-- Geum Min

Skye perks up almost immediately. “Playground?”

“Yeah, there’s one that’s five minutes from here – Geum Min always goes there to hang out,” Yoo Min explains to her.

Young Min and Kwang Min run towards me and grab me, turning me around roughly and pushing me out of the room. The blonde turns to pull Yoo Min after us and his twin takes Skye’s hand, dragging her along with us. She has a grin on her face as she staggers to keep up with the three of us in front – we have broken into a run. Kwang Min outstrips her and pelts away after us, so she puts on a burst of speed. Young Min runs faster than us, and pretty soon Kwang Min also overtakes us. My twin and I decide to slow down and wait for Skye, so that we can walk there together. The freaky long-legs can run all they want.

When she pulls up next to me, I ask, “So how is it so far in Korea?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you like it here?”

She nods furiously. “It’s awesome here. Plus, I get to hang out with you guys, so it’s pretty much perfect, really.”

Yoo Min’s huge smile mirrors mine. “Really? That’s great. We love having you around too!” she says.

“Thanks. Having new friends here makes life a lot easier!”

As she finishes her sentence, we reach the playground. Youngkwang have occupied the only two swings and are sitting there with smug expressions to taunt us. Sniffing in contempt, Yoo Min and I lead the way to the slides, where we both plop down and stare at the stars. Skye’s eyes narrow as her face appears in my view, obstructing the stars.

“If you both are on both the slides, and they both are on the swings, where will I sit?”

I can hear the two of them chuckle from behind her. Shrugging, I wave her out of my view and continue admiring the stars. A moment later, I hear the ladder creak, and I realize she’s climbing to the top part of the playground to sit and admire the view. She starts humming a song. Yoo Min and I recognize it as Park Bom’s You And I, and we hum along since we like the song as well. Without warning, I decide to burst into song. Yoo Min jumps beside me, but relaxes again after recovering from the shock. My voice echoes around the playground and I close my eyes, enjoying the feel of letting my voice out.

It’s like I’m venting my emotion, only through my voice. It relaxes me. Besides, after Eomma’s killer training, my voice is really strong. I love singing, but I adore rapping. It’s just fun to belt out words at high speeds and make them sound musical! Kwang Min often teaches me some random raps and we would rap them together. The funnier the better, according to us.

Yoo Min adds her voice to mine, and Youngkwang on the swings fall silent to listen. As we hit the chorus and our voices go higher, a drop of rain falls on my forehead. Within seconds, it starts drizzling and we end up sitting in the rain at the playground, enjoying the feel of the raindrops hitting our skin as the cool wind caresses our faces. All the while, Yoo Min and I keep singing.

The last notes of the song soon fade away, and silence reigns for a good few moments before I hear Skye’s voice from the top of the playground.

“You’re both beautiful singers. I love your voices! I think you outdid Park Bom! Will you sing more? Please?” her eyes open wide as she pleads with us.

I feel the blood rush to my face and I can see my twin’s cheeks redden too. “We’re not that good… Really.”

“I think you are!” she insists.

From his position on the swing, Young Min exclaims, “They’re really not that good! I’m better!”

“Ani!” Yoo Min protests. “We may not be that good, but we’re better than you!”

And they follow up by bickering with each other. Rolling my eyes, I get up from the slide and join my friend in the playground’s tower.

“Can you sing?”

She turns to me with wide eyes. “Not anywhere close to as nice as you can.”

“You must be okay! Can you sing for me? Please?”

She shakes her head furiously. No matter how much I beg and plead to her to do it, she flat out refuses. Giving up, I decide to just keep quiet and admire the star-ridden night sky. I love coming here to the playground. The rain and the wind just make it better. This is the only place where I can truly think, and it gives me a certain sense of peace and calm, just to sit here. I often come here alone in the night, after all the children are finished playing. From here, I can see the Han River – where some crazy people are still strolling about. It may be dangerous; the idea of being somewhere all alone at weird hours, but it’s completely safe over here. I have never been approached by suspicious strangers or attacked by wild dogs or cats, so I figure it’s fine here.

Besides, either Kwang Min or Young Min would trail me here and sit with me anyway, so if anything happens, they’re right here to protect me. They’re both strong even though they look so skinny, and both can fight well. They aren’t trained to, but they know how to throw a punch in case they ever need to. And it’s not like Yoo Min and I are useless either – we can defend ourselves if we need to as well. I’m sensible and if I ever get into trouble the first thing I’d do is scream and run before resorting to fighting.

