First Night
[THE PREVIOUS NIGHT]
"Why is she here again?" Hyun Ha scoffed, folding her arms like the impudent chick she was.
"Hyun Ha!' Hyun Min scolded lurching forward a little.
I swiftly held him back and he halted taking a side glance at me.
I shook my head and he understood what I meant by that.
"I knew it… She has something on you, right? Perhaps, are you in a bet with her?"
"What does it matter to you?"
Hyun Ha rolled her eyes at her brother and sashayed over to me. She carefully tucked my hair behind just like a high school bully would.
And then, she began to say;
"You know… Aera, I'm always the center piece for Hyun Min. He dote over me, protects me and then you suddenly showed up in his life overnight to take him away from me. If it were you, would you be happy about this or sad?"
"Hyun Ha! What are you doing?"
I chuckled.
It was a little cute.
Just a teenager trying to shove out the girls in her brother's life or rather still,
…trying to claim her stay.
"You have nothing to worry about, Hyun Ha. Hyun Min is your brother and you're the closest to him since you both live under the same roof. Unless you want me to come here often, I'd appreciate it if you stop giving me empty threats, okay?"
She scoffed, seemingly not believing I could dish out a little of her side attitude to her.
"Whatever." She shrugged walking towards her room and with a loud bang, she slammed the door hard.
"I'm sorry…"
I cut him short immediately.
"I like Hyun Ha already."
"Is that so?"
I tilted my head to the side a little and gave him a shrug smile.
The front door suddenly opened and Hyun Min's mom came in. A little surprised to see me in their house at that hour, she paused at the entrance seemingly forgetting how to remove her shoes.
"Good evening, ma'am." I greeted tendering a small bow.
"A-Aera? W-What are you doing here… at this hour?" She stuttered slowly, removing her left shoe before climbing up the small stairs that served as an upper board for the house's main floor.
Do I start an explanation all from the beginning?
I took a quick glance at Hyun Min calculating if he was going to dish out an explanation in my stead or if the cross was laiden on my shoulders alone.
"I called her here!"
"Why?" She continued walking towards the kitchen counter to drop the earthen pot she had brought in.
"We have an assignment to settle together, so I invited her out." Hyun Min continued, lying through his teeth effortlessly.
"She's a girl, Hyun Min. You should have gone to her house instead of inviting her here at this hour. Her parents will be worried she's not back yet. You should take her back home."
Worried?
"Erm… There's a curfew in my estate and apparently, I am locked out." I finally said, flashing her an awkward smile.
She paused again, taking a minute to stare at us and all we could do was manage an awkward stare for a minute while her calculating eyes shifted from Hyun Min to me.
"You haven't had dinner yet, right?" She finally asked, turning her full attention to me.
"No, I haven't!" I responded immediately.
It was a lie.
I had gracefully lied through my teeth about dinner, but it was a quick save from this awkwardness.
[After Dinner]
"This is my room." Hyun Min said, ushering me into his room while nervously rubbing his hands against his trouser.
I guess he was sweating a little.
I chuckled and made my way through.
A typical teenage boy' room.
Cool stickers, a guitar was hanging close to a shelf.
A mini box computer, a basketball, was sitting in a show bowl while its net hung behind the door.
I smiled as I was satisfied with how clean Hyun Min's room was.
My room was definitely three times the size of his, but it was lovely.
You don't have to take long strides to get stuff from the walk in wardrobe or take extravagant lifts to mount the bed.
"Then, I will let you rest." He added. "Goodnight?"
"Yeah, goodnight!" I said back to him flashing him a little smile.
And with that, he walked out and slowly closed the door behind him. I sat myself down on the bed and continued to examine his little coven. I didn't notice the continuous smile that crept into my lips.
It wasn't long after I prepared myself for the night's rest that I took to nature's call.
★
By midnight, Hyun Min suddenly felt uneasy due to the abrupt heat wave that struck the night and got awakened and it took five minutes for him to gather himself together.
He walked towards the refrigerator and pulled out a water jug, pouring a satisfying amount into a cup, he gulped the content down, feeling refreshed the moment he did.
As he walked back towards the sofa to get a little more sleep, his mind suddenly drifted to Aera.
