Jesse walked side by side with Tiffany in his school’s hallway. Tiffany was busy looking the new surroundings. This was the first time she stepped into Jesse’s school. There wasn’t a lot of difference with hers. Just maybe the feelings of it, like you were pretty much more senior than those in her school and maybe the feelings of how the subject would be much more difficult than the one she was facing daily that she could see on the whiteboard on each class that she passed by – none that she understood.

Jesse was silent as he let his sister take in the view of his school and soon his classroom as he pushed the door open. They were on their way to take his bag after he ran with no second thoughts earlier when he got the text message from Yul – the trick that Yul made to trap him and talk to his sister which he felt thankful for, although he was annoyed at first. Well, of course now they were here after they went to Tiffany’s classroom to take her bag as well which was now perfectly carried by Jesse on his left shoulder.

“So.... welcome to my class.” Jesse chuckled, finding it a bit silly for introducing his classroom to her.

Tiffany went to look around as Jesse went to his table and carried his bag on his right shoulder. He then went back to Tiffany’s side and looked at her curiously.

“I never think that a classroom is a very nice view for you.” Jesse teased, knowing smirk coming to his lips as Tiffany hit him on his arm.

“It’s just.... I don’t know... strange yet familiar.” Tiffany shrugged, a small crease forming in between her eyebrows.

“It just seems so hard.” Jesse directly laughed at her words before he gently nudged.

“You sound like an old person.” Tiffany directly glared as Jesse recovered from his fit earlier and sighed softly.

“You think too much, Tiff.” Jesse wrapped his arm around Tiffany’s shoulder as they walked out of the class. Tiffany looked at Jesse confused on why her brother said that. Came to think of it, maybe she did think too much.

“It won’t be hard. Trust me.” Jesse encouraged his beloved sister as they slowly walked along the hallway. “There would be all of your friends and me. So... what do you think? It would be a lot better than right now, both of us are separated. It’s totally not fun.”

“You’re right, oppa. Sometimes I am just silly.” Tiffany directly beamed, giving her beautiful eye-smiles towards Jesse. “And I can’t wait for us to be together again all the time.” Little did she knows, that action made Jesse’s heartbeat go a lot faster than before. Sometimes, Jesse wondered how come his sister could turn happy just like that so easily, which was a really good thing to him cause she was always the mood-maker of the family or the group of her friends. One thing that Jesse never want to lose was that smile of hers that would always brighten his day, well, maybe not just his but everyone around her.

***

“Yah... Fany-ah.... Come back here.” Jesse shouted for his sister to stop as he made a chase towards the latter after Tiffany purposely nudged Jesse when he was eating his ice-cream, making it smudge perfectly on his face as they walked back home together from school.

Loud ruckus coming from the door as Tiffany was running away from Jesse, quickly making a run upstairs, soon followed by Jesse. Their mom kind of rushing out of the kitchen, just to look at her children, smiling a bit, happy that the two of them finally got back together, being playful and all before the happiness turned into glimpse of worries and concerns for the feelings that they hadn’t discovered yet and she didn’t plan for them to discover about that at all.

The older woman walked out of one of the rooms on the first floor, just right across Mr and Mrs Jung’s room. The older woman walked towards Mrs Jung with a knowing look. “you’re worrying about them.” Grandma Jung spoke out her concern and in a wise tone like how older people should be. The kids might see Grandma Jung as an annoying person but she was just caring in her own way although the latter showed more of her strict side and that’s also maybe why Mr Jung and Jesse got the trait from whether they wanted to admit it or not.

Mrs Jung could only nod and serious crease soon formed on her forehead. Grandma Jung patted Mrs Jung’s back and urged the latter back to the kitchen. “We just could do our best to stop them but no one knows what the future would be. Maybe we are just worrying about them way too much when nothing actually happened, whether now or the future.” Grandma Jung tried to ease Mrs Jung up. “For now, let’s just cook for our dinner.”

