Chapter 01 - Ready

“Lazy bastards!” Yoomi cussed as she walked on the hallway with two bags in her hands. Even though school was starting the next day, there she was, running some errands for a teacher who was too “busy” with preparations. Yoomi was starting to regret that she stepped outside her house that day, so early in the morning. Her place was under her blanket, sleeping but no – she had to wake up, listen to her sister whining and then go to help her. The payment for being a good sister was this…world was not fair. A desire of throwing the bags on the ground and stepping on them overwhelmed her but that would mean getting in trouble. She was not to do that. She had to play the nice, obedient student. She had anyway repeated the previous year due to her absences. Repeating one more year was not too appealing.

Looking ahead, Yoomi noticed there was one more unlucky student besides her in the school. By the look of it, she could tell it was a boy – a very familiar boy. He was struggling with some big boxes. They didn’t look heavy but there were so many that they were blocking his vision.

“Cute” Yoomi giggled to herself. She strode towards the boy and took one of the boxes so she could him clearly. “Sunbae, why are you carrying so many boxes?”

“I am helping Mr. Kim.” Yongguk answered. He looked at Yoomi for a while, without saying anything, and then he smiled. “Aren’t you here for the same reason?”

“Lazy teachers. I can’t believe they are using us! They get paid for doing this kind of stuff! Why do they have to torture us even more then it is necessary?!”

“This summer was so quiet without you, Yoomi.” Yongguk chuckled.

“You’re creeping me out, sunbae.” The girl shook her head. “Stop smiling like that.”

“I thought I was creeping you out because I can still tell you and your sister apart.”

“I gave up trying to figure out how you do that.” Yoomi sighed. “Even when Yoori comes to school in my place and acts just like me, you still can see the difference between us…sometimes even I have problems trying to figure out if I’m Yoomi or Yoori yet you –you can tell.”

“What do you mean by having problems telling who you are? You are Yoomi! Who else would bite her nails other than you?” Yongguk laughed at Yoomi’s silliness.

“Nails?” she asked while inspecting them. Yes, they were bitten, torn actually…Yoori’s were all the same shape, length, color. They were her treasure. Yoomi could care less what happened to her nails. “All this time, just by looking at our hands, you knew who you were talking with?!”

Yongguk nodded his head.

“The first thing I’m doing when I get home is cut Yoori’s nails! Let’s see how you’ll figure us out then.” Yoomi muttered. She placed the box and the two bags she was carrying on the desk in front of her. Due to their conversation, she didn’t even realize how fast they reached the biology lab where they were supposed to leave all the stuff.

“Well, we should run away before Mr. Kim remembers he needs our help for something else.” Yongguk said.

“I agree. Let’s get out before I kill him.”

“You’re indeed the dangerous twin.” Yongguk joked.

Yoomi was confused. “Dangerous?”

“You always threaten people. You have bruises and scars on your legs…on your hands as well. I bet that you have some cuts on your legs now otherwise you would be wearing shorts.”

Yoomi glanced down at her trousers. This boy was reading her like an opened book. It was scary how he could always be so patient and observant. Sighing, Yoomi stuck her hands in her pockets.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, sunbae.”

Yongguk frowned. Usually he would send Yoomi home. “Where are you going?”

Yoomi hesitated a little before answering. She started walking backwards while lightly biting her lip. “I have a part-time job and I also need to meet up with someone.”

“Stop getting into fights, Yoomi. You’re a girl for God’s sake.”

Waving her hand, Yoomi left. There was no way she was going to stop fighting. The war between the best riders had just begun. Even if she wanted to stay away, she couldn’t.

Between all the cars that were on the busy road, two boys, on their byke, were racing. One of them was just fooling around, doing tricks and showing off while the other one was just driving straight. The latter wanted only to reach the town sooner and crash in his friend’s bed. He was dead tired and, after three unpleasant hours of driving, he was also annoyed.

J.hyo sped up even more. He wanted to be the first to reach their destination – and he was.

“Finally!” he cheered. He took off his helmet and parked his byke in front of the house where he and Eden were going to live from that moment onwards.

Eden lazily parked his byke beside J.hyo’s. A groan left his mouth when the younger threw his arm on Eden’s shoulder.

“Come on, why are you so grumpy?” J.hyo laughed.

Eden swore his friend’s energy was coming from his excitement. The previous night, the boy barely shut one eye. The races that were awaiting them there didn’t let him sleep at all. How he could bounce like that was a mystery.

Without uttering a single word, Eden went past J.hyo, directly to the front door and knocked. The answer came sooner than he thought. As soon as his knuckled left the wood surface, the door swung open. The person who greeted him was not someone he knew but he didn’t care. Eden dragged his legs inside the house and threw his tired body on the couch.

“Hello to you too!” the boy who answered the door snickered.

“Sorry about him.” J.hyo rubbed the back of his neck, awkwardly as he went towards the door. His eyes widened when he saw who was standing in front of him. “Park Gunwoo.”

The blonde boy seemed surprised to hear his name. He turned to look at the owner of the voice and recognized him immediately.

