”

“Of course.” She replied in English, the male exhaled and nodded. He pushed the sleeves of his sweatshirt to his elbows.

“Are you sure? Why don’t you transfer~”

“No, I have my friends there, oppa. And, you’re school is..eh.” She shrugged at him, the girl paused, as she saw two men carrying huge boxes pass by them. She exhaled and turned away, the older male’s gaze went to the windows. It has been going on the whole morning, movers were carrying boxes of their mother’s things into their truck.

“It won’t be easy, Ahyoung-ah.” He said, the girl looked at him and nodded.

“No one said it would be, oppa.”

“I hate how you’re always so calm about this.”

The girl stood up and walked to her brother, she leaned against the desk beside him.

“I’m not calm, I’m..worried, oppa. You have no idea. My stomach aches every time I’m reminded about it, my schoolmates will be talking about this, but that doesn’t bother me.”

The male turned to her, his brows went up.

“It’s a lot of changes, no, it’s a big change. But, we have to move on. Our parents have.” She said as she jutted her lips towards the truck, a black BMW sedan pulled over and their father slid down from the vehicle.

“You’re right. But I was supposed to say all those things.”

The girl scoffed in reply, Hyunjae chuckled and put one arm around her shoulder.

“We’ll get through this, stop worrying. Oppa’s just here.”
“That’s the problem, you’re always “here”. Stop being so clingy. Please.”

“Hey!”

“So, she’s staying there? You said she was going to join you.” The male spoke as he sat down on the bench, he ran his fingers through his damp hair and faced his friend

“Eomma’s new place is nearer to her school, so, she’s decided to stay there. You know her.” Hyunjae said, the male nodded back and stared at the pool.

“Did she call you?” Hyunjae asked as he picked up his goggles, the younger male nodded in reply.

“She did, the other night.” Younghoon replied in his usual calm tone, his brows went up briefly, and he pressed his lips together.

“I know, I was expecting that she’d transfer too, it would have been nice if she’s finally in the same campus as I am. I’d like to have that experience.” Hyunjae murmured.

“She says she’d rather stay away from you.”

“What?” The male bellowed, Younghoon grimaced as his friend's voice echoed around them.

“She says you talk too much. She’s tired of it.” Younghoon grinned at him, he stood up and picked up his towel. Their other teammates joined them from the pool, Hyunjae nodded at the younger guys.

“Whoa, I’m hurt. I was your friend first.” Hyunjae pointed out, Younghoon chuckled and started to gather his things.

“Where are you going? We’re planning to get food from the stall across the street.”

“I have an appointment.”

“An appointment? To where?” Hyunjae asked, Younghoon checked his phone again.

“Ahyoung. She’s getting another piercing or something.”

“What? And she tells you? Not me?” Ahyoung's older brother screeched again, their teammates glanced at him curiously.

“Yes.” Younghoon's reply was short as he headed for the shower room, Hyunjae scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“He knows more than I do.” He muttered under his breath, Younghoon reappeared again, already dressed in jeans and a shirt.

“And, Hyunjae-ah,” He said as he passed by him.

“What is it? What now?” Hyunjae shot back, Younghoon met his gaze before speaking.

“Ahyoung says that you don’t have to text her your schedule every week.” He said flatly, Hyunjae grimaced.

“She said you make her feel like a parent. And she never wants to be one.” Younghoon said, he grabbed his backpack again and walked away from him.

“The other one is reckless, this one’s emotionless. What a pain.” Hyunjae muttered under his breath.

“Well, how do you find the house so far?”

Ahyoung looked up from her breakfast, her mother walked in, already dressed for work.

“It’s perfect, eomma.”

“That’s it? Perfect? Don’t you have anything else to say? We’ve been here for almost a year now, baby.”

“It’s a house, eomma. I mean, what else do you want me to say?”

“Of course, you find it perfect because you already know how to climb over your window and escape into the night.”

The girl paused, she looked at her mother. The previously, Mrs. Lee, wife of GukJe Group’s vice president, Lee Seungwook, was glaring at her. Well now, her mother was working with her family, the famous KangSan Group of Hotels.

“I see.” Ahyoung replied as she carefully forked around her eggs, her mother sighed and sat down across her.

“Ahyoung-ah.”

“Eomma, I was with my friends. I always am.” She said as she picked up her spoon.

“I just don’t get why you have to go out so late at night, don’t you have the weekends for that? I never say no to you when you ask to go step out of the house.”

“Going out on a weekend is lame, eomma. No spice.”

“What? Spice?” Her mother sighed at her, she looked at her daughter again. Ahyoung was smiling at her.

“Do you at least tell your brother where you’re off to when you go out?”

“Yeah, sure.” Ahyoung quickly responded, the elder paused and she sighed at her daughter.

