We giggle as he takes her hand, quietly as to not give ourselves away.

              “Hayi, are you sure?”

              “Yes, Hongbin. I’m sure.”

              “But what if-

              “There is no if. It’s you, or nothing.”

              “But!”

              “Shh.” She pulls him over to his bed, and makes him sit. She grabs a chair and pulls it over, a guitar now in her hands. She smiles at our peeping heads, kindly.

              She strums the first few notes, and pretends we’re not there. I slowly tip toe out of the room, and Hyuk does the same, following me.

              “Hayi noona is singing to Hongbin!” Hyuk yells excitedly in the hall.

              We’re getting father and farther down the hall but the voice still sounds the same.

              I wake up, completely out of it.

              There’s a voice, a sweet voice singing the same song from my dream.

              Then there’s clapping, loud and obnoxious over excitement. Lee Jaehwan.

              I walk out into the kitchen where Ken and Hongbin sit. “Oh I’m sorry. Did I wake you up?” Hongbin asks, his eyes big.

              “Oh, no no. I owe that to this big idiot here.” I say.

              Ken turns around and gives me his best innocent puppy face. I sit down with them. “But Hongbin… That song… Hayi sang that to you?”

              Hongbin almost chokes on his drink, and I pat his back without thinking.

              “Ho- How did you know Hayi sang that to me?” He looks at me.

              “Was I not supposed to know that?” Then Hongbin and Ken high five each other. “What? What’s going on?”

              “You remembered something.” Hongbin says.

              “Oh. Yes. I remembered something.” It still throws me off, one of my own memories.

              “Hongbin, if it’s not weird to ask...what was mom like?”

              “Mom… hmm... well she was pretty. She was really smart, she was a doctor. She and dad were really cute together. But they were both stubborn. I couldn’t tell who was more stubborn.”

              “So that’s where she gets it from.” Jaehwan nods.

              “She’s stubborn too?” Hongbin asks.

              “It’s useless to fight with her.”

              “Guys… where’s Hyuk?” I ask, noticing I haven’t seen him at all on this noisy morning.

              “Hyuk? He’s at school.”

              “Why aren’t you in school?”

              Jaehwan laughs loudly. “Minhee did you just ask your brother why he’s not in school?”

              “Yes, I did just ask my brother why he’s not in school.”

Hongbin’s heart almost melts when she says the word brother, he hasn’t heard it from in so long.

              “Minhee, do you know how old I am?” he smiles to himself not looking up. She studies his face, and gives up. “I’m 26.”

              “No no no you can’t be 26! You look 20.”

              “But I am.” He says. Then I catch a glimpse of the clock, and realize it’s time to go to work. I quickly change and say goodbye to both of them.

              I enter the shop, and there’s no one in sight, so I head for the back, then I hear a scary sound. I rush to the bathroom, but the door is locked.

              “Sojin are you okay?”

              I hear the sound of the toilet flushing, and she opens the door, continues washing her face.

              “What’s wrong?” I ask.

              “Nothing, I just felt a bit nauseous. It’s okay really, I probably just need some air.”

              “Do you want to go outside?”

              “I think so.”

              But she doesn’t make it past the front of the store before she faints. A boy in a white coat suddenly comes over. “What’s wrong with her?” He asks softly.

              “I’m not sure she threw up a few minutes ago.”

              “Ah.” He says, and nods. “Do you mind if we take her to the hospital?” He asks, quietly.

              “I think we should.” He nods, and he slowly picks her up, being really careful. I follow him to the hospital, and there I met Hongbin and Ken, surprisingly.

              “Minhee what are you doing here?” Ken runs over, Hongbin behind him, in a white coat and some glasses.

              “Me? Nothing. I’m fine. Sojin fainted.”

              “Ah.” he lets out a breath in relief, and Hongbin walks over to the other boy. They talk for a little while, and exchange papers.

              “Hongbin is a doctor?”

              “Did you think he just sits there in the castle and does nothing all day? That’s too boring.”

              “Why are you here anyways?” I ask him.

              “Ah well Hongbin asked me to come, so I could bring this to you.” He hands you a photograph. Your nerdy dad, Hongbin as a young boy, you, as a little toddler, and your mom, who was pregnant with Hyuk.

              Tears form in your eyes, and it makes you happy, to at least have one photo of your family.

              Suddenly the thought of family back home comes to your head, and the fact that the force field is gone.

              Hongbin comes over, smiling.

              “What’s wrong with Sojin?”

              “Wrong? Nothing. She’s pregnant.” He says.

              “What?” A familiar voice says. He freezes, in shock, and then walks over to the bed where she lays.

              I giggle. “What are you laughing at?” Hongbin asks.

              “His response is cute.”

              Hongbin smiles. The other doctor, the one that carried Sojin here, comes over, with a small boy, 4 or 5 in his arms. “I’m going to go now, can you take care of the rest?”

              “Yeah, go ahead.” The guy nods and walks off with that little boy.

              “Who was that?”

              “Oh. That was Leo. He’s a pediatrician and psychologist. He’s so smart.”

              A nurse comes over and whispers to Hongbin. “I have to go, but if you want we can have dinner at my house today? Hyuk wants to see you again.”

              “We’ll be there.” I say, and Ken smiles.

              Neither Ken nor I have anything to do for the rest of the afternoon so we go play beach volleyball. We’re playing by ourselves when two girls come out of nowhere.

              “Can we join you guys?” One of them asks.

              “Sure why not?” Ken says.

              One of the girls comes to my side, and the other goes to Ken’s. I watch as he watches her walk over, a pleased look in his eye.

              “So who’s this girl Ken?” The blond asks.

