Joon’s POV

The next morning, I woke up to find myself in an unfamiliar room and felt a hand on my chest. I looked down and saw a girl sleeping next to me. Did I just screw a girl without remembering? Oh man, my manager will be so pissed with me.

But then I remembered: Yuri. She’s my sister. No, I didn’t screw her (that sounded so wrong) but I slept with her to keep her company.

I smiled, brushing her fringe away, hearing her light breathings. She looked so cute. I pinched her cheeks lightly and she stirred but did not wake. The door opened slightly and I saw my mother coming in the room.

“Morning,” she greeted me, smiling as she sat on the edge, careful not to disturb my little sister.

“Morning, Umma,” I yawned, rubbing my eyes. I looked down at Yuri. “She’s really my little sister, isn’t she?” I asked.

She nodded, smiling softly as she ruffled my hair fondly. “She’s a little fragile at first but once you get to know her, you’ll realize she’s actually tough. She got that from Appa,” she added.

“I noticed.”

“You’ll treat her good, won’t you?”

I nodded. “Of course,” I replied. “I’ve always wanted a little sister and now that my wish came true, I promise you I’ll be the best big brother ever.”

Umma smiled, chuckling softly and gave a small nod. “I’m sure the two of you will get along well,” she said. “Do you have any plans today?”

I shook my head, scrunching my face up to think. “I am supposed to go over to Mir's house later and just hang around,” I replied with a thoughtful frown on my face.

“Could you possibly let her hang out with you guys today? Show her around the place.”

“Sure,” I replied, nodding. I didn’t mind. I wanted to spend time with her, get closer to her, and I wanted her to be friends with my friends too.

Umma looked relieved. “I’ll go prepare breakfast then,” she said, standing up. “Appa have left for work already.” That was expected. You can’t really expect him to spend a minute away from work. He is a workaholic. Aish, Appa . . .

“I’ll wake her up soon,” I told her, gesturing to my little sister.

She nodded and left the room while I went to the bathroom to wash my face. When I returned, Yuri was sitting up. At first she looked a little confused but when she saw me standing there, realization sunk in. She scowled, sighing. I tried not to take it personal but I was really hurt that she didn’t really want to be here. Will she make it hard to get used to her? Will it be a challenge for me to get her to open up to me?

“Good morning,” I said hesitantly, bracing myself for her cold attitude.

“Morning,” she replied softly, completely opposite to what I was expecting. “Are my stuff here?”

I nodded, pointing to the luggage. She got out of bed and wandered over. She extracted her toiletries and bowed her head at me. “Excuse me but I’ll bathe now,” she said politely and hurried to the toilet, closing the door behind her.

I frowned. She seemed too formal to her, like I was rather a stranger than her brother. She’s not used to you just yet. Give her time, a voice in my head said and I accepted the reason. Shrugging, I headed back to my own bedroom to get dressed up.

When I walked down to the kitchen, I could smell freshly made pancakes. I smiled, anticipating it. “Wah, it smells so good,” I complimented my mother and she beamed.

“It’s your sister’s favorite breakfast,” she replied. “Where is she?”

“Bathroom.”

“Ah.” She nodded. “”It’ll take awhile for her to come down. She’s not used to this place yet so she usually takes long showers to calm herself down. She’s probably giving herself a little pep talk.”

I raised an eyebrow. Pep talk?

Umma laughed. “Yuri is weird like that,” she replied. “She does it all the time whenever she’s nervous. Like when she’s taking exams, or performing for the Talent Show in her school.”

“Oh, she performs in the Talent Show?” I asked with interest. “What did she perform?”

My mother tilted her head to think. “Oh, she sang a song,” she replied. “She sang Taylor Swift’s song Love Story.”

“Oh yeah, that’s a nice song,” I replied as I dug into my pancakes. I wondered how my sister’s singing was. Was she any good? If she can sing, she’ll probably fit in well with my friends since we all like to sing and dance.

“She came second out of the thirty students who entered the competition.” Umma said as if she was reading my mind.

“Wow.” I was thoroughly impressed. Second out of thirty was really something. “Why second? Why didn’t she come first?”

“Because the judges were more impressed with the guy who did break dancing flawlessly,” Umma replied with a face and I have a feeling she thought Yuri should have came first. Well, all mothers think that.

