Chapter Five: Class Trip

After school the next day, the neighborhood was peaceful, but in a particular house in Gyeonggi-do…

“Are you serious, eomma?!” said Ilhoon.

“I think I’ve made myself perfectly clear, dear,” replied his mother nonchalantly, as opposed to Ilhoon’s panicked look.

Ilhoon clung to his hair hysterically. “You can’t do that! You can’t just do that!”

“And why not?” asked his mother with a shrug. “You’ll be there for her, dear. I trust you are more than capable to take care of your sister. Besides, you know Ilsoon can take care of herself. She’s obviously very much like you.”

“Why won’t you tell me why she came back anyway? I think I deserve to know,” Ilhoon retorted. “You can’t just dump on me a huge responsibility without telling me why I have to do it!”

“Don’t you want her here, honey?” asked his mother quietly.

“I do, but—”

“Indoor voice back there, son,” called his father from the kitchen. Ilhoon blew hair off his face and scowled. He crossed his arms and shifted his weight from one foot to another, showing stubbornness.

“It’s too late to change the decision, sweetheart,” cooed his mother. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but Ilsoon made me promise not to tell anyone. In return, she swore she will be responsible for herself. All I ask of you is that you keep an eye on her, honey. She’s going through something and she will need all the support she can get.”

Ilhoon sighed. When it came to his mother and sister, he was a big softie. “How can I help her if she won’t tell me what’s wrong?” he murmured.

Mrs. Jung came over to her older child and hugged him. “Just be there. Who knows, she might open up to you soon.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Upstairs, Ilsoon was in her room, reading a magazine with her ears stuffed with her pink earphones. Ilhoon sauntered inside and stood coolly against the closet. She didn’t notice him. Ilhoon rolled his eyes and walked over to her bed. He reached out and yanked the buds out of her ears.

“Ow! Hey, that was my favorite part of the song!” said Ilsoon in protest.

Ilhoon ignored her and said, “You better be packed because we’re being picked up early tomorrow morning.” He plucked the iPod from beside her and fiddled with it.

“I’m aware, thank you very much,” snapped Ilsoon and yanked her iPod back. “In fact, my bag is hanging right behind my bedroom door. See for yourself.”

Ilhoon turned and sure enough, a pink backpack hung on a hook behind her door, obviously stuffed with whatever goodies she wanted to bring on the field trip.

The class of 2-B has decided to take a class field trip for History, and the main destination is a traditional Korean village outside the city, and one of the places where the fighting was at its worst during the Korean war.

“Exactly what time are we being picked up?” asked Ilsoon without looking up from her magazine.

“The last time my class went on a trip—last year—I was picked up at about 3:30 in the morning. After all, there are still a lot of kids coming,” said Ilhoon, remembering for a moment how that trip went.

“Okay,” said Ilsoon. The twins fell silent, each lost within their own thoughts. Then Ilsoon noticed how Ilhoon hadn’t budged from his spot. “Uhm, aren’t you leaving?”

Ilhoon looked at her cluelessly, and then remembered where he was. “Oh, right. Okay, see you tomorrow, then.”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sure enough, an off-white shuttle with blue-and-yellow strips at the side and the school’s logo printed up front came chugging down past the Jung’s house at 3:30 AM the next day. Ilhoon heard the engine even before he saw the shuttle so he went to the base of the stairs and yelled,

“Ilsoon, hurry up!”

“I’m coming, alright? But my hair—”

Ilhoon rolled his eyes and tapped his foot impatiently on the rugged floor. Just like a girl, he thought. Soon, Ilhoon walked down the stairs (taking her time like she’s the empress of Korea, thought Ilhoon) in the school PE T-shirt tucked in black jeans and gray Vans.

“That took you a while,” muttered Ilhoon as he pulled his backpack higher up his shoulder and walked outside.

“I’m a girl, after all,” snapped Ilsoon and plugged her earphones in.

