So far, the neighbourhood was pretty awesome. Elegant, lavish houses were everywhere and the area even offered a small park with a playground for little kids to play in, basketball and tennis courts, and a small café shop right at the center of the vicinity. There were random wooden benches everywhere for everyone to sit whenever they wanted to.

She hung out at the park for an hour, watching little kids play and run around and laughing while enjoying chocolate bread she bought from the café shop and a vanilla-flavored ice cream cone. This would probably her new favorite place to pass time in case she wanted to escape her new house.

Dad would have liked it here, Hayi wondered, her eyes drifting from kids to adults to teenagers strolling around the park and enjoying the sun. Her father used to tell her endless bedtime stories of his supposed future plans; instead of having fairy tales or make-believe stories for kids, her father did have a unique taste of storytelling. He dreamt of a five-acre land with a really big house and a really big family with more brothers and sisters for Hayi to play with; he dreamt of happiness and love and hope.

But he never did get to live in that dream.

Hayi was relieved no one knew her and that no one actually cared if a stranger suddenly cried in the middle of the park. Tears began to fall as she went down memory lane of her father. They would’ve been perfect if he stayed a bit longer.

Once she finished eating, she immediately went home.

“Hey, I was wondering where you were!”

Soohyun’s bright smile was what greeted Hayi the instant she arrived home. It took her almost 20 minutes if it weren’t for her poor sense of direction; she forgot where the house was, considering she slept the entire time from her previous apartment to Gangnam-gu. Present in the living room were her mother, who ditched her couple of hours ago, the businessman, Soohyun, a guy who looks exactly the same with Soohyun, and another guy who looks older, too.

Despite the cold treatment from earlier, Hayi was impressed at how Soohyun managed to just brush it off.

“Are we going somewhere?” Hayi wanted to know. She noticed how Soohyun was all dolled up in a pink-and-white laced dress and high heels. She had makeup on, too, which Hayi presumed was done by her own mother.

Her Mom nodded. “Dinner out remember?”

“And after that we can go shopping,” the businessman added excitedly, making Soohyun giggle in excitement. The two other guys nodded in approval, too. “You guys can buy anything you want tonight. It’s all on me.”

The members cheered in unison, except for Hayi.

“Oh, and it’s so rude of me,” the businessman chuckled. “These are my sons—Chanhyuk and Seunghoon. They will be your new brothers.” Chanhyuk was Hayi’s age while Seunghoon was her senior by two years. Hayi greeted them both with a bow and an obligatory smile. They waved back.

“Now go and change,” Mom inserted, and Hayi winced at how naturally her mother fit in this foreign family. “Soohyun can help you change. We’re leaving in a few.”

“I would love to!” Soohyun’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

“Uh, okay.”

Soohyun accompanied Hayi to her room, bouncing the entire way in excitement to her room. She looked like she had lots of things to say but to be polite, Soohyun handled being quiet. Hayi was satisfied. The last thing she needed was a babbling new younger sister—although she’s still quite wary about this entire thing. She had, after all, lived as an only child for 17 years.

They went inside Hayi’s room in silence with Soohyun trailing behind the older. Soohyun seemed like she was beginning to feel attached to Hayi even though the latter barely spoke to her the entire day. Hayi began to rummage her unpacked bags for decent clothes until five minutes later, she could only come up with a plaid shirt and denim jeans.

She wasn’t sure if they were decent enough to wherever they were going.

Soohyun offered a smile. “I have a skirt you can borrow, unnie. You can match it with the plaid shirt.”

Well, it would be rude to turn down the offer. Hayi would’ve chosen being rude if it wasn’t for the lack of time to be inconsiderate of her new family’s feelings; everyone seemed to be in a hurry to leave and Hayi didn’t want to be a pest. For now.

“Thanks, I guess.”

She didn’t have any choice.

Few minutes later, they left.

“Hope you like Italian cuisine,” the businessman told Hayi the instant they arrived in front of a restaurant named Buona Sera just within the district. While they were in the car, the businessman preferred having dinner nearby so they could spend more time for shopping afterwards.

They were led to a table by a waitress and Hayi wanted to sit beside her mother for the sake of feeling a tiny bit of secured among a family of strangers. It had been less a day since she got to know them so she felt lost and confused. But her mother insisted she sit between Soohyun and Seunghoon, and Hayi couldn’t be any more disappointed by that.

“So, have you been here before?” Soohyun asked politely.

Hayi shook her head. “Nope. We usually stay home for dinner.”

“Oh. Would you be going to the same school as the three of us on Monday?”

“I’m not sure—”

“Of course, she will,” the businessman interrupted her, smiling. “There’s no reason to keep Hayi from getting an education as same as you guys did. There are a variety of extracurricular activities or clubs you can join, too, Hayi-ah.”

Chanhyuk lifted his chin towards her, sort of a greeting. “Do you play?”

“Swimming,” Hayi answered shortly.

“She used to be in the swimming varsity team until the coach decided to cut her off,” her Mom added, side-eyeing her in disappointment for not even bothering to elaborate her answer. “She sings, too. She and her fa—well, she used to sing a lot but now she stopped. She can play the piano, the violin and the guitar as well.”

“That’s amazing!” Soohyun exclaimed, forming a circle in awe. “Maybe you can teach me how to play the violin. Dad’s only had me get piano lessons but my brothers and I sing, too. Channie oppa composes good songs. Seunghoon oppa loves to rap but he prefers basketball now.”

Chanhyuk snorted. “Good songs? They’re the best songs out there. The school’s just too busy to consider it.”

“Well, what do you expect? When our father and the school dean were archenemies way back, we’re probably the black sheep of the school,” Seunghoon remarked, clicking his tongue. “It’s a miracle we’ve survived the entire high school period.”

“For now,” Chanhyuk added.

“For now,” Seunghoon conceded, nodding.

Interesting, Hayi thought as she listened more of the conversation.

“Only because you three do the best you can,” said the businessman proudly, clasping his palms together and giving his kids a bright smile. “The secret to that is to never let them hinder you from becoming what you want. Just do as much as you want to do and aim high and I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Now that Hayi’s there, wouldn’t she be more vulnerable to the dean’s attacks?” Seunghoon inquired, tilting his head to the side. “Anyone can tell Chanhyuk has the talent but the school wanted someone else. Someone even more of low quality.”

“Hanbin’s good, too, hyung.”

“Still. You’re, like, a lot better.”

The businessman laughed. “Now, now. I’m not letting him touch Hayi. Rest assured she’ll be safe just as long as you guys keep a close and protect one another. Let me do the job of protecting you from the bigger guy.”

“Cool.” Chanhyuk smiled. Then he glanced at Hayi. “Just make sure you stay away from the dean’s kid and his group of friends—they’re troublemakers.”

“I bet I’ll be a bigger troublemaker than they were,” Hayi blurted out.

Seunghoon chuckled. “I see we’ve got ourselves a taker. The dean’s kid is okay. I’ve met him. The younger one, that is. I’m not sure about his brother and sister who are both in my class. They’re evil.”

Soohyun groaned. “Don’t even start. I’ve had my fair share of worst memories with them in it.”

Hayi used to think rich people had it better, that maybe they were more relaxed and they had more decent lives. But she figured out each family has problems of their own, struggling to get over it not individually, but as one.

The conversation soon came to an end when the food arrived and Hayi was immediately distracted by the grub on the table, her thoughts vanishing into thin air.