I

Moving In 

  The car halt to a stop and I could hear door banging close and laughter. I rubbed my eyes and sighed. Eight years of countless beginnings, five different places, five different schools, its tiring but I am willing to endure it for my brother, This stop is, unfortunately, my birthplace, Korea. And now it seems so distant and cold, Its not a house, its  just a destination on a road trip. That is what I always say.

    "Wonnie! Get up!" I hear a distant call and the door on my side opening. Well... she is not my mom. Her name's Jori. She's my brother's girlfriend. My brother's secatary. Well...their love story is somehow cliché so yeah.

  My parents split, in case you wondered, as in, divorce. I didn't want to follow my parents so I chose my brother as my guardian. No one expected that though, I had to sit in countless court and lawyer dealings, with people asking me on my decision. My brother was just 18 then, a fresh high school someone. He had to part time his college and university and he worked as a local shop manager and a chef job in the weekends becasue he needs to support me. And his girlfriend and him, well my brother and her apperently dated in high school, but after accepting me, he wanted to breakup with her but she supported him by taking care of me and help us with our income. I just need to call her mom already. She was always there, in the new houses, in the old house, in the restaurant serving, taking care of me when I was sick and stuff, she provided the mother figure all I needed.

   I sigh as I shifted beneath the covers. Cold air brushed my skin and I shivered. "Wonnie get up~" she sang, shaking me slightly. I groaned. "Wonnie? Your brother said that he would take us to have bulgogi later." she chuckled. I shot up and trudged out of the car. She giggled behind me. "Food. You guys are always usiing food to make me do stuff." I grumbled.

    "What in the world is taking you guys so long?" my brother asked, leaning against the counter, his hands folded. "Looking at the house?" Jori half asks. I giggled at the sarcasm in her voice. My brother sighed.

  "Baby, would you unpack the stuff in our room and I unpack everything around here?" She nodded and we head towards the room. "And~baby! Remember to tuck in the bed sheets! Not leave them untucked and they will go loose!" my brother yelled. She rolled her eyes.

  "I know and get to work Kim Hanbin!" she yelled back. They are like a crazy couple tho. Old ones. "Take your time hmmm?" she smiles at me and heads to her room. 

  The company as usual, got us a nice house. Fence surrounding the compound, we have a wide front porch and spacious backyard, that could be nothing to us.

   Well, I lived in a designer condo in Malaysia, near the twin towers, and then some fancy two storey near my school, a different town, then we got a great apartment in HongKong, away from the hustle and bustle from the city, then a lovely house with a wide porch in Australia, namely, Melbourne. Fifth location and more in eight years. Well, I've spent my ages ten to fifteen in Malaysia,picking up languages as much as I could. Then at Hong Kong was hard for me, thankfully I had this Chinese I picked up in Malaysia, and English who was with me all along. But I speak Korean well. Australia was okay, we had the common language and all, half a year, I was gone. So here.

   I pushed the curtains to the side, and only dim light from the outside came flowing in. I smooth the bedsheets and started my packing.

⇔

   "Are you okay with your room?" my brother asks me once we settled in our seats, in a busy bulgogi restaurant that we found after a good 20 minutes drive up. "Yeah its okay." I answered, eyeing my smudged glass on the table.

   "Do you need any more stationaries?" Jori asks.

   "Nope. I have leftovers. It fine." I smiled at them. My brother sighed. "I know this moving is tiring you out so.... you can be more stable after this,choose a college wherever you like, just get in and you can live in the dorms or apartments nearby." he smiles at me.

   "Hyung, I'm fine those plans can wait." I say.

  "AWWW MAN STOP CALLING ME HYUNG." He half yelled. "Yah, no one calls you hyung, your friends are all older than you, why not?" Jori says while picking at a fallen vegetable. I laughed.