“Kids, don’t forget your lunchboxes. They’re sitting at the dining table,” called their mother from somewhere upstairs.

Ilhoon picked up the blue plastic lunchbox and quickly deposited it in his backpack before heading out the door. Ilsoon, who didn’t hear her mother, walked straight out of the house without getting hers.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

In the shuttle, the Jung twins found Hyunsik, Peniel, and Sungjae at the back, occupying the last three seats there. There was one more seat beside Hyunsik and Ilhoon quickly took that one, which left Ilsoon standing awkwardly at the aisle.

“Sit somewhere else, Ilsoon,” said Ilhoon dismissively as he opened a pack of chips and passed it to his buddies. He didn’t notice Ilsoon lower her head and bite her bottom lip, but Hyunsik did. He was about to offer his seat to her, but something stopped him, or maybe it was just Ilhoon reaching across his body towards Sungjae.

“Ms. Jung, sit down now; we’ll begin moving,” called the driver.

Ilsoon turned to the pair of seats beside her. A girl was sitting near the aisle, and the seat beside the window was empty.

“Are you waiting for someone?” asked Ilsoon quietly.

The girl looked up at her, realized that the pretty new girl from Paris was talking to her, and slowly and wordlessly shook her head.

“May I sit there, then?”

The star-struck girl nodded. Ilsoon carefully moved into the seat and made herself comfortable. She pulled a hoodie from her bag and buried herself in it. She hardly noticed when the rest of the class filed into the shuttle, or when they got out into the highway. She had fallen asleep, lost in thought.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When they got to their first destination, Ilsoon was still asleep. The girl beside her wasn’t sure if she should wake Ilsoon up, so she just left the sleeping girl alone. Peniel, Sungjae, Hyunsik, and Ilhoon were the last ones to leave the shuttle, aside from Ilsoon. When Hyunsik passed by, he noticed her sleeping and reached out to wake her.

“Ilsoon? We’re here,” he said softly.

Ilsoon stirred and yanked the earphones from her ears. She turned and squinted to see who had woken her. When he recognized Hyunsik, she rubbed her eyes and stretched.

“Hmm… Where are we?” she asked groggily.

“A traditional Korean village, I think,” replied Hyunsik, amused by a barely-awake Ilsoon. She still looks pretty, he thought.

Ilsoon got up and hooked her bag over her shoulders. She and Hyunsik walked down the aisle and out of the shuttle. Outside, the class was gathered in front of their History teacher, who was beginning with the introduction. Sungjae, Peniel, and Ilhoon were at the rear. When Ilhoon saw his sister, he scowled.

“What took you so long?” he said crossly.

“I fell asleep, you idiot,” said Ilsoon through gritted teeth. “You take a longer while to wake up, remember that.”

“You shouldn’t have slept, then,” snapped Ilhoon and turned his back to her.

Ilsoon’s expression grew dark, but her eyes became sad. She lowered her head to hide it and bit her lip to stop herself. “Why are you so mean to me?” she said softly.

Hyunsik and Sungjae caught her words, though, and quickly decided on who should talk to Ilhoon and who should keep Ilsoon company through a series of nods. Sungjae went to Ilsoon and began chatting with her, while Hyunsik went to Ilhoon.

“Hey, Ilhoon,” began Hyunsik.

“Yeah?”

“You shouldn’t be like that to Ilsoon.”

Ilhoon stared at him blankly. “Like what?”

“Well, you’ve been quite unkind to her ever since she came to school.”

Now, Hyunsik is Ilhoon’s best friend out of BTOB; he almost idolizes the dark-haired guy. He wants Hyunsik to always see him at his best. So when Hyunsik noticed that Ilhoon is behaving unpleasantly towards his sister, Ilhoon backtracked and felt sheepish.

