You have always refused to call him Oppa. He was always irritated by that, now twenty-one years on you still refuse to call him Oppa because he didn't deserve it at all. Especially today of all days, you have vowed that you will never ever call him Oppa, even if he begs.

Your phone kept ringing but you ignored it as you opened another can of beer. You were sitting at one of the benches that overlooked the beach, but you were out of place. You were wearing a really nice sequined little black dress and fire engine red heels. Beside your black clutch was your phone and five cans of beer, the other can was in your hand.

You tried to stop the tears from falling but thoughts of Jaehyo filled your mind. That evil person was really out to get you.

Your older brother and Jaehyo were the best of friends, even when Jaehyo had moved to Busan they still kept in contact with each other. As a kid, you idolized both your brother and Jaehyo and followed them everywhere, you even had the same bowl haircut as they had because you wanted to be one of the boys. But you refused to call him Oppa since he was just a few months older than you, you were born in April. To you an Oppa was someone at least six months older than you.

“Stupid, idiotic, shameless fool”, you muttered under your breath as you took a gulp of the beer, you felt your stomach lurch at the bitterness. But at least it helped stop your tears from falling.

Memories of your younger self replayed on your mind. How Jaehyo had always wanted you to call Oppa and resorted to terrorizing you when you didn't want to. Like threatening to burn the hair on your dolls – actually he did really burn one doll's head, hiding your shoes on top of trees, or just by making you cry by calling you an ugly pig.

You remember how all the girls at school treated you nicely only to learn that it's because they want you to bring them to your house so they could also see Jaehyo. You remembered all the times you had to be the messenger for all of Jaehyo's adoring fans. During Valentine's Day you prepared yourself by brining large tote bags to receive all the chocolate and letters that were for Jaehyo. You always reported sick for every White Day because the girls who gave him chocolates and presents would demand that you “stop keeping Jaehyo-oppa to yourself and tell us who he likes”. You finally could breathe a sigh of relief when he moved to Busan. But then you also realized that you really had no friends, except for your elder brother Taehyun who would once in a while let you hang around with him.

You thought that as soon as you got accepted into a university in Seoul you could finally live your life. After all, your brother was going to be in the army and your parents were back in Cheonan.

But things didn't turn out the way you planned. Before the day of your brother's enlistment he called you out for a farewell dinner.

“Oppa! Why do we have to go to such a place?”, you whispered into his ear. Your arm was linked with his as he brought you inside a private dining room. The interiors were a deep shade of maroon and there was a huge chandelier that hung at the middle of the room.

“Actually, it was not my idea”, your brother whispered back.

Both of you had just sat down when someone wearing a grey suit walked in. You looked up and saw your brother stand to greet Jaehyo.

“You-”, you said in shock.

“Did you like it?”, he asked with a smile, “This is for Taehyun, don't flatter yourself”.

“Pssh,” you said dismissing his effort.

“Ya, is that a way to greet your oppa?”, he scolded you.

You just stuck out his tongue at him. Your brother laughed at your childishness.

“Some things never change”, he chuckled as he sat back down.

“Have you guys ordered?”, Jaehyo asked.

“Oppa, is he the one paying?”, you turned to your brother completely ignoring Jaehyo.

“Yes”, your brother replied. You shot Jaehyo an evil grin.

“Ah...you must be able to finish the food that you ordered,” he said nervously as you scanned the menu.

“Are you kidding me? This is my little sister we're talking about”, Taehyun said, “She has an iron stomach!”

“More like three iron stomachs”, you said with a wicked smile.

“What are you? An iron cow?”, Jaehyo spouted back.

“Just prepare your wallet!”, you shouted.

“Dongsaeng-ah, that is not the way to talk to your Oppa”, Taehyun gently told you.

“What are you talking about, he's not my Oppa”, you said defensively.

Usually your brother would just watch in amusement as you and Jaehyo argued over the Oppa calling business, this is the first time he ever said something.

“You see, I know you're going to Seoul”, your brother began explaining, “I will still be in the army at that time, our parents won't be around and they are going to be worried”.

“What are you trying to say?”, you asked trying to mask the horror that you're feeling.

“Jaehyo has been in Seoul longer than you have...” he paused as he looked at Jaehyo who was smiling at you like a cat who found its prey trapped in a corner.

