She studied the person sitting in front of her.

It was the a long time since she had looked at him properly. His hair was in a black disheveled mess. His face looked thinner. She swore that he had unhealthily shed a kilo or two. He looked at her with his gaunt, exhausted eyes with his eyelids half-open. Seohwa wouldn't have found it surprising if he suddenly dropped onto the floor and fell asleep.

Many people praised Jung Yonghwa for being handsome. Even as he aged, Seohwa could see why. Although, at that moment all Seohwa saw was a mess. Despite her father being energetic an hour ago at being reunited with his best friend, the lethargy had finally caught up to him.

Her father was in a horrible state and Seohwa almost felt bad that her mother had tossed him the responsibility of conducting the lecture.

“Why did you run away yesterday? Did you fight with your mother again?”

Seohwa had to give it to her father that, at least, he was leaping straight to the point. When she didn't reply, he continued. “Was it because of your grades?”

Without her mother in the dining room, Seohwa gave him a slight not. “Partly.”

“Just because your grades drop doesn't mean you need to act so reckless, Seohwa,” Yonghwa sighed, folding his arms. “I know that your mother can be difficult at times because she is a scholar, but that doesn't mean that if you don't get perfect grades that you throw a fit and run away like that. Seohwa, even I didn't get perfect grades.”

“What would you know? You weren't there.” Seohwa also pointed out, Besides, at least you've never failed anything.”

She knew that her father wasn't exactly the excellent student as a teenager, but she had heard from her teachers and family friends that he naturally received above average marks despite being preoccupied with music.

“Then maybe you need to work harder.”

“I don't want to turn out like you,” Seohwa grumbled. “I don't want my whole life to revolve around work. I want to actually like what I do.”

“But I love what I do,” Yonghwa frowned.

“Love it enough to hardly be home?” Seohwa remarked in a sceptical tone. “Really, dad?”

“What really matters here is that you had both me and your mother really worried!” Her father exclaimed. “What if something had happened to you?”

Seohwa huffed at her father's response. If he didn't want to address the real issue then why did she have to comply to his wishes? She was certain that if no one had informed her father that she had disappeared last night, he would have returned to home really late and would have immediately gone to bed without even checking or saying goodnight to her.

“You don't go to your Uncle Jungshin if something is wrong, you go to me.” It was then that Seohwa saw a flicker of hurt on her dad's eyes. She pieced together that her father must have been upset that she had went to Jungshin before him.

“Then why don't you make yourself more available then?” Seohwa said. “It's always me and mother having dinner at home without you. Why don't you put more effort?”

“I would have, you know that. But with the new band debuting, they've been the company's priority-”

“So we're not priority?” She snapped.

She didn't mean to get upset at her father, but for the past month it had been bothering her and stirring in the pit of her stomach. She almost felt jealous of the new band Yonghwa was promoting because they spent more time with him than she had. If anything, she found it harder and more hurting to get upset at her father than her mother.

Hurt was replaced with guilt. Yonghwa looked directly at Seohwa. “I'm sorry.”

While Seohwa's mother was too stubborn to admit she was wrong, her father was always the type to admit to his mistakes. Seohwa knew her father hadn't meant to do any wrong by what he was doing. Her father was a workaholic whose vision was often clouded because of his perfectionism. She didn't mean to make her father feel bad, but Seohwa was telling the truth.

Her mother wasn't the type to openly say that she missed her father either. Instead her mother pre-occupied herself with preparing for lectures and making Seohwa a target by keeping an eagle-eye on her school results. Her mother was struggling as much as she was because her father's presence influenced their household a lot.

And, without him being there, Seohwa felt like her home was no longer her home.

Before Seohwa could find the words to reply, she felt her body being swooped up from the chair. She gripped around her father's neck, long legs dangling in the air. “Put me down!”

Her mother saw them when she saw them go past the living room, shaking her head. However, Seohwa had seen the slight simper that had formed on her lips.

“I'm sorry,” Yonghwa grinned, giving her a tight hug as he repositioned Seohwa in his arms like a baby, lifting her up higher as they entered her bedroom.

She shouted, “Appa!”

“Go to bed. You have school tomorrow,” Yonghwa instructed. He pulled the sheets over his daughter's body.

“Just because you did that doesn't mean I've forgiven you.”