“To tell you the truth, I’m just being like this because, you know, it’s kind of awkward. You guys might think that I’m a er for, say, being sweet and all to my sister. I’m actually pretty sweet on her, but only when it’s just us,” he explained. He was holding back one reason, and he decided it wasn’t appropriate to share that.

“Actually, we think that would be cool,” Peniel added. “I mean, I wish my sister attended the same school as me. We’d totally hang out.”

“Yeah, and we really want to get to know her, too, but every time you push her away from you, you kind of push her away from us too,” said Hyunsik. “And she also might need a friend to help her adjust into our school. Haven’t you thought of that?”

Ilhoon looked back and saw Sungjae chatting and laughing with Ilsoon. They were getting on pretty well, and it was probably the first time he saw her smile that wide since he last saw her. He softened up.

“Alright, I should probably apologize to her,” said the older twin.

“Attaboy, Ilhoon!” said Peniel, a little too loudly.

“Boys at the back: are you paying attention?” called the History teacher, who was known for her terrible detention methods. Sungjae erased answers from old workbooks for her once.

Hyunsik waved apologetically and smiled. “We hear you loud and clear, ma’am!” Instantly, the teacher’s faces relaxed, and they hinted the start of a smile.

“We’re lucky Hyunsik is with us,” muttered Ilhoon.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Later, while having lunch before moving on to the next destination, Ilsoon was panicking. She had realized that she didn’t have a lunchbox with her and remembered noticing a pink one sitting on the dining table back home. She groaned.

“Something wrong, Soonie?” asked Sungjae. He had his own green lunchbox in hand and was holding a pair of chopsticks in another.

“I left my lunchbox,” said Ilsoon with an unconscious pout.

“Oh, no prob. Here, have some of mine,” said Sungjae and held out a piece of meat in front of Ilsoon.

“Really?” she asked. Sungjae nodded. She opened , and Sungjae popped the piece of meat in.

“You should ask Ilhoon for help, too.”

At the mention of her brother’s name, Ilsoon saddened. She covered it up with a smirk and said, “Nah. You can share with me instead, right?”

Just then, Hyunsik, Ilhoon, and Peniel walked by. “There you are,” said Peniel. Each boy has a lunchbox in their hands. Ilhoon noticed that Ilsoon didn’t and playfully rolled his eyes.

“You didn’t hear mom when she said your lunchbox is on the dining table, did you?” he said in mock disappointment.

Ilsoon scowled. “What’s it to you? C’mon, Sungjae, let’s go find somewhere to buy food.” But as she yanked Sungjae’s arm, someone yanked her own.

“Here.”

Ilhoon his blue lunchbox in front of Ilsoon. Ilsoon blinked at it, and then looked at her twin. “What am I going to do with this?”

“Eat its contents, I guess. Unless you want to waste precious food,” said Ilhoon with a small smile.

“B-but what about you?”

“I’ll be fine. Peniel will share with me, right?”

“Yeah, okay—Hey!”

The rest of the boys chuckled. They sat in a circle on the ground and shared each other’s lunches while chatting happily.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

On the trip home, Sungjae was convinced to give up his seat so that Ilsoon could sit with her brother. While everyone else was asleep, Ilsoon prodded Ilhoon’s shoulder. Ilhoon groaned, but opened his eyes.

“What?” he said, annoyed.

“Why the sudden change of heart?” asked Ilsoon quietly.

“Huh?”

“I mean, you were so mean to me this morning then when lunch came you were okay,” explained Ilsoon. “You’re not bipolar, are you?”

“No, duh,” said Ilhoon, still groggy. “You have Hyunsik to thank for that.” Then he turned and soon enough was snoring softly. Ilsoon smirked, and then she turned to the dark-haired man beside her, who, as far as she knew, was asleep too.

“Well, he said I’ve got you to thank,” she whispered. “Thank you, Lim Hyunsik.”

As Ilsoon turned to get some shut-eye, she didn’t notice Hyunsik’s lips curl.

You’re welcome, Jung Ilsoon.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-