There was this once when Young Min and I were walking home after buying some groceries when we ran into a bunch of bullies from our school in this alley. They wanted to pick a fight with us, but we tried to get out of it by running away. But we were unlucky and ran into a dead end instead. So in the end we were forced to face up to them.

Angry that we’d tried to escape, they hit Young Min hard. He shouted at me to get out of the way, and he pushed me behind him as he took all their blows. They were only after him anyway – they were jealous of his popularity. And Young Min, being proud, held his ground and tried to fight them off, getting seriously hurt. I wanted to intervene and help him fight them off, but the look in his eyes told me that if I even tried to, he would kill me.

But then the sight of him getting battered got too much for me, and I lunged towards the guys and got myself involved. It was painful when their heavy blows struck me, especially when one guy slapped me. I could feel blood trickling from the corner of my mouth, and I was sure I developed some bruises on my sides. We were fighting for a few minutes, but it felt like hours to me. As soon as we found an opening, we took off running. One of the guys had fallen and they were distracted for an instant, but we took the opportunity to run as fast as we could out of that alley and into the crowded street. We walked quickly home and avoided Eomma’s questions, saying that we just fell down. She stared after us as we walked all the way to the stairs, so I don't think she believed us... but then she is Eomma after all, she knows everything.

Young Min scolded me for not listening to him and staying safe. I know he was just being protective of me, but I really couldn’t help but get myself involved to get us both out. To this day, I don’t regret the decision I made that day. We’re siblings, and if we don’t protect each other, who will?

The wind blows in my face again, teasing a few strands of hair that I’d tucked behind my ears out of their places and playing with them. I’m jolted from my reverie by the sudden blast of air. Looking up, I enjoy the feeling of comfort as I glance up at one of the brightest stars in the sky. They say that there will always be that one star in the sky that seems the brightest to you, and that star is the home of your guardian angel. I feel protected under the stars, and I have a feeling that it’s because of my guardian angel who lives on that special star full of light.

I named him Kyeon Min when I was eleven.

The name means Light, and I figure that since my guardian angel on that star casts the brightest light among all the stars that line the night sky, Light would be a fitting name. My guardian angel, up in the sky, he’s watched over me ever since I was very little. He’s my source of comfort here.

“What are you staring at?” Kwang Min asks from behind me.

I turn around and realize that the other three have fallen asleep here at the playground. Skye’s head is on the pillar beside us, Yoo Min’s asleep on the slide, and Young Min’s head is resting on the chain of the swing. Kwang Min tucks his long legs underneath him and slots himself in-between Skye and I. His expressionless face is tilted at the sky – he’s trying in vain to see what I’m so fascinated by.

Glancing down, I answer, “I’m admiring the stars. They’re beautiful, right?”

“Yeah, I guess…” he replies, a faraway look in his eyes as he contemplates the stars too. “Do you believe that the star which is brightest, is the home of your guardian angel?”

Funny, that was exactly what I was thinking. “Neh,” I say. “Do you?”

“Actually, I do too. I wonder what my angel is like. Are they really so free to look after me all the time? And wouldn’t it be boring, my life?”

I giggle at his random comment. “I think that’s the whole point of being a guardian angel. It must be part of the job requirements!”

Sighing, he tilts his head. “I wonder if you can choose to become a guardian angel. If they actually even exist.”

“I believe they exist,” I say firmly. “And you should be able to if you’re like, super good in this life! Why, who would you guard?”

“My descendants. Maybe any of your descendants too,” he says seriously. “Or maybe just someone who seems like an interesting person.”

My eyes widen. “How will you know that they’re interesting?”

He shrugs. “Somehow. What about you? Will you be a guardian angel?”

“Maybe. Actually, I’m not sure.”

“Why not?”

I frown. “It’s just, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to protect someone very well…”

“Ani, I think you could protect people really well.”

“You really think so?”

“I know so. You’re my sister after all!”

I smile at him. He grins back before looking back at the stars.

“Maybe we should go, it’s late already,” I suggest.

He glances at Skye, who’s still sleeping beside him. “What about them? Should we wake them up?”

I nod and stand up to go and attack my twin. “Yah, wake up!” I yell.

