“Wow.”

“Gosh, I know right! It’s like the Earth’s shifted from its’ axis!”

“Just… wow.”

“Exactly! It’s like Hell’s frozen over, or an alternate reality – or Christmas! An early Christmas miracle!”

Yoona felt herself shrinking behind Changmin’s shadow at every word that came out of her sisters’ mouth. She wondered vaguely to herself how a simple day of ‘getting-to-know-your-accomplice’ would end up in a hospital room with said accomplice’s family peering closely at them –

“Just wo… Ow!!! Oppa, that’s foul play!” Sooyoung cried, rubbing the top of her head where Changmin had struck her quickly with his whiteboard. She reached out to punch him on the arm but then huffed when he easily stepped away from her reach.

He glared at her, /Stop saying ‘wow’. It’s rude./

—Yoona sighed, knowing fully well that clearly today was not her lucky day.

“You really shouldn’t hit your sister like that. She’s a patient and should be taken cared for.” She said, giving him a slight roll of the eyes. She hoped he would react and excuse himself so they could escape, but instead he shrugged it off and stepped back to lean on the wall and erase his board with his palm – leaving her there at the mercy of his sisters watching her every move intensely. Yoona felt her hand clench, aching to slap him (I haven’t done this before, damn you!) and run, however she just smiled and blinked back at her audience.

“Um, hello! My name is Im Yoona. It’s very nice to meet the two of you,” she said, bowing politely. Anxiously, she tucked her hair behind her ear and waited for them to respond – which didn’t take too long when suddenly Sooyoung reached out to her and wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug. Yuri followed a second later and tightened their hug on her petite frame. Yoona could only blink in surprise, turning her head to look at Changmin shaking his in – what was it? Dismay? Embarrassment?

She sighed, silently praying for strength to pull through this disastrous “plan” she allowed herself to think up and hoped it wouldn’t backfire. At least… not yet, she thought briefly, gently patting the girls’ backs softly (anxiously).

“I’ve wanted an older sister for so long!” Sooyoung cried, smiling as she took her hand and shook it energetically. Yuri laughed and jumped onto her sister’s bed and shook her (other) hand too, grinning from ear to ear. “We were worried he’d end up as a hermit or something.” The younger girl said, tilting her head towards her brother’s direction (who only rolled his eyes and popped an earphone into his ear and tuned them out with music).

Yoona rolled her eyes and sighed, shaking her head. Gee, thanks man. Leaving me to converse with your sisters alone when we haven’t even gotten our ‘story’ straight. She sat gingerly on the chair next to the bed and looked up at the sisters smiling at her. She smiled back, letting her hand touch her chin restlessly. “Is he always this… rude?”

The girls shrugged, fortunately not noticing her distress. “We’re used to him ignoring us half of the time to care. He doesn’t like to get involved in girl talk – but then again what straight guy wants that?”

“I guess…” She trailed off, glancing at her partner-in-crime slightly bobbing his head to his music, “I bet he ignored his past girlfriends too.”

“We wouldn’t really know. We’ve never met them.”

Yoona’s lips unconsciously widened into a smile and she raised an eyebrow. “Really?” she said, a little too loudly for an indoor voice and directed her gaze towards the man leaning against the wall. Her smile widened even further when his frame tensed slightly and he gave her a sideway glance.

She continued, eyes and lips widening into a mock look of surprise and said sarcastically, “I thought he’d be a regular Casanova, with his brooding personality and would bring girls home often. I figured girls would fall all over that type.” Yoona sighed, making “tsk” sounds and pursed her lips together. “I guess I chose the wrong type of brooding guy to like.”

She grinned at him innocently and then giggled as he rolled his eyes at her before turning his attention back to his mp3. She glanced at Yuri and Sooyoung conspiringly and casually shrugged when they immediately understood.

“Oppa, she’s funny!” Yuri exclaimed, laughing and waving her hand to catch her brother’s attention. Changmin looked at them and said nothing (as usual), shaking his head again while reaching out to write on his board.

/At my expense, I’m sure she is./ He wrote, tilting his head to stare at Yoona (as if to say that he heard everything Yoona had just said and would get back at her eventually).

She met his eyes innocently and fluttered her lashes for effect. The action surprised her for a moment and she stopped abruptly, blinking. Seeing this, Changmin smirked and stepped away from the wall. He put an arm around the back of the chair as he squeezed into her seat and pulled his face close to hers – their eyes boring into each other in determination and waiting for the other to look away first.

