“Miss Kim Joojin. We are sorry to tell you that your parents were killed in a car accident.” A nurse said.

Joojin was at the hospital where her parents were said to be.

She stood there, stunned at the situation. Her baby brother Leo looked up at her with watery eyes, “N-Noona.”

But Joojin didn’t hear him as everything went crashing down. Her parents were gone, so what was supposed to happen now? She was a 4^thyear student at Seoul High School and her parents usually took care of Leo.

Joojin thought back to the day her parents left Earth. She gazed up at the night sky from her rooftop apartment she shared with her little brother. He was tucked in a blanket as he slept on the floor. Joojin couldn’t afford proper bedding as she didn’t have much money. She only had enough for food and shelter for both her and Leo.

She caressed his cheek and moved his bangs away from his face as his nose was scrunched up in annoyance from it. Joojin smiled, “Don’t worry Leo. Noona will take care of you. Just count on me.” She kissed his cheek and laid beside him, getting into a fetal position with her hands tucked into her pockets as she only wore long pants, a thick jacket and socks to keep her warm from the cold night as Leo had the only blanket they had.

When it was morning, Leo was the first to wake up. He looked up to see Joojin still sleeping and saw her slightly shivering. He quickly got out of the blanket and draped it over his sister. She smiled in content as well as Leo. But then the alarm from Joojin’s phone woke up her up.

Leo pouted and glared at the cell phone. ‘Stupid phone. You wake up noona.’

Joojin stretched her arms over her head as she sat up. She gave out a loud yawn and rubbed her eyes open. She saw Leo awake, “Aww. Leo yah. You’re already awake?” He nodded his head. She couldn’t help but smile at her little brother’s cute expression. She stood up and grabbed his hand, “Let’s wash up.”

After washing their faces and brushing her teeth, they walked back to the apartment where they saw the landlord standing there with crossed arms and a not so nice facial expression. “You were wasting my water again, weren’t you?” she hissed.

Joojin bowed to the woman, “Annyeonghaseyo. What are you doing here ahjumma?”

The woman rolled her eyes and looked at Joojin, “I need you to move out.”

Her eyes widened, “M-Moh? B-But I paid the rent last week. Where are we supposed to go?”

“I don’t care. I need you to move out by noon. That’s when the next resident for that apartment is going to arrive.” The lady said and walked away.

“But ahjumma…” But then the lady was already gone. Joojin let out a sigh and looked at Leo, who was confused by the situation. All she did was smile at him and brought him back into the apartment. She brought out their suitcases from the closet and started packing.

Leo looked at his noona, “Where we going?” he asked.

“Mollayo Leo yah. But we have to move out because ahjumma said to. We have to listen to her, araso?”

He crossed his little arms and pouted, “Me no like ahjumma. She mean.”

Joojin couldn’t help but smile, “Don’t say that Leo yah.” ‘Even though I hate her too, but we can’t do anything about it.’ “Let’s continue packing hmmm? Then we’ll eat ramen for breakfast, araso?”

“Arasoyo noona.” He said.

“Aigoo~” She pinched his cheeks and tickled his sides. He laughed and tried his best to tickle her back.

It was 2 hours before noon that they finished packing. They both bowed to the landlord, which Joojin had to force Leo to bow his head to the lady, and they both pulled their suitcases with them as they walked the street away from their old home.

As Joojin promised, she bought ramen cups for breakfast at a nearby convenient store. Leo sat on a tall chair as he waited for his noona to bring their cups of ramen. He stared outside with a pouty expression and looked at the outside world. He stared at a couple of school girls as they passed by the window he was sitting at.

“Omo. I can’t wait for SM’s new boy group to debut.” “They’re so talented with dancing and singing.” “And there’s going to be Chinese and Korean members.” They all squealed.

‘Girls are weird.’ Leo thought.

Then Joojin came back with their ramen and a large water bottle. She ripped the half open wrapper off of Leo’s ramen cup and steam went up into the air. She broke the chopsticks in two and picked the noodles and put it into a cup. She blew on it to cool down the hot noodles and fed Leo. Leo motioned for Joojin to eat her cup of ramen. She nodded her head and did as told. When they were finished, Joojin got out her phone and called her best friend.

“Yobosaeyo?” a voice said on the other line.