“Then should I sing you your song?”

Seohwa cried out, “I'm not five anymore. No! This is embarrassing-”

However, it didn't stop Yonghwa from singing the lullaby that he had used on her when she was a child. His voice was soft and gentle, calming and sweet. While many people were used to his upbeat and strong voice, Seohwa was one of the few entitled to seeing this side to her father.

After the song ended, he planted a kiss on her forehead. “Goodnight appa.”

As he was about to leave, Seohwa watched him hesitate. He turned around to face her. “Don't worry, Seohwa. I promise I'll make it up to you.”

Seohwa didn't doubt it. Her father always kept his promises.

•••••••••••••••

“So...Seohwa,” Ryumin started.

Seohwa already knew that Ryumin was going to ask her a favour. His tone gave him away completely. She didn't know what he was going to say, but she had a sixth sense that she wasn't going to like it.

“I was thinking. ” Ryumin muttered, “Since you know Daejin.”

“What about him?” Seohwa snapped.

“I've heard that he's really good at judo. Rumour has it he even managed to obtain a black belt prior to going to Japan.”

“And?”

“It's remarkable for someone at a young age to achieve something like that,” Ryumin said.

Seohwa groaned. Was her best friend really drooling over her arch-enemy? It was enough that Ryumin was a guy, but to think of Daejin was a respectable person was utterly disgraceful!

“...could you talk him into joining the basketball team?”

Seohwa glared at Ryumin. Was she hearing him right or had an insect crawled into his ear, slithering into his brain and implanted some lethal venom to affect the way he was thinking?

“No.”

“Come on, Seohwa,” Ryumin pleaded. “Be a sport! I'll even get Chaeyoung to bake you some of her famous choc chip cookies. Right, hon?”

“Yeah...” Chaeyoung gave a fake smile, nudging Ryumin in the gut. Seohwa could tell that Ryumin was forcing her since Chaeyoung was busy these days with extra class captain curricular activities.

“I mean, you know him well more than anybody. He's been snarling everyone off, even all the girls. He's actually pretty scary to approach,” Ryumin explained. “Yet he's fine with you. In fact, it's like he enjoys annoying you.”

“Isn't that obvious?”

“He's a mystery,” Chaeyoung said. “If you weren't my boy, Ryu, I'd be one of those girls checking him out. He's hot.”

Ryumin cried out, “Ya!”

“Trust me,” Seohwa scoffed. “He isn't hot and he isn't mysterious at all. He's an .”

“Who's mysterious?” Daejin chose the right moment to interfere.

Seohwa had a feeling that he had heard their whole conversation, but her eyes were focused on the irritating smirk that was planted on his lips like a tattoo.

“It's none of your business.”

She wasn't going to let Daejin kill her mood. She decided that she wasn't going to let him as she gazed around the gymnasium with a large grin.

If there was one subject that Seohwa did not loath to pieces, it was physical education.

For Seohwa it was the most anticipated subject that day. Enough with the exercise and text books, tedious discussions and her endlessly eying the clock. She discarded all thoughts and struggles from her previous periods, grinning as she stepped into the gymnasium. Finally, there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

“Routine stretches first, kids.” Their teacher ordered, “Then I want you all to pair up, preferably boy-and-girl, and make a team. Got it?”

As much as Seohwa loved PE, she also liked their teacher.

Seohwa's teacher had a beautiful face, slim body and long wavy brown hair that made all the males, including the teachers, drool over her. One would think she was a model if they hadn't known she was a teacher. But she wasn't a female to take lightly.

Ms. Kim harboured an obsession for, almost, every sport. She put all her sweat and blood into the subject to ensure that every one of her students tried their best and, above all, had fun.

She drilled them and kept everybody on the ball of their feet, sometimes even causing a few of Seohwa's classmates to pass out or report to the nurse's office. Although parents often complained how Ms. Kim taught, none of the students were bothered by how she taught them because everybody enjoyed themselves whenever they were in Ms. Kim's class.

Ms. Kim blew loudly into the whistle. She barked, “Now team up!”

Seohwa frowned. Ryumin and Chaeyoung would team up, which meant she needed to find another partner. Her eyes cast amongst her classmates who were already pairing up. There was even a flock of girls around Daejin. It was then that she saw her Biology partner standing on his own.

