-- Geum Min

“KYAA!” Yoo Min yells at the top of her voice.

Grumbling, I take a small pillow from the side of my bed and throw it at her. Then I roll over and slip back into sleep.

It's not a few minutes before she screams again, though, and I groggily open my eyes and glare at her. Something's not right, though, and soon enough I realise that it's pitch dark, and there's a stranger in the room, terrifying my sister. Shaking the sleep out of my eyes, I scramble out of bed and freeze, staring at the thing in front of her.

“Get off me! KYAA!” my twin screams again, looking extremely pale as she tries to hide under the covers.

The shadowy hooded figure is crouched in front of her bed, a sharp-looking blade sparkling in the moonlight held tight in his hand. He’s wearing a hoodie, so his features cannot be seen – but it doesn’t take an idiot to understand that a figure dressed all in black and holding a vicious knife is not there without malicious intent. I take out my Nerf gun which is painted entirely black to look like a real gun, and I point it straight at the intruder, trying to look as fierce as possible. The more afraid of me and my gun the person is, the more chance we have of getting through this unscathed.

Suddenly a different, more familiar voice goes, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Yah! Little sister, what do you think you’re doing with a gun?!”

The lights switch on, and I flick my eyes over to the doorway, where Jeong Min stands with Kwang Min, looking shocked.

I am just about to say something when I hear Yoo Min gasp. “Young Min oppa?!”

Turning, I find it’s Young Min who is the source of all the trouble. He’s the stranger dressed like the shadows and who came in with a ‘knife’ – what I can make out in the light is a mere piece of painted cardboard. His arms are folded across his chest and he glares at the gun in my hand.

“Answer Jeong Min, Geum Min. Why do you have a gun?” he asks, fiercely snatching it out of my hands.

I sigh. “Really, you guys! It’s not a real gun! It’s one of the Nerf guns – I painted it one day to look like a real gun so I could have fun with you. I was going to play a prank on you guys.”

Kwang Min seems satisfied as his twin examines the gun. Looking up at the oldest child, he nods, confirming what I’ve said. All three of them look relieved. Yoo Min, of course, knows about that gun. We had planned to use it to scare our brothers pretty much the same way as they’ve done so tonight, only it somewhat backfired on us. But then, it’s not like we actually knew they were going to scare us so badly, was it?

I sigh. The things that go on in my family...

"Get out of bed, both of you. It's time for school," Jeong Min then informs us.

Groaning, I moan, "Why couldn't you wake us up like normal people?"

Young Min, who's still standing near my bed, yanks off my covers and drags me out of bed. "That's because you're nearly impossible to wake up. Waking you is like waking the dead."

A few minutes later, sleepy Kwang Min walks into the kitchen like a zombie, joining his more alert twin next to the stove. Eomma’s making a delicious breakfast for us. The aroma of food wafts towards me, and I sigh happily as I sit and wait patiently for my food. My stomach keeps growling every few seconds, and Yoo Min laughs every time it does. Protesting, I slump over on the table as I wait.

I don’t want to go to school.

People there are all weird. They’re always giving me and Yoo Min second glances, and we feel like we’re aliens or something. Just because we’ve starred in a few CFs like our brothers, doesn’t mean that we’re celebrities or anything. We’re all normal people who happen to be talented and lucky, which is why we may be a little famous. But even then, that’s no reason at all to treat us like royalty or anything.

Often, Yoo Min and I can’t tell whether people who come up to talk to us like us – as people, not celebrities. I think they just want a slice of the fame, or even the money that comes with it. It gets me so frustrated sometimes that I want to cry. The only thing I’m thankful for is that I have such a humongous family. If it weren’t for my brother and sisters – and especially Yoo Min, I’d probably die of loneliness. As it is, Yoo Min and I always have to stick to each other for company. We both wish we could have a best friend, though. Because as much as I like my sister, I would die to be seen in public with her. She's embarrassing.

Just then, Kwang Min yawns and slides into the chair beside me on my left. Bored, he pokes my head until I lift it in annoyance and stick my tongue out at him.

“Food,” Young Min moans, trying to squeeze into the same chair as his twin.

Kwang Min impatiently swats him away, “Yah. This is my chair. Get your own.”

The blondie sticks his own tongue out at him and moves away. “Spoilsport,” he mutters, making me laugh midway through my yawn.

