"Money is what got me into this job, and now it seems like it might kick me right back out the door," Yeong Hwa thought, digging through the various drawers in the kitchen. From the dining table, the twins watched Yeong Hwa with mild interest while they chomped down on their lunch which, miraculously, was not Gaeran Tost-u. Instead, she had made peanut butter sandwiches with some kimchi stuffed in for good measure. Yes, it sounded disgusting, but the twins seemed to enjoy it well enough.

At least neither of them had thrown up. There were some nasty things Yeong Hwa was willing to handle, but the regurgitated contents of another's stomach was not among them.

After rummaging through the last drawer, Yeong Hwa threw her hands up in submission. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. However you phrased it, the three of them were officially broke now. Glancing over her shoulder, Yeong Hwa evaluated the twins' lunch. Fruit, sandwiches, and tall, cool glasses of orange juice. She probably could have halved the meal and managed to stretch it over two lunches. She probably would have, too, if she had known that her search for further funds would prove fruitless.

"Three of us... there are four people in this house though..." Yeong Hwa thought, slowly putting two and two together. Or three and one, depending on if you wanted to take the situation into consideration.

"Kim Myung Soo!" Yeong Hwa called out, already heading for the kitchen doorway. When the twins moved to follow, she gestured for them to remain seated. "It'll only be a minute," she assured them, flashing a quick smile over her shoulder at the pair before the door closed behind her and cut off their line of sight. Then she really got into tracking down the troublesome big brother.

"Myung Soo! Where the hell... heck, are you?!" Yeong Hwa demanded as she pounded up the stairs to check his room. She had only been with the family for a week or so at most, but already she was beginning to correct her habit of swearing carelessly. It was one thing for the Rebel of all Rebels to have a foul sailor's mouth, but for a pair of four year old angels to begin talking like that...

Yeong Hwa shuddered at the mere thought of that.

"Kim Myung-"

"What?!" Myung Soo snapped, suddenly ing open his bedroom door and coming into her pathway. Slamming on the breaks, Yeong Hwa lost her balance and tumbled towards Myung Soo. Reacting with lightning speed, he quickly shot his arms out and wrapped them around Yeong Hwa in order to keep her from sending the both of them crashing to the floor.

"He's warm" Yeong Hwa thought, unable to help it as she became very aware of his arms holding her firmly in place. Heart pounding, Yeong Hwa tried not to think too much about the fact that Myung Soo was shirtless and her face was pressed up against his bare chest, which was noticeably fit. It wasn't until he pulled her away from him that she was able to focus on even the smallest details.

Such as the bright blonde hair adorning his head.

Turning her head quickly to the side, Yeong Hwa covered in an attempt to stifle her laughter. It wasn't that she found his hair particularly amusing, the past few days had gotten her entirely used to the new look, but after the shock of being so close to Myung Soo anything seemed hilarious.

Blushing, Myung Soo tried to stand a little taller and slam the door in Yeong Hwa's face. "If you're just going to laugh then-"

"No! I'm sorry!" Yeong Hwa attempted to apologize, but she had to pause halfway because a second wave of laughter was threatening to burst free. "Sorry," Yeong Hwa mumbled, sobering quickly when she realized that Myung Soo's patience was fast diminishing. Frowning deeply, he rested against the door frame with his arms folded across his chest.

Another wave of nervous laughter burst forth as Yeong Hwa once more took note of Myung Soo's unfortunately well-defined muscles. "I-I'm sorry! I'm just nervous!" Yeong Hwa tried desperately to explain, trying to hold Myung Soo's door open when he tried slamming it once more. Sighing heavily, Myung Soo cracked the door open and fixed her with an irritated glare.

"And why would you be so... Aaaah," he drawled out, understanding the second he caught her eyes flickering down to his exposed chest. Involuntarily flushing, Yeong Hwa opened to protest before his mind could wander any further. "So you do find me attractive," he chuckled, taking a moment to gloat in his win. Pursing her lips, Yeong Hwa violently shook her head, which proved to be a mistake as she began to feel light headed.

"Well don't hurt yourself," Myung Soo sighed, rolling his eyes as Yeong Hwa staggered slightly. Squeezing her eyes shut against the sudden pressure, Yeong Hwa waved off his half-hearted concerns.