“You’re right, mom. Maybe I just think of everything way too much.” Mrs Jung gave the older woman a weak smile and went back to preparing the ingredients to cook up for dinner with the help of Grandma Jung.

Small ruckus and footsteps running upstairs could be heard cause Jesse was still chasing Fany around, tackling the latter down on the wooden floor, which of course Jesse would end up hugging Fany protectively in his arms, never want or like the idea of his sister getting hurt. Both of them giggled and teased on another before the two got up and decided to go back to each other’s room to shower and cleaned themselves up before their father came back home and their mother would call them for dinner.

***

once more, silence on the table when they were having dinner. Somehow there was always less sound whenever there’s grandma jung on the table, either it was in the past or now whenever the older female came to visit. The reason would be manners cause if they just made any sound, the would be reminded over and over again by grandma jung not to do so. That’s also the reason why the two kids in the house were acting like a robot.

Suddenly though, Tiffany broke the silence. “Mom, Dad, this weekend, I’ll be having a camping trip with all of my classmates, so I need the permission.”

Jesse looked at Tiffany, cause he didn’t hear of this at all. However, if it’s a school trip, there’s nothing that he could do. The problem was only one, what he was going to do when he’s alone. His mind was already working on what he should do cause Tiffany wouldn’t be around at home for 3 days. It wouldn’t be as problematic if there wasn’t grandma Jung. Somehow grandma jung always loved to rule over Jesse, like asking him to do this and that, and trying to teach him into someone that wasn’t him. Jesse always felt like he lost his freedom whenever grandma jung was around, that’s one of the reason why he hated whenever the older woman was around.

Tiffany simply gave Jesse an apologetic look. It’s not like she could do anything. It’s school activity that she couldn’t say no to, cause everyone was going and the permission was sort of just a formality. Tiffany actually felt bad to leave Jesse alone and that was also maybe why she was dreading to tell this news and kept on postponing it, until now cause she needed to go on this weekend.

“Okay. I’ll sign the letter later.” Mr Jung said before he continued to eat the dinner.

The rest of dinner was spent in silent although Jesse did shoot a few glares to Tiffany for not telling him sooner/at all until now.

***

“why you are not telling me?” Jesse asked on their morning walk to school, firing up the question when they were not on the proximity of their house, didn’t want their parents to know that they started arguing again, especially early in the morning.

“because I am scared of oppa’s reaction, like right now.” Tiffany answered, remaining calm. It was something the latter had grown and learned as she grew up. When Jesse was upset, she should remain calm, if not, things would end up like how it was a few weeks ago.

“My reaction? I am acting normally. Just like how every single brother that cares for their sister does.” Jesse continued, looking at tiffany for a while before looking to the road once more, not realizing that he was actually exclaiming right now. Lucky enough was the road they were walking in was sort of empty if not people would already be staring at them.

“I know oppa cares for me. But sometimes it’s too much. I’ll be fine and I also don’t mean to leave you alone with grandma. It’s something that I can’t help too, alright? It’s not like I could say no to school activity. I don’t want to fail in anything, oppa.” Tiffany started explaining before Jesse threw another argument.

Jesse took a deep breath and sighed. He might sound insane earlier but Tiffany’s words sort of kicked some sense on him. “Oppa is sorry. Sometimes, I just worried over you too much, especially when I am not around you to protect you and I guess I can handle grandma, or at least try to think of a way so that I am not trapped with her for too long.”

In the past when he was still the head of student council, he would be the one planning for things like this and would be joining the trip to observe others so he never worried much in the past years. This year, since he was now in senior high, this turn into a huge concern to him. Basically everything turns into a huge concern when he was around her.

Tiffany let out a soft chuckle when she saw her brother sort of slowly calming down. Her method was sort of effective. When her brother was upset, she should just act calm and the latter would soon calm down by himself. Although sometimes that didn’t work and that usually would be the time for them to fight and argue with one another.

“Hey, hyung, Fany.” A voice coming from behind them as they passed the bus station. Arms soon wrapped up around their shoulder as Kwon Yul was hugging them, pretty much in a good mood, squeezing himself in between Jesse and Tiffany which making Tiffany blushed from the gesture as the latter was pretty much having a crush on mischievous Yul.

