“Burp… ugh, excuse me,” Dara said, her head lying on the back of the couch.

 

“Burp,” Teddy seconded. “Excuse me too.”

 

“Burp,” Jiyong and TOP followed.

 

And then they all stared at Kush, who was lazing on the floor, the fifth plate before he put it down. Dara, Teddy, Jiyong, and TOP leaned forward and observed his next move.

 

“BUUUURRRPPPP!” Kush burped loudly, causing the other four to lean back and laugh while waving the stinky smell of his burp. “That was daebak!”

 

“You all tired and sleepy yet?” Teddy asked after their laughter subsided, propping his feet on the table.

 

“Not yet,” they all answered at once, propping their feet on the table too, knocking the other plates.

 

“What are we going to do now?” Dara asked.

 

TOP put his feet down and leaned forward. He smiled at the others who leaned forward too.

 

“Wanna have fun?” he asked, wiggling his brows suggestively.

 

“Fun?!” Dara exclaimed, her face shining.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“So, we’re having fun here?” Dara asked her voice dropping.

 

“What’s wrong with having fun in this gaming station? Jiyong and I always played here since high school,” TOP said. “Unless if you’re thinking of another thing?”

 

Dara stared at him, wide-eyed, “What?! Of course not!” she exclaimed and then stared ahead. She was actually expecting to have real fun, like drinking in a club. But this wasn’t half-bad. Besides, it was his birthday, who was she to complain?

 

“Arasso, let’s see who gets the most tokens!” Kush exclaimed before walking ahead, pulling the lazy Jiyong by his side.

 

Dara and the boys played a lot of arcade games. And surprisingly, Dara enjoyed her time especially that most of the time she defeated her brothers, even though it was her first time doing those things. For the first time, she joined their betting game, which the boys only did between themselves before. Now, she was sure she would win against them all. At the end of the night, she might even collect over $500 from them.

 

After four hours, they stepped out of the gaming store, feeling the freshness of the night air after being suffocated inside.

 

Dara stretched her arms upward and sighed. “We could have gone another round!” she exclaimed. “Now, come on, pay up!”

 

The boys reached for their wallets and pulled the last of their bills. They needed to finish those missions by the end of this week to earn more again.

 

“Are you serious when you said this was your first time playing here?” Teddy asked, half-heartedly putting his bills on Dara’s palms.

 

“Yeah, it looked like you were playing since birth,” Kush agreed.

 

“You cheated, didn’t you?” TOP accused.

 

“Hah! You all go accuse me of such things while you just didn’t do anything but to lose on most of your games,” she said and then stared at the unusually quiet Jiyong. “I especially realized how Jiyong at this.”

 

Jiyong stared at her, shocked, with full wide eyes. “What?!”

 

Dara smirked and winked at him. “You haven’t beaten me in any game, Jiyong. Just admit it. I bet you always lost to Seunghyun-oppa when you played during your high school days.”

 

“Actually, that’s true,” TOP said, smug.

 

“How about a rematch?!” Jiyong challenged.

 

Dara chuckled and turned to her brothers. “Since today’s Seunghyun-oppa’s birthday, I’ll be treating you to ice cream. So no one’s a loser here,” Dara said, raising the collected bills on her hands.

 

Kush’s face immediately lit up. “You serious?!”

 

Dara nodded eagerly, liking the idea herself.

 

“YES!” Kush exclaimed as she walked past her, causing her to miss the second he snatched the bills from her hands.

 

“YAH!” Dara shouted back as Kush ran away with Teddy following behind him.

 

“Thanks for the bills!” TOP exclaimed running after them.

 

“Whaaa…” Dara’s jaw dropped.

 

“You dropped a bill,” Jiyong said, bending his hips to pick the twenty-dollar bill on the ground. He then went to turn his back towards the game store.

 

“YA! Where are you going with my bill?” Dara asked.

 

“We’re going to have a rematch, remember?” he furrowed his brows.

 

Dara snatched the bill from his hand and ran after his brothers who were already far, their laughter echoing through the night.

 

“YA! I need a rematch!” Jiyong shouted back, running after her. He heard her laugh as she ran away and because she had short legs, he caught up and snatched the bill from her hands, which she was carelessly waving while calling her brothers. “On second thought, see you at the ice cream parlor!”

 

“YA!” Dara called, laughing along the process at how she had stupid idiots as her brothers. “I want vanilla!”

 

“Vanilla’s mine!” Kush shouted back, laughing too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dara his third ice cream for the night as they waited in front of the grocery store for Teddy and Kush who fetched the car from the parking lot. They were carrying with them the grocery that they bought while TOP, Jiyong, and Dara were waiting for them.

 

“Hahaha, look at your face, oppa,” Dara said, pointing at the photoset they got from when they tried the photo booth a while ago.

 

“Look at your face too. Yours is uglier. Yuck!” TOP joked.

 

“YA! Just look at your face here. You look like you’re throwing up,” Dara said and then laughed at her own joke.

 

“Yours look like you’re constipated,” TOP joked.

 

“YA! Jiyong, Jiyong… look at these photos, Seunghyun oppa’s uglier right?” Dara asked Jiyong who was silently being neglected for a while. Thankfully, Dara always tried to let him join in their conversation.