"Money," she managed to get out as a wave of nausea hit her. She was used to this sort of thing, having experienced it for most of her life, but damn it made life difficult sometimes. Cracking one eyes open, Yeong Hwa could see pure confusion on Myung Soo's face. Apparently the boy was feeling more dense than the usual today. "Mo-ney," she annunciated slowly, "used in the purchase of items of worth in order to improve-"

"Alright, alright. Why do you want mo-ney?" Myung Soo asked, mimicking her annunciation. Rolling her eyes, Yeong Hwa gestured helplessly to the general area.

"We're out," she explained simply, shrugging her shoulders. Raising his eyebrows, Myung Soo was failing to see how this was his problem.

"I don't have to give you pocket change," he replied, equally as simply. Sighing, Yeong Hwa threw her hands up in the air. "What? It's true!" Myung Soo defended.

"I thought you were my master? Shouldn't masters support their servants?" She tried, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"Slave. You're my slave," Myung Soo corrected, a sly smirk developing on his face. Indignantly, Yeong Hwa opened to argue the point but was stopped by Myung Soo holding up his cell phone. That quickly shut her up, and brought her back to the pressing matter that had brought her to his quarters in the first place.

"Anyway, by we I mean we," she refocused, gesturing between herself and the irritating master in front of her. Chuckling, Myung Soo waved off her concerns and stepped around her, heading for the stairs. "Without money we can't buy anything! Food included!" Yeong Hwa continued, desperately trying to get Myung Soo to reveal where he was stashing the hidden funds she believed he possessed.

"My mom isn't stupid. I'm sure she left a stash around here somewhere," Myung Soo assured Yeong Hwa, muttering something about women being incapable of finding anything that didn't jump out and bite them. Frowning in disapproval at his quip about women, Yeong Hwa followed him downstairs.

After twenty minutes of Yeong Hwa following him around the house, Myung Soo finally gave up on his equally fruitless search. Now the twins, who had finished their lunches, came to see what all the fuss was about.

"I told you so," Yeong Hwa chuckled, unable to resist the childish remark. Chagrined, Myung Soo avoided her gaze as he flipped open his cell phone. "Oh come on! You can't go spreading around those photos just because of a little-"

"I'm not," Myung Soo retorted, fending off Yeong Hwa's attempts to steal away the cell phone. Dissatisfied with the word of someone like Myung Soo, Yeong Hwa rose onto her tip toes in order to watch over Myung Soo's shoulder as he hit speed dial #2. "I'm calling mom to see what she was thinking, leaving us with no money," he explained before pressing a finger to his lips as a silent order for silence.

"Umma?!" Seo Hyeon exclaimed disbelievingly, her eyes widening hopefully. Sensing that this could turn ugly, since Myung Soo was definitely not the type to share his phone, Yeong Hwa quickly crouched beside the little girl and shook her head.

"My mom," she whispered, using the first excuse that came to mind. Nodding sullenly, Seo Hyeon's disappointment was so painfully sad that Yeong Hwa felt guilty for having turned down an opportunity for the little girl to speak with her mother. In order to combat the guilt, Yeong Hwa reminded herself that it was their idiotic older brother who was the real villain here, not her.

After a minute of waiting, Myung Soo pulled the phone away from his ear and speaker phone.

~Hello! This is Eun Sun Kim! If you're Myung Soo, don't bother calling me back and just put up with the babysitter. If you're someone else, sorry, but I'm on vacation and won't be answering my phone! Bye Bye!~

Yeong Hwa didn't know whether to laugh at Eun Sun's voice mail or cry. Choosing somewhere in the middle, Yeong Hwa hung her head and let out a low whistle of disappointment. Now she was feeling just as low as Seo Hyeon had been a minute ago.

"You're Umma sounds like mine," Seo Hyeon commented, pointing up to Myung Soo's phone as he slipped it back into his short's pocket. Nodding weakly, Yeong Hwa rose to her feet and met Myung Soo's eyes.

While Eun Sun's message may have been slightly comic, it had left a very foreboding meaning: They had no money.

