“Where are you?”  Wonwoo asked as soon as the ring from the other side came to halt.

“The shop.” Sojung lied. After seeing Yuta, she ended up straying from her direct path home, walking aimlessly around the neighbourhood.

“I need a place to stay tonight.” Wonwoo told her. He could hear her breathing through the line. No. It was more like a sigh. He knew the sound too well. That was the sound she made every time he got himself into trouble. Sometimes, he felt sorry for getting Sojung involved into his trouble but most of the time, he pretended to not pay attention to it or else he would feel guilty to ask for her help, like right now.

“Are you going into the shop right now?” she said after a long pause.

“No. I’m at the park.” He replied, sitting on one of the swings in the empty park five minutes away from her home.

“Actually, I’m delivering. Wait for me there.” She lied and sprinted her way to where Wonwoo was.

 

“Did you run?” Wonwoo stood on his feet to as he saw Sojung approached him, gasping for air and sweating a bucket.

“I had to climb those awful steep roads on Y street.” She lied once again. Waiting for the bus took much time. Obviously, she had to make a run for it when Wonwoo called to not get caught.

“Where’s your bike?” he asked when he saw her without the delivery bike.

“Oh, I didn’t take my bike today.” At this point, Sojung doubted even Wonwo bought it.

“Oh, really? What’s up with the backpack?” he asked. His piercing eye contact made her look away.

“Fine, I lied.” She admitted at last. Sojung was kind of regretting her decision to lie to Wonwoo now. She could have just taken the bus since she was going to get caught, anyway. It was almost impossible to hide any secrets from Wonwoo since he knew her since birth and practically grew up together after her aunt’s divorce.

“Took you long enough.” He shook his head at her and reached for her backpack, helping to carry it along with a stack of books in her hands. Wonwoo almost laughed when he thought about it. Sojung was such a terrible liar. There was no way she could have deliver like this.

“So, what happened? You didn’t contact me for over a month.” She asked, leading the way to their house.

“The old man crashed my phone. Look at my new phone. Neat, huh?” Wonwoo showed off his old flip phone. Sojung took it from his hand. At this point, the phone model belonged to museum with the other artifacts.

“Did he do that to your hand?” she asked and stopped in front of his path to examine his hand. He could sense the wariness in her tone and gently removing her from touching him elsewhere. Chu Sojung should not see the scars on his back or she would drag the old man into the police station by her own hands. She was more than capable to do that, he just instinctively knew. A year ago or so, he heard rumour about her yanking the hair of a drunkard who beat his sister and dragged him to the police. Just imagining it, made him shivered.

“He finds out about me joining the basketball committee for sports day.” He told her the truth. Her eyes widened in surprise. A normal person would not do that to his own flesh and blood.

“That crazy... Did you go to the hospital?” Sojung bit her lips to contain her rage before she blurted out undignified cursed words from . That was such a petty reason to get away from hurting his own son. The only times when Wonwoo was scratched during the time he lived with his mom was from practicing basketball or from his own carelessness bumping into pole when he was walking. His mom never did such thing to him and would never do.

“I did. Don’t worry about it. I’m going to have this cast on for another two, three weeks. He wouldn’t hurt my other hand. I need it for homework.” He told her as if it was the most normal thing for a father to do to his son.

“If he did something like that again, you run straight to us, get it?” she said with tears pooling in her eyes as she walked ahead so that he could not see her crying.

“I can take care of myself. Don’t worry too much. I just need a place to stay tonight.” He caught up with her pace and nudged her to the side playfully. As long as he had someone to confide in to, he’ll be fine. Wonwoo had neither intention of making Sojung worried or begging for her sympathy for what he had gone through these past few years.

“What did he do this time?” she asked whilst trying to keep herself calm.

“Not him. His new son is getting into my nerves. He wants me to be nice to his mom and telling me to stop being a spoiled brat. I told him that wasn’t going to happened and left. Basically, the old man doesn’t know I left. Now, you. Why are you running away from home?” he asked as she put his arm around her to stop her from walking ahead and to answer his question, instead.

“I’m not running away. I’m just trying to process things.” She told him, truthfully. If her initial attention was to run away from her family, Sojung should have stayed in the dormitory and not return home for the rest of the semester. But she did, which meant she cared enough to be around her mom during her pregnancy.

“You’re not telling?” he asked again.

“My mom is pregnant again.” She blurted out as she closed her eyes tight. She feared his reaction to the news.

“They can still do it?” was the first thing he asked when the news processed in his head.