              “She’s uh-

“I’m his best friend, Minhee.” I say. He sighs and serves the ball. The girl on my side hits it back. The blond hits it back and I fall, dodging it.

              “Nice one!” Ken high fives the girl and she smiles.

              I get up and pass them the ball. The game progresses and I have I figured that me and Seulgi . That Boa girl, the blond, has a strong hand. Inevitably, Boa and Ken win. Boa gets so excited she gives him a hug. I feel something in my throat, and I start to walk. I don’t know what to do. “Minhee, where are you going?” Ken yells.

              I don’t turn around. “Ah I’m just going to go see Sojin. I’ll see you for dinner.”

              “Can we play another round?” Her voice echoes into my ears, as I get further. When I reach the path I run, and I don’t turn back. I end up at Sojin’s house. I hear noises from the back, so I go around.

              She has a huge plate, huge plate of food in front of her.

              Kyungil spots me and opens the sliding glass door. I enter and he quickly closes the door behind me, then goes back to sitting next to Sojin.

              “Minhee you came!” She says excitedly, as she puts some more meat in .

              “Hey you need some of this too! The doctor said.”  He moves some vegetables onto her plate, and takes some of her meat. She stares at her plate sadly until he says “it’s for the baby.”

              “Minhee do you want some? It’s delicious.”

              I sigh. “No thanks. My appetite is gone.”

              “Omo? Gone? This is a big change!”

              “Or it’s Lee Jaehwan.” Kyungil says, handing her some water. “Slow down you’re going to get sick again!”

              She nods and drinks it. “What did he do? Do I have to go kill him?”

              “Oh no no miss you’re not going anywhere today no.”

              “It’s nothing really just that…”

              “You finally realized that you maybe have feelings for him?” Sojin asks excitedly.

              “No no it’s not that. Just that when another girl hugged him I got this sort of weird feeling.”

              “Denial.” Kyungil sings. She gives him a look before sticking some food in his mouth.

              “You’re jealous Minhee.”

              “Yeah jealous. Like friend jealous.”

              “Friend jealous, okay.” She says and smirks.

              They finish eating and I decide to walk to the castle. “Noonaaaaa!!” I hear it through the halls.  I turn around and Hyukie, still dressed in school uniform comes up to me.

              “Did you just get here?”

              “Yeah! I was helping one of my friends study, they were really confused on some math. Kind of cute.” His eyes look different when he talks about them.

              “Is this friend a girl?” I ask.

              “Yeah, she’s pretty.” He says and starts walking. “Oh, I almost forgot, I have something for you. You might want to kill me though.” He laughs and starts running down the halls and I chase him, but stop at some familiar golden doors. They’re covered in dust, and I don’t know why they bring a very warm feeling to me.

              “Hey! Over here!” Hyuk yells, and I can’t see him but I get a sense of where the sound is coming from. I head down that hallway, and turn at the corner, where Hyuk is waving from the door to his room. I run to him, but the golden doors still linger in the back of my mind.

              He’s sitting at a desk, with a box.

              “I want you to see this. It might help you.” He says. “I’ll be back, I don’t know if Nini went out to the beach again or not.”

              I grab the box and move to a chair by the window, the warm ocean breeze gently plays with my hair.

              Dust, there’s dust all over it. But when I open it, there’s a bunch of envelopes with different names on them. Hyuk’s has been opened, and so has Hongbin’s but the envelope labeled Minhee just sits there.

              I carefully take off the wax, and the folded paper looks ancient, as do the faded black letters. The letter is from 12 years ago, and it reads:

My Dearest Minhee,

I hope by the time you read this letter, you’re emotionally stable enough to get through it. I’m sorry, mommy couldn’t tell you she was dying. Truthfully, I don’t know if I’ll die a month after writing this or a in a few years, but I know I probably won’t make it past your 16^th birthday. I’m sorry that I cannot be there to see you as a smiling adult. If I could have it that way it would be the best.

But that is why I’m writing to you. I know you’ll be good to Hyuk, but please don’t be so hard on Hongbin. I understand you two are opposites, but I can promise you as annoying as your brother claims you are, there’s still affection in his heart so please don’t hate each other. Older brothers are always a little scary.

You’ll do well in school, I know you’re smart. And when the time comes, I know you’ll want to leave the island. It’s okay. I just wish you won’t forget your family, visit often. Your mind is just too great to be kept from the world, so please keep everyone well-dressed my little fashionista.

You have such a warm heart, I hope when you grow into a beautiful young lady your heart will stay that way and you won’t despise the world, even if things don’t go your way. I think about it a lot lately, but the other day when we walked on the beach I complained it was hot. You know what you said to me? You said, “that must be what love feels like. First, it’s warm and then boom, it’s so hot you can’t escape. The sun sets, or it rains, but the sun always comes back. And at night when it’s gone, it sends the moon to watch over loved ones, making sure they’re still okay.” At first, I thought you liked someone, but I realized you just memorized what you read in book. Still, it applies, because no matter where I am, I am the moon. I will always be with you Minhee.

There’s tears streaming down my face and even though I don’t remember anything, I know it had to be real because feelings don’t lie. I’m not crying for no reason. I hear footsteps and a bark, and I wipe my tears.

“Noona, dinner is ready!” Hyuk stands at the door entry, holding the dog in his hands.

“let’s go then, shall we?”

He nods and leads me through the castle, still so foreign to me. Laughter is heard from the end of the hall. I can tell it’s Hongbin. Ken looks us at me, and waves. Hongbin looks up too, and I stare at him.

“What’s with the face?” Ken asks.

There’s silence and they all stare at me. Only a question comes from my mouth. “Hongbin, why do you hate me?”