"We could sell your body," Myung Soo suggested as he stopped his pacing and took a seat beside Yeong Hwa on the couch. Not in the mood for his "humor", Yeong Hwa simply slugged him in the arm for her response. Hearing the message loud and clear, Myung Soo quickly shut up and went back to brainstorming ideas to earn money.

"We could sell your body," Yeong Hwa suggested a moment later, sounding a bit more serious than Myung Soo had. "I mean, you are attractive-"

"I thought you said I wasn-"

"Shut up," Yeong Hwa snapped, her fist raising threateningly. Nodding, Myung Soo pulled his fingers along his lips like a zipper. Sighing, Yeong Hwa shook her head. "Actually, after a second of being with you everyone would ask for their money back," she decided, lying down on the couch as despair began to take over. Already she could hear her stomach grumbling as it realized that soon food would be a precious commodity.

"What, you don't think I'm charming?" Myung Soo asked, feigning offense. Rolling her eyes, Yeong Hwa didn't bother answering and continued focusing on trying to come up with a way to earn money, Dissatisfied with this reaction, Myung Soo braced himself over Yeong Hwa and leaned in until their faces weren't even an inch apart. Holding her breath, Yeong Hwa shrunk away from Myung Soo as he suddenly donned the most irresistible expression on the face of the planet.

"What if I kissed you?" He asked, his tongue running over his lips temptingly. Her mind being over loaded, Yeong Hwa let out a kind of strangled squeak as her eyes bulged out in horror.

Instantly the y Myung Soo was replaced by the usual annoyance as he quickly pulled away, an amused smirk on his face. Embarrassed that she had let herself get so flustered, Yeong Hwa sat up and pressed herself as far as possible against the opposite side of the couch. Chuckling quietly, Myung Soo thankfully made no further attempts to sway Yeong Hwa's feelings.

"For being a 'Warrior Princess' you sure are innocent," he commented, watching for any reactions from the corner of his eye. Pursing her lips, Yeong Hwa turned her head away so that he couldn't see how annoyed she was at him calling her "innocent". Any normal person would take it as a compliment, but someone who had worked so hard to have a bad- chick image couldn't take it as anything but a personal affront. Which Myung Soo had obviously known when he used the term innocent.

"For being a 'charming Kingka' you ought to be more innocent," Yeong Hwa retorted, still not facing Myung Soo.

"What does that mean?" Myung Soo laughed. It had been a bad comeback, Yeong Hwa knew, but having him laugh at her only increased the embarrassment ten fold.

"You could perform," she abruptly suggested, trying desperately to change the subject before he tried anything else. This caught Myung Soo off guard, quickly cutting off his laughter as he listened more intently to what she was saying. "With your guitar. You could sing and play for tips," she explained, pointing upstairs in vaguely the direction of Myung Soo's room, where the beautiful acoustic guitar resided in a dusty corner.

"How do you know about my guitar?" Myung Soo asked suspiciously, leaning over threateningly towards Yeong Hwa. Annoyed that he would dare try to threaten her Yeong Hwa whipped her head around to face him and pressed her face centimeters away from his.

"Because I went into your room. Problem?" She challenged, narrowing her eyes in an all too real threat. For a moment, hesitation flickered across Myung Soo's eyes as he recognized that the time for teasing Yeong Hwa was now long since past. Still, he stood his ground; something Yeong Hwa would have admired in anyone but the annoying Kingka sitting beside her.

"Why were you in my room?" He demanded, keeping his voice low so that the twins, who were amusing themselves upstairs, wouldn't hear the argument. Drawing back, Yeong Hwa folded her arms over her chest and tried to recall Myung Soo's exact words.

"I don't care if you're just a babysitter, you ought to keep the house just as clean as the kids!" She mimicked, cramming as much arrogance into that simple sentence as she possibly could. Myung Soo evidently remembered that particular comment as well, as he quickly dropped the threatening posture when he realized that he had, indeed, told her to clean the house. Naturally she would assume that meant his room as well.

Triumphant, Yeong Hwa stuck her tongue out at Myung Soo.

"I don't sing," he protested, now going on the defensive. Rolling her eyes, Yeong Hwa waved off his concerns with little regard. "I'm serious!" Myung Soo insisted, throwing his hands up into the air.

"Oh come on, it isn't that hard," Yeong Hwa encouraged, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly.