Joojin sighed, “Chaehwan ah…”

“Omo. Gwenchana unnie? What’s wrong?” Chaehwan asked. She told her everything that happened this morning. “Aish. That only cares about money! You even paid the rent last week! What the !”

“Hwannie…” Joojin tried to calm down her friend.

“Where are you now?” Chaehwan asked.

Joojin looked at Leo as he played a hand game she taught a couple of days ago. “Leo and I just finished eating ramen for breakfast. We’re still in front of the convenient store.”

“Wait there. I’m coming to pick you up.”

“Hwannie. You don’t hav-“ Joojin started to say, but Chaehwan already hung up. She sighed and tucked her phone into her pocket and squatted down to be close to Leo’s eye level. “I guess Chaehwannie is coming.”

Leo brightened, “Hwannie noona coming?!” Joojin nodded her head. His smile widened. It was adorable that Leo had a crush of Chaehwan.

It took 15 minutes until Chaehwan came to the store with her driver. The driver got out, bowed to Joojin and Leo with a smile, “Annyeonghaseyo you two.”

Joojin smiled back, “Annyeonghaseyo Driver Jung.”

Leo waved to him as well, “Annyeong ahjusshi.”

Driver Jung then opened the door for Chaehwan. She smiled as she saw Leo. “Leo!” she held up open arms.

“Hwannie noona!” he beamed and ran up to her.

Joojin smiled at the scene and followed behind as Chaehwan carried Leo into the car. It was a short ride back to Chaehwan’s place, which was a mansion. Chaehwan is a rich girl as her appa was a business man and her umma was a fashion designer. As Chaehwan held Leo’s hand and Joojin followed behind with the driver carrying their luggage, Chaehwan’s parents were at the door waiting for their arrival.

“Omo. Annyeong Leo!” Mrs. Park cooed as she saw him.

He smiled back, “Annyeong ahjumma!!!” Leo ran up to hug her.

Mr. Park smiled and looked at Joojin, “Kicked out again?” She shyly nodded her head. “I should talk to that woman.” He said.

“A-Aniyo ahjusshi! It’s okay.” Joojin blurted out. She didn’t want to burden other people.

He just laughed and picked up Leo, causing her little brother to squeal. Chaehwan followed them to the living room. Mrs. Park looked at the driver, “Please bring their things up to the guest bedroom next to Chaehwan’s room.” He nodded and brought the luggage upstairs.

Joojin looked at her, “I promise that we won’t stay long. Only until I find a place for Leo and me to stay at.”

She giggled, “You can stay here as long as you’d like. Heck, you can live here. We don’t mind at all. We adore both you and Leo. You’re like our other set of children.” Mrs. Park touched Joojin’s shoulder and smiled, “But if you’d like, you can leave when you want to.”

Joojin smiled back, “Kamsamida ahjumma, but I don’t want to be a burden to anyone. I promise that we’ll leave when I find a place and have enough money.”

“That’s what I like about you Joojin ah. You don’t things for granted when the opportunity is given to you. Just like how you became friends with Chaehwan ah.” Mrs. Park said. She stared back at her daughter as Chaehwan smiled brightly with Leo.

No one was really a true friend to Chaehwan until Joojin came into her life. Other students liked her because she’s rich, but Joojin didn’t care about that. Chaehwan was glad that Joojin treated her like a real person. She wasn’t afraid to slap or insult Chaehwan.

“NOONA!” Leo’s voice broke her train of thought. Joojin looked at her brother as he waved her over, “Come here!”

She smiled, “Araso. Gosh, I wonder where you got this demanding personality from.” She eyed Chaehwan, who shrugged and ate a piece of cut fruit one of the maids brought out.

Joojin sat next to Leo as he held up a tiny fork with a slice of apple. “Ahh~” he said.

She obligated and opened , “Ahh…” He put the fruit into . Chaehwan as well as her parents appreciated the scene.

It was a couple of weeks that Joojin and Leo living at Chaehwan’s place. It was a dreadful day for the Kim children. It was their parent’s death anniversary. Chaehwan offered to come along, but her parents said that it was best if they went alone, to respect the tradition.

Mrs. Park handed Joojin a bag of fruits and soju. “Take this to your parent’s grave, also as a condolence from us.”