“Barom!” Gunwoo, or Rasa, screamed. “I’m moving out!” he continued but his lips were slowly itching upwards, in a smile.

“What?” Barom yelled from a room in the house.

“You didn’t tell me Jung Jonghyo was going to move in with your friend.”

“Oh, come on man.” J.hyo lightly punched Rasa in his abdomen. With a playful smile, the latter head blocked J.hyo with maybe a bit too much force, making the younger wince.

Eden could hear some muffled sounds coming from the hall. He was curious what those two were doing but he was too lazy to get up. Sooner or later, he thought there would be a distinguish sound that would solve the mystery. And, as expected, there was. A loud thud could be heard, followed by two grunts. Barom rushed out of his room to see what was going on.

Two bodies were on the floor, on top of each other. Rasa was grinning for no particular reason while J.hyo was trying to get up on his feet. When his eyes met Barom’s, he slightly bowed his head and introduced himself.

“Nice to meet you!” Barom bowed his head as well. He looked around the place, searching for his friend but he couldn’t see him. “Where is-“ he didn’t even get to finish his question when Eden’s hand rose up in the air. Chuckling, Barom went to the couch and sat down beside m.

Barom and Eden were good friends for some time. They were getting along pretty well – actually, so well that Barom offered J.hyo and Eden to move in with him and Rasa. When he first came in the town, Barom tried to rent a small apartment but it was hard to jungle with school and work. Not to mention that the salary he had was not enough. The best option was to find a roommate and pay the rent together. After not too long, he met Rasa who managed to make more money than him. That way, they could always pay on time. But there was one small problem. Rasa needed a house with a yard so he could take care of his byke. The owner of the house they were currently living in was in a hurry when he agreed to sell the boys that place so they paid less. They had been lucky.

“You ruined my hair!” Rasa hissed. He looked down at his clothes and saw that they were also messed up. Having no time to waste, he lightly brushed his fingers through his hair and tried to arrange his shirt.

“Where are you going?” J.hyo wriggled his brows.

“Maybe a date?” Barom teased.

In spite of his ears that were turning red, Rasa sighed, trying to mask his nervousness. “Stop teasing me! You know I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“You don’t have a girlfriend but that doesn’t mean you are not going to meet a girl.” J.hyo continued to wriggle his brows.

Rasa shook his head. “I’m going.” He said before leaving the house.

“One. Two. Three. Four.” The dance instructor yelled. “Again. One. Two. Three. Four.”

“One. Two. Three. Four.” Yoori imitated her in a mocking way. “That’s all she can say lately.” The girl rolled her eyes.

“You’re anyway doing it wrong.” Her dance partner, AO, snickered.

“Am not.”

“You are.”

“What part am I doing wrong?” Yoori frowned.

“You’re not bending low enough.”

Yoori stuck out her tongue. “Excuse me, but my left leg is hurting me so give me a break. As soon as it will stop bothering me, I’ll show you how perfect my dance moves are.”

“Show off.” AO shook his head. “How did you hurt your leg anyway?”

Darting a very sharp glance to the younger boy, Yoori turned her face away. “None of your business.” She muttered.

“Take a break!” the dance instructor yelled louder than before. “I sure need one.”

Yoori sat down beside her bag that was resting on the floor, near the mirrors.

“Noona!” AO cutely pouted as he sat down in front of the girl. He watched as Yoori gave him no answer but, instead, she let her hand slip in the small pocket of her bag, taking out her phone. From being angry, all of a sudden, she became all happy and bubbly. Her eyes sparkled as she read a message she had just received.

“AO, help me out.” She pleaded.

“What? Why? Noona!” AO whispered to Yoori but it was useless. She was already sneaking out of the practice room.

“Don’t tell my sister.” Yoori mouthed before disappearing completely from AO’s sight.

“Not to tell your sister?” the boy bitterly chuckled. “It’s been two weeks since you’re leaving earlier than you’re supposed to.”

Last time this happened, AO promised himself that he would call Yoomi and tell her about her sister’s weird behavior. And that was exactly what he was going to do - call Yoomi.

“Care to explain to me again why you had to drag me out?” Eden irritated asked.

J.hyo held up the new helmet he bought. “I needed this. The last one has cracks.”

“But why the heck did you have to drag me as well? You had Barom to show you around. WHY ME AS WELL?!”

“Stop whining. That’s why girls prefer me, not you.” J.hyo laughed.

“When did girls prefer you over me?” Eden raised a brow.

“You’re still grumpy and easy to annoy when you’re sleepy.” Barom chuckled from behind the two boys. “Let’s see if you’re still good at charming girls.”

“You have a girl in mind?” J.hyo grinned mischievously.

“I do.” Barom nodded.

“Very well then” Eden accepted the challenge. “If I win, let me sleep for the rest of the day.”

Barom led the boys to a cake shop where a girl with long, chocolate-brown hair was standing behind the cash desk, waiting for the next potential customer.

“She’s cute.” J.hyo whispered.

“She is.” Eden agreed. He made his way towards her. Why was he getting nervous all of a sudden? Especially when they met gazes, Eden felt like he couldn’t breathe anymore.