“From now on, Jaehyo will be your Oppa”, Taehyun said. You laughed out loud.

“Wait, I'm sorry, I thought I heard a funny joke”, you said laughing so hard trying to shake off the reality of what you heard.

“You heard it right”, Taehyun said, “I asked Jaehyo to take care of you and make sure that nothing bad happens to you. You will still have your curfew and he will check how your grades are doing and who your friends are. I don't want to be sick with worry when I'm in the army, and our parents agreed to my suggestion. I am so relieved that Jaehyo agreed to, since he's so busy.”

“Say hello to your new Oppa”, Jaehyo said with a smile and outstretched arms.

You screamed.

***

"You did what?!", Jaehyo looked at you in shock. You shook your head. It has been six months since your brothers enlistment and a few weeks after your graduation. Jaehyo was picking you up from your hometown and driving you to your university when you let him in on a little secret.

"I switched universities OK", you said flatly. "I passed at both universitites anyway, why can't I decide which one I want?".

"A women's university gives better education than a co-ed one", he began to lecture.

"Oh please, you just want to ogle at the girls in that university"

"It's the other way around, they might drop dead at my feet when I pass by".

"More like drop dead at the smell of your bare feet", you snorted and then shuddered remembering the stench that used to fill your brother's room.

"That was a long time ago, I've improved", he said defensively, "Anyway, hiding this from your family, isn't that a bit too much?"

"I wanted to be independent, and I wanted to meet a lot of people, an all female university is boring", you said as you raised your knees against the dashboard and puffed air in your cheeks.

"Ah~ Don't do that!", Jaehyo said.

"Do what?", you pouted at him.

"Don't do aegyo like that when you're in that school, guys fall for that all the time", he said giving you a smile.

His sharp features looked so out of place inside the old wonky car with you and all your shabby belongings. His hair fell across his face now so he held it in place with a ridiculously feminine looking barette. You cocked your head to the side, and stared at him. He looked at you suspiciously,"Why - why are you looking at me like that?."

"That's strange," you said, "I can't see it".

"See what? Ya, don't play around", he said.

"I am not playing around," you answered bringing your legs back to the car floor, "People say you're captivating and full of charms".

"That's right", he agreed nodding his head. You stared at his side profile and shook your head violently.

"I don't see it", you said blandly but inwardly smiling at yourself, you liked to attack his vanity, "You're just the same big-toothed, sweaty feet, awkward uncle that I know".

"What uncle? Who are you calling uncle", he said reaching out his hand to swat you, "Call me Oppa, I told you to call me Oppa".

"Ya, watch the road!", you said trying to avoid his hand but he suddenly swiped at your . His hand stopped mid-graze at your . You both looked at where his hand was and then you saw that the car stopped at a red light.

"Ahn Jaehyo! Just what do you think your hand is doing?!", you scolded him and pushed his hand away.

"Oh come on, it's no big deal, we even shared underwear back then", he reminded you and you cringed.

At that time you were still a bedwetter, one night you and your brother were staying at Jaehyo's house because your parents had your house fumigated. You had an accident in the middle of the night so his mother dressed you in his boxers - in just his boxers. As a child you didn't think of anything sleeping barely in between your brother and Jaehyo and his brother, all four of you with identical bowl haircuts, but as the years pass by you cringe with embarrassment at that night.

"What was it...it wasn't the Pororo one right?", he said thoughtfully.

"Aish!", you said hitting him on the head as the streetlight turned green,"And you wonder why I never call you oppa, you're so childish".

“Well, I just wonder how your parents will react if they found out you lied to them about the university you applied to”, he said in a threatening way.

“You wouldn't rat me out, right?”, you asked nervously.

“Of course not,” he said smiling at you. You smiled back, you felt relieved, maybe Jaehyo wasn't so bad aftter all.

But you spoke too soon – that very same afternoon your parents arrived in Seoul and quickly withdrew your application from the co-ed university and they also had negotiated for your spot at Ewha successfully. You wanted to kill Jaehyo but he conveniently had a showcase to go to, while you faced the wrath of your parents.

He waited for a week before he popped into your life again, and so that you won't murder him, he brought along his Block B members as human shields although they weren't aware of it. You were trying to give him dagger looks but he avoided your gaze and you had to stop giving those looks because the other members were getting scared of you.