Eomma sets down a plate of steaming breakfast on the table and ruffles Young Min’s neatly combed hair just to annoy him. “Stop pestering Kwang Min.”

“Neh, Eomma.”

I grab for the food and pile it on my empty plate while they talk. Ravenous, I dig in and smile with content. I really love Eomma’s cooking. She is the Daebak Cook. Pretty soon, the whole plate is empty again – the only difference being: this time, I am full.

Now it’s time for us to head for school.

“Excuse me?” a soft voice says from behind us.

I turn and find a tall girl with an extremely nervous and confused look on her face. She’s trying to smile, but I can tell from her expressive coffee-coloured eyes that she’s near to panicking. Her short hair reaches just past her chin and it’s simply combed, no styling whatsoever. I can see her bottom lip quivering as she glances about, completely not at ease.

I’ve never seen her before, I realize as I say, “Yes?”

She gives me a genuine smile now, grateful that I answered. “Do you know the way to this classroom?” she asks, holding up a slip of paper and pointing at a scrawl.

I glanced back up at her, a little shocked. “That’s my classroom. But how come I’ve never seen you before?”

The strange girl grins back and impatiently brushes the hair out of her eyes. “I’m new. Annyeong, I’m Skye!”

Her accent is peculiar, but I can’t exactly place it. Maybe she's Chinese, or from a different part of Korea. When she speaks it sounds almost musical. Wherever she's from, it’s completely refreshing to finally find someone who’s never heard of us! I grin at Yoo Min, who immediately understands what’s going through my mind. She smiles widely too. In unison, we both hold our hands out to the new girl.

“Annyeong! We’re Yoo Min and Geum Min, the shining Jo Twins!”

The girl seems surprised but she giggles, twisting her hands over to shake both of ours at the same time. I take the time to notice what she‘s wearing. She seems to have a very unique style. She’s wearing normal jeans, with ordinary red sneakers underneath. Her laces are hidden by the hem of her jeans, while her shirt was longish, and stops mid-thigh. It’s a light blue and is decorated with some artistic scrawl which covers the shirt in patches. Her ears have these adorable zippers on them, and they look so cute I’m actually tempted to give them a tug and see if I can zip up her ears. Her small backpack is red to match her shoes. She has a simple watch on her left wrist and is carrying a file filled with books.

Skye gives us a big smile. “I’d love to be friends with you two. I’ve never met identical twins before!”

My spirits soar. She really doesn’t know who we are! This is the perfect opportunity to get a best friend! I hurriedly thank any spirits watching over me right now and grasp hands with her, nodding excitedly. Yoo Min laughs at my eagerness but does the same on her other side, taking away the part of the load of books in her arms. Skye smiles gratefully at us. I can see from the light in her eyes that she’s excited now.

We lead her toward the classroom and convince her to wait outside with her books as we go in and clear things up with the teacher. As I explain the situation, I see Yoo Min look outside and give an encouraging thumbs-up to Skye, who I’m sure has the jitters again by now. She seems like a really timid person, but somehow it endears her to me. The teacher nods briefly and ushers us back to our own seats, assuring us that she’ll make sure the new student is fine. We fall into our seats lazily and take out our usual notebooks – the one we always use to pass notes during class. Of course, Yoo Min most often uses hers to hide the fact that she’s using her phone. I don’t do that too often except when I feel particularly bored.

The teacher comes back in with Skye in tow. Books clutched tightly in her arms, I can tell just by looking at her that she’s somewhat nervous. I shoot another grin at Yoo Min, who does a quiet little cheer before turning back to the new student at the front. Quickly, I wave at Skye, which makes the corners of twitch up into an awkward smile. Her eyes rove around the room as she prepares to be introduced.

She glances at the teacher, who just starts saying, “Good morning class. Today we have a new student. Would you like to introduce yourself?” she asks, turning straight to Skye, who nods.

“Annyeong everyone!” Skye says with a small bow. “I’m Skye, and I hope you treat me well!”

Everyone nods and smiles politely back at her; Yoo Min gives her a thumbs-up. The teacher glances around the room for an empty place for Skye to sit. There are two in this class – one in-between me and the window, and one on the opposite end of the classroom near the back. I keep grinning brightly at Skye, hoping the teacher would notice and put her next to me.