"She must be feeling uneasy as well." He muttered to himself and after a brief thought, he went into Hyun Ha's room and unplugged the portable fan she had on to cool herself before she slept off.
Without batting an eye, Hyun Min took the portable fan back to his room and was careful enough not to wake Aera up from her sleep.
Settling the fan down, he noticed Aera was indeed uneasy and she was tossing a little while also groping her stomach and sweating profusely. He crouched beside her and felt her temperature with his palm.
"She doesn't have a fever… what is wrong?" Hyun Min said to himself after his quick observation.
Making up his mind to go grab a towel and cold water to help her cook down for a bit, he couldn't make it to his feet as Aera grabbed his hand immediately.
"You're awake! Are you okay?" He asked tenderly.
And her response was a little; No.
Hyun Min dashed out of the house after she laid out her complaint and he made his way towards the nearest convenience store that was still operating. The store housed a little medicine store and he purchased what Aera needed.
Constipation tonic.
★
"Why did you eat that much? You should have declined to take dinner again when my mom pushed through." He scolded, collecting the bottle from me after I had chugged down its content.
"How can I do that?" I sulked a bit. "It's my first time so I couldn't reject it."
He sighed.
"Go back to sleep, I will watch from here." He said dropping the bottle on his side table and he tucked me gently back into bed.
What do I call this?
An older brother's love?
Or?
I don't even know my place in Hyun Min's life and here I am sleeping in his room while he's preparing to watch me overnight?
I shrugged the feeling off and prepared myself to sleep.
It was a lot more awkward with Hyun Min's presence in the room.
But he wouldn't let me have it easy.
"I'm not going to leave you all alone so you better get some rest now." I heard him nag even though I had my eyes shut already.
Tch.
I must have drifted off into another terrain that I had to wake up again and it was morning, but this time, Hyun Min was already asleep, but what topped the iced cake was…
…his beautiful face carefully rested on the bed.
He must have fallen asleep as well.
I smiled and instinctively began to move my finger towards his face.
I traced a little like around his eyes brow,
His nose,
His lips,
…and then I lost it for a minute.
Carefully looking at his face I felt surreal peace and I got greedy.
I pushed myself from the pillow my head was resting on and I drew myself closer to him while slowly letting our lips touch.
For a minute, I stood that way.
Pressing my lips against his firmly, I wondered what had suddenly come over me.
Do I like Hyun Min enough to kiss him without him actually knowing this?
Do I truly like Hyun Min?
And while still filling my head with different conclusions I wasn't sure about, his eyelids flipped open.
Catching me carefully in the act.
My reaction mechanism kicked in immediately and I swiftly pulled away and rushed out of his bed immediately.
What have I done?
My cheeks flushed with embarrassment and the next minute, I was already out of the room.
I stumbled out of his room and walked towards the fridge in the house like I was another resident in their home.
"Uh, the bitch is awake." Hyun Ha, who was watching TV without volume cussed at me as I took a small gulp which almost spilled out of my mouth due to the sudden jolt her presence had struck me with.
Make some sound too, please.
"Did you fuck my brother overnight?" She continued pressing the remote to increase the volume.
"Watch how you speak, Hyun Ha. Not every girl is as nice as I am."
"Bluffs. What are you going to do? Hit me? Get me arrested?" She snarled.
I shook my head.
Puberty is probably still kicking in.
Still holding the glass of water in my hand, I turned to take my leave, not ready to deal with her trouble that early morning. The news anchor suddenly began to read the lastest news for that morning.
•—BREAKING NEWS—•
"Aircraft B357 which departed Incheon and headed to Morocco last night crashed down into the Moroccan seas. It was announced by the airline that all 135 passengers including the cabin crew were killed in this accident."
"The exact cause of the crash is yet unknown, but speculations point to bad weather or aircraft failure. Twenty athletes including coaches going for preparation for the international friendly football match were in the airplane making the tragedy worse. The Korean government has not yet made an announcement on the incident."
"Further news is reaching us now that the largest shareholder of the K group, Kim Sun Ha, the wife of the president of the K group was also in the airplane during the time of the accident."
The glass of water in my hand slipped breaking into tiny pieces the moment they reached the floor.
My grandmother is dead?