She was close to reaching him until she was cut off.

“Partner?” Daejin appeared in front of her. He then placed an arm around her shoulder. Seohwa was certain he had already been paired up with one of the girls, but Daejin had deliberately chosen to stride past them all to bother her.

Seohwa shrugged his arm away. “Who said I'd be your partner?”

“Who else is there then?”

Just as she was going to point at her Biology partner, another girl was already standing next to him. Seohwa looked at Daejin and let out a sigh. “Great.”

“It's confirmed then.” Daejin replied with a wink.

The class' focus that day was ping pong vs tennis. Ms Kim separated half of the class to remain inside for ping pong, while the other half were instructed to go outside for tennis. Unluckily for Seohwa and Daejin, the teacher had hand-balled them to the latter group.

“I'm having such a lucky day,” Seohwa grumbled, pulling on a woollen jumper over her head. “It's freezing out here.”

Ryumin and Chaeyoung didn't hear her complaining, as they were on the opposite end of the court. However, Daejin did.

“Why? Do you want me to warm you up?”

“No thank you. I'd rather freeze to death.”

Daejin gave a careless shrug. “I was only joking.”

“Well, I wasn't.”

Her favourite subject was ruined. Out of all people she had been paired with her god brother. Even as he stood there, she could see girls casting gazes at his direction and giggling hysterically. How could Seohwa have a good time playing tennis when she had to witness her classmates disturbingly giggling at Daejin?

“They're together?” Daejin asked.

“Why are you asking me that?”

“It's because I think I briefly remember them. They were always at your house,” Daejin commented. “I swore that guy had a crush on you.”

“On me?” Seohwa laughed at Daejin. He was being ridiculous. “Never. He's always liked Chaeyoung.”

“Maybe it was the height difference. He must have stopped liking you because you grew taller than him.”

“Oh, shut up.”

Daejin snickered. “Then again...who would like you?”

Fed up, Seohwa initiated the game. She grabbed a ball and threw it in the air. She then bent her knees and jumped up to bring the tennis racquet to connect with the ball.

In an instance, the ball spun circles in the air and landed on the other side of the court.

“Ya!” Ryumin yelled at Seohwa. “You almost hit Chaeyoung in the eye.”

The strong serve had caught Ryumin and Chaeyoung off guard. They had been idling in the middle of the court, having been immersed in their own conversation until Seohwa had literally pounded the tennis ball at their direction.

“It's not my fault you weren't paying attention!” Seohwa shouted back, frustrated. She hadn't meant to intentionally break them up, but she couldn't stand speaking another word to Daejin.

In that moment, a tennis ball was aimed at her direction from Chaeyoung's serve. Seohwa didn't have time to react to the serve, but Daejin did. He stepped in front of her and easily returned the ball over the net.

Chaeyoung laughed while Seohwa cursed out loud. “I wasn't ready for that either, Chaeyoung!”

“Serves your right for not warning us when we started!” Chaeyoung stuck her tongue out.

“And you!” Seohwa then pointed at Daejin. “I could have returned that myself.”

“Sure,” Daejin rolled his eyes. “I'm sure you would have returned it with your big head if I hadn't intervened.”

“Try me.”

“Then let's go!” Daejin exclaimed, competitively.

They continued the game after that. To Seohwa's surprise, Daejin and her actually made a good team. Originally, when they had started, there was a bit of a challenge because Daejin would go on her side of the court from time to time. However, when Seohwa pushed him aside and told him to stick on his side of the court, Daejin had. For some odd reason, they worked in sync. She had trouble deciding who was the better player amongst the two of them.

In other words, Seohwa and Daejin pulverised Ryumin and Chaeyoung within half the hour.

The weak link between Ryumin and Chaeyoung had ironically been Ryumin. Chaeyoung usually was talentless at sport, however she managed to play the game better than her boyfriend. Seohwa believed Ryumin to be good at every sport, since he was the star basketball athlete at their school. Yet, when she had faced Ryumin on court, Seohwa found that Ryumin was terribly uncoordinated whenever he served or returned hits.

When the bell rang, most of the students raced out of the gym to get ready for home time. Seohwa was one of the handful that stayed behind to help pack up the equipment since she didn't need to hurry for the school bus or the train considering she had a private chauffeur.

