[Jiyeon’s POV]

“Yah, kwaenchana?”

After five minutes of sprinting all over the school, this time I managed to hit someone… right on the chest. I toppled over and fell on the ground, feeling a little dizzy from all that running. That person that I knocked into gently pulled me back on my feet and asked if I was fine again.

“Yeah, I’m fine—” I looked up and saw that familiar face.

Jay Park.

But somehow, as much as I wanted to run… this time I managed to control myself.

“Oh, erm, I need to go somewhere, erm—” Jaebeom stuttered as he realized who I am. He turned around on the spot and was going to leave before I realized something important.

I had to find out the truth. I reached out my hand and grabbed his, making him surprised. “Jiyeon…”

“Tell me…” I whispered slowly. “Tell me everything you know.”

—

[Seunghyun’s POV]

“Hyung! Aish, really…”

“There! There it is!” Jaejin squealed in excitement like a little girl. “I’d thought he deleted it!”

“Hyung, you can understand English?”

Jaejin narrowed his eyes and glared at me. “At least I can understand what ‘Korea is gay’ means.”

“What, what?” I scrambled over to his laptop and grabbed it. “Who said that?”

“Jay Park,” Jaejin replied coolly. “He said ‘Korea is gay’, and he ‘hates Koreans’.”

“Woah,” I gasped. “He should be kicked out of Korea for saying that!”

Jaejin reached over and smacked my head.

“Don’t you understand what this means?” Jaejin said in a oh-my-god-you-are-such-an-idiot voice.

I shook my head and Jaejin just clicks his tongue. “It totally makes sense!”

“What makes sense?” I asked bluntly. Jaejin glared at me.

“Seunghyun, you are such an idiot. Don’t you get this? If Jay Park says he hates Korea, what do you think can be one of the reasons for it?”

I scratched my head. “His parents…?”

“FINALLY!” Jaejin exclaims as he claps his hands together. “You get it!”

“So…” I spoke slowly, trying to digest the information in, “Jay Park is actually a nice dude that’s trying to protect Jiyeon but fails because he’s also pissed… or scared of his own parents? But why? I thought he was their apple of the eye or something, so shouldn’t he be like some sort of spoilt dude?”

Jaejin hums in agreement. “But maybe he was just a really nice dude.”

“Maybe.”

“And Jiyeon mentioned it before, Jay Park was the one who told her to ‘get out’…”

“So maybe…”

“Stop getting me to finish your sentences!” Jaejin suddenly explodes. “So, in conclusion, Jay Park is a nice dude. End of story.”

[Jiyeon’s POV]

“I’m sorry.”

That was the first thing that Jaebeom told me when we settled down at a nearby café.

“I’m sorry for not protecting you like an older brother should. I , I totally .” He sighed, burying his face in his hands. “You can totally hate on me, I understand.”

“It’s okay.”

Jaebeom looks slightly shocked at the first few words I ever spoke to him since we entered this place. I wrapped my fingers around the coffee cup, trying to gain warmth and perhaps strength. “It’s all over, isn’t it? And… do you know where are they now?”

“They died,” Jaebeom replied bluntly. “In a car accident.”

“I’m so—”

“Why are you being sorry?” Jaebeom suddenly cuts in. “They deserve to die, treating you like this.”

“Ah,” I said quietly, not knowing what else to say. “Maybe.”

Jaebeom senses the increasing tension in the air and coughs awkwardly. “Do you want to leave now?”

I nodded as I stood up and we left the place. Jaebeom kept a good distance away from me as we both walked back to the school.

Sure, we may be siblings, we may have patched up…

But everything’s… still pretty awkward.