“Eomma, don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

“You do know that every time you say that, the chances of things not working your way increases, right, daughter?” She pointed out as she poured some coffee. Ahyoung grinned at her mother.

“I cannot believe that you actually buy that theory, director Kang.” She fake gasped, the lady eyed her warily. The girl chuckled, her relationship with her mother has always been like this.

“So, are…you and the boy still talking? The good looking young man.” Her mother teasingly said, Ahyoung paused again, detecting her mother’s tone.

“Eomma, please~”

“Why? He was so nice the other day, perfectly polite too.” Director Kang cooed, she was amused as she saw how her daughter fidgeted. And that was something, her youngest was one tough cookie. And seeing how she was reacting with the mention of that boy from the other day, made her smile. This guy made her usually cool and unaffected daughter show a reaction.

“Come on, baby, I want to know. Ah, to be a high school student.” She hummed, Ahyoung grimaced, horrified.

“Puppy love. How cute.” Her mother added, Ahyoung sighed and finished her milk.

“That’s my cue, I’m going now, mother. See you later.”

The lady smiled, Ahyoung walked around the table to kiss her mother’s cheek.

“Have fun at school today, baby. Be nice to that handsome sunbae, okay?”

Ahyoung scrambled for the front door, director Kang watched as her daughter greeted the family driver and quickly got in the car.

“Congratulations, welcome to the team, freshman.”

The male looked up just as the ball was tossed to him, he expertly caught it before it could land on his face.

“Thanks, sunbae.” He said to the older male, the latter nodded back and approached the team’s coach again. He stood up and soon he was greeted by his other teammates, the coach sat them down for a few minutes to discuss drills and schedules for their training.

“Don’t worry, we won’t have any of those intense stuff this month. Although,” One of the older boys approached him.

“We came real close to finals last year, so, coach has his eye on that. I mean, everyone has their eyes on that. Just a heads up.” Jacob continued, the male nodded back.

“Yes. I was informed regarding that, sunbae.” He replied as they stepped out of the indoor basketball court.

“Good thing you know. I was watching you earlier, your steals were flawless, maknae.” Jacob said, the male silently nodded back.

The two males reached the gates, a familiar face approached them.

“Changmin-ah,” Jacob greeted the male before leaving them.

“How was it? I heard you got in.” Ji Changmin cheerfully said as he walked with his longtime friend, he nodded back.

“I did.”

“I knew it. We should celebrate.” He mused, his friend turned to him and rolled his eyes.

“Come on.” Changmin sighed at his friend lack of energy, well, that was the usual for him.

“We should go by that ramen place today, we don’t have extra period today.” He babbled on as they neared the gates.

“Changmin-ah! Wait up!” One of their classmates called him over.

“Oh, it’s that math report I need to finish. Give me a second.” Changming said to his friend, the latter nodded and he watched his friend rush back to the study kiosk.

The varsity’s new recruit lingered by the gates, waiting for his bubbly friend. And then he noticed a black sedan pull over across the street, a girl, wearing a different uniform appeared from the vehicle.

He paused and glanced back at his school, he had no idea that there was an interschool event occurring today.

The girl was looking around before crossing the street, she walked towards the other side of the gates.

“Kim Younghoon! Move faster!” He heard her holler as she waved one arm above her head. He glanced behind him, he recognized the tall male walking towards her.

“You move faster underwater.” He heard her mutter, the male scoffed in reply as he reached her.

“Hyunjae's about to get here, let’s wait for him.” He heard Younghoon speak.

“No, no. We’re going to be late. Come on.” The girl said, she crossed the street again, he watched as the girl yanked the driver’s door open. The man stunned, as the girl started pulling him off the seat.

“But, young miss~”

“Ahjussi, you can wait for, oppa here. I’m sure he brough his car or appa will come by to pick him up.”

“Young miss,” The driver could only watch as she took over.

But the girl smiled and she hopped in the car, she started the engine before closing the door.

“I’m sorry, ahjussi. We’ll call if something comes up.” Younghoon hurriedly said as he reached the male, he barely got inside the vehicle when it started to careen away from the street.

Changmin reached his friend again, he followed his gaze.

“What are you looking at?” He asked his friend as he slapped him on the shoulder.

“Nothing. Let’s go.”

“Ya, Lee Juyeon, I heard your locker burst open again this morning.”

Juyeon turned to him with raised brows.

“It did? I didn’t pass by it today.”

Changmin sighed at his friend and they crossed the street.

“Was it broken?”

“No, the door gave up because girls kept on dropping you all these notes and gifts. Please, choose one already.”

Juyeon didn’t react and continued walking.

“I hope he meets someone who can understand that he isn't really dead inside.” Changmin muttered under his breath as he jogged after his friend.

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