“Annyeong.”

We turned to see Yuri standing at the doorway of the dining table. She was smiling yet I could see the hint of sadness in her eyes. I have to applaud her for trying to be brave about everything. It mustn’t be easy for a sixteen-year-old girl like her.

She was so pretty and so cute in her black jeans, black singlet and white flowing and netting shawl. Her hair was tied up in a pony tail, with purple feathered dangling earrings hanging down along with a brown chunky necklace around her neck. On her wrists were colorful strings and a leather bracelet.

Wow, talk about fashionista. She was chic and very cool at the same time.

She came over and sat down next to me as Umma passed a plate of pancakes to her. “What are we going to do today?” she asked. “When will I be starting my new school?”

“Next week,” Umma replied, “after you have gotten comfortable with the new change of environment. How did you sleep?”

She nodded. “I was all right,” she replied. She shot a look at me and smiled. “Joon was there.”

I smiled back.

Was she accepting the fact that she was here to stay? I hope it meant that she was.

“So, Yuri, Umma told me you came second in your school’s Talent Show,” I said after a moment of silence, trying to make conversation.

She blushed and covered her face, groaning loudly. “Umma! Why would you do that???” she whined.

Aigoo, she’s so cute.

Umma just shrugged. “What? Your brother likes to sing as well. I thought it was something the two of you have in common.”

She smiled shyly at me. “Yeah, I came second,” she replied. “It was unexpected. I thought I wouldn’t get a placing at all.”

“Pfft,” Umma scoffed and waved her hand, disgruntled. “You were damn good. I still don’t understand how come you didn’t come in first. What’s so great about break dancing?”

“Umma, he was flawless!”

But Umma paid no attention and scurried about in the kitchen. I laughed to myself. Even Yuri was smiling. Could she be getting comfortable? Aish, stop thinking like this.

“Anyway, do you want to meet my friends?” I asked her. “I’m hanging out with my friends today from my singing class and I was hoping you’d like to join us. They are a bit crazy but I think you’ll like them.”

She seemed surprised at the offer but pleased at the same time. “Sure, why not?” she replied. “It’s not like I have anything to do today anyway unless you count going online as something productive.”

I smiled. I got up and went to make a few calls to ask if it was okay with them. When I got a green light, I walked back in to see my sister finished with her food. “Shall we go?” I asked and she nodded, standing up to wash her plate at the sink.

When she was done, the two of us got inside my car and I drove to Mir’s house. “We’re all meeting up at my friend’s house first,” I explained.

She only nodded. After a few minutes of silence, she spoke up, “How did all of you meet?”

“Oh, er,” I tried to remember, “it was at our singing class. All of us took singing lessons and we sort of band together.”

“Oh, I see. . . . How many of you are there?”

“Five,” I replied. “Two guys older than me, two guys younger than me. I think the youngest is only about two years older than you.”

“Ah.”

Once we arrived, she glanced around the neighbor. “Uwaahh, this is a nice atmosphere,” she remarked.

I nodded. “It’s very peaceful here,” I replied as we walked up to the front porch. I pressed on the doorbell and a few seconds later, the door opened, revealing Byunghee, or G.O as he liked to call himself as.

“Annyeong,” he greeted cheerfully. “Oh, who’s this behind you? Is this your sister? Wah, yeppeoyo!”

I turned around to see my sister shyly hiding behind me. She peeped her head out and smiled tentatively at him. “Annyeong,” she said softly. “Lee Yuri imnida.” She bowed.

Byunghee smiled warmly at her. “Annyeong, G.O imnida but you can call me Byunghee.”

“Nice to meet you, Byunghee-sshi.”

He stepped aside to let us in. “Seungho hyung and Cheon Doong are here. Mir is bathing.” He turned to the hallway. “Yah, Joon’s sister is here with us! And she is very pretty too!”

There was a thundering (sorry, Cheon Doong, but pun intended) of footsteps and soon Cheon Doong and Seungho both came out. “Annyeong!” they greeted my sister, both with beaming faces, and introduced themselves and she introduced herself to them.

“Joon was so excited when he told us that you were here over the phone just now,” Seungho said with a wide grin.

I blushed. “Yah, stop it.”

Yuri’s face turned slightly pink and I saw her posture stiffening a bit.

Huh?

Wae?