The street was alive with neon signs glowing on various buildings and busy people making their way home from a tiring day of work. Cars zoomed past and motorcycles weaved their way through the throng of people on the sidewalk, catching some off guard. It is a chilly autumn night, cold enough for a sweater and maybe a scarf. You, however, walked leisurely down the street clutching your thin cardigan closer to you while silently reprimanding yourself for not taking a jacket like your mother had suggested. Nevertheless, this is your favorite part of the day: walking to your favorite jazz bar from school to meet your brother.

The jazz bar was more like a café: it had the same interior design as any other café with tables and booths with the exception of a wall dedicated to jazz records including a record player that played jazz music all hours of the day as well as a bar that served alcohol along with the coffees, teas, cappuccinos and hot chocolates. Indeed, you were too young to be in there but everyone knew you as Jae Hee’s younger sister and a lover of jazz music. They accept you and make sure to serve only tea and some snacks, nothing more. You’ve been coming here since the age of 14, after your brother discovered your love for jazz music by chance.

Jae Hee, known as Jae to everyone who knows him, is 21 and works at the jazz bar as a bartender which is mainly the reason they allow you to be there. During the day he attends college on the track to be a doctor. You call him the brains of the family, the first doctor to come out of it from a line of musicians and labor workers. You also contemplated becoming a doctor but ruled against it because of your fear of needles. You thought it would pass with time but it only seemed to get worse.

The familiar tinkle of the bell at the door rang and you entered the warm establishment, a sigh escaping your lips. You smile at the doorman, throwing a peace sign at him before sitting down in your favorite spot at the corner booth. You hide your school uniform deeper inside your bag, knowing all too well that if you were caught here as a high school student you’d be immediately kicked out. The bar was still empty, only a couple of people scattered around the room. As you settled in, the bartender made his way over to your booth, a glass of tea and a chocolate cupcake in his hands.

"Why, hello there princess. One tea and chocolate cupcake as usual. Where’s Jae? He’s supposed to start soon.” Min placed the items in front of you, giving you a smile.

            Min is Jae’s best friend, also on the medical track to be a doctor. Min’s mother as well as your mother were the best of friends in the past, the prettiest girls down in Busan before coming up to Seoul together. Min and Jae were extremely popular with the girls for their high nose bridge and large doe eyes courtesy of each respective mother.

You also acquired the large eyes and high nose bridge but not as large or as high as your brother’s. You daresay your brother is much prettier than you. You had more of your father in you, with his small lips, button nose and shorter frame. You consider yourself pretty normal looking, nothing compared to Jae.

“I dunno, he’s supposed to be here alre-”

“Sae Hee-ya!” A singsong voice emerged from the door and a familiar tinkle sounded.

“Speaking of the devil.” You say, throwing Min a grin as he made his way over back to the bar. “Jae-ya~” You sing back. You start to mock salute him but stop mid-way noticing the two guys behind your beloved brother. You furrow your eyebrows, unsure if you were imagining them or not.

 “How many times do I have to tell you to call me oppa?” Jae pouted, sliding into your side of the booth. Even with your 5 year difference with your brother, he treated you as an equal and you appreciated that most about him.

 “At least one more time.” You respond, eyeing the two strangers.

“Ah! Say hello to Yongnam and Yongguk. As you can tell, identical twins. Cool right?” They greet you with a nod, Yongguk sliding in the booth first and then Yongnam after. “This is my younger sister, Sae Hee,” Jae says, addressing the brothers and then you, “They’re 19. What is that, like three years older than you?”

“Yeah, I’m 16.” You twiddle your thumbs, uncomfortable with the two new strangers.

“Don’t expect her to call you oppa. She doesn’t even call me oppa.” The older man grumbled, elbowing your arm.

“Wow, you guys look alike.” Yongnam said, looking between you and your brother.

“Coming from the identical twin.” You mumble under your breath. Yongnam looked at you in surprise, a laughing erupting from him as well as Jae. The corner of your lip lift upwards; their laughter was infectious.

Yongguk, however, stared in awe at you. He disagreed with his twin, you didn’t look like Jae. You donned a simple white v-neck, blue skinny jeans, a black cardigan and black flats yet it emphasized your beauty more than any dress would. And even though most girls your age began to explore makeup, you put on none. Your hair reached down to your hips, slightly frizzy but curly at the tips. At that moment, you look over to him and your eyes immediately him in. Something about them was just so deep and full of wisdom, an old soul stuck in a teenage body. You look away, your heart beating rapidly against your ribs.

“What brings you here?” You ask the other twin, who was chatting with Jae.