"Then you sing," Myung Soo retorted, narrowing his eyes at Yeong Hwa. Taking the bait, she instantly trapped herself.

"Fine! I will!"

"Then it's all settled?" Myung Soo asked. Realizing what she had just offered to do, Yeong Hwa hesitated a second. She couldn't go back on her word now, though; not unless she wanted to lose face, that is. So, she nodded an affirmation and held out her pinky to Myung Soo. Surprised, he wrapped his own pinky around hers and sealed the promise.

"I'm surprised you don't spit on your hand or something," Myung Soo mentioned, seeming genuinely shocked.

"I recently learned people aren't exactly thrilled about that," Yeong Hwa mumbled, not wanting to tell Myung Soo about her encounter with Sung Jong. How was she supposed to expect him to keep his vow of silence if she was going around blabbing about the situation? Hypocrisy is best kept quiet.

"You hang around civilized people? I'm shocked!" Myung Soo gasped, feigning shock.

"Shut up."

Nobody paid any attention to the small group of four as they began setting up for a performance in an out of the way corner of the subway station. It wasn't unusual to see street performers trying to earn a few bucks for that night's dinner, especially now when crowds were the thickest as people commuted to home. There was barely enough room for the performers, though, and they kept finding themselves pushed further and further against the wall until there was barely enough room to maneuver.

"Stop pushing!" Seo Hyeon snapped indignantly, glaring at a particularly condensed group of commuters. None of them paid any attention to the little diva, though, and Yeong Hwa had to pull Seo Hyeon back before she tried to make her presence known through physical punishment. Pouting, Seo Hyeon stalked over to the wall and knelt facing the dirty concrete, entirely unhappy with this adventure.

Yoogeun, on the other hand, was eagerly watching as his Hyung tuned the dusty guitar he had salvaged from his room. The poor instrument was badly out of tune, and just listening to its cries of agony nearly made Yeong Hwa go deaf. It didn't seem to bother Yoogeun, though, who simply leaned in closer with each painful strum of the guitar.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Myung Soo finished tuning his guitar. Taking a seat on the dirty ground, they had been unable to bring any seats with them, Myung Soo propped the guitar up on his lap and read over the sheet music he had brought. It was a well known song amongst teenagers, coming from the first album of a recently debuted rock group under SM Entertainment, Girls Dead Monsters. Or GirlsDeMo for short.

Yeong Hwa herself was a big fan of the group, but even her excitement at being able to perform one of her favorite songs from album couldn't do anything to cure the butterflies in her stomach. Grimacing, Yeong Hwa nervously rubbed at her face.

"Don't mess with the makeup," Myung Soo instructed, his eyes remaining locked on the sheet music as he did so. Although she stuck her tongue out at him defiantly, Yeong Hwa did drop her hand to the side. "And try to make yourself attractive. We want to attract people, not scare them off," Myung Soo added, still not bothering to look up at Yeong Hwa.

"I thought that was what the make up was for," Yeong Hwa pointed out, gesturing to her face. After expressing apprehension about going out in public, and thus risking exposure to the students of Woollim, Myung Soo had spent half an hour caking his mother's make up onto her face.

"No. That's to make sure you're not recognized," Myung Soo corrected, diverting his eyes up to Yeong Hwa's face for just a second.

"So then I do look like a clown!" Yeong Hwa cried out, her face flushing bright red. Sighing, Myung Soo fixed his eyes onto hers and shook his head. Not knowing anything about make up, Yeong Hwa was forced to simply accept that Myung Soo knew what he was doing. Although it didn't make her feel any more confident about her face's condition, it did shut her up.

"Are you ready?" Myung Soo asked after the twins had been situated beside him, where they were out of the way but still within view. Nodding apprehensively, Yeong Hwa turned to face the crowd and clasped her hands tightly behind her back. Muttering a quick disapproval of their circumstances, Myung Soo began plucking away at his guitar. When it was time for Yeong Hwa to come in, though, closed up and she was unable to make any noise.

Stopping, Myung Soo nudged her with his foot. "Sing," he hissed, glancing around at the crowd as they passed by uncaringly. They would soon all be on the subways, leaving the hat they had at Yeong Hwa's feet entirely empty. If he was going to come out and make a fool of himself he at least wanted to get paid for it, and he wasn't about to let the stupid rebel's nerves get in the way of that.

