I forgot that 30 was on the short side and since 31 is also, I'm just putting them both up tonight. I’m not certain about the audition process to Julliard. I looked into it but it became confusing so I’m basing it off what I could glean from the site and what makes sense. Same goes for the process of entering high school in South Korea.

As the weeks passed the Jung household entered a studious mode. Yonghwa divided his time between studying for the university exam and practicing for his audition to Julliard, having passed the initial round. Soojung was studying hard for school and taking additional classes in order to improve her chances of entering Hansung Science High School.

With Yunho handling a crisis with his research project at the university, Sooyeon was left alone to her own studies. She, like Yonghwa, spent a portion of her time studying for the university exam and the rest on schoolwork in order to pass the high school qualification test. Her piano remained untouched during the evenings and nights when the three siblings could be found sprawled around the living room and kitchen studying for their numerous exams. Even during the day she barely played her own compositions as she read through her homework and weekends were spent accompanying Yonghwa as he practiced for his audition.

Summer break came but Yonghwa barely relaxed as he continued studying at the library and practiced for his audition, holing up for hours in his room and the school’s practice rooms. Yunho didn’t try to persuade him to take a break anymore, knowing he would rest when he became too exhausted to go on. October rolled around and Yonghwa put away his textbooks for a week to focus on his audition.

Sooyeon opened the front door to find Yonghwa plucking at his guitar, playing random chords. “Oppa~ I’m home!”

“Ah Sooyeon...where’d you go?” Yonghwa got up from the couch and putting down his guitar, grabbed Sooyeon’s bags. “What’s all this?”

“My school books and some groceries. Oppa, can you put the groceries away while I wash up?”

“Yeah no problem.” Sooyeon dashed off to the bathroom while Yonghwa walked into the kitchen. Leaning the bag with books on a chair, he started taking out the groceries and putting them into cabinets. Starting to fold up the now-empty bags, a loud bang suddenly echoed through the kitchen. Turning around he saw the bag of books had toppled off the chair and papers had fallen out of the bag. Reaching down to pick up the sheets, Yonghwa noticed the handwriting did not resemble Sooyeon’s at all. He flipped through more of the papers and saw the unfamiliar handwriting interspersed with his sister’s.

“Oppa, what was that sound?” Sooyeon yelled from the bedroom.

“Sooyeon...whose handwriting is this?”

“Hmm?” Sooyeon entered the kitchen and saw Yonghwa holding papers in his hands. “Oh...it’s probably JiSeok oppa’s.” Coming closer she took the papers and stuck them back into the bag.

“Why is his handwriting all over your papers?”

“He’s helping me with statistics.”

“When did that happen??”

“You were busy studying and preparing for your audition and appa has been having problem after problem at work so I didn’t want to bother either of you. I went over to Seo Hyun’s one day to study and her oppa volunteered to help out. JiSeok oppa is really good with numbers.”

“Sooyeon~ah....” Yonghwa sighed. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to go to JiSeok hyung? I can always help you.”

“I know oppa but you should be worrying about your own studies. And I’m fine. JiSeok oppa and I mostly talk about statistics. I think it helps him to not think about his accident. His parents are super overprotective.”

“Sooyeon...”

“Oppa, I know what it feels like to have appa be super overprotective of me. I’m just helping him. Don’t worry oppa.” Giving her brother a quick hug, Sooyeon ran back into the bedroom to put the bag away. Coming back out she started to prepare dinner. Bringing his guitar into the kitchen, Yonghwa continued strumming chords while watching his sister cook. “Are you ready for your audition tomorrow?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be...I know my compositions and hopefully they’ll like what I’ve come up with since the first round.”

“You can do it! Oppa, fighting!”

“Thanks Sooyeonie, just make sure you don’t make a bad dinner so I’m sick tomorrow,” Yonghwa teased.

“Oppa!! Don’t even think about that! And when have I ever made a bad meal??”

“The first time you made those dumplings? Remember, they were falling apart and the meat wasn’t even cooked.”

“That’s no fair oppa! I was just starting to learn then!” The two bickered back and forth as Sooyeon continued dinner prep and Yonghwa ran through his composition.

“I’m home!!”

“Soojungie, we’re in the kitchen!”

“Oppa! Unnie! Mmm...what’s for dinner?”

“Chicken, something light so oppa will be fine tomorrow.”

“Ah right! Oppa you have your audition tomorrow! You ready?”

“Of course, I’m Jung Yonghwa!”

“Yes yes, you’re Jung Yonghwa and now Jung Soojung has to go wash up for dinner. Dinner will be ready soon.”

“Okay unnie, what about appa?”

“He called earlier this afternoon. He’s going to a dinner meeting with some other professors.”

The three sat down for dinner. Afterwards Soojung shooed her siblings out of the kitchen, volunteering to wash the dishes herself. Yonghwa and Sooyeon stayed in the living room, going through his pieces for tomorrow’s audition for over an hour. Joining them, Soojung listened to the compositions for the first time all the way through. Yunho returned home at 10pm and pushed Yonghwa off to bed so he would have a good night’s rest. Wanting their brother to sleep, Sooyeon and Soojung retired to their own bedrooms to study.