“How should I wake her up?” Kwang Min asks from behind me.

Glancing at Yoo Min, I realize that she hasn’t moved a muscle, and waking her up is quite difficult anyway. So I decide to go over and help my brother wake Skye instead. We stand there and gawk over the sleeping girl for a moment before I tentatively suggest that we tap her and see how it goes.

Kwang Min reaches out to tap her on the shoulder. He’s barely touched her before she sits bolt upright, her eyes wide open but fazed with sleepiness.

Sending a blank look at us, she asks in a very sleep-filled voice, “Neh?”

“We need to go back now,” I explain.

She nods and stands up, stretching and yawning as she does so. Waking her up was super easy. Now, if only my family was as easy to wake…

“YOO MIN!” I yell in her ear.

She barely flinches, just rolls over and vaguely fans me away. I dodge her hand and hear Kwang Min kick Young Min off the swing. Turning, I see that Young Min just falls off the swing onto the ground – but continues sleeping like a baby. Skye smiles and walks over to help to wake him up.

“YOUNG MIN OPPA, I’M YOONA FROM SNSD! WAKE UP!” she shouts.

Shockingly, my brother rolls on the ground and gets too his feet, hurriedly wiping the sleep from his eyes. “I’m awake, I’m awake! Where’s Yoona?”

Kwang Min nearly doubles over laughing at his side. Skye yawns and comes over to Yoo Min.

“How do we wake her up?”

Young Min pushes me aside. “Forget about waking her, I’ll just carry her home.”

He picks her up even though he’s obviously still sleepy, and we make our way back home. I walk in the front with Young Min and my twin on his back, making sure that he doesn’t drop her. Kwang Min and Skye are behind us, chatting softly as we go home. Both of them are sleepy, and apparently both get more hyper the sleepier they are. I can’t hear exactly what they’re saying since they’re strolling along while the blonde brother is trying to get my sister home before his back breaks from her weight. But judging from the laughter that I constantly hear, it must be funny. Nevermind, I’ll pester Skye to tell me later.

“I think this girl has gotten heavier!” Young Min complains to me.

I roll my eyes. “That’s good! We’re underweight anyway and being skinny isn’t good.”

“Agreed. But no matter what you do you can’t put on weight!”

“What are you talking about? You said Yoo Min became heavier!”

“Oh, right. I forgot.”

“You’re too sleepy,” I remark.

“So are you.”

“I never denied it!”

“Stop bickering, you two! You woke me up!” Yoo Min says, finally lifting her head from my brother’s shoulder.

“Yes! You’re awake! Now walk by yourself!” Young Min threatens to drop her, and she screams.

But he sets her down gently anyway. My brothers are like that.

We reach the house and go straight to bed – me and Yoo Min hogging Kwang Min’s bed to sleep with Skye in. Young Min sighs and walks over to his own bed, promptly lying on it such that he occupies the whole bed. The lagging two walk in with pink cheeks and huge grins, immediately making me wonder what they had chatted about. I raise an eyebrow at Skye, but she ignores me and plops herself down beside the already sleeping Yoo Min on the bed. Yawning, she turns onto her slide and closes her eyes.

“Jalbam, everyone!” she says.

Chuckling, Kwang Min immediately corrects her, “It’s 'jalja'! And Jalja to you too.”

I settle myself down on the edge of the bed too. Young Min turns out the lights.

“Jalja, everyone!” I say, before my eyes close and I fall asleep.

Skye ate breakfast with us and left for home early in the morning. The older twins have practice with Boyfriend, so they left with her, walking her home and then going on to the studio to practice. It being a weekend, Yoo Min and I have nothing much to do, so we just sit at home and play some cards. Hyun Min is playing a video game, while Sun Min is trying to design a dress for one of her Barbie dolls. Jeong Min is out with his girlfriend.

It's incredibly boring.

Right now, it's Yoo Min's turn with the cards, and she's trying to recall a magic trick she learnt some time ago. I can almost see the gears whirling in her head. She's been at it for five whole minutes already, and as the time ticks away, so does my interest. My gaze flickers over the room, landing on my laptop. I badly want to switch it on and go online to do something, but it's got no battery whatsoever. That's also my fault, since I forgot to charge it last night. Now both my twin and I are stuck with nothing to do. The Sun's rays are attacking the things in my room very brightly, so I know it's nowhere near lunch time, and we can't yet go ransacking the kitchen for something fun to eat. 

