‘What do kids do during detention?’ I wondered as I entered the Detention classroom.

 

There were a bunch of students there, with untucked uniforms and looking extremely menacing.

 

I gulped. I hope the teacher in charge comes in soon.

 

‘Hey there, fancy seeing a Student Councilor in here…’ one of the burly guys sat on the desk in which I was currently sitting behind.

 

Student Councilors wore a darker blue blazer than the rest of the student population, whose blazers were of azure.

 

‘First time in here,’ I tried to hide the fear in my voice.

 

‘Ahh, what did you do to get that pretty of yours in here?’ he leaned towards me and I scraped the chair backwards to get back some of my personal space.

 

‘Inappropriate behaviour in public,’ I swallowed my saliva to soothe my suddenly try throat.

 

He chuckled, ‘What kind of naughty behaviour?’

 

‘We were talking about , but you’re not included,’ I heard Yoochunnie’s voice boom from the entrance of the classroom.

 

Relief washed over me and I calmed down significantly.

 

‘And who the are you?’ the guy stood menacingly before Yoochunnie.

 

‘That should be my question! Who are you to mess around with my brother?’ Yoochunnie was slightly taller than the ‘aggressor’ so I chuckled inwardly.

 

The guy spat on the ground and walked back to his gang at the back of the class.

 

‘You alright?’ Yoochunnie grabbed a seat beside me.

 

‘Only after you came in,’ I heaved a heavy sigh and reached over to squeeze Yoochunnie’s left hand, ‘Thanks a lot, Yoochunnie.’

 

Yoochunnie waved it off and took out his Math textbook.

 

‘Show me your gratitude instead by teaching me Indices from the start. I completely forgotten everything.’

 

‘Gladly,’ I smiled before beginning my ‘lesson’.

 

 

The teacher only came in half an hour later than the stipulated detention time. And because of that, we had to stay half an hour more to complete the 3-hour session.

 

Such injustice to us students…

 

The newbie female teacher was checking out Jaejoong the whole time. She made him sit next to her at the teacher’s table as she marked her work and every now and then, she would steal glances at my brother and smile to herself.

 

‘ert,’ I muttered, resuming the cleaning of dirty desks carried by all the detention students (except Jaejoong) into the classroom at the start of the session.

 

‘Jaejoong, what do you think about this sentence? Should I correct it or leave it as it is?’ I heard the teacher ask my brother, who was assisting her in marking the English vocabulary worksheets.

 

That was a total abuse of her authority and talk about pushing work to others - my brother should get a portion of her salary.

 

Jaejoong slid the paper over to his side and looked at it.

 

‘The sentence is fine, but you could give a better suggestion in pencil at the top of it. This will benefit the student in the future,’ Jaejoong handed the paper back to the ert.

 

I smiled at Jaejoong’s suggestion because that was what he always did for me when he goes through my language essays.

 

‘Thanks a lot, Jaejoong,’ she purposely brushed her hand against his when taking the essay back from him.

 

I purposely cleared my throat loudly, reminding the teacher that ‘someone’ was watching her inappropriate actions towards a student.

 

She quickly resumed marking her essays.

 

After cleaning my 67^th desk, the teacher announced the end of the detention session and told us to report on time tomorrow.

 

‘Hypocritical ert!’ I shouted when she left the class.

 

‘Yoochunnie! Not so loud,’ Jaejoong playfully nudged me.

 

‘She was desperately trying to get your attention, Jaejoong! You know that right?’ I asked my brother.

 

‘Yoochunnie, her advances don't work on me. I’m already helplessly in love with someone else.’

 

‘Of course,’ I grinned and we both proceeded to unlock our bikes and cycle home.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

‘I’ve got a surprise for you, Yoochunnie!’ Jaejoong bubbled.

 

‘What!?’ I got excited as well.

 

Jaejoong fished out a card from his wallet and flashed it at me.

 

‘A driver’s license!? No ing way!’ I screamed and grabbed it from Jaejoong’s hand.

 

It was legit.

 

‘How did you get it?’ I didn’t remember Jaejoong going for any driving lessons.

