Jiyong and Dara began a friendship after their initial meeting. He met her for lunch at her grandather’s home and they spent the day talking. Dara found out from Jiyong the reason his family hardly visited Jaejoong’s grave. His mother still had a hard time accepting his brother’s death so his father had banished all things that might remind or trigger her grief.

“That must have been very hard for you,” Dara sympathized.

“When I was younger I would go to visit Joongie on my own." He grew silent but the pain he felt was reflected in his eyes before he looked away. He didn't want to share with her how much those visits upset him, seeing his brother's grave, knowing that he would never again hear his brother's laugh, see his smile, or hear his voice as he ran after Jiyong asking to be able to tag along to wherever he was going.

Dara noticed his silence and the sadness in his eyes. She reached for the small photo album Jiyong had brought with him. "Are these photos of Joongie?" she asked, distracting him from his thoughts. "May I?" she asked. Jiyong nodded.

Dara turned the pages and instantly her eyes lit up as she looked at a baby photo of Jaejoong. "Oh my god -- is this him?!" A bright smile curved her lips and Jiyong couldn't help but be lifted by her mood as she ooh'd and ahh'd and laughed at the photos.

"Ah, Jaejoongie oppa, you're so cute..." she murmured, totally engrossed with the pictures. She stopped at one photo that showed both Jiyong and Jaejoong together. "You two look almost like twins here."

Jiyong sat silently listening to her comments. Somehow he already felt like a huge weight he'd been carrying around had been lifted off of him. Slowly he began telling her of stories associated with some of the pictures. All in all there were not that many pictures in the album. He'd had to sneak these out of the storage room several years ago and kept them hidden in his room. Every once in a while he would bring the album out and look through the photos. But this was the first time he could look at the photos and smile. And it was because this girl across from him was helping him to see there was joy to be found in remembering past memories and not just sorrow.

As the summer passed and Jiyong spent more time with Dara he began to slowly heal his heartache for the loss of his brother. He began to remember instead the good times with Jaejoong and to treasure those memories. He became happier, more open and at peace as Dara's optimism rubbed off on him. Even his friends, the few he had that were close with him, wondered at the positive change in him. He hadn' told them about Dara, preferring to keep her a secret for now. And now when he visited Joongie's grave he began to feel what he once thought he would never be able to feel at that place -- peace.

Sanchol liked Jiyong and was glad for his friendship with his grand-daughter. He was her only real friend in Korea since Dara chose to spend all her time with her grandfather during her summer visits. She had lots of friends back home but in Korea Jiyong was really her only friend outside of Sanchol’s staff. Sanchol thought Jiyong was Dara’s karma for taking such good care of Jaejoong’s grave all these years. Jiyong was good to her and protective like an older brother. When Dara left to go back home to the U.S. they promised to keep in touch online through twitter and skype.

There was a 13 hour time difference between the two. When Dara was just waking up in the morning, he was just getting home and vice versa. Their time to skype would be Friday evenings for Dara, which would be early Saturday morning for Jiyong. He helped her with her math since she was in an advance class and he had already taken that course the year prior. In return she helped him with his English. He called her squirt because she was so petite, and she called him Ji oppa because she said he was now her older brother like Jaejoongie oppa.

Jiyong made a point to go by Dara’s grandfather’s place at least once a week to check on him and see if he needed anything. This pleased Dara greatly since she worried about her grandfather even though he had his staff who took care of him.  Jiyong also visited Jaejoong’s grave regularly now and he found himself feeling more peaceful with each visit and the time he spent talking to his brother. He even began leaving little momentos in Dara's tin can for Joongie, adding his shared memories with hers.

**

Near Christmas Dara came home from school to find a package for her on her bed. Her face lit up when she saw it was from Jiyong. She ran out to the kitchen to show it to her mom. “It’s from Ji oppa! He sent me a present!” she exclaimed, jumping up and down with happiness.

Her mother smiled as she watched Dara. She knew all about Jaejoong and Dara’s caring for his grave and how this past summer she had finally met someone from Jaejoong’s family. A part of her suspected that something more might come out of the friendship that was developing between her daughter and this Jiyong boy. But so far Dara didn’t seem to have taken a romantic interest in boys yet, for which Dara’s mother was grateful. Dara was a bit of a tomboy compared to her other girlfriends and she truly only saw Jiyong, as well as the other guys that were her friends, as her oppas.

“I want to open it,” Dara was saying, the package from Jiyong.

“Christmas is in one week. Just put it under the tree,” her mother told her.

Dara groaned and carried the package over to the tree and placed it underneath. She had sent a gift to her grandfather and also to Jiyong the past week. For Jiyong she had knitted a scarf in his favorite color, pink. For her grandfather she had sent a digital picture frame that she loaded their photos from summer onto.

After dinner that night and before she went to bed Dara went online and sent a private message to Jiyong’s twitter.

