-- Geum Min

Three days.

It has been three days. 

Three days since she started living in my house. Three days since she started messing up my life. Three days since I lost my sanity!

Yes, maybe I'm exaggerating. But in a sense, it's true! She's a living ball of havoc and destruction and nobody likes her, I swear! We've had to survive these three days, existing under the same roof as her... even Eomma admits that she's too much to handle! All of us would like to either teach her a lesson, to give her a piece of our minds, or best yet: to not be bothered at all, and just kick her fat out of our house forevermore!

But no, we can't do that, sadly. Some people actually care about her. Like her parents, her family; she even has a boyfriend (I bet she bribed him somehow) - poor guy; and it would look really bad for us if we dumped her on the street like that. So, no. We have to torture ourselves with her presence, letting it fester alongside us like a little poison dart that we know has embedded itself in our sides, but which we can't remove for petty reasons...

Jeong Min was mad at her. Seriously, my eldest brother was mad at that person. And he's like one of the most calm, assured, patient people I know! The other day when we returned from training, we realised that we'd left him alone to deal with the witch for about four hours. He was not amused. His face was red, there were beads of perspiration dotting his forehead, and there were white crescent marks on his palms where his nails had dug into the skin. As soon as we entered the house, he shot up and claimed he had to help us somehow, and he ran down and out of the house, muttering murderously under his breath. I would have found it funny if I hadn't understood his pain. He never gets angry like that... that hag has special powers.

I think you could call it a talent? Is the ability to make everyone around you, hate you to the core; to annoy everyone within a five-meter radius around you till they want to kill themselves; a talent? If that's the case, then Jin Ae is talented indeed... And I honestly do admire how thick-skinned she is. She never seems to be affected by the black aura she carries with her everywhere she goes. The fog of dislike around her is so thick that if it were a cloud, it'd be filled with so much poison that if you were to stick your finger inside, it'd shrivel up. But she doesn't notice it at all!

Suddenly, I jerk upright and realise what I'm doing: sinking into a blue funk and hating on Jin Ae. Come on, she doesn't even deserve so much of my attention. Yawning, I myself out of Yoo Min's bed, where I'd been lounging. Thanks to a certain someone, my own bed isn't my own anymore. 

The first thing she had done upon marching into our room after dinner last night was to lay down a set of ground rules. Firstly, she needed a bed (there were only two in the room for my twin and I). Secondly, a closet should be cleared out for her all-important clothes (there were only two and she obviously had enough space in her voluminous suitcase...) Thirdly, no noise should be made in the night since she had sensitive ears and would wake easily. Fourthly, if ever she were to call out for something, one of us had to go and get it as soon as possible (because apparently as the guest, she deserves special treatment). There were tons more rules after that, but my brain stopped working after I was forced to listen to the first four.

Of course, she's a guest. But I think she's overstepping her welcome, here. And if she was more polite and if she actually gave a damn about anyone other than herself, we'd be more than content to give her what she wanted. Heck, we would have offered to do just that, instead of having her impose her will on us like she was a dictator and we, her subjects. 

Then there was the bath issue. I was getting ready to shower in my own bathroom, and I was half undressed inside when a knock came on the door. Resigned, I tromped over to it, only to hear Jin Ae's loud complaints. She wanted to have a shower the very instant that I wanted to (what a coincidence!) and she refused to go shower in Youngkwang's room. When I asked why, she replied that my brothers would try to sneak a peek at her. My thoughts: as if they would ever want to look at her! Furious, I was forced to pull my shirt back on and step outside to wait while the princess finished her shower. If I'd just ignored her like most would normally have done, she would have gone down and complained to Eomma. If Eomma rebuked her, then she'd go after her parents.

Guest, indeed.

"Young Min Oppa!"

I scrunch up my eyes, clenching my fists. That hag's voice... it's like a high-pitched peal that grates terribly on my ears. My eardrums are probably scarred for life by now, thanks to her constant noise. Wrinkling my nose, I sneak out my room door and trudge down the stairs. I pull on my sneakers and a hoodie at the doorstep, before I exit the house to head over to the playground. 

It's cold outside, and no doubt it's also about to rain. Mid-October, it's nearing the winter season, and pretty soon, it'll start snowing. Right now, it's cool enough that my breath rises like mist in the air, wisps of smoke curling upwards and melting into the air. I dig my phone out of my pocket and hurriedly tap out a message to my friend. I haven't heard from Skye in quite a while. There's a soft whoosh as the message is transmitted. Frowning, I lock my phone and keep walking. 

