“Good morning!” Minyoung yelled out as she walked through the doors of Taeil’s ramyun shop.  She left without Minhyuk again, but she made sure to wake him up before she left.

“Oh, Minyoung-ah?  Where’s Minhyuk?” Taeil asked.

“More importantly, oppa,” Minyoung replied, “Don’t you have employees here?”

“I had one,” Taeil said flatly.  “Then he decided to study abroad in America.”

“Never mind then!” Minyoung grinned and sat down at the counter.  “Ramyun.  No vegetables.”

Taeil glared.  “Ramyun for breakfast?  Shouldn’t you eat something else for a change?  I’m pretty sure that you aren’t eating healthily.”

“I don’t know if you know, but neither Minhyuk nor I can cook without burning our apartment down.  And this is the only place with free food.”

“It’s only free for you, Minyoung-ah.  And it’s disappointing on my part because you’re my most frequent customer and you don’t have to pay.”

“Mom and Dad said so.” Minyoung smirked.

“I heard that Jaehyo is coming back today.”

Minyoung’s smirk fell.  “I’m not hungry anymore!  Thanks for ruining my appetite, Taeil oppa.”

“Y-You aren’t hungry?” Taeil asked incredulously.  “You’re always hungry!”

“Not anymore.”

Taeil walked out from behind the counter and sat down next to his younger sister.  “How’s school, then?”

“Life .  Actually, can I have some ramyun?”

“Sure, just give me a sec.  Why does life ?”

“Because there’s this guy who won’t leave Minhyuk alone.  Also, he brought up Minhyuk’s old girlfriend.  Minhyuk almost attacked him.”

“Name?”

“Woo Jiho.”

“Woo Jiho?”

Minyoung nodded.

“You mean Taewoon’s younger brother?”

“Really?”

“I don’t know.  I’m asking you.”

She shrugged.

Taeil smiled.  “Do you want me to do you a favor?”

Minyoung looked up.

“Promise you won’t tell Minhyuk?”

“Why not?”

“I can get Jiho off of your back.”

“Are you serious?”  Minyoung smiled.

“Of course, since it’ll make your life easier.”

“Thanks, oppa!” Minyoung exclaimed.  She checked her watch then, and her jaw dropped when she saw what time it is.  “Oh , I’m going to be late!”

“School isn’t that far away from this restaurant…”

“No, I’m meeting Yukwon.”

“Yukwon?”

“Oh, you’ve never met him?  I’ll bring him here someday.  He’s a nice guy.”

“I want to meet him.”

“Oh, please don’t go all Minhyuk on me.  I can only handle one overprotective brother, you know.”

“I’m just curious.”

<:>

Yukwon stood in front of the school with his headphones blasting in his ears.  He had been waiting for ten minutes for Minyoung to show up…maybe too enthusiastically.  Students shot him strange looks on their way in the gate.

“What are you doing there, Yukwon?  What’s with the grin?” Minhyuk slowly walked up to Yukwon.

“Oh, it’s Minhyuk.” Yukwon’s smile fell.  “Where’s Minyoung?”

Minhyuk’s eyes narrowed.  “Why?”

“She told me to meet her here before school.”

“Why would she do that?”

“Why are you so protective of her?”

“I…” Minhyuk stopped speaking.  “That’s none of your business.  In the meantime, stop grinning like an idiot.  It makes you look decent.”

“What?” Yukwon snickered.

“I said it makes you look attractive.”

“Are you calling me—?”

“No, idiot.  I’m just saying that Minyoung likes people with nice smiles, and you happen to have a nice smile.”

“Kim Yukwon!” someone screamed from across the street.  The two boys stopped conversing to look for the commotion.

“Somehow, when she calls my name, I feel like I’m floating.  But when you call my name, I feel like I’m about to die,” Yukwon said to Minhyuk.

“Hey, I have to tell you something.”

“What?”

“Shut up.”

“Why are you being so cold to me, Minhyuk?  I thought that what we had was special!” Yukwon mocked, and Minhyuk rolled his eyes.

By this time, Minyoung had caught up to the two boys.  Yukwon noticed that she had a pair of glasses on, and he wondered if they were real or fake.

“Nice glasses,” Yukwon said.

“Thanks.  They’re my brother’s.”

“Minhyuk’s?”

“No, Taeil’s.  They’re fake, if you were wondering.”

“Taeil?”

“Our older brother.  You should meet him sometime.”

Meanwhile, Minhyuk walked ahead, watching out in case Jiho and his friends would bother Minyoung.  Strangely, Jiho didn’t even acknowledge Minhyuk’s presence when he passed him in the hall.

