-- Geum Min

"I'm going to turn my tongue blue," Skye announces as she grabs a blue lollipop.

"I'll make mine red!" I counter, fishing for a red one from one of the huge bags of sweets.

Everyone is crowded in Skye's little hospital room. At the mention of the sweets, my twin brothers simultaneously dive for one of the nearest bags. The rest of us cry out with mirth as the tussle over the chocolates, both arguing that they deserve it more than the other. 

"I'm older so you should let me have them first!" Young Min exclaims self-righteously. 

His younger brother retorts, "Why should I listen to you? You're only six seconds older!"

"Not this again," Yoo Min complains, flopping backwards onto me. 

I push her off impatiently, ignoring the immature boys as I enjoy my lollipop. 

Earlier, Eomma and Skye's mom had come up too, more than slightly appalled at the number of sweets we were digging into - I mean, come on, we had five bags! They were sitting near the window and talking to each other, but we were making too much of a racket for them to hear each other clearly. After a few minutes, they gave up and left the room for the cafe downstairs, Skye's mom giving her strict instructions to call her if she needed anything.

Now we're all going mad in the small room. The nurses even had to come in and quieten us down a few times, but we're still pretty noisy. The room may be small, but it's big enough to seat us all - my twin and I are clustered with Skye on her bed, while the boys have seats in chairs beside it. 

Soon, however, the madness dies down as we calm ourselves. I think you could actually call us normal at this stage. 

Kwang Min and Min Woo are talking animatedly about something - probably one of their comeback performances - they keep re-enacting the scenes from their music video, as well as the reactions of their managers and all. Young Min and Yoo Min are teasing each other (as usual). Occasionally I'll add something to their playful banter, but otherwise I'll be talking to Skye.

Seeing that Min Woo is at the opposite side of the room, I turn to my friend. The serious expression on my face makes her quiet down and give me her full attention. 

"What's wrong?"

I bite my lip, my eyes sliding once again to the dark-haired boy in the corner. He seems far enough away that he won't hear my conversation. 

Making up my mind to start talking, I start telling Skye about the past few days. 

"Keep your voice down, I don't want him to hear," I start. As she nods, I continue in a low voice, "Min Woo is angry with me, I think."

"How do you know?"

"He's been cold to me since yesterday, and this morning, he wouldn't even look at me!"

She looks confused. "But what did you do to make him angry with you?"

I throw my hands into the air. "I don't even know!" 

Skye doesn't say anything more, but she looks thoughtful. 

"Don't you think it's weird?" I ask her now, a lollipop distractedly.

She ponders me over her own blue one - her tongue is already turning a little blue - and furrows her brow. 

Slowly, she tells me, "You know, I think he actually likes you."

"He definitely likes me," I say. "If he didn't, I wouldn't be his best friend!"

She pokes me, hard. "I meant like."

Oh, in the romantic way?

"Psh, no way," I respond.

I mean, there's seriously no chance that could be true. He's probably angry because of something I didn't mean to do. Besides, he wouldn't be so angry and cold to me if he liked me, would he? It just doesn't make sense.

Anyway, Skye is a bit of a romantic. She tends to think up things that often don't exist... and she's always been hoping that Min Woo and I end up together. She says it would be the sweetest childhood romance ever. And me, I don't think so.

"Seriously, Skye, it's not possible. This isn't a cheesy love story where this kind of things happens, you know?"

Skye keeps looking at me, as if she's weighing things in her head. Eventually she returns her attention to her lollipop, shrugging casually. "Maybe you're right... I don't know, actually. It could be anything."

We stay silent for a while, watching the others talk. 

Suddenly, I notice that Skye's attention has landed on my brother. Her eyes follow his every movement, and her head is tilted slightly. The corners of are turned down in a frown, though. She seems almost sad - or is it suspicious? - as she considers Kwang Min. 

"Is something bothering you?" I ask softly.

She jumps. "What? No, nothing's wrong, why would you think that?"

"You seem to be down today."

"It's nothing, my leg just itches like crazy! I'm not allowed to touch it, though."

I look at the swathe of bandages around her foot, carefully avoiding her gaze. Something's wrong, something that she hasn't told me about yet - and I know I should give her some time to pull herself together and tell me. But I think my brother may have something to do with this, and if that's the case then maybe I can help her. "What's bothering you?" 

She sighs this time. "I'll tell you later, okay?"

Before I can reply, Young Min stretches between us for the large bag of sweets. Looks like he finally gave up fighting with his brother. Then he rudely shoves me off the bed, plopping himself into the spot I was just sitting in.

"Hey!" I protest angrily, but he's too busy talking to my friend. 

"Skye! What did you think of our comeback stage?"

I roll my eyes at his back and turn around. Yoo Min has started talking to Kwang Min - more like arguing, actually - I think she's in the bickering mood today. Min Woo is looking at me out of the corners of his eyes, as if he's afraid to make direct eye-contact with me. Uncomfortable, I turn and slip out of the room. 