“Skye, why don’t you sit next to Geum Min? She looks friendly,” the teacher says.

Bingo, I cheer in my head.

Looking immensely relieved, Skye walks over to her new seat, and settles in. She flashes me another smile, one full of excitement and anticipation for the fun she probably expects to have.

Yoo Min passes me a note. ‘You’re so lucky to sit next to her!’

‘:P’ I draw and give it back to her, ripping out another page in my notebook while I’m doing so.

‘Annyeong Skye! We always pass notes, do you want to pass with us?’

Skye looks quizzically at it for a few seconds, before her eyes widen and she covers , chuckling. She whips out a pencil from her blue pencil case (it has a pretty cute elephant on it) and scribbles something down rapidly. Her pencil moves quickly, and when she passes the note back I’m surprised to see three lines of neat handwriting.

‘You write fast!” I mouth to her. She shrugs.

I shake my head in awe and glance back at the paper. ‘Geum Min, right? It’s so nice to meet you and your twin! Who’s “we”? Will you pass this to Yoo Min as well? Thank you both for being my friends! It means so much to me! :D:D’ she’s written.

Her smileys are cute. I start penning down a short reply before I pass it to Yoo Min: ‘It’s no problem, Skye. And how can you differentiate us? O.O That’s pretty cool! And we love that you’re our new friend! I can already tell that we’ll be good friends with the time to come.’

I grin and pass the note to Yoo Min, who scans through it. ‘Uwa! ^^ Skye you’re already a part of us since you’re sitting next to us and passing notes! Of course we’d love to be your new friends! Oh, one question, how come you suddenly transferred to our school?’

As the teacher turns her back, I take the paper from my twin and pass it to the girl on my right. We basically spend the whole lesson sitting in class and spamming the paper with our notes.

Skye: ‘My father got promoted, and he’s now based here in Seoul. So we all moved with him here. I joined this school because it’s close to where we live now. ^^ Oh and Geum Min, you both are wearing different clothes. I just noticed. Your shirt is yellow while Yoo Min’s is green.’

Me: ‘Oh, right. I thought you differentiated us by how we looked and I was impressed. :D Congratulations for your father being promoted! Are you Chinese? And where do you live?’

Yoo Min: ‘Aish Geum Min you sound like a stalker. O.O But yes, congratulations to your father! Hmm, do you have the same schedule as us today?’

Skye: ‘Neh I do, but I have to leave during your Korean class to go and learn Basic Korean since I’m new. I think I go to a class who’s a year younger than you. But my mathematics is also advanced for Korea, so I go up one year for that class. O.O I’m nervous for that. Do you know anyone in the upper years? Oh I think both of you must re-introduce yourselves to me tomorrow or else I’ll be clueless! Geum Min I don’t think you’re a stalker. By the way, I am Chinese. I bet you knew I was Chinese because of my accent, right?' Then she listed an address for the house which was just down the street from ours.

Me: ‘Omona! Skye! :D:D You live very near us! We can walk home together! *goes crazy with happiness* :D And we have brothers in the upper year. And yes, that's true.’

Yoo Min: ‘Wow I’m so jealous that your maths is good. Mine is a little weak. But I can help you with Korean! Yay! We can walk home together! ^^ Yes, our twin brothers are in the year above us too.’

Skye: ‘Really? Your brothers are also twins? Wow! Yes, I don’t really like maths but it’s easy for me. But I do need help with my Korean! Please promise to help me and not laugh if I fail! ><’

Me: ‘I don’t believe you will fail. You must believe in yourself! The names of our brothers are Young Min and Kwang Min. I wish you good luck when you go to their class! I’ll talk to them and tell them to take care of you, is that alright?’

Yoo Min: ‘Neh, if they tease you or trouble you, just tell us and we’ll take revenge at home! Our family has three sets of twins, and it’s so fun! But we have one elder brother who’s a loner keke. XD’

Skye: ‘That’s so cool! There’s just me at home though. But my family is still very close. I’d love it if you talk to your brothers! I would feel so much better about going to their class then! Thanks! *bows* :D:D’

Me: ‘No problem! You’re our friend, after all! <3’

Yoo Min: ‘Neh! My twin is right! :D’

Skye: ‘Gomawo again! One million times! <3<3:D:D’

We continue like that for the rest of the lesson, only interrupting our conversation when it's time for Korean class, in which Skye picks up a few books and her pencil case and rushes out of the class to get to her Basic Korean class. Pretty soon, it’s lunch time. We go to Skye’s class to pick her up, and together the three of us walk to the canteen to get something to eat.