We actually love playing this crazy game where we go into the kitchen and mix up whatever things we can find into some concoction which we take turns trying out. It's an amazing game, because mixing things together like that is something we like doing. Also, when we try it out and the things aren't exactly delicious, it's fun to see each other's expressions. There are countless pictures of Yoo Min and various other members of my family making scrunched-up faces at the camera while I take them. It's in a folder titled "Blackmail". Self-explanatory.

"Oh, I give up on this. It's hopeless," Yoo Min sighs right then, flinging the cards down and collapsing back on the bed.

I nod, distracted. My eyes twitch as I try to wink, recalling how Skye had done it so easily yesterday night. My twin catches sight of me and starts laughing. I stick my tongue out at her and turn away, continuing to tweak my eyes into weird positions as I try in vain to wink.

"I think you sort of close your eyes, and open one? Try it slowly..."

Frowning, I do as she says but both eyes open at the same time. It's frustrating, and I choose to give up instead. My mind quickly wanders while Yoo Min beside me starts playing with her eyes as well. What else is there in the house that we can do to while the time away?

Suddenly something from the previous night comes to the front of my mind. "Yoo Min-ah, do you remember Young Min texted Yoona? Did she reply?"

She jolts to an upright position and stares at me with wide eyes - an expression I'm sure is perfectly mirrorred on my own face. Being a twin is hard sometimes - you know that most people expect you to be the same and so always compare you to one another. It's terrible when that happens, because we both get so irritated by the countless comparisons people make between us - but then there's absolutely no way that we can change the fact that people do that. We can't help being born together, neither can we help looking like each other. We are both different people regardless of the fact that we are twins, and we'd both rather that people acknowledge that and accept it.

Anyway, she says, "I think she did reply. I wonder if Young Min oppa took his phone?"

"There's only one way to find out," I reply, and with that, we both throw ourselves off the bed and run into the boys' room to try and find the phone. It's pretty easy to find actually, since it's just sitting on their desk. Grinning, Yoo Min and I slap palms and sit down on Young Min's bed to check through the messages on his phone.

There's one notification already on the screen, and we both get excited to see that Yoona's name is under "New Text Message". 

"Wait, what's his password?" Yoo Min asks, pressing a few buttons to try out the password. It's wrong. I grin and turn away for a second, snatching the phone away from her and keying in the correct password. When I give it back, unlocked, she shoots me an enquiring look.

"His password is the easiest to guess," I answer to her unspoken question.

She smiles, and opens the message. 'Dongsaeng? O.O I hope you're Young Min! Pikachu hair is cute! ^^'

My jaw drops. "She thinks Young Min's screwed up hair is cute?"

"It sticks out in weird places..." Yoo Min adds, narrowing her eyes in a confused expression.

"But she seems to like him," I mention, eyes widening.

"Young Min oppa's head will explode when he knows that."

"I know - what do we do?" 

Yoo Min tilts her head. "I'm not sure I approve of their relationship!"

I shake my head in agreement. No matter what, Young Min is still my brother and I have strict rules when it comes to him dating. If any of my brothers are to date, the girl has to get past my standards. A girl five years older than him is not exactly the best girl I had in mind.

"But Young Min oppa likes her, and maybe she might not like him anyway, so is it okay to at least let them meet?" Yoo Min wonders aloud.

"What if she breaks his heart?"

"Aish!" my twin exclaims. "Why did we even start this in the first place?!"

"It was meant to be for fun, and we never expected her to guess it right!" I point out. "I think we can give her a chance. Like, we can just let Young Min meet her for once - like how a fan would meet his bias!"

"Good idea, let's just do that and see how it goes."

"So what do we tell Yoona?" I ask again, frowning. Yoo Min shrugs, and her expression becomes one of intense concentration.

"What about we tell her to meet him at the mall tomorrow, and we drag Young Min there to make it a surprise for him?" I suggest.

Yoo Min's eyes light up. "He'd never forgive us for that!"

"He would!" I protest. "This is Yoona we're talking about! How can he not forgive us for setting him up on a date with her?"

"Good point," she concedes. "So we make it a surprise then," she says, hitting a few buttons on the phone in quick succession. "Then we delete her messages so Young Min oppa doesn't suspect."

"Perfect," I remark. "Deal sealed."