“Yes, oppa, I’m on my way!” you assured your elder brother as you hopped into your car, tossing your handbag and a large paper bag onto the passenger seat next to you. “I’m going to start driving now! I’m hanging up!”

You shut the door and pulled out of the parking lot of your apartment. You were going to the location of a music video shoot that your brother, Kim Him Chan was going to be acting in. You both lived in Seoul, but because he was training to be a singer, he stayed in a dormitory with the other trainees, and you barely had time to see each other anymore. You recently moved into an apartment on your own in order to be closer to the university that you were attending, in addition to doing freelance modelling. You also work with a songwriter, who coaches you and occasionally lets you write the lyrics to some of his songs, through which you are actually earning a cut from the royalties. Suffice to say, you’re a workaholic with a lot on your plate, but hey, if you didn’t push yourself when you’re young, when else will you have the energy to do it?

You were happy for your brother, of course, but nevertheless, your thoughts drifted to the discomfort lingering at the back of your mind. You haven’t seen Him Chan much since he started training, partly because he was really busy, but also partly because he was training to debut in a band with Bang Yong Guk, a man you would rather not cross paths with if you could help it. In fact, it took quite a bit of convincing on Himchan’s part before you agreed to go support him at the shoot today since he was actually shooting for a song that Yong Guk was doing with Song Ji Eun. The reason was, ever since the two of you broke up two years ago (on very bad terms), you’ve never spoken to each other.

Four years ago, when you were 17 and Yong Guk 18, you’d dated and eventually gone on to be in a two-year relationship. You were each other’s first love, and at first everything was sweet and dandy, but after the honeymoon period, things were never quite smooth, but the two of you were just too weak and perhaps too used to each other to break up. Eventually, when both of you got really busy (him with his music and you with your modelling and school), you just drifted apart. Dates were spent sullenly playing with your phones, conversations dried up, and you quarrelled over the smallest things.

Then a guy came in between the two of you. You weren’t really cheating on him or anything, but the presence of another guy caused Yong Guk’s jealousy to go overboard and eventually a huge fight broke out, and the two of you split up. He’d tried contacting you again in the initial months after the break-up, but you’d steeled your resolve to end a relationship that was getting really tiring and ignored all his attempts to reach you. Besides, the feelings had long disappeared, and you could be pretty determined when you wanted to be. Himchan often had to be a messenger between the two of you, which wasn’t easy for him considering Yong Guk was one of his closest friends, but eventually Yong Guk gave up. It might have had something to do with you getting into another relationship soon after the break-up, with another guy who wasn’t even the same one who’d come in between the two of you. Yong Guk was probably convinced that you were a lying, cheating after that and backed off.

It didn’t matter to you. Relationships took a back seat in your life right now. You dated around, but never let a man tie you down, because you felt that being responsible for yourself was more important than letting any man dictate what to do with your life. It made dating Korean men really difficult anyway, since most of them were quite chauvinistic and you were really different from most other girls who placed love as their top priority. It was a source of endless worry and nagging from your mom and your brother, who really was like a second mother most of the time.

Nevertheless, Yong Guk was your first love and the thought of having to see him again after so long made you feel slightly nervous. You couldn’t explain if it was a good kind of nervous or bad, but it didn’t matter. It was all a thing of the past. You could be more mature about it now.

It was an outdoor shoot in an open area, but you could tell you had arrived when you saw cameras, trailers, and lots of people milling around. You pulled up beside some other cars and got out. It was February, and still quite cold. You were wearing a sweater and shorts with stockings, and a thick military-style jacket over it. Grabbing your stuff, you wandered near the crowd of people, trying to spot your brother.

“Ya! Hana!”

Hearing an excited voice, you turned. Himchan was waving at you as a girl dabbed at his face with a makeup sponge. You rushed over to him and hugged him. In your heeled sneakers, you were almost the same height as him, but he ruffled your hair as if you were a little girl anyway. The two of you were very close, since you were only a year apart in age.

“Wow, you’re a real big shot now, huh?” you teased, gesturing to the set.

“Of course, did you not know how cool your brother is?” Himchan replied, in his usual boastful manner.

“Yeah, yeah,” you replied him, rolling your eyes. You held up your bag. “Are you hungry? I brought you something to eat.”

Himchan shook his head. “No thanks, I have a kiss scene later. If you have some mints, I’ll take some.”

You burst into laughter. “No way! Seriously? Who’s the unlucky girl?”

“Excuse me, she probably was a saint in a past life to deserve the good luck of kissing me in this life,” Himchan interjected, hooking an arm in yours. “Come with me, I’ll introduce you around.”

“I brought vitamin drinks and cookies,” you told him. “To bribe the staff to treat my oppa well.”

“Well done,” Himchan praised you, patting your head again. “My thoughtful dongsaeng.”

For a while, as you went around greeting the members of the staff, worries of running into Yong Guk were pushed to the back of your mind. You haven’t seen him so far, so all was good. After some time, Himchan had to go prepare for his scene, and he left you with Ji Eun unni, who was his senior from the same company. The two of you were just chatting when Ji Eun suddenly waved at someone behind you.

“Ya, have you met Himchannie’s sister?”

You turned your head to see who it was, and your face fell. It was him.

You could see his expression change visibly too, and he actually faltered for a moment, as if he were deciding whether to continue walking towards the two of you. However, Ji Eun had already acknowledged him and he didn’t really have the option of pretending he hadn’t seen you and walking away.

“Hana, this is Yong Guk, he’s doing the rap for me in this song,” Ji Eun introduced, seemingly not having sensed the awkwardness. “Yong Guk, come say hi. Isn’t it mean of Himchan to wait until now to introduce his pretty sister to us?”

You bowed, just to be polite, and offered him a half-smile, greeting him formally. “Annyeong-hasaeyo.”

If it were even possible, Yong Guk’s face darkened even further at your greeting. “We know each other,” he said curtly to Ji Eun.

This effectively killed the mood, and Ji Eun finally sensed that something was not right. “Uh, the air is really dry isn’t it? I’m going to get something to drink.” She quickly bolted, even though you had just given her a bottled drink, which she was holding in her hand.

There was a moment of silence as Yong Guk just stared at you expressionlessly. “How have you been?” you ventured, trying to break the silence.

He ignored your question, but continued staring at you. You couldn’t tell if it were a look of anger, or curiosity, but either ways, it just made you uncomfortable. “I heard the song. It’s really good.”

Still, no reply. At this point, you were getting slightly irritated too. Whatever happened had happened two years ago, and you were trying to be nice and make conversation here. The least he could do was to make an effort. Giving up, you just turned away and watched the filming in silence.

They were filming the scene where a girl opens up the trunk of the car and Himchan is tied up inside it, and she leans down to kiss him. Although they were quite far away and you couldn’t see him, you could almost sense your brother’s nervousness. As the girl leaned forward, you raised a hand to your mouth to stifle a giggle, and subconsciously turned your head to Yong Guk, only to see him still glaring at you with contempt. Losing patience, you snap at him, “You’re still as immature as you were two years ago, you know that? Can’t you just grow up already?”

Still, he said nothing, but you could tell that your outburst surprised him a little.

“Tell oppa I’m leaving. I’ll call him later.” Picking up your bag, you gave Yong Guk one last angry glare and stormed off back to your car.

You thought that after so long, you might actually be able to be cordial to each other, but it seemed like the poor relations that you had would have to continue. Stupid, childish Bang Yong Guk.