“So, Skye, I think that’s my brothers over there. I’ll call them over and introduce you to them. You have maths after this, don’t you?” I ask her.

She nods, taking a bite of her egg sandwich. Her head turns at my words, looking over the heads of other students to try and find someone who looks like us. I help her out by pointing at their heads – one light, one dark – that can be seen bobbing through the crowd towards their usual table. We usually eat at different tables because I would die of embarrassment if I had to sit anywhere near my brothers. This time, I stand up and wave at them to attract their attention. Young Min pretends not to notice me, while his younger brother catches my eye. I gesture for him to come over.

Kwang Min quickly makes his way towards us, smiling stiffly at Skye before hesitantly sitting down across from her. Young Min, however, erupts from the crowd a few feet away and stares around blankly. He vaguely starts walking off in the wrong direction, and Yoo Min has to go grab him and lead him to our table. As he sees Skye, a stranger, watching him with a laugh, he turns red.

He sits down next to Kwang Min and tries to hide his face by bending down over his food. It's obvious that he was about to say something to me but changed his mind because of the stranger in our midst.

I grin at them. “Annyeong. This is Skye, our new friend who just moved to Korea.”

Skye waves brightly at them, still amused by Young Min’s cluelessness. “Hi, I’m Skye.”

Kwang Min visibly relaxes and opens up to her. “Their new friend? That’s nice! Hi there, I’m Kwang Min and this is my twin Young Min.”

“Hi,” Skye repeats, flashing a grin at him. Turning to Young Min, she suddenly asks, “Why is your hair blonde?”

Young Min looks stunned for a second. “Because I dyed it blonde.”

“You’re allowed to do that?” she asks, her eyebrows shooting up. “I’m sorry for asking so bluntly, but I’ve just never seen an Asian with blonde hair!”

Kwang Min smiles back at her. “It’s quite common, actually. It’s considered stylish. I also wanted to dye my hair, but if I do that, nobody can differentiate us. So I decided to leave mine in its natural colour.”

“That’s cool! I like natural things, but Young Min’s hair is nice too.”

I brighten. “Skye, what if I dye my hair too? Then it’ll be easier for you to differentiate between my sister and I!”

Everyone at the table laughs.

“You should dye it purple!” Yoo Min yells excitedly.

Young Min stares. “Psh. She should dye it blonde like me!”

“No, it should be blue!”

Skye waits till everyone’s had their turn before she shyly remarks, “I think it’d be cool if you streak it red. But that’s because I like red.”

“Hmm, maybe I’ll decide some other time,” I conclude, too torn between the many choices to choose one. “Maybe I’ll experiment with a different hairstyle every month?”

Yoo Min giggles. “That would be ridiculous. Oh wait, I almost forgot! Kwang Min oppa, Skye has to go to your class for maths lesson, so can you take good care of her for us?”

Skye blushes slightly and looks down at her hands. I think she’s still nervous about going to a completely different, advanced class for her mathematics lesson. Smiling encouragingly, I slip my hands into hers and give them a squeeze. She brightens immediately and mouths a quick ‘Thank You’ back.

“Yah, why don’t you ask me?” Young Min asks, feigning a hurt look.

I laugh back, “You’re so clueless, that you probably won’t even know she’s there!”

He doesn't say anything to that.

We all chat for a long while more, enjoying our food at the same time. Slowly, bit by bit, I feel us all grow closer to Skye. She’s just so optimistic and fun to be around, and things she says are funny. We laugh a lot more than usual due to the freshness of her jokes. When she and Kwang Min get together – both naturally funny with their hilarious reactions, the other three of us can never stop laughing. We get a few stares from nearby tables, but as usual we don’t care. Skye seems a little self-conscious, but we convince her to relax and drop her guard.

It’s with sadness that Yoo Min and I leave the three of them and make our way back to our own class. Skye looks more than a little nervous, but the twins say something to her and she laughs – relaxing immediately.

Walking back to my class, I just know that this is the beginning of the most beautiful friendship.