Dara: “I got the package you sent – so excited! My mom said for me to wait until Christmas to open. Did you get my gift for you?”

His answer was to post a photo showing him wearing the scarf she’d knitted. He had a huge smile on his face.

Jiyong: “I love it!!!”

Dara: “Aw, no fair – you got to open your gift already.”

Jiyong: “Go sneak and open yours! I give you permission!!”

Dara laughed but decided against it. As much as she wanted to open it right away, a part of her also wanted to wait for Christmas morning to open Jiyong’s gift to her.

The two exchanged messages for another ten minutes before Dara signed off so that she could go to bed.

Dara: “Goodnight, oppa! Take care. TTYL.”

Jiyong: “G’night squirt – ttyl.”

Christmas morning came and Dara woke up early at the sound of her phone ringing. She grappled through the dark for her phone.

“Hullo?” Her voice was thick with sleep and her hair a mess as she emerged from her cocoon of blankets.

“Merry Christmas!”

She smiled sleepily to hear Jiyong’s voice. “Why’d you wake me up so early, Ji oppa?”

Jiyong chuckled as he stood at his window and looked out at the snowy weather in Seoul. “I’m going out soon but I wanted to be first to wish you a Merry Christmas.”

He heard her yawn and imagined she was still in bed.

“Where are you going?” she asked sleepily, glancing at the clock. It should be late afternoon in Seoul.

“We have a family dinner at my uncle and aunt's. It’s snowing so we have to leave a little earlier.”

Dara glanced outside her window as she pulled her blankets up closer. “It’s snowing here too.”

“Ah, really?”

“Mmmm.”

“Well now that I’ve woken you up, I’ll let you go,” Jiyong said.

Dara sighed and sat up in bed. “I’ll skype you later okay? Thanks for calling Ji oppa. Merry Christmas. Mmmuhhh!” She ended with the sound of a big fat kiss and Jiyong laughed on his end.

“Bye squirt. Have a great Christmas. I’ll wait for your skype later.”

Dara ended the call and then climbed out of bed with her blanket still wrapped around her. She went to stand at the window to look at the falling snow and smiled. She thought of Jiyong in Korea and it made her think of her grandfather. She retrieved her phone and called his number and he answered after two short rings.

“Papa? Merry Christmas!” she greeted him.

“Merry Christmas darling. Why are you awake so early?” Sanchol asked.

“Jiyong woke me up. He called to wish me Merry Christmas,” she explained.

“Ah, yes, Jiyong. Is he your boyfriend now?”

“Eeeh, Papa! That’s gross. Jiyong and I are not like that,” she scoffed.

Sanchol laughed. His granddaughter was still young. But he had a feeling that Jiyong wouldn’t agree wholeheartedly with Dara’s categorization of their relationship.

Dara frowned as she heard a strange noise over the phone. “Papa, where are you? What’s that noise in the background?”

“Oh its nothing,” Sanchol answered. “I’m out at a store right now. That’s just an announcement they’re making over the intercom.”

“Weird. It sounds like they’re speaking English.”

“Dara darling, I have to go. I’ll call you back a little later when your parents are awake, okay?” Sanchol ended the call and Dara looked at her phone with a puzzled look before putting it away.

She turned back then to the window, edging the lacy curtain to the side to have a better look at the snow outside. Her thoughts turned to Jaejoong and a warm smile spread across her lips.

“Jaejoongie oppa, Merry Christmas. It’s beautiful outside. I bet it’s beautiful where you are too, right? Someday I’ll see you and I’ll give you a big, big hug, okay?” she thought, smiling as she looked up at the sky. In her heart she now had two brothers, Jaejoong and Jiyong, and it made her happy.

She grabbed her phone once more and then the christmas lights she had strung up in her room. She took a photo of herself making a funny face and then sent it as a private message to Jiyong’s twitter with the caption, “Sleeping Beauty arises…. Merry Christmas oppa!!” Afterwards she went to the bathroom to wash up. When she returned there was an answer from Jiyong.

“Sleeping Beauty needs to brush her hair…”

Dara giggled and replaced her phone on the table while she finished fixing herself up and then made her way downstairs to the kitchen to start the coffee for her parents. Her mother came in not too long afterwards and Dara hugged her and wished her a Merry Christmas. They busied themselves making a breakfast of croissants, coffee, hot chocolate for Dara, and some fruit.

“Should I go wake appa?” Dara asked, but her mother told her not yet, and that she would wake him a bit.

“Why don’t you set breakfast in the living room on the coffee table,” her mom instructed. Dara was about to take the plates to the front when she was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Oh, who could that be so early in the morning?” she wondered. Her mother told her to go answer the door. Dara did so and was shocked to see her grandfather standing outside along with her father.

“Surprise!”

Dara let out a squeal and jumped into her grandfather’s arms and hugged him tight. “Papa! You didn’t tell me you were coming!!”

