As soon as the last class finished, I ran home. Even though I didn't want to go back to Hee Yeon yet, I couldn't take the risk of running into Dae Hyun. Zelo followed me, asking what had happened between Dae Hyun and I, but I avoided all his questions successfully.

   "We're home. You know you can't come in, sorry." Just like that, I shut the door on his face and sighed, afraid of what would be my fate, coming back home after 3 days.

   I turned and looked around. Hee Yeon wasn't there. I'm good for now. I headed to my room and dropped my stuff on my bed.

   "You're back ?" I froze.

   "Erm, yeah. Hi, mom." I tried to force a smile, but it came out worse than expected.

   "I'm not your mom." Her cold tone sent chills down my spine. I was desperately scared.

   "Sorry." My fake smile disappeared. She was still at the door.

   "I'm going out now. You can begin with the dishes. They are there for all this time you were not here." She left and I had only one thing in my mind: I bet there are cockroaches among the dishes.

   I collapsed on my bed. I really am a scaredy cat and I'm not ashamed of admitting it. I'm afraid of thunders, I'm afraid of the dark, I'm afraid of windows and mirrors, I'm even afraid of people sometimes. But one of my biggest fears is insects. I'm not even sure if a cockroach is an insect, but I hate all these little crawling creatures.

   After freaking out for a few minutes, I decided to face the challenge. I would have to do it sooner or later anyways.

   I quickly changed into my pajamas (yes, I'm always wearing pajamas when I'm at home, because it's a lot more confortable, problem ?), took off my sneackers and headed to the kitchen. I took a look at all those dirty stuff and wrinkled my nose. It sure smelled bad. I started washing the glasses, which were on the table, as there was not enough room on the sink. And also because I could see there were no cockroaches among the glasses. As I said, there was no room in the sink, not even to be able to place the glass under the faucet, so I took the glasses to the shower and washed them there. Yes, I did. While I was sitting on my bathroom's floor, soaked, Il Hoon arrived and stared at me, chuckling.

   "What are you doing ?" He took a towel and started drying my hair.

   "Your mom told me to do the dishes, but there is no room for me to even open the faucet down there in the kitchen, so I'm washing the glasses here before taking the dishes." I kept on doing my job.

   "How did you get your hair wet if you're only using your hands ? Or are you using your hair as a sponge ? And why are you sitting on the wet floor ?"

   "Are you really going to keep on making fun of me ?" I gazed at him jokingly. He chuckled.

   "Sorry, but it's just that you're kind of weird."

   "Oh, thanks." I rolled my eyes, but he didn't see, as he was behind me.

   "I'm not saying it as a bad thing, but normal people would get rid of the things inside the sink first, so that they could wash the rest afterwards. I don't think anyone has ever taken dirty glasses to take a shower." He was serious, but I could feel he was holding back the laughter. 

   "Ok, here's the deal. There might be cockroaches among the dishes and I don't have the guts to touch anything inside the sink. Period." I said at an amazing speed. He burst out laughing.

   "What ?" He couldn't stop laughing.

   "Yeah yeah, laugh as much as you want, but I'm really afraid of cockroaches and stuff, and you know that !" I pouted, this time looking at him.

   "I see you are done there. Dry yourself and change your clothes, I'll help you." He handed me the towel.

   Il Hoon took the glasses to the kitchen and I did as he said. I changed into another pajamas and, as before, went downstairs barefoot.

   "I'll wash everything, you just dry them, ok ?" He said, rolling his sleeves up.

   "Your mom is not going to like it whatsoever."

   "She's not here, is she ? And she'll be even angrier if she comes back and you're not done."

   "Right." I took a dishcloth and Il Hoon started washing the plates, pans and silverware one by one and passing them to me.

   We were halfway through the pile, when a huge, I mean HUGE, cockroach ran out of the sink. Il Hoon had just passed me a plate and you can guess what happened, right ? I screamed and ran, faster than the cockroach, and the plate flew like a bird. A dead bird. The plate was broken into a million pieces. Hyperbole.

   I climbed the table and stood there, while Il Hoon ran after the cockroach with a flip flop in hand. He came back with that huge creature wrapped in a piece of toilet paper and pretended to throw it on me. I almost fell off the table, no kidding.

   "Just relax for a second, you look like you're still freaking out. It's over, ok ? The cockroach is gone. Sit there and breathe deeply, in and out, slowly. I'll pick the shards of glass from the floor." He patted my shaking head.

   "No way. What happens if you cut yourself ? Your mom will definitely cut my head out."

   "She's not here."

   "But she'll be back."

   "I won't cut myself."