After all, Seohwa liked Ms. Kim. She was her favourite teacher and quite possibly the only teacher who gave her compliments. When Seohwa felt done, or skipped classes, she'd hide in the gym and Mr. Kim had never dobbed her in.

“You'll be joining the swimming team again this year, right Seohwa?” Her teacher asked.

When Seohwa nodded, Ms. Kim continued, “You'd better jot your name down on the list. I'm taking the list off at the end of the week and I don't want my best swimmer to be cut off.”

“Thanks,” Seohwa smiled.

As usual, Ms. Kim didn't look down on her. Seohwa was getting tired of being judged for her academics and the first school week hadn't even ended.

After packing up, Seohwa went to her locker and began packing her books into her school bag. The school day had finally ended. However, nobody was going to stick by her while her chauffeur arrived. That afternoon Chaeyoung had a meeting while Ryumin was recommencing basketball practices with the basketball team.

“I was waiting for you.” A voice announced, almost causing Seohwa to scream. She hadn't expected anybody to be in the empty locker room. It took a second for her to recognise the voice and instead of replying, she scowled.

“Seohwa, what took you so long?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Why are you waiting for me?”

“Hitching a ride,” Daejin told her. “My dad's working with your dad now. He's left his car at your place so he could carpool with your father since he doesn't have a parking spot and it's difficult finding parking in the city-”

“I see, but that has nothing to do with you,” Seohwa replied. “You can take transport, can't you?”

“I know...but why should I spend my own money?” Daejin muttered as he followed her out of the building. “Besides, your dad said it should be fine. I asked him during dinner and he's okay with it.”

“It this going to be a habit?” Seohwa questioned him. “Will you be going home with me every day then?”

She had dealt with him enough that day. Seohwa didn't know if she could handle Daejin's presence going home from school as well. She wasn't even coping well with him being in the same classes with her!

“I don't see the problem.”

“I do!”

Seohwa let out another sigh. It was then a thought flickered in her mind. Her eyes widened and she her lips at the thought. The thought of Chaeyoung's freshly baked cookies conjured up in her mind. Perhaps there was one positive out of this dilemma she was in.

“Fine. Let's compromise.”

“What?” Daejin blinked at her spontaneous change of heart.

“If you go home with me every day, why don't you do me a favour as well?”

“Like what?”

“You haven't joined any groups yet, haven't you? Ryumin, the guy we played against during PE, he wants you to join the basketball team,” Seohwa simply told Daejin how it was.

“I'm in,” Daejin shrugged. “I like basketball anyway.”

Seohwa was elated that she'd get her cookies from Chaeyoung, but she wasn't completely happy that Daejin had agreed to her proposition straight away. Seohwa had thought he'd be quite resistive against her, but he had easily complied to the offer without any hint of reluctance.

They proceeded to walk to the gate to wait for their ride. For a while, they stood there in silence as students gradually filed out of the school.

“Now that we're new travel buddies, I'll even be nice and let you have some of my mother's mango pudding every now and again,” Daejin chortled. “You seemed to like it last night.”

As he spoke, a flock of girls walked passed them and eyed them suspiciously.

Seohwa punched Daejin on the shoulder. “Don't say things like that. People will get the wrong impression.”

“Who cares?”

“It's exactly what I don't want. Do you really want us to make the headlines? We don't need it and, most importantly, our parents don't need it either. One gossiper can lead to one rumour and one rumour can lead to a magazine article,” Seohwa huffed. “Haven't you forgotten about this or has Japan shrivelled your brain up?”

“I think you're thinking way into it. Everybody knows our parents are best friends. It's natural that we hang out.”

“You're missing the picture. I'm a girl, you're a guy. People read these situations differently,” Seohwa said in a matter-of-factly tone.

“If they think we're the latest item, so be it! It'll be fun,” Daejin cracked up laughing, but stopped when she saw Seohwa glaring daggers at him.

“What I mean to say is that, they'll find out we're god brother and god sister. Seohwa, what exactly can go wrong?”

Seohwa pursed her lips. She wasn't even going to bother to reply to Daejin's rhetorical question because she knew that their conversation would end up going round in circles.

Was Daejin stupid?

Everything could go wrong.