"Bring her through here. Cha Ajusshi installed a ramp yesterday.." Suji's mother ushered her in, snapping at Henry for every bump he rolled Suji over and every rut he pushed her into. So highly strung was he that he led her up the ramp an inch at a time, watchful of the doorway and stray shoes.

"Umma! I'm fine really! I don't understand why I need a wheelchair if I can walk." Suji was exasperated at being treated like china as well as of her mother's high strung tension. She was acting very out of character, even for her excitable self.

"Nonsense! The doctor said that you were still weak and shouldn't exert yourself for a while."

Suji stared at her, suspicious of her gaze constantly flitting further in the house, as well as her high nervous pitch, "Aren't you meant to be in Macau for your meeting?" She accused, "You're not paying all this attention to me just to blow that meeting off are you? Is the company president that badly dressed, that you would avoid him entirely?"

"No!" Her mother seemed genuinely shocked and indignant at her accusations, "It's just that I realised yesterday what a bad mother I was to you. And I- Don't roll your eyes at me! I'm trying, I really am! I wanted to try spend more time with you. I thought that maybe…" She hesitated, unsure of how to proceed, "since you don't seem to have any friends other than Minhyun… the public might find that a bit…"

"Umma!" Suji exclaimed in outrage, "Minhyun and I aren't doing any-"

"That's not what I meant." Her mother interjected hurriedly, "I just thought that, since you don't have any siblings, you might be a bit lonely. I've always felt sorry to you and your father for that."

"And?"

"Well, I adopted… a friend for you."

"Oh." Suji stopped short, expecting anything but that. The more she thought about it, the warmer she grew to the idea. After all, many families owned pets. "Where is it?"

"He, Suji ya. It's a he."

Suji pushed open the door to the second guest bedroom, ignoring the calls of Henry and the maid behind her as they rushed after her, stray wheelchair in tow. She had been expecting a puppy or a kitten; something she would be able to play with and follow her around the house. What she certainly didn't expect was a pubescent kid crouching in the corner of the room. Especially not a boy.

He was curled into a ball, hugging his knees to his chest, resembling an errant child hiding from his parents. All Suji could make out of his features beneath his ashen hair were his dark eyes peeking from behind his arms. They were deep and expressive, clearly showing his curiosity and caution. And some other emotion Suji couldn't place her finger on. His wardrobe choice was obviously Henry's work from the knee-length schoolboy socks to his snapback cap turned backwards. Obviously the collection of high top sparkly sneakers at the doorway were his as well.

She stood at the door, speechless, simply taking in the nursery style setting of the room from the toy train set on the floor to the Hangul and English alphabet charts pinned up on the walls until the maid and Henry caught up to her, cautious of her reaction to this change. She wasn't sure what she was feeling. Irritation? Horror? Or fury? She decided to simply make all her feelings known. There was no way she would stand for this.

"Umma!" She threw the door fully open, allowing it to smash against the wall. She could see Henry and the maid flinch from the corner of her eye and the boy frown at her, eyebrows twitching together. She didn't care. "What is this? What's this… this beggar doing here?"

Her mother came barreling down the hall and her smile faltered at Suji's expression, "This is your new brother."

"Brother?"

"We've always wanted you to have a little brother but since I couldn't have any more children, we weren't able to. He was the boy who found you the other day and when we found out that he had no home to go to, it seemed like adoption was the perfect way to thank him and to let your father have his son."

Suji stared at the boy closely. He simply sat like a statue, "So he's dumb? You said that he couldn't talk."
"I'm sure he can understand us but you've got to be patient with him Suji ya. The psychologist says that Suho must have gone through a lot of trauma."

"Suho?"

"Yes. Since you're now siblings, your father and I decided on matching names." Suji's mother clasped her hands together in excitement, "I was thinking that if we have another daughter, we could name her Kyungsoo. It's a nice name for a girl and has that 'Su' in Suji and Suho. Or if we have a boy, we could-"

"Stop. Please stop." Suji cut in, already weary of talk of more siblings. She could barely just accept the one before her, let alone another two. She was quite surprised at her willingness to adopt this boy, given her earlier mental rejection. 'It's his eyes' She decided, 'He has lovely eyes. If anyone was deserving of being her brother, it would be this boy' He was so quiet that he may as well not exist. She would just have to make sure that he attended a different school.

"Suho ya." She called. His ears seemed to twitch up at the sound of his name and he raised his head, revealing the rest of his face. He stunned her to silence. It was different from Minhyun's handsome clean cut features and Minho's well defined face. Suho was, without a doubt, pretty. He wasn't in the least bit feminine, but his features were soft and gentle, contrasting well with his dark soulful eyes. He was the kind of person she would expect to become a teacher. Or a priest. Maybe even end up as the Mandela or Mother Theresa of South Korea.

"Technically, he's older than you Suji ya. The doctor said that he seemed to be around twenty years of age, although his fitness level, muscle definition was similar to that of a wolf." Her mother chuckled, "He kept pouting out nonsense like 'Super Race' and 'Genetically Engineered'. He even demanded that I take Suho to the vet. What a quack! I should tell your father to dismiss him. Doctors like him would create a bad reputation for the hospital."

Suji shrugged and squatted beside Suho, grabbing his face between her hands and forcing him to look her in the eyes. He stared at her, squished cheeks forcing his lips into a pout. "Suho ya. Listen carefully okay. I'm only accepting you for Abeoji. Don't you dare even think of me as family." She turned to her silent audience challengingly, her message just as much for them as they were for Suho. Don't associate him with me. Don't expect me to babysit him. He is NOT my brother!

They stood together, Henry and the maid looking anywhere but at her. Her mother seemed content at Suji's reluctant acceptance of the new addition and gave her a grim smile, only to mouth at her silently, 'Oppa'. Suji scowled in consternation. She couldn't possibly expect Suji to call that shorty 'Oppa' could she? He couldn't even read or write for goodness sakes!

"It's enough that I eat at the same table as him. Live in the same house as him. Breathe the same air as him." She forced out, "But I won't be seen with him. I won't go to the same school as him and I absolutely will NOT call him Oppa!" She floun