“So, what did you want to tell me?” Yukwon asked.

“She wanted to tell you that you’re really annoying,” Minhyuk piped up.

“No, Minhyuk, that’s what you wanted to tell him.  I wanted to say—”

“She wanted to say that you’re ugly.”

“Minhyuk, stop interrupting me!” Minyoung whined.

“Okay, okay.” Minhyuk snickered.  “It’s just that I like annoying him.”

“I can see that,” Minyoung replied.

“So you were saying—”

“Oh yeah!  I wanted to apologize for my behavior yesterday.  I was wrong.  I shouldn’t have stormed off like that.” Minyoung looked off into the distance.

Minhyuk raised an eyebrow, surprised that Minyoung had actually apologized.  And that she had actually remembered the argument.

“Thanks, Minyoung.” Yukwon smiled.

<:>

Minhyuk’s eyes kept drifting toward the window while he was supposed to be concentrating on a test.  Yukwon sat right in front of him, also staring out of the window.

Neither of them knew how to answer the questions for different reasons.  Yukwon was too busy worrying about Minyoung the previous night to even bother to study for the test.  After all, he made her upset the day before, and that bothered him, even if she had apologized.

Minhyuk, on the other hand, just didn’t want to do it.  He felt that school was pointless, so he didn’t even need to try.  Minhyuk, unlike Minyoung, needed to put effort into things to be successful.  Minyoung could take a test without studying, but Minhyuk couldn’t do that.

“Five more minutes.” The teacher’s voice brought both Minhyuk and Yukwon out of their separate daydreams. 

Minhyuk contemplated turning in his incomplete paper, but he knew that he would receive a zero for a lack of effort.  Since the test was a multiple-choice test, Minhyuk quickly filled in every single answer as choice C.

Yukwon finished as well, filling in the last few problems he failed to do before daydreaming about Minyoung.

“Pass your tests up.” The teacher stood at the front of the classroom.  Minhyuk handed his paper to Yukwon, who handed it to the person in front of him, and so on, and so on. 

The bell rang, signaling the start of lunch.

“Yukwon, my sister requests that you eat lunch with us again,” Minhyuk said.  He had his cell phone out and was scrolling through a bunch of texts.

“Do you think she likes me?”

“Who knows?  Not even I understand what goes through her brain.  If anyone could, it would be...forget it.”

“Minhyuk, I’ve been meaning to ask why you hate me?”

“The way you talk, the color of your hair, your smile…I hate all of that stuff.”

“So…you’re jealous.”

“…What?” Minhyuk exclaimed.

“You’re jealous of me?”

“As if.”

“Oh, come on.  Are we seriously going to argue about this—?”

“I am not jealous of you, Kim Yukwon.”

“Yeah, we’re going to argue about this,” he muttered darkly.  Then Yukwon spoke up louder.  “You’re totally jealous.”

“You wish.”

They continued bickering like this until they reached the roof of the school.  Minyoung sat, waiting for them, with a bored expression on her face.

“What took you two so long?”

Minhyuk glared at Yukwon.  “I would never.”

“You are.”

“Not.”

“What are you two arguing about now?” Minyoung sighed.  “Can’t you two just get along?”

“We can’t,” Minhyuk said simply.

“The world will end before Minhyuk and I hold a proper conversation,” Yukwon added.

“Gosh.” Minyoung pulled out her phone and scrolled through the messages.  Twelve unread messages from Minhyuk and one from Taeil.

Taeil never used his phone for purposes other than calling people.  That was a known fact by almost everyone in Minyoung’s family.

Minyoung opened the text, worried.  What if Taeil oppa got hurt or something?  The message simply said to go down to the ramyun shop.

“Who are you texting?” Yukwon stopped arguing to ask Minyoung a question.

“No one in particular.”

“Is it Ahn Jaehyo?” Yukwon said without thinking.

Minyoung slowly looked up from her phone with a glare.  “I don’t know who that person is.”

“Liar.”  Even though Minhyuk was giving him the ‘no-good’ signal, Yukwon persisted on with the question. 

Minyoung stood up.  “I’m ditching lunch.  I don’t know if I’ll be back for afternoon classes.”  She stalked off with her backpack slung across one shoulder and a cup of ramyun in her right hand.

“Dude, you screwed up bad,” Minhyuk said.  “She must be furious.”

“I know.  I can’t believe I said that.”

“You should think about your words before you say them.  It will save a lot of screw-ups in the future.”

“I…yeah.”

Yukwon stared at the spot where Minyoung once was and wondered if he could fix the mess he just created.