The first time you ever told Jaehyo a secret and he spilled it to your parents. You shouldn't have been surprised, but you were. Of course he always disappointed you. When you were in fifth grade you started to have feelings for him, but no matter how you tried to look pretty in front of him he never noticed you. It didn't matter if you wore your hair a certain way or how feminine you looked, he would always ask why the “pig suddenly wore a skirt”. He would even ask you to ask for the phone numbers of the girls at your school that he found attractive. He wasn't even aware that after he got tired of one girl, that girl would take her revenge on you. You tried to be more feminine when he called you kiddo, so even if you learned how to cook the dishes that he liked, he didn't even taste it he said he was afraid that you might have poisoned him. Even if he was joking, it was still hurtful for him not to eat something you've prepared.

So how can you call him oppa? When he never took care of you, was never considerate of your feelings? Parading all his girlfriends before you and even asking you to help him meet girls? How can you ever call someone so callous, so oblivious and insensitive oppa? He didn't deserve it at all.

The university wasn't as bad as you thought, in fact your classmates could easily set you up with a guy! You were thrilled to experience dating. Your family was overly protective of you, that you have never gone on dates at all. During your primary school years, you were always with your brother and Jaehyo you didn't think it was weird but then in middle school when you realized that Jaehyo won't ever like you, you started to look for other friends and have crushes on guys from school. You had to keep it a secret from both of them because the first and ONLY time you told them about a crush, they had scared the guy off, he TRANSFERRED to a different school. Sometimes you would get love letters from a certain guy from a certain class or a certain school, but once you want to meet with them, they would disappear or deny they ever sent the letter. You had a feeling it was your brother's doing but you didn't have proof.

But now in university there's no Taehyun-oppa to stop you from experiencing dating. So you want to dive into the dating scene as quickly as you can. Yesterday you were so happy that you finally bought the cocktail dress and fire engine red strappy heels that you planned on wearing for the date with Joon-ho Oppa, the law student from Seoul University. You met him through a blind date, and although he is already twenty-nine you still hit it off. This date was also to celebrate your birthday, so you were really excited. You were trying to zip up the dress when Jaehyo came barging into your room.

“Tomorrow we're-”, Jaehyo gaped at you as you struggled to lift the dress to cover your bare chest, but your back was still exposed.

“Ahn Jaehyo, you barbarian haven't you heard of knocking?”, you asked in irritation, “How the hell did you get into the girl's dorm anyway?”

"You...didn't...lock...your...door”, he said after a long time with his mouth open.

“What are you doing still staring at me?”

He didn't even budge, you yelled, “Fine if you want to continue this conversation turn around. You don't want to turn around? OK, I'll turn around then”.

“What are you wearing?”, his voice suddenly turned cold and demanding.

“It's for my birthday!”, you said looking for a bathrobe, you found one inside the closet and quickly put it on, “My friends are taking me out”.

“We are going to visit your parents for your birthday”, he said matter-of-factly. His tone of voice irritated you, and since when did he start planning your life like a real brother? He really didn't care about you at all, he just wanted to do things his way. You turned and walked to face him.

“I am twenty-one”, you said forcefully, “I make decisions by myself, I go with whoever I want to go with and decide whatever I want to do. Don't pull your fake oppa card on me”. You glared into his eyes, eyes that were also flashing with anger. He left the room with a loud bang of the door.

That was yesterday, even if you had a fight with Jaehyo you didn't bother at all because you were excited at the prospect of going out with Joon-ho on your birthday. You woke up really happy because Joon-ho had planned a whole day of activities for you, and you already packed your bag. That is until you saw that he texted you at 3 AM

ONE TEXT MESSAGE RECEIVED

Hey, sorry something came up. I can't take you out. Happy Birthday. Joon-ho

Your hands were shaking you couldn't believe that he could pull off something like this. After weeks of planning why would he suddenly back out? At first you were worried for him that you called him multiple times but all you get was voicemail.

You were so worried that something bad must have happened that you quickly went to his dorm which was a few minute's bus ride from your dorm. Imagine your shock when you saw Joon-ho laughing together with a group of his friends outside his dorm. Your heart was shattered, were you just dumped? You slowly backed away from the group when you bumped into the rubbish bin, you frantically tried to stop it from falling but by then you had the group's attention. You saw Joon-ho's face turn a shade darker when he set his eyes on you. You made a move to run but you felt so weak.