 

Jiyong looked down at the photoset Dara had on her hands. They were photos TOP and her took together. He remembered how hard he tried to join them but Dara herself pushed him out of the booth because, “It’s Seunghyun-oppa’s birthday. And I want to take a picture with the birthday boy.” He cringed, remembering how she said it. Why did it feel like she was pushing him away? Well of course, he was exaggerating, but still…

 

He stared at the photoset again and one photo caught his attention. A small smile drew on his lips as he stared at Dara’s serious and straight face while looking at the camera and an afro wig on her head. He almost missed the goofier TOP beside her who had a colorful clown wig on his head, a complete contrast of Dara.

 

“Jiyong? Oppa’s uglier right?” Dara asked again.

 

Jiyong snapped out of his trance. He forgot Dara was asking him something. He just found Dara’s face in the photoset adorable and cute despite the wackiness and goofiness she kept on doing with her expressions.

 

“Well… both of your hair is amazing here,” Jiyong said, pointing at one particular picture.

 

“Whaaa? I wasn’t asking about the wigs. Aish,” Dara pouted and pulled back the photoset. She was about to on her ice cream when she saw it almost half-done. “Whaaa? What just—“

 

“Should have tried Vanilla earlier. This is really yummy, hmmm…” TOP murmured.

 

Dara stared at him in shock. “Did you… Did you just finish my ice cream?!”

 

“Well, technically, I didn’t. I left you some,” TOP said, wiping some ice cream off his mouth.

 

“Eew! That’s so gross, oppa!” Dara exclaimed, giving the ice cream to TOP. “I won’t finish it. Yuck!”

 

TOP laughed as he grabbed her wrist and pushed the ice cream towards her. “You finish it. It’s yours!”

 

“I won’t eat something with your saliva on it. Yuck!” Dara exclaimed, laughing along with TOP. And they went into a chaotic tug-of-war of ice cream.

 

Suddenly, Jiyong, feeling the awkwardness of being left out and neglected again, cleared his throat. Both of them temporarily stopped and stared at him wonderingly.

 

“I… I have to take this call,” Jiyong said, pointing to his phone.

 

Dara tilted her head, thinking, he had to interrupt the fun just to say that?

 

Jiyong walked away with the phone glued on his ear. Dara was still staring at him, still wondering, when she felt a cold, sticky liquid come in contact with her cheek. She stared ahead and realized that it was TOP’s doing.

 

“Eew!” she exclaimed, wiping off the ice cream from her face. “Gross!”

 

TOP laughed as he watched the little girl in frustration, totally grossed out by the ice cream. He already threw the wasted ice cream on the ground.

 

“You owe me an ice cream,” she said when she felt her cheek clean, but her hands were sticky too. She couldn’t wait to go home and wash the mess they both did.

 

“Fine. I will treat you next time,” TOP said. Dara’s face lit up and she bounced in joy, making TOP chuckle in amusement. All of a sudden, his expression turned serious, confusing Dara. “Thank you for today.”

 

Dara chuckled and mentally patted herself on the back. “It’s nothing. I just realized how we never get to celebrate your birthday. Seven years of being together and all these years, during your birthday, you’re always away.”

 

“Timing isn’t really on our side, then.”

 

Dara nodded. “Fortunately, today you don’t have any missions or something.”

 

“Not entirely true. My client called this morning that I had to follow someone who was apparently to be assassinated. I just went home a while ago to fetch some things at home when you surprised me. I had to cancel my plans tonight for this.”

 

Dara’s eyes widened. “I thought you didn’t have any missions. I didn’t hear anything from you. What would happen now? Wouldn’t you get reprimanded by your client?”

 

TOP shrugged. “It was all worth it though.”

 

Dara pouted and her shoulder slumped. “This is my fault.”

 

Suddenly, TOP pulled her by her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her. “Don’t worry about me. If I get reprimanded by later, at least I had fun.”

 

Dara’s eyes were wide as saucers as she found the gesture very sudden. It was their very first close contact with each other and she felt her heart beating erratically against her chest. What is this feeling?

 

“Thank you so much, Dara,” TOP mumbled, hugging her closer and her hair. Her body frame was too small that she fit perfectly in his arms and it felt so good. He so wanted to do this for a long time now and finally, he had found the courage to do so.

 

“I’m glad you’re happy,” Dara mumbled as she smiled and realized that the beating of her heart was nothing but nervousness. She just felt nervous at the sudden contact. Nothing more. Besides, he was her brother, anyway.

 

Meanwhile, the phone clutched by Jiyong slipped from his hand as he witnessed what happened right in front of his eyes. He felt his chest tightened and his fists balled tightly on his sides. He brought one of them to his tightened chest and beat it repeatedly. Why are you being like this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Whoo!” Dara straightened up from the floor and looked around the kitchen. “I’m finally done. The kitchen is finally clean!”

 

She stepped out of the kitchen towards the living room and looked at the time. 2:15 AM.

 

“The nerve of those idiots to let me clean by myself,” she huffed and removed the apron from her. “At least I’ll be able to sleep tonight without worrying much. HA!”

 

She was about to step on the stairs and proceed to take a bath upstairs before sleeping when she heard the doorknob turning. She turned around and looked at the front door as it slowly opened, causing the cold wind to seep through.

 

“Who’s there?” she whispered so quietly it was impossible for her question to be answered. She crept slowly towards the door, picking up a vase in the process to use as a weapon in case it was burglar. She was too scared that even her insides were trembling. She stayed glued on the wall behind the door, raising the vase over her head.

 

The door fully opened and Dara was about to hit the vase on the burglar’s head when she was stopped as a bloody body hit the floor hard.

 

“Seunghyun-oppa!”

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

thank you jennezersantos for the poster :)