As she sat in the gloomy half-light of the church, her bum numb from the cold January pew, Ji-Seong felt the weight of her whole world crashing down on her. It was strange to think that one tiny decision could ruin your whole life. If Choi Hyun-Shik and Eun-Kyung had turned left just 3 and a half minutes before instead of driving straight on, they would never have collided with that other car. And if the driver of that car had turned down his friend’s offer of a drink...or 3...and stayed in watching crappy Saturday Night TV instead, they’d never have been driving down Danggyo-ro under the influence at 22:52 when the collision had occurred. And if Ji-Seong hadn’t let her parents-no. She couldn’t take the blame for this. It was just fate. But how sick was fate if he took parents away from their children? She felt a reassuring hand in hers and looked up to see her older brother Seunghyun forcing a smile through his shiny eyes. Ji-Seong noticed for the first time the wet on her cheeks and down her neck and gratefully took the tissue from him. He tugged her arm lightly and she realised the service had ended and followed him out of the church, shivering only half from the frosty weather.

The burial passed by as quickly as the service, while Ji-Seong replayed memories in her head and took 2 more packs of tissues from Seunghyun. It was nice that he was there at least. As children Seunghyun had always taken care of Ji-Seong. They were inseparable. But now he lived in Seoul as an idol and she rarely saw him. But even seeing her brother didn’t make up for the parent shaped hole in her heart.

“Excuse me” The two siblings looked up to see an official looking man in a dark grey suit standing in front of them, smiling in a way that was supposed to be reassuring and sympathetic but that to Ji-Seong just looked patronising. “I’m Mr Kim from Social Services, I was wondering if I could have a word with you about your sister’s current situation.” He was speaking to Seunghyun and Ji-Seong saw her brother’s eyes narrow.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit soon?” He hissed, staring the man down. “We’re still at the funeral.” Mr Kim now tried an apologetic smile that appeared as a grimace. He really needs to get a hang of smiling, thought Ji-Seong.

“Of course. If you’d like to join me at my office in an hour.” He handed them a simple grey card and strolled off. Seunghyun took a steady breath to erase his anger. Ji-Seong chewed on her lip nervously.

*

An hour and 10 minutes later (Seunghyun wanted to make a point) the siblings sat down in the simple grey office that according to his card, belonged to Mr Kim. No sooner had the receptionist told them to take a seat than the man from earlier stuck his head out of the door and beckoned for them to come in. Ji-Seong hesitated but Seunghyun squeezed her hand and led her in behind him.

“So the two of you are now obviously orphans” Mr Kim started and Ji-Seong’s heart sank. If he started off like that she didn’t have particularly high hopes that she’d leave this office not a sobbing wreck. “However Mr Choi is now legally an adult and so may carry on as before. Miss Choi on the other hand is 17 years old which means she’ll have to stay with a guardian for at least a year.” His eyes moved from Seunghyun to Ji-Seong and paused for the news to sink in. “Now I’ve taken a look at your family tree and...well, it appears that almost all your relatives are dead.”

“Almost?” Interrupted Seunghyun and Mr Kim looked up.

“Well yes. It seems you have an uncle Sook in Egypt. Ring any bells?” The two shook their heads. “Well that’s a shame because it seems Miss Choi shall have to stay with-”

“I am NOT sending my sister off to Africa sir.” Seunghyun said fiercely and the smaller man blinked a few times.

“I know I know it’s very unfortunate but I’m sure you’ll be able to visit sometimes and well there isn’t really any other choi-”

“She’ll stay with me.” Ji-Seong and Mr Kim both turned surprised to Seunghyun who stared back challengingly. “Like you said, I’m a legal adult so I’ll be able to look after her, won’t I?” Now all eyes were on the social services man as he fiddled with some papers and clicked a few buttons on his keyboard before shrugging.

“Well I suppose that could-”

“Great. Come on Ji, let’s go home.” And he led his sister out of the office, muttering insults to Mr Kim and the lot of them.

A/N Umm hello, firstly thank you for reading (^-^) I promise you this story will get better, this is just like background information kind of thing :) also please leave comments with what you like, what you don't like, whatever so I can improve :3 will try and update soon~