April 27, 2011

It was a lazy Saturday night for the siblings filled with the usual idle chatting, spicy instant noodles, toasty feet enveloped in wools of socks, aimless laughing, forts made out of chairs and covered with blankets, a bottomless bucket of popcorn, dim lights, and long-running fantasy or sci-fi movies. Hyunsu re-enters the living room with a tray of two glasses of ice-cold lemonade, a warm, giddy smile on her face, eager like a child. Life is becoming more and more bearable for her as she slowly found her footing, all thanks to Luhan who—at the moment—was picking on DVDs, wondering if it was a Star Wars night or a The Lord of the Rings night.

Though still very fearful of the world, Hyunsu was getting somewhere. Just last week, she managed to walk around a mall with her brother. As for Jongin, he still lay fresh in her lips and beautiful in her memory, perpetually blissful and perdurably effervescent. That was how he would have wanted her to remember him. Maybe now, Kim Jongin looked down on his wife not with sorrow or distress but with delight and joy.

Luhan has been more than supportive of her—whether it be grocery shopping or even short, outdoor strolls—he remained empathic and unwavering. He gave her what she needed, when she needed, not asking for anything in return.

However, four days ago, Hyunsu thought of going back to work but since she thinks she’s still precarious to handle cases upon which life depended on, she prefers to start where work was mediocre. And just as though fate permitted, yesterday, Sehun rang Luhan up, asking if he knew someone who desperately needed a job. Branded as notorious and having sacked his seventh assistant, none wanted to step up to his call for aid, while his father had no sliver of interest to lift a finger. Sehun was on his own. Luckily, Luhan had the answer. “I think I want to go with Star Wars. You?” He distracts himself, still unprepared to talk to his sister about it. Waving the DVD at Hyunsu who takes her place on his right, he inwardly prays for favor, savoring the calm before the storm.

“So long as we watch New Hope.” Hyunsu ebulliently replies.

*

“Work for Oh Sehun? Are you out of your mind?! I can barely stand being in the same room with th