  "Baby, can you not do that?" he asks her, taking the vegetable away. "Get lost Kim Hanbin. Why am I with you." she rolls her eyes and looks away. "Mainly because Kim Hanbin is the man you love." he smirks, wrapping his arms around her. Gross. When I'm with these two its either I watch a sappy drama or stupid comedy.

  "Hyung and unnie, please stop this lovey dovey thing." I threw the fallen vegetable at my brother. "Kim Haewon you are so dead." he says aiming the vegetable to me but the waitress came and spread everything out on the table.

  "Fine." he pouted as the girll start working. We had a nice dinner and my brother told us we have to stop by the store. 

    Well the ride was crazy because my brother kept losing his direction. I swear his girlfriend cursed and later she yelled at him "YOU PASSED BY THAT SHOP TEN TIMES ALREADY CAN YOU JUST LOOK AT YOUR LEFT?" and the car jerked to a stop. My stupid brother craned his neck to the left and there his store. Well not his, on the left. He chuckled and did a U-turn, parking in front of the restaurant grocery shop. 

    "What is this?" My brother whispered, intertwined his palm on Jori's. We walked in and the glass door creaked open.

   The tables were greasy and one of the three back lights is blinking. This place is the worst. They have this sandwich bar and a drink bar and a counter, wood counters, which are just holed or broken, and a sign engraved SANDWICH, hanging. No one was at the counter and they had a rotten plant and a rusty bell on it. My brother rang the bell and someone pushed open the doors from the back, probably the kitchen. A girl that is around my age shuffled to the counter with her phone in hand. "Hi, may I help you?" she asks, abit solemnly.

  "We are the people from Song Cooperation, and I would like to meet the person in charge." my brother says to her.

  "Any proof?" she asks, pulling some papers from the drawers. Jori handed her a file, which was the agreement. The girl flipped through and nodded. "Wait a second." and she pushed the doors back into the kitchen.

  "Mino must be kidding me." he sighed. "Well.... Yunhyeong told you that this place is um. Yeah. You had a choice." Jori tells him. "I guess so." he sighs. The doors pushed open again, revealling a middle aged man, who is short. Hanbin oops my brother towered him. 

   "Kim Hanbin?" the man asked. "Yes sir." my brother replied as he narrowed his eyes at the man. "Can you hang the close sign?" the man told the girl. She nodded and went to the door.

   "We have to hold a meeting right now. Is everybody here?" he asks. "Yeah." the man answered. "Then sit down please." he ordered. I sat next to Jori ,who is constantly taking down notes, and meanwhile, useless me is doodling on the notepad Jori kept with her, for me. I always doodle on this pad whenever my brother holds his meetings. He is really serious about the meetings and I'm clever enough not to take out my phone. There is no wifi here, and I scribbled my opinion on this restaurant, and proudly show my brother later. 

   The meeting ended with a pretty note and everyone gathered to leave. "I will continue using everyone and please follow the new rules you guys just got." he says. They bowed and stood there, and looked at me. "Oh. This is my sister, Kim Haewon. She will be attending year 12 at Hanlim High." my brother says and I bow. The girl eyes me and they nodded. "We will be leaving then, everyone can leave too." my brother says as he ushered us out.

   "That was a crazy one." Jori sighs as she stumbled in the car. "I'm sorry baby you'll have to endure this." my brother says symphatically.

  "Actually...I have some ideas...on upgrading?" I spoke up.

  "Well, say it then." my brother says.

  "We have to have wifi and television." I blurt. "...That is okay." my brother nodded, and Jori typed it in her phone. "We could do some painting and a few patching up." I say. "Yeps. That's why we are going to close for a month. Renovations." my brother say as we turn into the neighbourhood.

  "We can use red." Jori suddenly says. My brother chuckles as he pulled up. "Sure thing baby. This time we let you choose the colour." he says assuringly and pats Jori's head.

  I rolled my eyes at them as I trudged out of the car. Its January. Colder. I look at the snow covered patch on my porch and the trees surrounding. My neighbours seemed calm. I shrugged and walked into the house.