Joojin smiled as she accepted the bag of goods, “Kamsamida ahjumma.”

Mr. Park already had the car ready with Driver Jung opening the car door. Joojin helped Leo enter the car. As Driver Jung close the door behind Joojin, she brought down the window as Mr. Park wanted to talk to her, “Be careful going there. Just Driver Jung a call when you’re back at the train station.”

“Ne ahjusshi. I will.” She smiled, feeling gratitude towards these people in her life. Chaehwan and her umma waved as the car started moving.

It took about 15 minutes for them to arrive at the train station. She thanked Driver Jung as they got out. He bowed and went on his way. Joojin ordered their tickets and waited for the train to Hongdae to arrive. Once seated on their seats, Leo was already sleepy from the long wait at the train station. Joojin fixed his jacket to make sure he was warmly snugged and comfortable.

As the train started to depart, a young man stopped in front of her. She looked up at the foreign looking boy, who wore a light blue colored cardigan over a black shirt with a brown backpack. He pointed to the seat, “Uh… Could I sit here?”

She gave him a polite smile, “Sure.”

He bowed his head, “Kamsamida miss…” hinting that he wanted her name.

“Just call me Joojin.” She said.

He held out his hand, “Yixing. But people call me Lay.” She gladly took his hand in hers and shook it. Lay glanced at Leo, “You’re brother?”

Joojin looked at Leo and smiled, “Ne, this is Leo. He just fell asleep while waiting for the train.”

Lay nodded his head in understanding. Then he got a text from his dongsaengs, who wouldn’t leave him alone. He had told them that he was going to visit an old friend and then that he’ll be back soon. Joojin looked out at the moving scenery. About 10 minutes into the ride, Leo woke up.

His eyes opened to see a stranger sitting in front of him and his sister. Leo tugged on Joojin’s sleeve. She looked at him, “Ne Leo?”

Leo pointed at Lay, who saw the little boy pointing at him, “Who he?”

“This is Yixing.” Joojin looked at Lay.

He smiled back and took out the ear buds from his ears, “Annyeong. I hope we can become good friends.”

To pass the time, Lay let Leo sit with him and play with his I-Pad. Joojin smiled as Leo giggled in excitement at the game he was playing. A waitress with a cart came by, “Would you like something to eat or drink?”

“Eggs noona!” Leo said.

Joojin looked at her worn out wallet in worry, ‘I won’t have much money left to buy tickets on our way back.’ Just as she was about to decline the waitress’s offer, she already left.

She then saw Lay holding up a can of Coke towards her. “Here you go.”

Joojin blinked up at him, “Y-You didn’t have to Yixing shi.”

Lay shook his head, “It’s no problem at all.” Then he went back to Leo as he excitedly held onto a boiled egg. “Do you know how to open it Leo yah?”

Leo nodded his head and knocked the boiled egg against Lay’s head. Joojin gasped, “Leo yah!” She grabbed the egg away from Leo and looked at Lay in concern, “Mianhaeyo Yixing shi. Gwenchanayo?”

Lay just chuckled, “Ne, I’m fine.” He froze as Joojin’s face was close to his as she examined his head.

She then reluctantly backed away, letting Lay be able to breathe again. His heart hammered in his chest. He looked back at the siblings. Joojin peeled the shell off of the egg for Leo. As he happily ate the egg, she would make sure he wouldn’t make a mess. She then opened her can of Coke and let Leo drink first. Lay smiled at the scene.

The dreaded moment has come. The train finally reached their destination. Before Lay could ask for Joojin’s number so that they could keep in contact, a huge crowd separated them. Also, a couple of girls recognized him, “Omo. Isn’t he a member of SM’s new boy group?” “Are the others here?!” Lay had to give up finding Joojin and Leo and get away from the fan girls.

Joojin and Leo took a bus to the funeral home. Leo looked out the window in amazement as Joojin texted Chaehwan that they arrived in Hongdae. As she locked her phone, she looked out the window as well. She thought back to Lay and wondered, ‘I wonder where he went. I hope we could meet again.’

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How is it so far? Good? Bad? Boring?

I'll try my best to make it more exciting next chapter.

I don't know if I'll update tomorrow because I'm going to be hiking with my friends.

Wish me luck lol *sighhhh -____-

I'll update when I can. I promise! ^^