"Sunhwa noona... isn't he our neighbor?" Six-year old Jongup asked, tugging on his older sister's sleeve as they walk past the wrecked house.

"Shh... Yes, you are smart, Jonguppie! Did Ms. Park teach you that word today?" Sunhwa squealed, avoiding the gaze of the little boy that lived in the wrecked house.

The little boy had pain in his eyes, depression, and sadness that Sunhwa couldn't stand, so the least she could do was drive this distraction away from the perfect Jongup. When Sunhwa couldn't help but lock her gaze with the little boy, she saw the dullness of his life in his eyes. It was as if his life was broken, just like his house. He looked the same age as Jongup, and he was on his lawn, sitting on the dirt and playing with the choppy grass. His pants were all covered in dirt and his hair was too. His hair was messy and his face was scratchy with scars and flaws of cuts, and his white long sleeve tee was all he had on during this winter day.

"Yeah. Ms. Park said that I talk like a first grader, noona. Isn't that great?"

"Really?! That's wonderful, little boy!" Sunhwa smiled and whispered, knowing the fact that the little boy was staring at them as he was playing with a junky toy car. "Oh! By the way, what kind of hot chocolate do you want? Caramel flavored? Minty flavored? What kind for this type of cold weather, Jongup?"

Jongup unlocked the front door and enter his house with his hand still in his noona's. "Any kind," Jongup simply answered.

As the good boy he was, he went straight to his bedroom. He took his jacket and his sweater, replacing it with a black turtleneck sweater. After undressing, he unpacked his things, ready to do his homework, but something interesting was happening outside his window. For a change, it was absorbing Jongup's interest rather than homework or toy cars.

"You! You have caused it! You created this whole problem that wasn't meant to be created, but you did. You didn't grab her hand a-and... it's your fault, Junhong. Understand?!" 

It was the guy next door. He was approximately in his late thirties, and it was obvious to Jongup's eyes that he was the little boy's father. The little boy dully lifted his head to see the anger in his father's red eyes and stood up.

"Why, Junhong? Why? Why didn't you grab her hand? She's gone! The second one down the road! You didn't stop the first one either! And now the second one?!" the father yelled in tears. He harshly grabbed Junhong's shoulders and placed him right in front of him.

The door slammed open, oblivious to Jongup as he watched the scene boringly. "No! Moon Jongup! Don't look!" Sunhwa was responsible to slam Jongup's door open. She dropped the plate and the hot chocolate onto the ground and it all broke into pieces but she didn't care. She didn't care about the plate and the hot chocolate in the mug. She didn't care a rat's if it wasn't for the horror scene outside caused by her neighbor. She ran to Jongup and cupped her hand over her little brother's eyes and ears. She maneuvered close to his ears. 

"J-Jongup... Please don't scare noona again, please. Don't look outside the window. Please. I k-know they're loud and it's hard to try ignoring the noise, but p-please don't listen. You're scaring noona. Please don't watch, Jongup, okay? Understand?"

Jongup placed his small hands on his sister's hands that were cupping her eyes and felt the intensity in her muscles. She was tense, and as her brother, he felt it. She was shaking and obvious to her voice, she was crying. He felt so guilty that he couldn't apologize straight up. He let his sister cover his eyes, and he blindfoldy closed his curtains, still wanting to know what was going on outside, but did not want to upset his noona.

Sunhwa took a deep breath and slowly pulled her hands away. She wiped her tears with her hands and sat on her bed as Jongup stood right in front of her. "I-I'm sorry, noona. I d-didn't know..."

His hands moved to her face and wiped her tears with his fingers. Sunhwa calmed down pulled Jongup onto her lap. "I know you didn't know, don't be sorry. But don't do it again, Jongup."

Knowing his noona was very serious, he didn't bother to ask why, but to keep his eyes straight and expressionless. "I won't, noona. I won't. I promise. B-but wh... nevermind."

"Why? I will let you know why, okay? When you are older, I will let you know. It is not the right time now. Just make sure you won't open those curtains and just do homework and then you could play with your cars, okay?" Sunhwa said, taking him off her lap and seating him on his chair. She pushed the chair in closer to the desk and planted a kiss on her brother's cheek. "I love you, Jonguppie."

"I love you too, noona. Please don't cry, okay?"

"Okay," Sunhwa promised, picking up the pieces of the broken plate and the broken mug. But she knew once Jongup becomes a big boy and a young adult, she would have to break the promise.