The Kims and the Parks became neighbours when their children were so young, they immediately forgot what it was like to live without the respective other family.
Minkyoo, the oldest of the Kim Family, had vague memories of the empty new house and of  meeting the neighbour's girl with her messy ponytail and her brother, who cried in his mother's arms. But Minkyoo, too, couldn't remember life without the Park siblings, although he knew that there must have been such a time. To him his next youngest sibling wasn't his brother Minseok, who was two years younger, but Park Chanok, the girl in-between. His youngest sibling was Park Chanyeol, who was born in the same year as Minkyung, but a few months afterwards.

It really was a lucky coincidence that the Kims and the Parks would move in next to each other, because their children were of such similar ages. When they were too small to look out for themselves, they would all spent their time in one of the families' houses. Minkyoo's mother was usually home, but if she was busy, Chanok's grandmother would visit them and they would sneak out to play in the nearby park once she had fallen asleep.

As children their life was easy and happy and full of stories. A table and a blanket turned into a cave, a bench in the park was a fortress. The beautiful queen was always Chanok, the tomboyish princess was Minkyung. Minkyoo was the wise king, Chanyeol the knight or sometimes the villain, and Minseok told them where they were and what they saw. His words became realities and it secretly amazed Minkyoo how it always felt as if he could smell and touch the worlds Minseok created. Even as an adult Minkyoo sometimes lay in bed and felt as if he was floating. The dark became the sea the village had dropped into and the shadows became the fish and the seaweed around him. He could taste the salt, felt the current, and he of course wouldn't have told anyone about it, but sometimes he suddenly felt a pang of fear, as if the Great Shark was somewhere around him.

But they couldn't be children forever and life went on in its endless cruelty.
The first among them who became a babysitter was Minkyoo when he entered middle school, and he hated it. He wanted to spend time with his friends, but instead he was stuck with Chanok, who suddenly changed her name and didn't respect him the least, Minseok, the airhead, and the two little ones, who constantly argued. Minkyung was born in January, so she entered school a year earlier than Chanyeol who was born in November, and felt that she now had the right to lecture him. To Minkyoo, still a child himself, it just was too much.

A year later, when Chanok, or Yura as she now called herself, was supposed to take some responsibilities off him, it just became worse. She always left him behind and he probably took it out on the younger ones much too often. Afterwards he knew that he should have treasured the time he could spend with them, but puberty turned him blind and maybe a little unfair. When another year went by, Minkyoo, like Yura, ran away. Minseok was his real brother and he always listened well, so it wasn't hard to let him take charge of the two young ones. Minkyoo had to study and he had a social life, so he couldn't waste even more of his time, especially if someone like Yura could easily ditch her own brother without any consequences.

Later he regretted it, because it was then that everything fell apart. He lost sight of them, and he only really woke up when he was already in his second year of university.

Minseok had never been a particularly good student, no matter how vivid his imagination was, so, unlike Minkyoo and Yura, he didn't even make it into a good high school. Minkyoo of course tried to push him, but Minseok just wouldn't listen, and he gave up. The irony was that Yura made fun of Minkyoo and his stupid brother, but that her own brother eventually entered the same mediocre school.
To Minkyoo it was enough. He couldn't force Minseok to do what he wasn't capable of, and it was already weirdly satisfying to know that Minseok at least had something in his brain, even if it didn't aid him in getting good grades. Unlike Chanyeol he at least was neither stupid nor violent.

But then one day, when Minkyoo came home late from his part time job in the barbecue restaurant, he suddenly realized that he maybe should have tried harder at being a good brother.
The uneven road to their house was illuminated in a weak orange. They lived on a small hill, so Minkyoo had made it a habit to always watch the pavement right in front of him to make sure that he wouldnt stumble. He felt tired and beaten, and he only noticed the similarly tired and beaten figure in front of him when he was almost home. Minseok was way too late for a boy his age.
But something was odd, and Minkyoo didn't immediately call him out on it. It was maybe his hunched back or the limp. Maybe it was the fact that he still wore his black school uniform or that Minkyoo wasn't really used to Minseok doing anything unusual. He was always home in time, always obedient, always inconspicious. It frankly unsettled him a little.

Minseok reached their front gate, and Minkyoo thought of running up to him, when their neighbour's door was thrown open and when Chanyeol appeared behind it, also still in his school uniform.
"Hyung," he exclaimed, but didn't fully leave the house, as if he was too afraid to get too close. "Where the hell did you go? You can't just-. I mean, I spent hours looking for you."

"Sorry," Minseok muttered and fumbled with the door's lock. His face was slightly illuminated and to Minkyoo it looked as if his eye was swollen.

"Listen," Chanyeol said and scratched his neck as he slowly walked outside. His nose was covered in a bandage. "I didn't mean to... I mean, I never planned for that to happen. But I thought that if..."

"It's all right," Minseok shrugged as he faced the door, but didn't open it. "I'm fine."

"You sure?" Chanyeol asked, as he finally walked all the way up to him and bent down a little to take a better look at his face. "Your eye doesn't look all right," he said with a pained expression.

"I've seen worse. Or rather," Minseok said and his expression softened a little. "I haven't seen worse. Remember that time when Yura-noona hit me with your grandmother's pillow?"
Minkyoo remembered. Back then they were reenacting a battle scene they had seen in a costume drama. Yura was particularly vicious and used her grandmother's bean pillow as a weapon. As a result Minseok had two swollen eyes, thanks to which he couldn't really see much for a few days.

"Oh. Yeah. I do," Chanyeol said and looked even more sorry than before. "I hope you don't think that my family wants to turn you blind or anything."

"Well, that thought did occur to me," Minseok laughed, and Chanyeol smiled vaguely, only to then shift back into worry and guiltiness.

"I'm really sorry," Chanyeol said and awkwardly lifted his hand to touch the skin around Minseok's eye. Minseok winced  a little, but didn't attempt to squirm free.

"I don't blame you," he said.
And Minkyoo knew that he had to do something. He felt like a voyeur in front of his own house, and no matter what had happened between his brother and his neighbour, to Minkyoo it just didn't seem normal or healthy, especially not if Chanyeol was the one who hurt Minseok.

"What are you two doing outside?" he said in a carefree voice, to not sound as if he had watched them like a creep, and it was almost comical how Chanyeol immediately jumped. "What's wrong with your face?" he asked his brother. Chanyeol had always been a bit of a rowdy, so it wasn't too unusual for him to have a broken nose.

"Minkyoo-hyung," Chanyeol blurted out. "This is all my fault. Today in school there was-."

"Today in school I fell down the stairs," Minseok interrupted him, and it obviously was a lie because Chanyeol looked quite taken aback at his words.

It was probably then that Minkyoo should have done something. He should have questioned him, should have asked why Chanyeol, too, was hurt then or why Minseok came home only now. He should have acted like a proper older brother.
Instead he said, "Oh, really? You should be more careful," and walked inside.

Kim Minkyoo had failed. He, the oldest child among the two families, felt like a stranger among his siblings.