“Wait, let me explain”, he grabbed your arm as you were about to fall.

***

“Stupid imbecile, I hope you rot from whatever hole you came from”, you muttered to yourself, taking another gulp of the beer.

Once Joon-ho told you what happened you were livid, he wanted you to go home or at least let him accompany you but you refused. You were too upset to talk to him. You walked out of the dorm then went back to the dorm. You looked at the dress that was lying on your bed and the nice pair of heels that was on the floor. You decided to go out. You went to a convenience store and bought beers and chips and took a taxi to the beach. You wanted to scream and curse at Jaehyo when you reached the beach but when you alighted from the taxi, you felt more sad than angry.

Your phone kept ringing but you continued to ignore it. You didn't want to talk to anyone. You were planning how to get rid of Jaehyo from your life once and for all. You heard a car screeching to a stop and the door slam.

“Ya! Why are you not answering your phone?!”, someone shouted at you. You smiled bitterly, his timing was always impeccable. When you don't want to see him he always appears, when you wanted to see him, he wasn't there.

 "Are you OK? I've been looking for you", he said in a worried tone as he approached the bench. You gave a sharp sigh, for someone who doesn't care for you, he really nags a lot.

"What happened to you, I was so worried -", You stood up and started throwing whatever you could lay your hands on at him. You took off your heels and flung it at him one after the other, "What? What's going on? Why are you mad?"

So he's really going to pretend that he had nothing to do with anything is he? In your anger you took the beer can that you just drank from and walked towards him. He ran towards the car, and went in the driver's seat. He rolled down the glass windows.

"Can we talk about this? Can you calm down?", he pleaded with you. But you were seeing red, how can he ask you to calm down when he's the one who sabotaged your birthday.

"Take this", you said coldly as you threw the beer can at the car. He barely managed to dodge it but the contents of the can sprayed on him.

"Ya!", he shouted at you from behind the wheel, "This is manager hyung's car , he's gonna get mad".

"I don't care you stupid, selfish, meddling, hateful person!", you screamed barely fighting the tears. You walked back to the bench and gathered your stuff. You wanted to be far away from him as possible. You took your clutch and your heels and started walking barefoot on the road.

Jaehyo went out of the car again and tried to follow you. But you threw one of your heels at him again. He picked it up.

“Can you let me explain?”, he called out after you but you ignored him. You heard him run back up to the car. In a few moments the car was moving beside you.“Can you get in the car? It's going to be dark soon and you are wearing a revealing dress”

“Not everybody thinks like you”

“Please just get in the car you'll get a cold,” he said with worry, but you were having none of it, “It's going to rain, look at the clouds”.

“Since when did you care?”

“Look I don't know what I did wrong, I was just looking out for - “

“Looking out for me?”, you yelled at him, then you threw the other heel at him, you felt pissed because it went in the car but didn't hit him, “How can you say that? You made this the most miserable birthday of my life”. You stopped walking. Jaehyo also stopped the car.

“Joon-ho told me how you told him that he couldn't take me out because I already had a boyfriend and that you were my boyfriend!”, you screamed through the tears, “How can you do this to me? Have you made it your mission to make my life miserable? I hate you, I hate you with everything I am”.

“Would you let me explain?”

“How could you explain, you won't even come out of that stupid car to face me, you coward!”, you said throwing your clutch at him, your aim was so good even if you were mad because the clutch hit him squarely on the jaw.

“You keep running away from me and you keep throwing things at me, why wouldn't I hide?”, he shouted back in exasperation.

“Leave me alone!”, you shouted to no one in particular, you were so upset that you fell on the floor, your strength leaving, you tried to cry it out, but your tears were not falling anymore. Jaehyo went out of the car and walked to where you were. He knelt down and tried to hug you, but pushed him away. “I said don't touch me!”.

“Can you stop screaming?”, he said his voice rising.

“What do you want me to say? Thank you?”, you asked bitterly.

“You just met that Joon-ho guy, you don't know if he's any good”, he said.