“Hey, Yul. Great that I’ve seen you early in the morning.” Jesse directly addressed a matter that he would tell Yul, sooner or later. So it’s sort of lucky that they bumped onto him in the morning.

“I need you to look after Fany when you guys are on the school trip.” Jesse directly said without beating around the bush. He was always like that on point and direct whenever he needed to talk about something.

Tiffany who was standing right beside Jesse ducked her head from being shy with the entire ordeal although Jesse didn’t know why she acted that way. It wasn’t like Yul or Tiffany would be having an alone time or stuff like that.

“But don’t try anything funny or I’ll skin you alive.” Jesse warned Yul playfully although his tone was sort of icy cold as usual whenever he did that to Yul. The reaction of it was an instant as Yul shivered on his spot from it, scared of the entire idea.

“Alright, hyung. Don’t you worry. I’ll make sure that she’ll come back safe and sound.” Yul said as Jesse nodded, satisfied with the answer of the younger man.

The rest of the walk, they did mostly in silence although there would be a small chat here and there, followed with small laughter or chuckle. Jesse kept Tiffany company until she reached her class, sitting on the seat next to her as they talked although a lot of Tiffany’s classmates crowded the two, simply wanting to spend more time and getting to know Jesse although some of the clever and curious ones would end up having a tutoring from Jesse which the latter did gladly as he loved to help others. So in the end, Jesse sort of turned into a tutor for Tiffany’s  entire classmates that morning as everyone sort of interested in this, thinking when they could get such a great chance like this, getting help for any subjects that they needed help in. Although Jesse didn’t do this by himself as he got help from the triple-As. this thing proceed until it’s almost the time for the bell rang as he needed to go back to his school building. Tiffany’s classmates were saying their thanks to Jesse and hoping that there would be more chances like this again.

***

So the day for the trip finally came and Jesse carried Tiffany bag until the bus came and Tiffany’s entire class got into it and he waved goodbye to his sister. He had told Tiffany that morning to stick always with Yul, Seohyun and Yoona and not to go anywhere by herself, knowing how easily his sister could get lost. Even so, watching the bus got out of the school compound, he started to get worried. “Maybe my worry is just a bit too much and I can’t help it.” Jesse sighed as he talked by himself.

He walked back home as it was Sunday. It was so dreadful to him, knowing he would be left alone with his grandmother and he never knew the way of thinking of the older woman. He sighed as he walked, trying not to let it stress him out. Walking pass the park, he stopped on his track. Simply looking at the swing, he was already missing tiffany. He even thought that he was just like a lovesick puppy like this. Wait… Lovesick? He shook his head to toss that thoughts away, something that he couldn’t allow to think of ever again.

Walking to the swing, he sat down on it and played it before fishing his phone out to send a text to his sister asking about where she was right now and how’s everything so far. Things like these had become a habit to him whenever his sister wasn’t by his side.

He played with the swing for a short while until he got a reply from his sister that mention things were fine and that they were still half an hour off the journey so they were still in the city, heading off towards the highway. Sending another okay, Jesse decided that it was time to go home, not wanting his mother to worry when it didn’t take this long to send his sister off to school and back.

Reaching home, Jesse took off his shoes and placed it in the rack tidily, being a neat freak he was sometimes. He walked into the living room and was going to head upstairs until he heard someone calling him and it was his greatest enemy. Didn’t know why he never could be in good term with his grandmother. It was like whatever he did was wrong in front of her.

“Yes?” Jesse stopped on his track and turned around, giving a short bow to the older person. Manners always came first, that’s what his mom taught him.

“Sit down and we should talk.” His grandmother was already taking a seat on the couch, following with his mother.

“about?” Jesse asked, still not bother with sitting although it might be rude but this way he could end the talk faster.

“of course, you going to America.” Grandma Jung directly mentioned about that without beating around the bush. “You clearly know that it would be a lot better for you too, to be there. The technology there is also more advanced for your condition. It is also for your own good.”