"I can't!" Yeong Hwa whispered back, her voice barely easing through her tightly closed throat.

"Close your eyes!" Myung Soo suggested, resting his fingers on the strings and starting to play again. Surprised by the sudden start, Yeong Hwa barely had time to snap her eyes shut and take in a breath before she was supposed to start singing.

"Whenever we saw each other all we did was fight.
But those were also wonderful memories."

As she began to sing, Myung Soo could see a few people glancing in their direction. None of them stopped to listen, let alone leave a few tips, though. Silently willing someone to drop some money in the hat, Myung Soo focused more intently on making his strumming more precise. Yeong Hwa was an okay singer, not spectacular but by no means bad, so it would be up to him to take up the slack with his guitar. Thankfully, he was confident enough in his playing to know that it wouldn't be that difficult to do so.

"You taught me so much; I’m not scared anymore.
No matter how difficult I can grab hold of happiness, so…"

"I'm going to die... I'm going to die..."  Yeong Hwa repeated, mentally abusing her self-confidence as she pressed her eyes together ever more tightly. Yes she enjoyed the spot light, at school where she knew what she was doing, but here, in unfamiliar territory and with critical minded strangers, she could feel her confidence fading fast. It was only a matter of time before she buckled at the knees and dissolved into a whimpering puddle of pitifulness.

"I’ll go by myself, even if it looks painful,
I’ll always carry on the dream I had with you.
Being with you was so wonderful; There was no one else.
But when I woke up in the morning, you weren’t there."

"Honey, let's stop and listen," a young woman, probably just into college, urged as she tugged gently on her boyfriend's arm. Nodding, he stopped in front of Yeong Hwa in order to listen to the performance. Bowing his head so that their new customers couldn't see, Myung Soo smiled in excitement as the prospect of money became very real. In front of him, he could see Yeong Hwa tense up as she sensed the people so close to her. For someone who could hold an audience in utter rapture, she certainly had difficulty handling two people.

"I felt that we could play forever.
But I know that’s just what I believed.
I don’t regret being born any longer.
Like the feeling after a festival, it’s sad but let’s move on little by little."

Now the crowd was beginning to grow as the song grew more powerful. Not only was Yeong Hwa's voice growing stronger, but even Myung Soo's playing was improving. Not for an increase in confidence, of course, but that the prospect of actually earning some money from this last ditch effort was growing as the crowd began to increase.

"It only takes one sheep to stop before the whole herd will follow suit," Myung Soo thought, taking note of the crowd's steady growth. Now they had a steadily growing plug in the usual flow of traffic, forcing people to either stop and listen or fight their way to the other side. As such, more people were stopping that attempting to forge onwards.

"I’ll go anywhere, you know that.
I’ll show you that I can grant your dream of happiness.
Even if I’m separated from you, no matter how far,
I’ll be born with the new morning."

Beside him, Seo Hyeon had begun to hum along to Yeong Hwa's singing as she swayed side to side. Glancing around, Myung Soo could see that a few more people were stopping to watch the little girls performance. It was one thing for a nice voice to start singing, and another entirely for a little girl to put on an adorable performance. Nudging Seo Hyeon, Myung Soo caught her attention long enough to give her an encouraging smile before he had to refocus on playing the guitar. The song was beginning to reach its , and he did not want to suddenly mess up when they had the audience this involved.

"Time changed as it ebbed and flowed.
I can’t remember what happened anymore but,
If I try and close my eyes I can hear someone’s laughter.
Somehow that’s now my most precious treasure."

Although Yeong Hwa's singing had stopped, having reached the end of the lyrics, Myung Soo continued playing for another thirty seconds or so in order to bring the song to a close. It only took a second for the audience to come back to the real world, and another for Yeong Hwa to slowly ease down to her knees as the gravity of the situation finally got to her. Sighing, Myung Soo reached forward and gave her shoulder a quick squeeze.

"Nice job," he quietly praised while the both of them watched as loose change and the occasional bill began to line the interior of their hat.