“Eww, you’re gross. And they’re not that old.” she swatted his head before he said more stupid stuffs.

“Aren’t they old? You’re like 30.”

“Do you need a beating?” Sojung stared at him in disbelief as he laughed at her reaction.

“So, what’s about the new baby?” he asked. Wonwoo didn’t seem surprised by the news as much as she did when the first time she heard it.

“Take off your uniform.” Sojung forcefully took off his uniform, stuffing it inside his backpack, leaving the black t-shirt he wear inside and let out a satisfying laugh.

“What the hell!” he exclaimed and covered his body as if he was left bare. She knew he would be dramatic as he usually did.

“Let’s get some drinks.” She declared with evil laugh and went straight into the convenience store.

 

“Aren’t we going to get into trouble?” Wonwoo nudged Sojung and looked around for police or anyone he knew from school.

“Gosh, come on. This isn’t the first time you drink illegally.” She shook her head at the ridiculousness.

“We did it in secret.” He reminded her. Wonwoo was used to be an innocent kid until his final year in middle school. Along with his struggles of being a newly proclaimed rich kid, Sojung planted the bad thoughts inhis head during his rebellious phase. Just thought of it as an escape from reality, she said to him. In a way, she was a good and bad influence to his life.

“Come on, it’s just a few beers. Last time, you steal your dad’s whiskey.” She jogged his memories of the time he got really drunk and threw up on the bed. Thankfully, her parents never knew the truth about the incident and remembered it as ‘the time Wonwoo got really sick’. Sojung kind of putting all the blames on the marinated they had earlier that day, resulting that particular food to be banned from their household until today.

“Can I have a cigarette?” he asked from Sojung.

“No. You’re an athlete. What if it ruins your lungs?” she swatted his hand from looking inside her backpack.”

“What a joke.” He scoffed at her remark of him being an athlete. It has been too more than two years since he had professional training to the sports and had his hand constantly ruined by his ‘father’.

“I don’t carry that around anymore.” She admitted but sighed at her answer. Wonwoo smirked. Sojung made it obvious that she hated her mom getting pregnant which was quite contrary to the way she acted. She obviously cared about her. Constantly going home to check on her condition, drinking outside, quit smoking, if that was not love, he did not know what was.

“Do you hate it so much? Being in that man’s house, isn’t it better than living at our house? You said it’s huge and you have a housekeeper. Our house makes your clothes smells like grease and your hair was always oily.” She took a sip from the can beer as she reminisced about the past.

“But it’s not my home.” He admitted and smiled bitterly as they let the silence took over.

“Do you remember when we got straight A’s for school? Dad will close the shop the next day and take us to the theme park.” The smile blooms on her rosy lips when she remembered the simpler times.

“You used to be too short to go on most rides.” He .

“You’re the one who’s awfully tall.” She laughed it off. It was true, growing up, she had always been small than the girls her age, she always got picked on. Thus, when her growth spurt suddenly ascended during middle school, Sojung was very grateful. She didn’t want to hide behind Wonwoo’s shadow and wanted to protect someone she loved, instead.

“Your dad acted like he’s fine. But when we got older, we found out that he wasn’t good at going on the rides. And he always threw up when we’re not looking.”

“He’s such as show off.” Sojung scoffed at the thought of her dad acting tough.

“I had fun though.” Maybe it was the beer but Wonwoo could feel the tickles and warmth from the recollections of their childhood memories.

“Do you want to know a secret? When I couldn’t go on those ride, I always pretended like I don’t mind but I was dying to go. And then your mom secretly bought me ice creams to make me feel better.” She told him the truth.

“You, cheater. I knew something was going on. You two kept exchanging glances.” He expressed his dissatisfaction and pretended to sulk.

“Why do you hate her mom getting pregnant?” he asked suddenly. Sojung could not find appropriate words to express her thoughts. Frankly speaking, she didn’t know how to feel about it.

“Honestly, I’m worried that my mom will get sick again. Remember when she had tumour in her and everyone kept it from me until the surgery? I thought she was going to die. I got so scared and had nightmares for the whole year. What if the pregnancy makes her sick but she keeps it from me?” she confided her worries into him.

As the moonlight hit her eyes, he could see the pool of tears glistened in her eyes. Knowing Sojung for his whole life, she wasn’t someone who easily showed tears. But for these couple of years, things seemed to change. She got worried easily, cried all the time and constantly became anxious without no reasons. Wonwoo took a deep breath before comforting her. He didn’t want to say anything that would made her felt worse.