 

‘I have perfect time management, dear Yoochunnie, and managed to squeeze in driving lessons into my hectic schedule.’

 

‘But you’ve got no car,’ I frowned.

 

‘Yunho bought me a car for my birthday, so that’s why I decided to take driving lessons,’ Jaejoong came closer and whispered in my ear.

 

My expression changed and jumped onto my bed and began bouncing on it.

 

‘YES! I DON’T HAVE TO ING CYCLE TO SCHOOL ANYMORE!’ I screamed on the top of my lungs.

 

‘Calm down, Yoochunnie,’ Jaejoong giggled.

 

‘But wait,’ I stopped jumping.

 

‘Hmm?’ Jaejoong looked at me questioningly.

 

‘Ma and Pa would ask about it,’ I stated.

 

‘That’s why I begged our neighbour to allow me to hide my car in his garage,’ Jaejoong always planned ahead.

 

‘You’re the awesome-est brother EVER!’ I went forward to embrace him tightly.

 

‘You’re welcome, Yoochunnie,’ Jaejoong said, ‘Come on, let’s go take a quick spin in it!’

 

We both sneaked out of the house through the window of the kitchen and went a few houses down to the garage where the car was.

 

‘OH MY GOD, JAEJOONG! IT’S A ING BMW 7 SERIES!’ I ran forward to hug the hood of the car.

 

Jaejoong simply flashed a pearly white smile at me.

 

He unlocked the car and we got into it.

 

‘This totally beats our lousy family sedan! I wish we could show off this car to Ma and Pa. I can already imagine the looks on their faces!’ I gave an evil burst of laughter.

 

Jaejoong shoved me lightly, ‘Buckle up, we’re heading out now.’

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I was so excited for school the next day that I woke up an hour earlier than usual.

 

I prepared breakfast for the whole family, much to my parents’ surprise and even cleaned up the kitchen after the cooking.

 

Something stirred up in me and I ran up the stairs, quietly sneaking into Jaejoong’s room.

 

I sat on his bed, watching the peaceful sight before my eyes.

 

I had unknowingly began to tear, ‘No wonder Jaejoong always sneaks in to watch me sleep.’

 

Of course I was aware of ‘Jaejoong the ninja’ who watched over me as I slept. Sometimes, I would pretend to sleep so I could peer though semi closed eyes to watch him smile.

 

I would always wonder, ‘Was I really that good to look at?’

 

I recalled what Jaejoong always did when my parents gave me the scolding of my life before sending me straight to bed. Of course anyone would find it hard to sleep as the harsh words of your parents would keep replaying in your head. I found myself naturally pretending to close my eyes when I hear the sound of the door quietly open and closing.

 

Jaejoong would watch me from the door then sit down on the bed beside my ‘sleeping’ figure.

 

He would take my hand in his and smile down on me. He would then close his eyes, probably to pray for my wellbeing or something along those lines.

 

With that, he would plant his usual kiss on my forehead and when the sound of the door closing with a click was heard, I would begin wailing in tears, using the blankets to silence the sounds coming out from my mouth.

 

Now, I took his hand in mine.

 

‘Jaejoong, I’m sorry for being so pathetic. I’m such a failure of a brother. But please don’t leave me, I might just die,’ I began sobbing.

 

‘Yoochunnie, don’t cry, it breaks my heart to see you like this,’ Jaejoong croaked, fighting back his tears.

 

‘Did you…’

 

‘I did, every word,’ Jaejoong smiled.

 

‘, this is so embarrassing,’ I sulked, wiping my tears with my sleeves.

 

‘Yoochunnie, it’s okay to be selfish. I’m fine with it.’

 

‘Don’t do that,’ I felt another surge of tears coming up.

 

‘Do what?’

 

‘Making me feel guiltier than I already am.’

 

‘I’m sorry.’

 

‘You are forgiven.’

 

‘For what?’

 

‘For making me feel guilty.’

 

‘About?’

 

‘Jaejoong, we’re talking in circles.’

 

‘Sorry.’

 

‘You are forgiven.’

 

‘For what?’

 

‘I hate you.’

 

‘And I love you.’

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~