"Don't touch me," Yeong Hwa replied, pointedly lifting Myung Soo's hand off her shoulder. Just like that, the moment of comradery between them dissipated and Myung Soo was starkly reminded of Yeong Hwa's distaste towards him. And his to her, if he remembered correctly. Sighing again, Myung Soo passed forward the sheet music for a second song.

"Might as well milk it for all it's worth," he muttered, resting his fingers on the strings. Nodding, Yeong Hwa inhaled deeply and stood up in order to perform again. As she did so, a few members of their audience applauded her, including the college couple who had been the first to stop and listen.

Encouraged by this show of support, Myung Soo strummed the first few chords of the next song.

"I'm surprised that they're so nice!" Yeong Hwa exclaimed as she and Myung Soo stepped into the house, each carrying one of the twins. Seo Hyeon was struggling to keep her eyes open in an ongoing war against the exhaustion that was fighting to put her to sleep, but Yoogeun had long since passed out, his hand limply dangling over Yeong Hwa's shoulder as he clutched a er one of the audience had given him.

"We shouldn't have accepted so much," Myung Soo replied begrudgingly, adjusting Seo Hyeon's position as she suddenly nodded off and nearly fell out of his arms. Besides the money, which was typical to give to a street performer, the audience had handed over a grocery bag of food and handfuls of candy. Myung Soo suspected that it was mostly because of the twins that they had been given the extra gifts.

"Spoil sport," Yeong Hwa pouted, batting her eyelashes at Myung Soo. Rolling his eyes, he strode ahead of her and went up the stairs. Smiling, Yeong Hwa followed him upstairs. There they parted for a moment, each going into one of the twins' rooms in order to put them to bed. Once this was finished, Yeong Hwa was the first to emerge. Glancing in to Seo Hyeon's room, she could see Myung Soo sitting on the edge of Seo Hyeon's bed and giving her a quick peck on the forehead.

Quickly Yeong Hwa withdrew her head, feeling like she was intruding on something that she shouldn't watch. So, in order to occupy her time, she went downstairs to watch some television before going home. Her own TV set could hardly compare to the one Myung Soo owned, and thus Yeong Hwa had begun to found herself staying later and later in order to take full advantage of the mechanical word. As such, she had already accidentally fallen asleep on their sofa once.

Of course spoil sport Myung Soo had made short work of that, scooping her off the couch and depositing her outside. Yeong Hwa had nearly died of exposure before she woke up and was able to get home. At three in the morning.

With that memory suddenly fresh in her mind, Yeong Hwa had second thoughts about watching television and instead headed straight for the front door. It was rather late already, anyway. She didn't want to overstay her welcome.

"Leaving so soon?" Myung Soo asked quietly as he came down the stairs, moving at a snails pace as he tried not to allow the old wood to creak too loudly. Glancing back over her shoulder, Yeong Hwa nodded silently. "Bye, then," Myung Soo muttered, raising his hand in a short goodbye.

"Ciao," Yeong Hwa replied, pulling on her shoes. Just as she was about to leave, she decided to check her make up in the hall mirror. Although she wasn't one to be overly concerned about looks, in fact this was her first time wearing make up, she did want to make sure she didn't look like a clown. Myung Soo had repeatedly assured her that she looked fine, but... well, she wasn't about trust an arrogant Kingka's word.

As she tried to see in the dim light, her attention was captured by a bright green post-it note attached to the mirror, hidden beneath a few receipts. Pulling off the note, Yeong Hwa read what had been written. At first she didn't believe it, but after rereading three times Yeong Hwa could feel color beginning to rush into her face.

"Eun Sun... please... no more surprises," Yeong Hwa thought, groaning inwardly as she quickly stuffed the bank number into her pocket. No way was she going to let Myung Soo see this after she made him go and perform for tips! He would kill her! Kill!

"Are you leaving today, or... what's that?" Myung Soo asked, suddenly appearing in the hallway and pointing at her pocket. Eyes widening, Yeong Hwa muttered a quick goodbye and hurried outside.

Author's Note: Girl's Dead Monster is a group I created (in honor of Angel Beats! group :D) in the first fanfic I wrote on AFF. You can find that HERE

On another note, I swear I read somewhere that inserting lyrics into your writing is both A) annoying and B) bad writing. Is that true?

Song Performed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp3acWyAaA8