   "How do you know ?"

   "I'm not like you."

   "Idiot." I pouted, but soon smiled. I agreed with him. "But still, if you want to help, keep on doing the dishes, I'll clean my mess."

   He did as I told him to and I started picking up the glass. To my misfortune, the dead monster had a friend. Awesome. I had some broken glass in my left hand when a black flying thing passed right in front of my eyes. A cockroach. Another one. I unconsciously tightened the grip on my hands because of the shock and ended up with a totally cut hand, soaked in blood.

   "Are you alright ?" Il Hoon ran to me, worry written all over his face.

   "Yeah, now go kill that damn thing." Although it hurt like hell, all I wanted at the moment was to know that creature was dead.

   He ran out of the kitchen and came back after about 3 minutes with the first aid kit.

   "It doesn't look good." He examined my hand.

   "Did you kill it ?"

   "Yes, now shut up. I'm going to clean your hand and it might hurt. A lot. So hang in there, ok ?" I nodded and he started taking little shards of glass that were still inside my flesh. I bit my lower lip to prevent any screams from coming out. After making sure there was no more glass left, he cleaned the blood and put some antiseptic on it before bandaging it.

   "Thanks." I smiled and looked at the remaining stuff to wash.

   "Don't worry, I'll finish it."

   "Let's do it." I stood up with the dishcloth in my right hand.

   "No way." He took the cloth from me. "You will sit here and wait for me to finish."

   "I can help."

   "No, you can't. At least not for today. Be a nice girl and listen to your oppa, ok ?" He ruffled my hair and laughed slightly. I sighed, but couldn't do anything.

   Not long after that, Hee Yeon came back. Il Hoon wasn't done yet, though. Not good.

   "Baby, what are you doing ?" She screamed and eyed me hatefully.

   "Doing the dishes." Il Hoon answered as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

   "Why are you doing the dishes ? Why is she doing nothing ?" She grabbed my wrist and forced me to stand up.

   "She's hurt, mom, let go of her !" He stopped what he was doing.

   "So what ? It's her problem if she got hurt. Who told her to hurt herself ? Now you, you can't ruin your pretty hands like this."

   "I'm a man, mom, I don't care about pretty hands. In fact, I don't want pretty hands. And what are you talking about ? It's not like she did this on purpose. Who would get hurt on purpose to start with ?"

   "Her ! Of course she only did this to avoid doing her chores, but it's not going to work with me. You go back to work right now, little ." She pushed me forward and I stumbled a little, only to be hold by wet hands.

   "How dare you call her a ? Why does she even have to do what you tell her to ?" He was mad. I couldn't even say anything, I was too shocked.

   "Why are you even defending her ? She has to do what I tell her to because she lives under my ceiling !" Her face was getting red. I was really scared.

   "This is not even your house, it's hers ! You are the one who should be the maid. This is her father's house, why do you think it's yours ?" He was walking towards her, but I didn't move.

   "Because he left this house to me, so it is mine !" She also stepped forward.

   "He didn't leave it to you, his wish was to give everything to his only daughter ! You were the one who went to the court to get a parcel of his inheritance, and the house is not even part of what you managed to get !" He got slapped.

   "You watch your mouth, little boy. You're still my son, so I still have authority over you."

   " you." She got wide-eyed, but didn't know how to react. I myself didn't know how to react either.

   Hee Yeon left without words. Il Hoon went back to the sink and finished doing the dishes in silence. Then, he went to his bedroom right away. I wanted to thank him for taking my side, but I didn't know what to say. I gave him some time to relax and decided to knock.

   "Come in." I heard from the other side of the door.

   "Hey." I weakly smiled.

   "Hey." 

   "I'm sorry." I looked down.

   "For what ?"

   "For making you argue with your mom."

   "It's not your fault, so don't worry." I smiled slightly, still facing the ground.

   "But thanks. For standing by my side." I lifted my head and tried to sound sincere. Even though I meant it, I was afraid he was mad at me, so he could misunderstand.

   "I will always protect you, little sis." He walked to me and gave me a hug. I was really happy to see he wasn't mad at me.

   "Dae Hyun is the one who calls me little sis." I tried to break the serious atmosphere.

   "But I'm your brother. He is the one who should get you another nickname."

   "He met me first, though." I stuck my tongue out. He frowned.

   "What do you want me to call you then ?"

   "The same. I don't care, I actually like it. I was just teasing you." We both laughed.

   I never knew Il Hoon actually cared so much for me. I mean, he always treated me nicely and stuff, but, back then, I would never know he would defy his mom because of me. Thank you, big bro.