A/N: originally posted to my tumblr

Junghee: We need to talk.

Minho: Ok

Junghee: So I heard you went to the park with Taeyeon… Why would you cheat on me? I gave you two chances and actually believed you loved me!

Minho: I’m sorry, I was just hanging with her

Junghee: Whatever, just don’t talk to me in middle school. I didn’t even love you.

Minho: Okay…? But you did love me a little, you bought my Starbucks that one time, remember?

Junghee: Screw you, Minho.

Junghee: Ding ding ding. What’s that? Oh the elevator. Because you’re not on my level.

Junghee: I won this fight. We’re over for real this time.

Gwiboon stared down at her little sister’s phone, unable to believe what she was reading. She hadn’t meant to look at the text messages, but the middle schooler’s phone had been buzzing for the past twenty minutes and she couldn’t stand it anymore.

She had known that her little sister had a crush on Minho, the neighbor kid, but she had never imagined that they were dating - well whatever middle school kids think dating is anyway. Maybe this was why Junghee had been crying the other day?

Gwiboon takes quick snapshots of the messages and sends them to her girlfriend, needing to talk this out with someone.

Gwiboon: Babe, look what I just found on Junghee’s phone!

Eunsook: Omo, poor baby :(

Gwiboon: Babe, you’re totally missing the point! Why would Junghee even think she was allowed to date? If appa finds out he’s going to kill her. And then me for not looking out for her! :O

Eunsook: Sweetie, she’s fine. They’re young, it’s probably just a phase.

Gwiboon huffed at her phone, upset that her girlfriend wasn’t understanding her frustration with the situation. Eunsook texted her again but she ignored the messages, steeling herself for the courage to go next door and yell at the little miscreant that had thought it would be okay to date her baby sister and then break her heart.

Throwing on a loose sweater to fight off the bit of cold in the air from last night’s rainstorm, Gwiboon marches over to their neighbor’s hours and pounds on the door until someone answers. Instead of the young but charming Minho at the door, it’s his older brother Minseok, whom Gwiboon had gotten along with in elementary school but had drifted apart since starting high school a few years ago.

“Gwiboon-ssi?” he asks, confusion clearly etched on his face.

“Where is your brother?” Gwiboon asks brusquely, determined to remain resolute in her mission.

“Um…he’s upstairs, why?”

Without giving an answer, she pushes herself past him and bounds up the stairs, anger barely contained even as Minseok calls after her.

“Choi Minho!” Gwiboon screeches, wrenching the door open without knocking.

There’s a brief silence and then a rush of motion all at once. Gwiboon blinks at the scene before her and then gasps, covering only long enough to take a deep breath before she screams out.

“Kim Junghee, what the hell do you think you are doing!?”

Her sister, who had scampered away from Minho on his bed, was now standing awkwardly next to it, shifting her weight guiltily from foot to foot, looking everywhere but at her sister.

“Yah, you little-” Gwiboon says, lunging towards Minho before she is ensnared in a strong pair of arms.

“Gwiboon-ssi! What’re you doing?” Minseok has her barely contained, fighting against his hold but held effectively at bay from pouncing on the young boy.

At the older girl’s movements, Junghee has stepped in front of Minho in a protective stance, only to have him grab her hand and stand up next to her, a determined look on his charming face.

“Oh, let me go!” Gwiboon snaps, finally stopping her efforts to get away.

“Only once you explain what’s happening,” Minseok responds, panting slightly from the effort to keep her in check.

“I read through Junghee’s phone and she broke up with Minho because he cheated on her with some girl named Taeyeon!” Gwiboon hisses, looking accusingly at the younger boy.

Minseok releases her at her words. “Taeyeon? Our cousin Taeyeon?” He directs his question to his younger brother and he nods his head feverishly, looking pleadingly at Junghee who has hunched her shoulders in anger at her sister’s words and the reminder of her boyfriend’s supposed betrayal.

“Gwiboon-noona, I was just spending time with my cousin who was having a bad day! I promise! I would never hurt Junghee-ah,” Minho looks down at the shorter girl who is still holding his hand tightly and he moves to kiss her forehead sweetly.

“Yah! You are eleven! What do you think you are doing?!” Gwiboon says, moving to snatch her younger sister away.

Junghee reluctantly releases her grip on Minho as she is hugged closely to Gwiboon’s chest. She knows when her sister is beyond reason and right now is not the time to argue.

“Noona, I love her! I swear it. I’ve always loved Junghee-ah, ever since we were little!”

“You are still little! You don’t know what love is,” Gwiboon says desperately, waiting for Minseok to chime in.

“Gwiboon-ah, let them be. They’re young, they have time to figure all of that out,” Minseok finally entreats but Gwiboon can only shake her head.

“We’re leaving, and you better keep your distance little boy!” She snaps, dragging her sister behind her all the way to their house.

Eunsook is there on their front steps waiting for them as they approach their front door.