The last I had seen Skye was that day when Jin Ae first came over, when the guys had tried, in vain, to shield her from the hag. I'd texted her since, but she hasn't replied yet. I hope there's nothing wrong, but she could be sick. Maybe I'm thinking about this too much.

I force my thoughts away from these troubling matters and I try to focus on the music beating softly into my ears as I head closer to the playground. A steady rhythm accompanies a strong bass that gives off a heady vibe. It's not exactly my type of song, but it's a pretty cool one, anyway, and I somehow have taken a liking to it. Not to mention, it's by my favourite band, Super Junior. If only I'd have the chance to meet them...

Despite being a Starship trainee, I am also under SM Entertainment. But I don't think that I'll debut under SM (if I debut at all). When I was younger, I started training at JYP, and then I transferred over to Starship, while I trained partially under SM as well. It resulted in a heavier workload for Yoo Min and I, since we train twice as hard as other trainees we know, and it takes its toll on us sometimes. Overall, though, I think I enjoy training, because I still am optimistic about debut. I'm sure that if I put in enough effort, debut will only be a matter of time.

Training under SM has its advantages. I get to catch glimpes of Super Junior and other bands as they walk about in the complex. SM is also preparing the debut of a new boy-band, Exo. I know one of the members from in there, having not only met him before in JYP, but in the SM compound as well. We're not very close, but we know each others' names and faces, and we chat sometimes. Acquaintances.

The crunch of my feet on the playground floor draws me from my thoughts, and I admire the place once more. For some reason, it has never been as much a sanctuary to anyone else in my family but me. But I guess I have my own reasons for being comfortable here - reasons that are hard to put in words. It's a sum of all the minor things about the place, and also underlying feelings that lend depth to the playground, that gives it qualities that I just warm to. The soft wind that is always blowing, that becomes stronger later in the year, and that blew my hat off once, a long time ago; the memories and visions of children having fun here; the silence that's complete apart from the sound of my own breathing and that of the swing as it sways back and forth in the breeze; the smell of fresh air; and the feel of the playground itself. Happiness, sadness, anger, frustration, helplessness and countless other feelings were experienced here, by myself and others, and that lent a three-dimensional edge to the way I viewed the playground. It's my special place.

Sighing, I sat myself down and let myself get lost in my thoughts once more.

Ugh. I think this is a little silly of me, to type all this out in a computer like this, but I'm so frustrated I think I have no choice. I can always delete this letter anyway, and it's not like anyone's going to find it, right? 

I hate that girl. She's really the worst thing that has happened to me here. I don't even know how she got a hold of my number, but she did, and now she won't leave me alone! Well, maybe other people might call it bullying, but I refuse to believe it as such. I'm not the kind to get bullied. I can stand up for myself! But she's a pest and annoying to have around, and I'd be much happier without her! Lately, I've been a bit under the weather as well, and that doesn't help anything at all. 

Well, exactly what happened? You may ask, and I'll tell you. But I'm not going to mention her name or I'll go on a rant that I will never get to the end of. She, that self-centered annoying witch, she decided that she'll mess with me. I don't know for sure whether she thinks that it's all a sick joke, or whether she really means anything. It's just proof, either way, that she's sick-minded and sadistic. But she definitely knows how to play with someone's feelings... She threatened my best friends. Unfortunately, annoying people like her have power. It always happens, doesn't it, in books and movies and all? I always hated stories with storylines like those, until I realised that these kind of people exist in real life.

After all, stories are always based, to a certain extent, on fact.

I was never exactly sure, over the past few days, whether I should believe her or not. The look on her face as soon as I read her message, the look was dark and I felt a sense of foreboding, having intercepted the malicious glance she gave me. But then again, would she really have the power to carry out her threat? I didn't exactly want to find out - because that would involve her actually trying to prove herself to me, which is dangerous - but then again, I don't want to give up my best friends...

She's given me a devastating choice. 

On one hand, I could ignore her message and continue as I have been, but that would mean the destruction of my friends' dreams thanks to her prodding and involvement. On the other, I could play into her hands, and lose my best friends. It's hard to choose.

My friends' happiness, or our friendship?

Written by: Anonymous
Date: 18th October 2011
Time: 23:16:34
 

A/n: The letter in the different font isn't by Geum Min. Haha, I'm not sure if it's obvious enough to guess who it is from, right now, but I'll definitely reveal it in the future! Haha so what do you think about this story? I'm so sorry for updating late as usual, but I'm trying my best T^T Hope you like it! Plus, thanks for all those who subscribed and commented in the last chapter!