Before Hana could do anything, the grey door flung open, revealing a rather surprised Sehun; his eyes widened, eyebrows up high and his pink lips slightly parted. He ruffled his dark brown hair, threading his fingers through it.

 

"Hana," he breathed out, "I thought you weren't coming."

 

Mumbling out an excuse for coming late, Hana shifted her eyes behind Sehun, trying to find any signs of another person. There were none, not even any footprints on the dusty roof.

 

She stepped onto the flat rooftop, slipping herself through the small opening between the boy's body and the doorframe, hoping to get a better look. It was completely empty, minus the few pots of plants arranged by the edges of the roof, a black backpack lying by the wall, and a slightly ajar door at the opposite side of where she was.

 

So there was someone here talking to Sehun, seeing that the door a few feet in front of her was still swaying, as if someone just pushed it in an attempt to close it. He couldn't have been talking to himself, could he?

 

"What did you want to talk about?" she heard Sehun's voice behind her, snapping her out of her distant thoughts.

 

"Oh, yeah," Hana started, tucking a few stray strands of hair behind her ear as she released a nervous cough and turned around to face Sehun. His eyes looked so happy to see her, a smile plastered to his face. The wind blew the boy’s bangs to the left, revealing more of his innocent-looking face. Oh how she dreaded to ruin his day. But it had to be done. She didn’t like him as a guy, they were related and all she wanted was to clear this misunderstanding before it becomes a big issue.

 

She released a sigh and said, "I think we should stop this," she swallowed down whatever nervousness she had and continued, "The thing we had, let's stop it."

 

Hana observed as the boy's face changed from happy to confused. His eyebrows were scrunched up together as he pressed his lips together in a straight line before he cleared his throat nervously.

 

"W-why?" asked Sehun in a quiet voice, a hint of what Hana could identify as disappointment lingering in his soft voice as she avoided his eyes. This was exactly one of the reasons she contemplated to just wait a few more days. She couldn’t bare to hear Sehun’s heartbroken voice.

 

“Well,” she took a breath in, “I don’t think I like you the way most couples do. I only can just see you as a best friend and a brother. I’m so sorry, Sehun. I shouldn’t have accepted in the first thing. You would never have to go through this,” explained the black-haired girl, hesitating to say the word ‘brother’. Should she just tell him about the whole sibling thing to him now or should she just leave that news for another day? Confusion was all she could come up with.

 

“Oh,” was all Sehun said before pausing for a few minutes. Hana watched as his chest heaved up and down with his head faced down, his hands gripped into fists, “I guess I can’t move your heart after all,” he finally continued after a long silence with a small smile.

 

“I’m so sorry, Sehun.”

 

Just as the girl wanted to say more, the bell rang, signalling that lunch break was over.

 

“Let’s head back to class then!” exclaimed the dark-haired boy as he slung his arm around her shoulders, bringing her to their classroom.

 

‘He took that well,’ thought Hana as she was dragged to class, ‘Too well.’

 

~.~

 

The wind seemed to have picked up speed as soon as she stepped out of school. She could feel her nose getting colder instinctively from the chill of the air. Tucking her hands warmly in her jacket’s pockets, she began slowly walking back home. Hana had caught sight of Oh Sehun by the gate as she passed by but because of the dejected look his eyes seem to be projecting, she felt that she shouldn’t be bothering him. It didn’t even seem like he noticed her presence by then. And it was better for her as she had to come up with a way to tell the boy about the current situation. If it was a shock to her, it would be an even more of a surprise to him.

 

With a heavy sigh, she passed by Sehun, gripping the ends of the straps of her backpack tighter with each step. She knew she did a good thing by breaking up with him now rather than later. It relieved her for knowing that Sehun was her brother, which meant that she only liked him as a brother, but that information also saddened her because it proved much more that the affair her mother had was true if she had to go to such lengths to hide Sehun from her and the family.

 

“I’m a jerk,” muttered the girl to herself, a sigh of guilt escaping her lips.

 

“Why?” asked a voice in front of her. Before she could stop herself, she already bumped her forehead on his chest.

 

“Oh, hi Jongin,” she acknowledged him before stepping aside to pass by him. Her eyes slowly became red as she remembered what happened last night with him. Oh, why did she spill out everything to him, how embarrassing.

 

“Mind telling me what’s wrong?” the boy tried to ask again as he caught up to her.

 

Hana turned her head towards the boy, observing his features. His dark brown hair was flowing in the direction of the wind from the front, his brown eyes fixed on the road while they walked. Now that she thought about it, he looked different from the time she saw him in the rain. He seemed more… radiant.

 

“Well?” Jongin persisted again, his eyes shifting towards her.

 

“I told Sehun I didn't like him,” she said quickly after she let out a cough.

 

“Oh,” was all the boy said in reply.

 

“I feel so relieved to do that, but I also feel sad,” continued Hana, a laugh escaping, “It’s so funny how my life is so complicated.”

 

“It’s not your fault, you know that,” spoke Jongin, “If you look on the bright side, you already passed the most difficult time of your life.” He said as he tried his best to make her happy again. It saddened him to see her frown, “Hey, can we go to the cafe you worked at during summer?”

 

“Why?”

 

“I just want something to warm me up.”

~.~

 

“Why do I have to follow you here?” Hana asked, still feeling down from the confession, not because she felt heartbroken but because she was worried for Sehun, “Can’t I go home and be miserable on my own in the comfort of my house?”

 

The brown-haired boy shook his head, passing one of his childish smiles to her as he kept pulling her into the cafe. As they arrived to one of the tables beside the window, he pulled out a chair for Hana.

 

“Sit,” he said, motioning to the chair.

 

“But-”

 

“No ‘but’s,” objected Jongin as he lightly pushed her into the seat, “Now stay here and I’ll get our drinks.” And he went to the counter.

Hana placed her head onto the table and groaned to herself, “Oh my God, Kim Jongin, why do you have to make me smile when I want to feel miserable?” Even though it was rather annoying, it was comforting to have someone comfort her when all she wanted to do was wallow in her sadness.

 

“Here’s your hot chocolate, milady,” said Jongin, placing a mug on the table in front of Hana.

 

The boy then proceeded to sit on the opposite side of the table with his own cup of hot chocolate. The sight of him with the mug made her smile a little as she remembered the time where he kept pestering her on his hot chocolate after the deal they made when they first met.

 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Asked the brown-haired boy, a playful smile on his lips, “You finally fallen for my good looks?” he joked.

 

That was when Hana remembered the one reason she was supposed to avoid Jongin in the first place; the kiss. Flustered, she hung her head low and stared at her mug, observing the way it swirled and swirled in circles. How could she have forgotten that?

 

Was this the reason why he was helping her dealing with this situation? Because he felt… bad?

 

“Hey…” Jongin called to her when the girl in front of her didn’t respond to his joke. Almost instantly, Hana lifted up his head and flashed him a smile.

 

“Pssh, no way,” she joked back, “Only a fool would fall for you.” This was not the time to remember those kinds of things was what Hana thought. If Jongin forgot all about it, she can, right? It didn’t matter much anyway. A kiss was just a kiss.

 

“Only fools would fall for any of us,” she added jokingly knowing that Sehun probably mistook his love towards her. She blew on her drink before taking a sip from the mug, savouring the delicious aroma.

 

Why would he or she care about the kiss anyway?

 

“Right,” he replied, “a fool,” a laugh escaped his lips as he observed the way her smile stretched from ear to ear after she took a big gulp from the drink. That makes me a fool then.

 

“Ha-” Jongin tried to speak but was suddenly interrupted by an astoundingly deep voice behind him calling her name.

 

“Hana.”

 

It was Chanyeol.

 

And he didn’t look pleased.

 

~.~

 

Well, to start off, Chanyeol was never one to smile at her. But she guess she actually forgot how her brother, wait no, her half brother acts, she was very surprised that he wasn't biting her head with barks of insults and more.

 

After she told Jongin that he could go back first while she talked with Chanyeol, which she admitted was hard because Jongin was one hell of a stubborn friend, Chanyeol took a seat at the place where Jongin previously sat.

 

"I’m here on a request from sis,” he started the conversation off, which was a good move because Hana’s mind was pretty blank at the moment, “She told me to tell you that… I’m sorry.”

 

Well, that was unexpected.

 

“Are you high?” was the first thing that Hana could say. There was no way that her brother would be sober to actually utter the word ‘sorry’ to her. “Or maybe are you being threatened?” she pressed.

 

Chanyeol heaved a heavy sigh, “No, I’m not, Hana,” he replied before continuing, “Sunyoung told me that my behaviour has gotten out of hand and told me to apologise to you.”

 

“And because she owns most of the things I have and would take away all of that from me if I didn’t do it,” he muttered under his breath.

 

What started as a quiet chuckle turned into a hefty laugh as Hana processed this whole situation. Who would have think that his brother would be sitting in front of her, apologising for all of his actions before this because of Sunyoung. He’s more childish than she thought. Almost as if he wasn’t as evil as she thought he had been.

 

“What are you laughing about?” the brother spoke out, surprised by the odd reaction he’d received. What he had expected was continuous questioning and coldness from the sister, not this… mess of a human being, holding her stomach from laughing too much.

 

In the eyes of the people surrounding them in the shop, they may have seemed like a pretty normal pair of siblings, enjoying their time in each other’s presence, but to them, this was definitely something new in their lives. As Hana quieted down, the silence that followed became a tad bit awkward between them.

 

“So…” started Hana, averting her gaze to anywhere but Chanyeol, “Is that all you have to say?” she asked. It might take a while for her to accept his apology because of how long she had felt tormented by him, but at least there was a stepping stone in their relationship. And hopefully, where this leads to would only be positive from here on. Hana wasn't one to resent anyone after an apology.

 

“O-oh yeah,” the older brother stated, his deep voice stuttering after clearing his throat, “Sis told me to also provide you allowance every month, so… here.” he continued, handing over a white envelope consisting of around 100,000 Won.

 

Was this the change that Hana was hoping to experience from her siblings because she truly is trying her best to keep tears from forming in her eyes. The stress and feelings of dejection that had built up throughout the years had just hit her. Before she could become a crying mess, she muttered a brief ‘thank you’ and an awkward ‘see you later’, and hurried out of the cafe. The small smile on her face was enough to signal the brother that all of that was genuine and he eventually left the shop with a much lighter heart than he had over the years before.

 

Who knew that a simple apology and a token of gratitude was all it needed to dissipate the tension they had between each other.

 

---

Author's Note: Well, here we are, 4 years after the last update. Hi again. I was randomly looking back at my acc and after rereading I decided that I should probably finish at least this story. So here we are. So uhh, hope you like it? My writing skills aren't as good as 4 years ago, but hopefully this rusty old brain can get back to work hahahah.