I know there's a garden somewhere around here that would be wonderful to walk around in, so I ask one of the nurses to point me in the right direction. It's just down the corridor and through a set of double doors, so I get there in no time. The open air is cool and refreshing, free of the smell of disinfectant that permeates the whole hospital. I'm sure Skye hates it here, but she doesn't really have any choice but to stay. It's a pity, but I know she'll be out soon.

The garden is beautiful, full of greenery and flowers that brighten up the whole place. I see some of the other patients in the distance, all of them just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful scenery much like I am. It's peaceful.

"Geum Min," Min Woo says from behind me, giving me a shock.

I whirl around, and there he is, standing near the railing, his eyes slightly sad. The early-morning sun is directly behind him, and its rays frame his face and make him look like an angel. The effect is really dramatic. My heart gives an unexpected leap - of dread? Or could it be joy?

"Hi," I reply, my voice coming out a lot softer than I expected it to be. 

He smiles and walks over to where I am, looking out over the balcony. "Are you mad at me?" he asks suddenly, looking directly at me.

My eyes widen. "Why would you think I'm mad at you? You're the one who's mad at me!" 

"Who said I'm mad at you?"

I hesitate. Could he really not be mad at me? Did I imagine the coldness and awkwardness between us? No, I couldn't possibly have... something has been wrong since we parted yesterday.

"You just... seem mad, I guess. I thought I did something to anger you."

"I'm not mad at you, you idiot!" he grins, fondly knocking me on the head. "I just thought you were mad at me, since you refused to look at me today."

I glare at him, crossing my arms. "You sure seemed mad to me. And I'm not mad at you! I was scared of you because I thought I'd made you mad!"

"This conversation isn't going anywhere," he moans. 

"Conversations can't go anywhere because they don't have legs or wheels, Min Woo."

"They should, then it'd be more interesting!"

"You're not making sense!"

"I think I've spent too much time with you, Geummie, I've been influenced too much by you!"

"Tsh, I make more sense than you do! Besides, if I've influenced you, you should feel honoured, because I am that amazing!"

He pauses, just for a moment. "Yeah, you are amazing."

I'm stunned into silence. Is he joking with me?

"Aren't you going to make a retort to that?" he teases, winking at me.

I sniff, recovering my place. "Why should I argue with you when you're completely right?"

"Wow," he says, rubbing his ears. "Say that again, I want to treasure the sound of you agreeing with me for once in my life!"

"Well, if I say it again, then it won't be a once-in-a-lifetime thing anymore, would it?"

He shrugs. "I give up arguing with you."

"Hmmm," I mutter. "Min Woo, what were we talking about in the first place?"

We look at each other for a few moments, before dissolving into fits of laughter.

A wheelchair-bound old lady moves past us just then, and she smiles upon seeing us. "The joys of young love," she murmurs.

Min Woo stares at her. "I'm sorry?"

She shakes her head. "I was just thinking that you both look very happy and in love with each other. You make a very good-looking couple, I must say."

I don't know how to react to that. All of a sudden, I feel Min Woo's arm slip around me, and he grins at the old lady. 

"Thank you, Ahjumma," he tells her, surprising me.

Then he looks at me and kisses me tenderly on the forehead as she wheels herself away.

The whole thing is so unexpected, I don't know how to react.

I end up staring at him as he smiles at me. He steers me back towards the room.

"We should get back now, don't you think?" he says.

I just nod dumbly.

Could Skye actually have been right, earlier? Did Min Woo actually like me? Like, in the romantic way?

"HEY!" Kwang Min's deafening voice thunders across the room.

I come to my senses and find that we're standing in the doorway of Skye's ward, Min Woo still with his arm slugged casually around my shoulders. Funny, I hadn't realised that we got back already. He stiffens slightly at my brother's tone. 

"Get your arm off my sister!" he shouts, pointing straight at Min Woo.

The younger boy hurriedly drops his arm from my shoulder, and everyone promptly bursts into laughter.

"I was just kidding," Kwang Min tells him. "But if you start dating my sister, then I'll really kill you."

Min Woo looks taken aback. "D-d-dating? Who said anything about that?"

"Relax, kid," that's Young Min. "He was just messing with you."

Skye and Yoo Min are both giving me the same penetrating look, and I awkwardly slip away from Min Woo, resuming my place on the bed right next to my friends. 

All this while, I haven't said a word. My heart has been too busy rapidly pumping blood to my head and face for the past few minutes - I'm sure my entire face is red, but I don't know what to do about it. I can't think straight...

Could Min Woo actually like me?

A/n: haha hello people! I'm back (for now, my computer is totally broken T^T) anyway, hope you guys haven't forgotten me, here's another update! Thank you to all my subscribers who haven't unsubscribed, and thanks for staying and commenting ^^ I just reread the whole thing and quite honestly my writing terrifies me... so I'm going to rewrite everything. It'll take time because I'm computer-less, but I'll post messages each time I've edited a chapter. Bear with me~ I'm going to make this a bit more professional, right now it's just dredges of my thoughts... it's a fun fic, I guess. I'm going to make it something actually worth reading, plus I might combine/lengthen chapters ^^ Plus I'll clear up all the POV problems~ Enjoy!