“Someone recommended this place because my brother and I were interested in jazz music. We hit up Jae hyung because we knew he worked here. We met Jae hyung at a different club before which is why we know each other.” You nodded, shooting Jae a look who sheepishly looked away. You risked a glance back in Yongguk’s direction and regretted it immediately. He was still staring, only this time distress was painted on his face.

Jae followed your gaze and looked in Yongguk’s direction and recognized that look. That look of attraction and lust. He liked the twins as his younger friends, they were fun and knew how to have a good time, but he didn’t like the idea of either of them being interested in you given their reputation as playboys. A fire started to build in your brother’s eyes. You, on the other hand, had no idea- a naïve 16 year old girl. You just thought Yongguk was discontented with you for some reason you could not fathom.

“Yongguk, you’re going to burn her face off if you keep staring like that.” Jae couldn’t help the sharp tone his voice took at the end of his sentence.

“Sorry.” Yongguk looked down at his lap, distress still evident on his face. Yongnam looked between Jae and Yongguk, chuckling nervously with no idea what to do.

“It’s fine. Jae don’t you have to work?” You say, pushing him slowly off the seat.

“Are you that eager to send me away?” Jae said as he put all his weight on his back, causing you to be crushed under him. You laugh, shaking your head at his silly antics.

“Hurry up, I wanna look at the records.” You say giving one final push and successfully push your immature brother off the seat. You get up and make your way over to the wall filled with various records, a gentle smile gracing your features. Jae sat back down in the booth with a serious look, much different from when you were there.

“Look, let’s get one thing straight okay? I like the both of you, you guys are two dongsengs I think of preciously but I think of my sister even more preciously. I want you to treat her as you would a younger sister and not as a woman. She’s too young and too innocent for any of you two. I’m not trying to be mean but my sister’s a no-no.” The twins looked at Jae solemnly and nodded.

“Don’t worry hyung, that won’t happen. We respect you too much.” Yongnam commented, kicking his brother’s foot.

“Yeah, sorry hyung it’s not like that. I’m sorry if it looked like that.” Yongguk looked up at the older man who stared at him for a few more seconds before smiling.

“I’m trusting you guys. Sae Hee’s a great girl but innocent. Okay?” Jae gave the twins one last smile before making is way over to the bar to start his shift. Yongnam looked over at his counterpart with a bewildered look.

“Yongguk, c’mon! She’s 16 and she’s Jae hyung’s younger sister. You could have at least hid your emotions better. You’re way too obvious.” Yongnam chided his brother while looking over at you. “She’s off limits, alright? Besides we know much prettier girls than her who are down to do more than she’s willing to.” Yongguk sighed, and shook his head as if removing the thoughts from it.

“Yeah, I know. It’s not like that either. She’s… different.” He said, unsure of what he meant by that comment either.

“Well get over it. I’m going to go over there and look at the music. That’s what we came for right?” Yongnam softly punched his brother on the shoulder before making his way over to where you were standing.

Yongguk watched his other half chat you up, giving you a charming smile. You were indeed beautiful and Yongguk couldn’t help his attraction towards you. It wouldn’t be a lie to say that he was physically attracted to you too but his lust was nothing compared to that weird feeling he had in his chest. Normally, he wouldn’t care about age or anything of that sort but with you, he wanted to cherish you and preserve your innocence. Something about you made him want to protect you from the disappointments and failures in life which frustrated him even more because he knew he was tainted and too filthy for you. Even if he wanted to protect you, you were too pure for him. The fact that you were Jae’s sister made it even worse than it already was.

Jae was respected for his weirdly inhumane strength but never used unless absolutely necessary which was more rare than seeing an eclipse. It was rumored that he only used that strength twice: once when some old men were hitting on his younger sister and another when some guys decided to beat up Min for no apparent reason other than he was there at the wrong time. But more than his strength, he was respected for his morals and respect for anyone no matter what their age, physical appearance or unfavorable bias was so long as they deserved it. Sure, he liked to have a good time and went to clubs and drank and smoked but his morals that anyone can be good and deserved a second chance were always there with him. That fact alone made Yongguk respect him more than anyone else that knew Jae. Yongguk knew deep down inside that he could never treat you more than a younger sister as long as you were Jae’s sister or he proved worthy of you in Jae’s and his own eyes.

You laughed at a joke Yongnam had made and butterflies flew in Yongguk’s stomach. You were just so beautiful it hurt him. He ripped his eyes away from you to the table in front of him. Looking at you would only make his feelings deeper so he decided to keep his eyes off you for as long as he could stand it. The booth shifted in front of him and your long hair came into Yongguk’s vision. He kept his eyes firmly on the table, afraid to look up.

