Jiyeon’s POV

Junhyung had stayed at Hyunseung’s house for the past two weeks since his recovery. He has not come home or has spoken to anyone at home. There was always awkward silence as I pass by him in the hallways of school. It was almost as if he has become a different person. A person I didn’t like nevertheless knew. I wanted my brother back; I wanted us to go back the way we were before. Why was he being like this? How can he treat his most favorite little sister like this? Nothing made sense to me. The more I thought about the more confused I got. Nothing made sense. Nothing did.

I dialed his number on the iPhone and put it against my ear. It was Christmas day and he had not come home to celebrate with Mother and Father. It went right to voicemail. I sighed heavily in disappointment. Was he not going to even come back for me? Every year, we would go out to ice skate on a frozen pond that was not known to most people. We would skate and laugh. We would have a lot of fun. Was our yearly routine since we were young going to be broken this year?

I placed my phone down and looked at the night sky. This was so strange. What did I do wrong to deserve this? Finally I decided to go to Hyunseung’s place and meet him there. I grabbed my black peacoat and wore it over my white Rugby sweater dress. Putting m large scarf on roughly, I left the house.

Knocking on the front door, I waited in the cold for someone to open the door. Hyunseung opened the door slowly and he smiled at me as he guided me into the warm living room. Junhyung was sitting on one of the bar chairs with a bottle of wine he would constantly pour into his cup. Hyunseung’s small mini bar in his home seemed oddly empty compared to the last time I came. Did Junhyung start drinking?

Junhyung looked up at me with almost no interest. He continued to drink even as I spoke.

“Junhyung, you shouldn’t drink so much. It’s not good for your recovering body”

He didn’t reply back. He continued to drink. Hyunseung lightened the tension in the room by urging me to see his Christmas tree. It smelled like fresh pine. I looked at the cute ornaments that were placed. He showed me the teddy bear on top of the tree that was used instead of a star.

“Do you like it? I did this myself since your brother over there didn’t seem to be interested. Aha” laughed Hyunseung as he went to look for something under the tree.

I glanced back to Junhyung who had gotten up to grab his black leather jacket. Quickly putting it on, he headed for the door. My body turned 90 degrees to face his back.

“Where are you going Junhyung?” I asked at him as he continued to walk away.

“It’s too noisy here. I’ll be going” he said as he put on his shoes.

“Can I come with you?”

He looked back at me sharply. It was first time in a while since he actually looked at me. My eyes were filled with hope until he cruelly crushed it.

“I rather you not. If you didn’t come, I wouldn’t have had to leave” he mumbled to himself though I managed to hear it.

I watched as he disappeared. I held my fist tightly trying to suppress my urge to break into tears. I wasn’t going to cry. I wasn’t. Not in front of Hyunseung again. I bit my lip as it was getting harder to stop the urge until Hyunseung turned me around. He held tightly on my shoulders as he bent down to level his face with mine. I smelled his sweet cologne. It was the same as Junhyung’s. The exact smell.

Instantaneously, I pulled him closer to me, burying my head into his sweater. How I missed the smell. Without permission, my tears dropped immediately.

I didn’t feel him return my sudden hug until moments later. I don’t know why I did that. It was inappropriate but I felt so… so… out of reach with myself. I no longer had Junhyung to lean on. I no longer had someone there for me… I