I unlocked the door of Soo Hae's house. I knew where she kept her spare key, so I always payed surprise visits to her. But by now, she's probably already gotten used to me showing up unannounced. 

 

I walked to her backyard, knowing that was where she would be at this hour. I stood by the sliding door that led to the backyard. I watched her from afar as she strummed on her acoustic. 

 

Soo Hae loved music. Music was what partly keeps her heart beating. Music gives her a meaning and a purpose in life. Because of her love of music, she makes a living by composing songs. Watching her do what she loves, always puts a smile on my face. 

 

She needed to write a song by this Friday and it was only Monday. I told her that she could start it tomorrow, as it doesn't take her very long to come up with lyrics and a good melody, but she always liked to be ahead of things. Hearing her say that shows how devoted she is to music. 

 

She noticed me watching her from the door. A smile came upon her face at the sight me. She motioned me over with her hand. I walked to her and helped her clear a spot for me to sit next to her on the swing. Before she could continue her song, I slipped the papers out of her hands.

 

"Yah! I'm not finished yet!" she yelled at me. I moved the papers so that she wouldn't be able to reach them. Fortunately I'm taller and have longer arms, so it was difficult for her to get a hold of.

 

"Just let me see what you've done so far. Please noona," I pleaded. I even worked some aegyo into my plea. She sighed and eventually give in. Over the years, I've probably driven my sister nuts multiple times. But I know that her love for me always wins in the end.

 

I read over the lyrics and noticed that the song was about a woman that was in love with a guy, but the guy only thought of her as a friend. The lyrics were catchy and had a sort of cuteness and liveliness to it. It was probably a song for one of the female idols at the company she worked at.

 

"Aww noona," I said cutely. "So who's the guy that inspired you to write this one?" She reached over and snatched the papers from my hand. She stuck her tongue out at me.

 

"No one," she objected. "I just thought these lyrics would match Stacey's new concept." Stacey was an idol at the company my sister worked at. Rumor has it that she was going for a cute, fresh concept for her comeback this month. I couldn't help wondering how she'd look, as me and everyone else was used to her swag and hip hop concept. Who knows, maybe she'll surprise the nation.

 

"Sure noona," I some more. "Sure."

 

"Yah I'm serious," she said while playfully punching my arm. "So what brings you here today?" I jumped up from the swing.

 

"I got something for us." I said. I ran back inside the house to retrieve something from the living room. I grabbed the shopping bag the item was in and ran back outside. I handed the bag to her, a huge grin present on my face.

 

"Open." I commanded. She stopped what she was doing and smiled. She accepted the bag and took out the item inside. As she looked at it, a smile slowly crept onto her face. I knew she'd like it.

 

"Race you." she said. She took off, with the bottle and wand in hand. Bubbles. That's what I bought for us. Lately we've been talking about how we're both growing up so fast. We talked about wanting to relive our childhood days. So I instantly thought of bubbles, as it was one of the things we did together back when we were younger. 

 

My sister ran to the gate leading out of the backyard and undid the latch. She ran out of the backyard, leaving me in the dust. I ran as fast as I could to try to catch up to her. When she called for a race, I instantly knew where she wanted to race to. The finish line was at the park in the neighborhood. This park was the same park we used to play at when we were younger. I remember leaving the house when our babysitter wasn't looking to come play at the park. I also remember the look on our babysitter's face when she found us.

 

I focused on catching up to her. And that was hard as she had a head start. We were both very competitive, which was one of the flaws that we shared. I was rapidly catching up to her, as she was slowly running out of steam. As I passed her by, she frowned at the sight of me ahead of her and increased her pace. We both gave it all we got and reached the park at the same time. It was a tie. And this time, neither of us was upset that it was a tie. We both smiled at each other as we tried to catch our breaths. 

 

After we caught our breaths, we walked to the tree. Our tree. The tree we spent time with throughout our childhood. We haven't been here in years, as we were always so busy. I stared up at the tree. It looked like it hasn't aged a bit. I looked to my sister and noticed that she was still trying to catch her breath. Her hand rested on her heart and she tried to steady her breath.

 

"Are you okay?" I asked, making sure she was alright. She looked up at me and smiled.

 

"Yeah, I'm fine." she assured. For a while, we both stood there, looking up at the tree. There was a slight breeze in the air, blowing leaves off of the tree. Leaves floated before our eyes and we both reached up in hopes of catching one. Almost in sync, we both caught a hold of a leaf. We turned to each other and put our leaves together, something we did a lot as kids. We both held on to the stem of the leaves and made a wish. Then, we released the leaf into the wind and watched as it flew off into the world.

 

"Let's play," she said. She handed me my bubbles and wand. We both uncapped the bottle and dipped our wands inside. At the count of three, we blew. We both watched as the bubbles flew out of the wand and floated before our very eyes. The bubbles either floated up to the tree or sank to the ground. Seeing that made me think of the fact that every second that this world stands, people are being born and people are passing away as well. 

 

"There's still a breeze so let's run with our wands against the wind. Okay?" I said. My sister looked a little hesitant at first, but when her eyes scanned the look of happiness on my face, she finally gave in. I took off ahead of her with my right hand outstretched to the right, bubble wand in hand. I cheered and yelled as I ran against the wind. The wind against my face, blowing my hair back. 

 

"Don't you miss this noona?" I asked my sister as I ran. For a moment, I couldn't hear a response. I repeated the question in case she didn't hear me the first time. I slowed to a stop and turned around, thinking I was way ahead of her. But instead, a different sight appeared in my vision.

 

I saw my sister crouched down on the ground a few feet away, her hands cupped around her heart. I ran as fast as I could and slid to a stop in front of her. I knelt down and tore her hands away from her heart. She was wheezing and could barely breathe. I felt for a heart beat. There was one, but it was slow and felt like it was about to disappear any second.

 

I was panicking inside. And confused as to why she was like this. Did she even know this would happen? I quickly pulled out my phone and called 911. In a matter of seconds, the ambulance came and took me and my sister away...