“Then it wouldn’t be a surprise now, would it?” he said. He kissed her forehead once more before heading over to give his daughter in law a kiss as well.

Dara helped her father to bring in her grandfather’s suitcase. “Appa, you’re so bad. Why didn’t you tell me? I would have gone to the airport with you to pick up Papa.”

“He wanted to surprise you, sweetheart. Isn’t it better this way?”

Dara grinned and nodded. While her father and grandfather settled in the living room Dara went to help her mother bring the rest of the breakfast things. The rest of the morning they spent talking, opening gifts and laughing. Dara felt it was one of the best Christmases she’d had in a long time. She was wearing her present from Jiyong, a pink beanie with her name embroidered on it. She loved it and had immediately put it on and then took a photo of her sitting next to her grandfather before sending it off to Jiyong with her thanks. It wasn’t long before she got a reply from Jiyong.

“It looks good on you, D. I see your grandpa made it there safe.”

“Yah, you knew he was coming?”

“He told me when I stopped to see him last week. Are you happy?”

“Very.”

“Good. Skype me later. Gotta go.”

While Dara was messaging Jiyong, her mother and grandfather were talking quietly on the other side of the room.

“She talks with him daily,” her mom said. “I worry that she might be getting too close to him.”

“He’s a nice young man,” Sanchol assured her. “He comes from a good family, and he seems to be sincere in his feelings for Dara.”

Dara’s mom turned to look at her father in law with a worried look. “Dara said they’re not in a relationship. Are you saying they are?”

Sanchol shook his head and smiled reassuringly. “They’re only friends. Dara sees him as an older brother. He comes to see me almost weekly and keeps me company, sees if I need anything. Tell me what teenager would do that now days with an old man that isn’t even related to him?”
 

“Reminds me of a girl visiting the grave of a boy she never met,” Dara’s mom scoffed, and her father in law chuckled.

“Try not to worry too much about those two. And if one day they end up together, well at least you’ll know that he treats her good and has the means to take care of her. For now it helps that she’s here and he’s there. The distance will help to see if this friendship is something meant to last or just something temporary.”

Dara’s mother nodded, taking her father in law’s counsel in hand.

Later that morning Dara skyped Jiyong. It was almost 10pm in Seoul and Jiyong was getting ready to go to a party at one of his friend’s home. He talked with Dara while he got ready, walking off camera to try on clothes and then coming back into view to show her his outfit.

“Is there going to be alcohol and stuff at the party?” Dara asked.

“Probably. In fact, I’m sure there will be. Why?”

“You’re not going to drink are you oppa?”

Jiyong scratched his head and his lips twisted up on one end into a smirk. “Well, it is a party…” he said.

“Kwon Jiyong! You’re too young to be drinking!” Dara scolded. She was frowning at him.

“Aish, I’m not going to get wasted,” he told her. He smiled at the way she was pouting at him.

“Promise you won’t drive or let someone else drive who’s been drinking then,” she sulked. “Take a cab!” she ordered.

“Yes omma,” he teased. But when Dara continued to frown and looked as if she were going to cry he stopped and sat down in front of his computer. “Hey, are you crying?” he asked, surprised at her mood, his voice gentle.

Dara wiped at her eyes and glared at him angrily. It was the first time he’d seen her so upset. When she spoke her voice broke. “Yah! I don’t want to visit two graves when I come back to Korea.”

Jiyong paused, his heart touched at her genuine concern for him. His hand reached up to touch the screen, as if he could wipe the tears from her face. “Hey, shhhh.. don’t cry. I promise I won’t drink tonight, okay?”

She sniffed and wiped at her eyes again, mouth still frowning. “Promise?” She knew she was giving him a hard time but she really didn't like the idea of him out partying and getting drunk tonight. It gave her a bad feeling.

He smiled and then nodded. “I promise.” Dara sighed with relief.

As it turned out, after he ended his skype with Dara, Jiyong called his friends he had planned on going with and told them that he changed his mind and was staying home. His friends put up a ruckus – they’d been looking forward to all going out together and partying tonight and now Jiyong was saying he wasn’t going.

“You guys go ahead,” he told them. “I’m not feeling well.”

His friends reluctantly let him off the hook. Jiyong looked at his reflection in the mirror as he ended his call and then gave a little laugh as he changed out of his clothes into sweats and a tshirt to sleep. Truth was he didn’t feel any regret this night at not going out. And that was all because of Dara’s reaction earlier. He couldn’t believe that she had been moved to tears with worry for him. No one had ever cried over him like that before. It made him wish that she was there. If she were he would have held her and thanked her for caring for him so much.

He sent Dara a message afterwards telling her he was keeping his promise to her and not to worry and that she should enjoy the remainder of her Christmas day. He then grabbed the remote for the tv in his room and surfed the channels until he found a program that looked interesting. He lay down on his bed and watched the program until he grew sleepy. He turned off the tv and rolled over on his bed and drifted off to sleep.