“Then why wouldn't you let me find out for myself? Who do you think you are? Do you really want me to be unhappy? Why do you have to in? Have you made it your life mission to my happiness? If it's some stupid promise you made to my brother -”

“The only stupid promise I made to your brother was promising not to fall in love with you when we were ten years old”, Jaehyo quickly answered.

“WHAT?”, you asked in disbelief. What nonsense was he talking about now? A decade old promise not to fall in love with you?

“It's true, your brother found out that I had a crush on you and - “, he stopped talking because suddenly the sound of thunder burst from the sky, he looked shaken but he continued, “he made me promise not to fall in love with you or else we wouldn't be friends anymore that also means I wouldn't be able to see you anymore”.

“Are you pulling my leg?”, you asked incredulously, “Don't make things up!”. The sky thundered again and Jaehyo quickly moved nearer to you.

“Shall we go inside the car to continue this conversation?”, he meekly said, looking up at the sky.

“Then if you really liked me then why would you ask me to introduce you to girls? You had girlfriends while I didn't even get to date!”, you tell him, ignoring his request.

“It was the only way Taehyun would believe that I got over you, if I was a playboy jerk in your eyes that means you would never like me, can you just believe me for once?”, he asked, casting a quick look at the sky again. “What can I say to make you believe me? Remember all those love letters from different guys? I told Taehyun about them and told him that those guys were no good, so we better protect you from them. In reality, I was jealous that they could confess to you and I couldn't. Taehyun didn't mind them but I did, so I scared all of them”.

“I don't believe you liked me, you never once looked at me. You always teased me. You burned my doll's hair! You just wanted to see me suffer. What makes you think I'll like you now?”.

“Look, it's my fault you don't believe me now. At that time I was scared, you were becoming prettier everyday and other boys were noticing it too. I-”, he stopped looking at the sky and looked at you straight in the eye, “I was scared that you will forget about me, since I couldn't give you good memories, I decided you would remember me as someone who gave you bad memories, only if it means I can stay by your side”.

“And it doesn't matter,” he continued, “I know that I was wrong, I should have told you how I felt except that I was afraid of Taehyun. He's in the army now, I will do anything and everything I can to prove my feelings to you. He might kill me once he gets out but I think we will still have at least a year of happiness”.

“But--” you said a little bit pacified by now, “You said I was ugly”. He rolled his eyes at you, he took your hands into his and lifted you up. He slid one warm over your waist and pulled you closer, he smiled at you.

“Everything I said about you was the opposite of what I meant”, he said sighing, “You are devastatingly beautiful”. He pushed a strand of your hair away from your eyes and tucked it under your ear. Your heart swelled with happiness. Was it just a moment ago that you thought Jaehyo was the dirtiest scum in the world? But now everything has cleared up so easily, you thought you were dreaming.

“Say it”, you tell him, he looked at you questioningly, “Say something that you really mean”.

“I maybe ten years too late, but I do”, he said slowly, he was looking into your eyes this time with tenderness and not teasing, he was letting his words sink in one by one, “I do love you”.

There was a flash of lightning that illuminated the dark sky and came the thunder. As the raindrops started to fall, he smiled at you, “Happy Birthday”. You closed your eyes as he planted a kiss on your forehead.

“Now can you call me Oppa?”, he asked pleadingly. The rain was slowly ruining his perfectly styled hair and you can see the BB cream making streaks on his face as the water washed over it. It was quite a funny sight. This was the Jaehyo you were used to.

“No”, you said then stuck your tongue out.

He pouted at you, “Why not?”. You eased yourself out of his grip. You picked your clutch and quickly got in the car. Jaehyo grumbled as he seated himself at the driver's seat. You felt uncomfortable with your wet dress over the car seat and wanted to get back to the dorm quickly.

"Ah manager hyung will kill me for getting the interiors wet", he said pitifully, water dripping from his face, “You still don't want to call me Oppa?”

“For ruining my birthday, just drive-”, you ordered him. He sighed as he started the car. As the car pulled into the highway, a small smile crept up to your lips, “For making this the happiest birthday of my life -”

You quickly pecked him on the cheek - “Thank you, jagiya”. You sat back down and looked at the window and smiled.

“YES!”, Jaehyo shouted.

EDIT: 08/07/2012 HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYUNG! Although his part in Sonagi isn't up yet. It took me awhile to update Jaehyo's version. And am not sure if it's good. Thank you for waiting!