You frown, unsure of why Yongguk hated you so much. He didn’t look at you and when he did it was emotionless, empty. Yongnam was so friendly and funny yet his twin was cold and unresponsive. You decide to take out the book you were currently reading and ignore the man in front of you. You tie your hair into a bun, as you always do when reading, and shifted your body so you were no longer facing Yongguk but the room. Extending one leg out and bending the other towards your chest, you lean against the wall and start to read your book. Reading has always been a safe haven for you, a time where you can truly be yourself and enjoy being in another world through words on paper. Slowly you started to lose yourself in the book and music when a voice interrupted you.

“What are you reading?” You jump in surprise, eyes stretching as wide as possible while looking at the male next to you. His voice was much deeper and smoother than his brother’s. A small grin formed on his face, amused that you were surprised.

“Me?” You squeak out, still bewildered that he was talking period.

“Yes, you. Your book looks very interesting.” Yongguk thought that talking to you would bring some sense back to him and make him realize how young you are with the way you speak or type of books you read. He leaned back against the booth and crossed his arms in front of him.

“Um it’s about a girl who’s searching for a lost island full of scientific knowledge and uses the help of her best friend and a wizard to find it.” A small wave of relief washed over Yongguk. Only a teenager would read a book like that, right?

“A wizard? So magic and science coincide?”

“Well, yes.” 

“Interesting.” You hand over the book to the older male, allowing him to read the synopsis on the back. He looked it over, nodding his head while reading.

“How does magic and science coincide? Don’t they clash against each other’s principles?” Yongguk handed the book back to you.

“Yes and no. They do conflict in that magic cannot be explained through scientific methods however the basis of magic comes from science. Science leads the way to magical use in that once someone who has proved their worthiness has mastered all knowledge that is possible in science, a process begins in which all previous knowledge of science is reconstructed through magical standards, not that of humans. So the reason for learning science by human standards is to have that basic knowledge of science up to the limitations of the human and then magical people teach humans to overcome that limitation. The main character is looking for the lost island because that process was lost to the humans after a war between the magical people and scientific community for power. She wants to restore it but also to reform it so that no war would come to light again because of this power.” Yongguk watched your eyes light up as you explained the core content of the book, a passion growing from a deep part of your soul. The initial objective of talking to you now seemed foolish for it made him feel like he was more enlightened just listening to you speak with such fervor. His heart physically hurt from how fast it was beating but he knew he couldn't stop talking to you now because your voice had already become like a drug to him, sweet music.

“Do you believe that science and magic can coincide?” He asks shakily, hoping you wouldn't notice the tremor that struck his voice. Unaware of the dilemna going on in his heart or mind, a small smile forms on your lips and you nod your head in response to his question.

“I do. Magic exists even here on earth. The feeling of falling in love, the power of honesty and goodness, the way words can take to you to another world, that is magic. It has the ability to change someone. For better or for worse depends on the person but still magic can always happen.” Yongguk stared at you in awe. He was right that an old soul was trapped in your body and hearing you talk like that, a 16 year old, was just inspiring.

You blush, realizing you talked way too much. You always do when you talk about books or music and it always ends up scaring the other person away, which could be why you didn’t have any friends. You were never interested in makeup and boys and whatnot as much as other girls were. When you tried discussing books, other girls would look at you weird and shrug their shoulders, continuing their previous conversation. You shake your head, criticizing yourself for scaring away yet another person with your crazy ramblings.

Yongguk stayed quiet, the wheels turning in his head at full speed. You, on the other hand, look at your watch and gasp. It was already midnight and you promised your mom you would only stay until 11. Before Yongguk could even say anything, you gathered your items while mumbling an apology and farewell and rushed out the door, giving a quick goodbye to your brother. Yongguk’s eyes stayed on you until you disappeared through the door and sighed. It was a mistake talking to you because now all that occupied his thoughts were the conversation that just took place, your face, and the guarentee of the next time you two meeting if he had anything to do with it.

So first chapter! I think I will be uploading one chapter a week, two if my writer's block doesn't get the better of me. I have the basic outline of the story written out, just need to write out the details. Criticisms are more than welcome- anything to help me improve my writing! And I know writing in the 2nd person might be weird to read (definitely weird to write) but I wanted to do something new, more than just writing in the 1st or 3rd person. Please leave feedback and any suggestions- I'm open for changes in the story since it isn't written in stone haha. I hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading!