-- Geum Min

"You have got to be kidding me," I mutter to Yoo Min, sharing a look of discontentment with her before the door bursts open.

A girl of small stature is framed by the doorway - she's shorter than us, but a little more weighty. That doesn't mean much, though, because we're underweight. No matter how much we eat, no matter how hard we try, we have been underweight all our lives and it doesn't look like that's changing any time soon. Anyway, Jin Ae is wearing a long pink tee-shirt with darker pink stockings underneath. It's obvious she's wearing lipstick as well, and it's a horribly bright shade of pink. She's also wearing other makeup, such as a thick layer of foundation, and heavily ringed eyes, and bright pink spots on both cheeks. I don't know whom she's trying to impress, but it's definitely not working on us. 

"Hi-yo, people!" she exclaims, throwing her hands up in the air as she steps into our room, crinkling her nose up at the mess that is our study desk. 

I exchange brief glances with Yoo Min again before half-heartedly saying, "Hi," in unison with her.

Jin Ae struts over to our bed, smoothens out a few wrinkles, and seats herself on the edge of our bed. My twin and I lean slightly against the desk and force smiles for her. She remains silent for a while, taking in the surroundings. I see her eyes flicking around the room, her gaze lingering on the wall next to our desk. 

It's a really special wall, actually. Ever since we were younger, Yoo Min and I used to scribble on the wall. Eomma even tried to put up a large piece of paper for us to scribble on, but we somehow never were able to keep to the paper. The wall was filled with random lines and scribblings and it didn't look too good, so she gave up. Eventually we got these really cool markers which we could use on the walls - brightly-coloured, but with washable ink. So that one wall is filled with all sorts of writing and drawing. Skye wrote a letter to us on it, when she came over. And we have all sorts of other meaningful messages. One of our windows is the same as well, only we use different markers. 

"So, remember my audition for Seoul Arts High?" she finally asks, her voice soft.

Actually, I do remember that. We all auditioned for the same school, actually. My sister and I, because it's the school that our brothers go to. And it's also one of the top Arts schools in Seoul. It might just be the top, actually. So, being musically inclined, the pair of us decided that we want to go to that school. Unfortunately, Jin Ae wanted to audition as well.

It's not that we ever had anything against her to begin with, to be honest. We treated her nicely - as nicely as we could, when we met at such a young age. But after we met her, we realised that she's not a nice person at all. Her mother works with Eomma at school. Both of them teach at Seoul Arts High. Anyway, one day, we met Eomma's colleague's daughter, who happened to be Jin Ae. We played with her and were polite, but ever since that fateful day, she's been making life miserable for us. 

I swear, we get into so much trouble, and all just because of her incessant complaints to her mother. Eomma doesn't really enjoy Jin Ae's mother's company, either, but out of common courtesy, she is forced to endure it. They often have long, stuffy talks whenever they meet each other, and it's almost always about us, meaning Yoo Min and I. That girl just makes up stories to her mother, I'm sure. 

When we auditioned for JYP, she came with, and she didn't get through, while we did. And then she told her mother that it's our fault she didn't get through. Reason? Apparently I offered to help her through it. Yeah, sure, like I'd ever do that. The real reason she didn't get through was because she has no talent whatsoever. So what she did, was she went home bawling to her mother, and constructed this tall tale about me. And her mother came over to Eomma and had a nice long chat with her about it. Eomma politely apologised to her. Although I seriously don't think Jin Ae's mother deserved Eomma's humble apology, I'm very proud that my mother has so much self-control. She started ranting with us in our room after Jin Ae's mother left. 

Lots of things have happened this way, and she's tried hitting on my brothers countless times as well. After they debuted, especially. It just goes to show how shallow and vain she really is. 

Recently, at the audition for Seoul Arts High, Yoo Min and I performed together, playing the piano and singing together on stage, in front of the whole student body. Jin Ae performed as well, only she just sang. Well, the results technically aren't back yet, but my brothers told us that we'd not only gotten through the first audition, we are exempt from any further auditions. Direct admission to Seoul Arts High. Us. I mean, we totally went insane after that, and we both trashed the whole house while jumping around with excitement. 

"Yes, we remember," I answer on behalf of the pair of us.

Jin Ae gets to her feet, and her hands travel down her shirt, smoothening the creases on it. She takes a deep breath, and levels us both with a heavy glare. Oh, I feel so scared now.

"I didn't get through the first round of auditions," she murmurs, her fierce gaze failing to intimidate me. "I worked so hard for it... and I didn't get through. IT WAS YOUR FAULT!" she suddenly screams, her whole body sinking into the yell, her eyes flashing with anger.

Yoo Min steps forward, her arms crossed dangerously over her chest. "Excuse me, but tell me how on Earth it's our fault?"

That person steps closer to my sister, and I take a step forward until I'm beside Yoo Min. Two against one may not exactly be fair, but the insane claim she's making isn't exactly fair either.

"It's because you both went before me, and didn't include me in your performance! That's why the pair of you got in while I didn't!"

I scoff, "How does us going first to perform mean that you don't get through?"

She shoots back, "You two got the last two spots!"

Yoo Min stares daggers at Jin Ae, but says in a controlled voice, "That's not true. That boy, Park Hee Kyeong, was after us, but he got through as well."

Jin Ae is at a loss for words, and I step forward, closer to her. "We didn't do anything to hinder your chances of breaking through. So please don't blame this on us, because it's not our fault."

"Watch me," she remarks, before turning her body violently towards the door and strutting out. 

Her hair whacks my cheek as she does so, and I roll my eyes at Yoo Min, who looks grim. Jin Ae is probably going down to Eomma and her mother to complain and rant about us. For the nth time. I swear, this is standard routine. The only reason we are still nice to that girl is because she's Eomma's colleague's daughter. If she were anyone else, I swear, I'd just teach her a lesson somehow. When I'm angry, it's not pretty.

We hear a commotion in the other room all of a sudden, and in a blink, we're out the door and across the hall. The door is open already, revealing a flustered-looking Young Min, who's trying to prevent Jin Ae from flinging herself on him. I can't believe she actually has the gaul to burst into their room like that, but then this girl is capable of a lot of things. Skye looks extremely disapproving from her corner of the room, and beside her, Kwang Min looks quite pissed off. 

Jin Ae finally gives up trying to hug Young Min, and she turns to Kwang Min instead. Her eyes widen as she sees Skye next to him. 

Pouting, she crosses her arms and looks dolefully at my brother, "Oppa," she whines, "When did you get a girlfriend?"

"She's not his girlfriend," Young Min mutters, and like magic, Jin Ae's expression brightens. 

"Good! You can do so much better than that, Oppa!"

Skye looks murderous. Crossing her arms over her chest, she growls, "That has a name, and I'm standing right here."

Jin Ae spares a glance in her direction. "You're their servant, right? Why should we even acknowledge you? Just go back to work."

My friend opens to defend herself, but Kwang Min steps in, "She's not our servant. She's our friend, and that's more than I can say for you."

An eyebrow raises as Jin Ae smirks. "Oh, really?"

In unison, all four of us say, "Yes." Skye turns red.

Jin Ae doesn't reply, but the look on her face reveals everything. She's planning something, and it doesn't look good. A smile firmly embedded on her small face, she turns tail and saunters out of the room and down the stairs, where I hear her talking to our mothers in that high-pitched voice of hers. A small flicker of pain starts up in my head, and in annoyance, I press down hard on the center of my palm until the pain fades away. It's the way I get rid of headaches. 

"She's coming after you," Young Min warns Skye, and I flick my gaze up to her. 

She grins, surprising me for a minute. "I'm not bothered. I don't think she can do much."

"You'd be surprised," I muse to her, and she shrugs nonchalantly. 

The door opens then, and Eomma walks in, looking tired. She sinks down on Young Min's bed and turns to us. One look at her face and I know what she's here for. 

"It's not true. She failed because she lacks talent," I shoot immediately, before Eomma gets any words out.

She returns a weary smile. "I know it's not true, but did you tell her that? She came down crying, and I promised I'd talk to you guys after the pair of them left."

I scowl, and Yoo Min answers for me, "She cried crocodile tears! We would never have done anything on purpose to make her fail, or anything!"

"I know you wouldn't, but I just want to know what she said and what happened up here after she made the claim to you."

"What claim?" Kwang Min asks.

Eomma nods at me, and so I take a breath to explain, "Jin Ae claimed that she didn't get through the audition for Seoul Arts High because of us."

"That's ridiculous," Skye scoffs.

"She's a ridiculous person," Yoo Min comments, and we all grin at that, even Eomma.

"Anyway," Eomma continues, "There's nothing we can do about it now, but if she asks, tell her that you got lectured about it."

I laugh. "We had a really nice, long lecture here, didn't we?"

Skye grins, and her phone vibrates. She picks up the phone and reads the message, before putting it back down and smiling at me. "What shall we do next?"

"What about we go play something? Like some video -"

"Geum Min!" Yoo Min yells, punctuating my sentence. "We have training today!"

"Oh my gosh," I shout, already turning to dash out of the room. "I forgot!"

We both run into the room and grab some clothes, before heading into the bathroom to change. We're twins, so there's nothing weird about changing together. 

"We have no training," Young Min chants in a singsong voice outside the door. 

I'm going to slap him. 

"Should I go home then?" I hear Skye ask from outside.

"No, stay and play with us!" Kwang Min tells her.

I think she agrees, because I hear them leave the room, talking about video games. Pulling my hoodie over my head in a rush, I grab a comb and attack my hair, making sure that there are no tangles in it. Yoo Min steals the comb from me, but I can't be bothered to argue about it with her, and we head back out to pull our shoes on and get out of the house. 

"Bye, people!" we yell over our shoulders, and three heads pop out behind us to bid us goodbye.

Thundering down the stairs, we wave to Eomma as well, before we head out the door. It closes behind us with a soft thud.