“Babe, what’re you-?” Gwiboon attempts to ask, but Junghee interrupts her by breaking into tears and rushing towards the older girl. Eunsook wraps the younger girl in her arms and pats her back soothingly, looking reproachfully at her girlfriend over the shorter’s head.

Baffled at the turn of events, Gwiboon leads the two inside and Junghee finally quiets once they are seated and she has curled up in Eunsook’s lap.

“Junghee-ah,” Eunsook whispers softly, the girl’s back and tilting her chin up so that she can see her tear stained face. “Why don’t you go upstairs and freshen up, hm?”

Junghee nods and clambers out of Eunsook’s lap before marching over to her sister and holder her hand out demandingly.

“Give me my phone, unnie.”

Gwiboon hands the device over without hesitation, upset that she had made her sister cry.

As Junghee climbs the stairs still sniffling softly, Eunsook moves over to sit right next to Gwiboon on the couch.

“Babe, what’d you do? You know Junghee is sensitive.”

“I know,” she groans, running her hands through her hair. “I just don’t want her to get hurt! She’s too young to be involved with anyone, let alone that Minho kid. He’s too charming for his own good,” Gwiboon whines cutely, causing her girlfriend to laugh and pull her in for a kiss.

“I know babe, but they’ve basically been dating since they were in diapers! Remember when we first started dating? We were only 13 and had to hide it from our parents!”

“That’s different,” Gwiboon sulked, leaning into her girlfriend’s comforting touch. “We were best friends since we were babies.”

“Well, Minho and Junghee have been best friends since they could crawl. I’ve never seen him be anything but sweet to her, and you know Junghee doesn’t let people in easily. If she says she loves him, then she probably does in her own way. You just have to be here for when she needs you, you can’t push her away now.”

Sighing at the wisdom behind Eunsook’s words, Gwiboon breathes out her frustration and surprise from the afternoon’s events and plays with her hair.

Eunsook leans forward, pressing  soft kiss to her cheek and whispering, “I love you,” into her ear before moving back so that she is leaning against the arm of the couch and Gwiboon is tucked into her side.

“She’s still too young, but I guess you’re right,” she mumbles. “I’d rather have her feel like she can come to me with these things than feel like she has to hide them.”

“Exactly! Now go make up with her. I’ll wait down here, okay?” Eunsook pushes her gently off the couch and towards the stairs.

Gwiboon softly knocks on her sister’s door and enters after a few heartbeats when there isn’t an answer.

“Baby?” she says gently, afraid that Junghee will yell at her or start crying again.

The younger girl is lying on her bed facing the wall in a fetal position. Gwiboon sighs as she shuts the door and lays down behind her little sister. Reaching an arm out tentatively, she wraps herself around Junghee and sinks into the familiar comforting feeling of her baby sister’s nearness.

“I’m sorry, baby, I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I know,” Junghee finally responds, wiping away a few stray tears. “I just really want you to like him.”

“I do, baby, I promise. I just can’t like him as much now since he’s your boyfriend-” Gwiboon stops at this word, unsure if Junghee will be upset by it. The text messages that she had read had made it seem like they were no longer together, but that also didn’t explain why the girl had been at his house, in his room.

“Why were you over there, Junghee-ah?”

“I wanted him to tell me to my face that he wasn’t in love with me anymore, that this Taeyeon girl was more important then me. But then he told me that it was his cousin and that he didn’t know why I was so upset, but I just couldn’t stop myself. I was so upset and scared,” she trails off after her whirlwind of thoughts, hiccupping as another tear slid down her cheek.

“I know we’re young, and I promise I won’t do anything too fast, but I can’t help the way I feel when I’m with him, unnie. I love him. I love him the way that you and Eunsook-unnie love each other. Like appa and eomma.”

“Oh baby, I’m sorry. I just was so mad after seeing your text messages. I didn’t want him to hurt you again so I went over there without thinking.” Gwiboon squeezed her in a tight hug to show that she was truly sorry.

“Do you forgive me, Junghee-ah?” she whispered softly, hoping that the girl wouldn’t be too upset with her.

“Of course, unnie! I know you were just mad because you thought he hurt me.” Junghee turns around and kisses her sister on the cheek to show her forgiveness.

“I love you, Junghee-ah.” Gwiboon says softly snuggling closer to her younger sister for comfort.

“I love you too, unnie.” Junghee responds, returning the embrace and breathing in the comforting smell of her sister’s perfume.

After a few moments the door creaks open and Eunsook shuffles into the room, settling behind Gwiboon and wrapping both of the girls in a hug.

“You two are so silly,” she whispers, pecking the back of Gwiboon’s neck and tickling Junghee’s sensitive sides, causing the eleven year old to giggle sweetly.

“I love you,” Eunsook whispers into Gwiboon’s neck as they all settle back down to the snuggle session on Junghee’s tiny bed.

Gwiboon smiles to herself as she closes her eyes and relishes in the moment. She needs to enjoy this feeling as much as she can before her baby sister gets older and starts to give her gray hairs with all of the boy drama that is sure to ensue in the following years.