It didn’t matter that Changmin’s hands had started to sweat as her beautiful eyes stared back at his or that his throat had gone considerably dry when she opened her soft mouth slightly. Somehow, those details didn’t bother him as much as when she finally looked away with a slight grimace crossing her features.

He bit the inside of his cheek, deciding to ponder about it later and instead looked back at his sisters with a wink.

/She really likes me. That’s for sure./

They laughed, shaking their heads while Yoona laughed with less humor, avoiding his eyes. “Touché.” She murmured, soft enough for only him to hear. He shrugged, ignoring the way his ears buzzed even without the thump of music ringing through them as he stared down at her. “We need to straighten thi—”

“Oh, hello. I didn’t think your whole family would still be here, Sooyoung-shii.” Siwon said, appearing suddenly at the door in buttoned-up shirt and loose tie. He bowed politely at them, stepping inside the room almost tentatively before reaching towards Sooyoung’s Medical chart. Everyone greeted him warmly (Sooyoung with her bright eyes and beaming smile, Yuri with her cheerful ‘Hello’ and Changmin with a nod) except for Yoona, who sunk back into her seat as Siwon moved closer towards the bed.

Oh no. I forgot about sunbae! Her mind panicked and she covered her face with a hand. Choi Siwon had been her four years senior in her University and knew of her and Donghae, her ex-boyfriend. They were friends at some degree she recalled, since he and Donghae would frequent the same bar and gym. She wondered vaguely if Donghae had told anyone else about their break-up, and tentatively lowered her hand to glance at her senior who seemed to not notice her at all.

“Siwon-oppa.” Sooyoung’s voice rang sweetly in the air as she said his name. “We’ve got great news to share. It’s a miracle, I promise.”

“Oh? What is it?” He asked, smiling as he folded his arms across his chest. A little too widely too, Yoona noted, grinning and glancing back and forth at her senior and Sooyoung. She momentarily forgot to realize what Sooyoung had meant for a miracle and put her hand down from her face and nudged Changmin with a knowing glance.

“Oppa’s got a girlfriend! A really pretty talking one too!” Yuri exclaimed, cutting her sister off just as she was about to say the exact same thing as well. Sooyoung glared at her for a split second before letting out a laugh and pointing at Yoona’s form against Changmin’s side.

“Oh so he does, does he? Who might the lucky la—Yoona?” Siwon stopped, his brow furrowing once recognition of the woman’s petite form registered in his mind. He tilted his head as she froze in her spot (her face inches from Changmin’s and her body sharing one seat with him). “Im Yoona.”

Yoona pressed her lips together, considering her words before turning towards her senior. She shot Changmin a worried glance and then pulled a smile on her face. “Hello, Siwon-sunbae,” she greeted, bowing her head immaculately in greeting. She thought about standing up but felt frozen in her seat. “It’s been awhile…”

“You… are Changmin’s girlfriend?”

“… Yes.”

Siwon’s brow furrowed close together and his eyes stared back at her accusingly. “What about Donghae?”

Yoona winced at the sound of his name being mentioned and opened to speak. Unfortunately, no words came to mind. Her heartbeat drummed against her ears and she fought the tears that threatened to fall. Damn emotions. You don’t just get over heartbreak overnight! Even if you are ‘pretending’ to be with someone else for your father. She absentmindedly gripped her hands on her knees as she tried to collect her thoughts and respond. She didn’t notice Changmin’s eyes on her nor his hand suddenly covering her own softly. This was such stupid plan.

“Who’s Donghae?” Sooyoung asked, tilting her head to the side. “Unni’s ex-boyfriend?”

Changmin made no motion to respond immediately, only looking at Yoona’s bowed head. She said she’s only had one boyfriend. That must be his name. He thought, wrapping his hand upon hers comfortingly – if not to show Siwon that they were a ‘couple’. Slowly, he looked up again and nodded - shooting the young doctor a look.

/They’ve been broken up for a while now./ He knew it was a lie since it had only been last night after all, but it was still true to an extent.

Siwon regarded him for a moment, taking in his stoic face and the hand wrapped protectively around her hand. It didn’t make sense to him, knowing fully well about Lee Donghae’s relationship with this lady, Im Yoona, in front of him. He didn’t know her very well, and had only seen her a couple of times at class reunions where Donghae would bring her and leave early. She didn’t co