“How can they tell a twelve-year-old that? You’ll be worried sick. And I’m sure your parents have thought thoroughly before making such decision and thought it through before telling you, don’t you think so? Afterall, they love you so much.” He convinced her.

“I can’t live without my mom.” She said under her breath.

“Tell me about it.” he mumbled, letting the haze in his head took over.

“I’m really sorry. That was thoughtless of me. I’m so, so sorry.” Sojung apologized as soon as the sentence hit her.

“Me too. I could not live without her too.” He replied with a smile, instead. A genuine smile with a mix of bitterness as he reminisced about the mom he’d been missing for a long time.

“Did you hear from her?” Sojung asked carefully. It was never her intention to tub salt into his wound.

“Nothing.” He told her an took the last sip from the can.

“I’m sorry.” She said as he ruffled his hair into a mess. Suddenly, a rush of emotions took over him. At a moment like this, he really felt so small sitting next to Sojung. She made he felt vulnerable and he wanted to relied on her. At least, that was the excuse he could came out with if someone ever saw him cried right now.

“What if I never get to see her again?” he said under his breath. The quiver in his voice squeezed Sojung’s heart. At the moment, she realized how ungrateful she was for having two healthy and supportive parents. It made her trouble seemed like a speck of dust.

“Don’t say that. You and your mom are related by blood. Nobody in this world could take her away from you. Nobody could separate you.” she tried to comfort him.

“Do you think that old man has something to do with her being missing?” he asked unexpectedly. Sojung had to admit that it was possible considering all the things he had done to Wonwoo since the day he lived under Jeon Hyunsoo’s roof.

“The best we can do is hoping that she’s fine wherever she is.” She spoke carefully. To be honest, she did not want to make him hopeful of expecting his mom returning anytime soon. That would only hurt him more when he realized that probably was not going to happen anytime soon.

“Do you know what makes me scared? One day, that old man will eventually get married and when he does, the woman will become my family. And nobody else will remember about my mom again. What if her existence is truly wiped off from my life?” Sojung didn’t answer him. Instead, she patted his head and let the silence took over. The horrid thought sent her to edge. She would hate that as much as he did.

“Wait, aren’t they married?” she asked, confused.

“No. They haven’t registered the marriage. I’m technically living in a house full of strangers.” He told her the truth. Only sigh left his body afterwards.

“Why do you hate the lady?” Sojung took the courage to ask. Wonwoo hesitated to answer. In fact, he did not have the right response.

“She’s… too kind. I’d feel sorry for my mom if I was fond of that woman.” He told her, slightly embarrassed by his own reasoning.

He knew he was being petty but somehow, he could not help the feeling when he thought about the time when they lived in poverty. If his father cared enough, he would have help them with financial support and childcare, not just swooped into his life out of nowhere and wiped off his mom existence from his life. Wonwoo loathed him for that.

 “I’m better off alone. Mom should’ve leave me at the orphanage instead of sending me back to your house. I’m such a bad luck.” He muttered the last word but it caught Sojung’s attention the most.

“Don’t say that nonsense again. Mom and dad never regretted taking care of you.” She put her arm around his neck to pull him closer.

“What about you?” he asked.

“What about me?”

“You could’ve had better room or gone to cram schools if they didn’t use the money on me.” Wonwoo told her, making her slightly upset. Sure, they never had a luxury life with additional mouth to feed and all the medical expenses to pay, but they had enough to get by. And she was more than grateful for that life. The thought of him being a burden to the family never crossed their minds.

“Listen. I’m only going to say this once. You were never a burden. I’m happy that you are part of our family and I’m glad that you’re not only my cousin but you’re my best friend and the best little brother I could ever asked for. Now, don’t make me say that again. I’ve goosebumps all over me.” Sojung told him and threw him to the side, reaching for another can of beer and gulped it endlessly to hide her embarrassment.

Wonwoo scoffed as he saw her reaction. It is true that they never made it clear how much they need and appreciate each other. And they used to be terrible at expressing at how they felt. Seeing how much they opened up to each other made him relief that he did have family to rely on and he was not alone all these times.

“Thank you. and I’m sorry.” He said in fainted voice as the alcohol took over.

“Stop it.” she said, still chugging down the drink as Wonwoo did the same.

“Stop drinking. You have to go to school tomorrow.” She reminded him.

“I’m going to stop after this one.” He told her and the rest of the night was filled with silence of the night.