Sooji wrinkled her nose, grimacing from the unforgiving sun. She squinted and darted her eyes to the neighboring houses, taking note of the shade that all of them had. Of all the houses on her block, Sooji's faced the worst of the sun in the afternoon.

She sat down on her fold-up chair and stared begrudgingly at her glass of lemonade. The once solid ice cubes were melting into some pitiful blobs. 

"You know, Sungyeol, you're the biggest embarrassment of my entire life. I was going just fine, and I was having the time of my life until some hideous spirit decided it was time to be reincarnated in your poor body," said Sungjong.

"To hell with your ing embarrassment! I'm trying to have a good time, and you're spoiling my fun, so toodaloo!" Sungyeol stammered, sipping his lemonade. To simulate some sort of forced boundaries between the two, Sungyeol picked up his aviator shades and leaned back on his chair, pretending his stepbrother ceased to exist.

"To hell with you boys and your petty arguments! You guys are souring my mood and I am not having it in my house! Now you can shut the hell up and enjoy your damn lemonade or go find some other noona who you can mooch off of," Sooji yelled , readjusting her chair to be more reclined.

Sungyeol clicked his tongue and scoffed. "He started it."

"Hmph."

The triad stayed quiet for a moment, silently glaring at each other and pointing fingers. Sooji sighed and wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. "This ing heat has me pissy."

"The heat has us all pissy," Sungyeol added.

"I need more ice," one of the three said.

"Ditto."

Sooji opened the creaky screen door and walked back to the kitchen. She retrieved from the freezer one tray of ice cubes and began the short way back to the front porch just when the window above the sink caught her eye. Sitting there on the windowsill was a potted sunflower, just beginning to bloom. Oh, how neglectful of me. Sooji turned around and quickly skipped over by the sink to place one ice cube on top of the soil. So now you don't have to shrivel up in the heat, just like Sooji.

She then remembered the rest of the sunflowers growing at the side of her house. A shock of worry and resentment flashed in her eyes, and she darted through the screen door. With poise, Sooji spread ice cubes all over the rest of the plants, and then walked back to her cousins, realizing that she had used what was left of the ice cubes.

"Gosh, noona! Why can't you spare one day for those godforsaken sunflowers?" Sungjong said.

Sooji had no answer. Maybe I don't want them to end up like I did.