“is tiffany going?” That’s the first thing he asked as he didn’t want to get separated from her.

His grandma directly shook her head. “No. it would be better for you if she didn’t come. You could focus 100% on your treatment there and once you are fully recovered you could come back here and no one will stop you.”

This thing was already deeply discussed between his parents with grandma jung, Jesse knew that and honestly there’s a split second that he would agree to it. However, the idea of getting separated from Tiffany was something that he hated so much and not to mention he had promised Tiffany before that he would always stay by her side and he would never break any promise he had made to her.

“I don’t know. If I am going to take that offer, it might not be that fast. I might need to talk to Tiffany about this and not to mention, we never really know whether I really could recover fully there. What if things are just the same then, I would get separated from Tiffany and got nothing from it.” Jesse gave a piece of his mind to his mom and grandma. He didn’t want them to think that he never thought of that ever since his grandma said that to him. He did think of stuff like this a lot. Still, he never could have the courage to leave his sister, thinking that what if he did try those treatment but in the end got separated from his sister forever instead, like things fail and so. Wasn’t it better for him to just stay right by his sister side and stayed happy and if indeed the time had come for him, at least he didn’t have any regret in it.

“I guess, I’ll just go to my room first.” Jesse gave another bow to politely dismiss himself and went to his bedroom. Closing the door behind him, he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, looking at the row of his medicine that was perfectly arranged on his table. What is actually the right thing to do?

Jesse walked towards the table to take his medicine for that afternoon but before he reached that place a terrible pain shot up in his chest making him instantly gripped on his chest. He never felt this kind of pain before. He tried to crawl to the table to get his medicine but in the end he didn’t have the strength to as he slowly losing consciousness. Using his last strength, he shouted. “Mom!”

***

The sound of siren destroyed the silence in Jung’s neighbourhood. Cries and shout of worried and concern could be heard from the two females, Mrs Jung and Grandma Jung as the paramedics carried Jesse’s body on the stretcher. They got into the ambulance and headed to the hospital as soon as possible so that jesse could get a proper treatment. Nothing could be heard except for the siren, beeping of machine and also the cries of the families. It was a long way towards the hospital.

The moment the ambulance stopped, the door opened and they pulled the stretcher down, placing Jesse on the hospital bed. At that time, Jesse slightly woke up and weakly said. “Don’t tell, Fany.” Before he lost his consciousness again.

Mr Jung reached the hospital not long after that. The doctor discussed the possible treatments for Jesse to his parents. For sure, simply staying on medicine like all this time was no longer a choice. Then, grandma Jung directly asked. “is his condition possible for bringing him to America?”

“For now, no. as we just managed to stabilize his condition. But if his condition showing some improvement, we could.”

“Then could you prepare the things needed for transfer when it happens?”

The doctor nodded and walked away as the Jung went to the intensive care to look at Jesse through the glass window. Feeling worry and sad seeing Jesse in this kind of condition. They were also feeling guilty, especially Mr and Mrs Jung for always have Jesse’s condition hidden from Tiffany but they also didn’t want to worry Tiffany but the main reason was that Jesse was the one who wanted to keep it hidden. So being his parents, they should be supportive right? Although if things continue like this, they didn’t know until when they could keep this hidden. Also, lately they also didn’t know whether it’s right or wrong anymore to keep it hidden from Tiffany as now their daughter was sort of old enough to know the condition of Jesse.

That night, Jesse’s condition stabilize and the plan for transfer was executed that night. Jesse was brought to the airport with the team of doctor and got to the plane for the transfer to America. Mr Jung and Grandma Jung were the one going to America while Mrs Jung stayed as Tiffany didn’t know about it. For now they decided not to tell Tiffany yet. Grandma Jung, Mr and Mrs Jung, the three of them agreed that this transfer was indeed the best for Jesse. They hoped that Jesse could get the best treatment and recovered as this was the best thing they could do as his parents for him.