I don't know when it started, but I was speechless. The whole family always laughed at my brother's antics, and the only food I could eat was in front of him. Then, around the time I started elementary school... Taehyung put one of the two fried foods placed on him on top of my rice.
“Sister, I had a fight at school today. It hurts here.”
“Well, that was a bit of a stretch. If it hurts, you’re not a man.”
“Then I won’t get sick. I’ll protect you then.”
A small, white snowman speaks. He hands me a spoon and smiles, telling me to eat.
“Hey hey hey Kim Yeo-ju!! Gym clothes. Give me the gym clothes!!! Ah, there’s no time!!!!”
“Did you leave your gym uniform with me?”
“And, what? Hey? Do you want to hit me?”
We started talking little by little at school.
Taehyung held the classroom door and hurriedly called me out, extending his hand.
“Oh, your gym uniform is too small. Don’t you have anything else?”
At that moment, another gym uniform was placed on Taehyung's outstretched palm. At the end of it, as always, was Seokjin, standing there, looking at Taehyung.
"Stop teasing me and wear this. If you get it dirty, I'll kill you."
Taehyung's expression began to distort as he looked at Seokjin and me. He sighed and opened his mouth.
"What? What are you two doing? I recognized you the moment you came into the gym together. What is it? Tell me! What's with you and this old man!"
"friend."
At my words, Seokjin stared at me with his eyes wide open, as if he were staring at a dead leaf. He looked so adorable that I smiled and immediately spoke.
"boy friend"
As Taehyung closed the classroom door, grumbling, Seokjin came over and sat down next to me. Seokjin stared at me intently, then raised the corners of his mouth, blinking as if he wanted to hear something.
“Answer. Answer again.”
“What…what are you answering?”
“What do you mean I’m not your friend?”
“It happens again”
"Paper, you answered that paper yesterday, right?"
My cheeks are red again and my mouth won't open. My heart is pounding like it's going to die, but it's not all bad.
"Oh, right! Let's do it, dating."
My homeroom teacher keeps hovering around me. Ever since the gym warehouse incident, he's been seeing me as often as Lee Sang-ri.
“What is it this time?”
“It’s not decided yet, but it’s likely to be noisy.”
"Do you plan and think?"
"It's efficient."
The teacher touches his forehead.
“Just get through today quietly.”
“I’ll try.”
“It’s that ‘effort’ that’s the problem.”
I now spend more time helping my teacher than getting scolded in the teacher's office. I also have a 'teacher' and a 'friend'.
“Hey! Be really quiet this time!”
“Yes! Keep accidents to a minimum!”
.
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Yeoju's point of view
Two men stand in my way on either side. I'm stuck between them, laughing hysterically.
"Tell me, so you two are dating? With Kim Yeo-ju? With your senior? No, why? Why is it my older sister?"
“Hey, you, you need to change your words.”
"The heroine is cute. She's so bright and cheerful, just like a princess, a princess who doesn't talk much."
“Ah, move aside, Kim Taehyung, you are a senior
“Speak more nicely..”
taehyung
"Wow, you're already taking my brother's side? I'm so upset."
Seokjin
"Senior."
“But you’ve been quiet lately. Are you really going to keep your promise to me?”
taehyung
"Of course, when did I ever break a promise to you?"
Seokjin
“You just ignore what I say.”
taehyung
"But, Seokjin-hyung, what do you like about our older sister that you want to date?
“He must be a real pain in the ass as a romantic partner.”
“I’ve loved you since long ago.”
taehyung
“What, you two knew each other before?”
I tilted my head at Seokjin's words.
Seokjin
“When I was in kindergarten, there was a kid in my sunflower class who was really quiet and always cried because he missed his mom.”
.
.
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Seokjin's past
“Tchtete euaaaang umm.. I want to see mom..”
In front of Seokjin, the female protagonist's fern hand is visible.
"Playing house... I'll do it for you, Mom."
“Huh..huh..ugh..Mom..?”
"Yeah, I'm the mom, you're the baby."
.
.
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Seokjin
“She was such a quiet girl, I didn’t even know her name, but she kept lingering in my memory. I’m so grateful for that hand she first extended to me, that heart.”
"Oh! Right, there was this guy who seemed the easiest back then."
taehyung
"...Oh, that's annoying. Kim Yeo-ju, when she goes home, she wipes off her makeup. It's the animal kingdom. She's a monkey."
Seokjin
“No, it’s the same as before, it’s cute, it’s pretty, it’s special.”
“…Both of you go, go away.”
I left quickly, my cheeks flushed. Seokjin's words kept coming to mind the entire way home. Every word I heard, it was so pure, so unfiltered... so pure... and...
It was good
.
.
.
“Oh, I forgot their names again, who was it? There was a quiet one
"There are two American boys, one and two, they are brother and sister"
"They've developed character now, the quiet one is actually a misogynistic girl, and the problem child one is even quieter these days."
Drumroll-
“Sorry, sister.”
The classroom door opened, and a gym uniform fell with a thud. Taehyung quickly dropped it and disappeared again. He approached the classroom door and picked it up. The name tag read, "Kim Seokjin."
“Oh right, Seokjin lent it to me.”
But, but damn
The gym uniform I left was yellow, but the gym uniform I returned with was brown.
“Kim Taehyung, you went home and searched.”
I made a friend named Seokjin, and Taehyung got a mentor named Teacher. That's how we grew to the next level.
.
.
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“Stop right there, go to the bathroom.”
“Huh? Oh, dear.. I’m not good at housework..”
I opened the bathroom door and threw Taehyung's messy gym clothes into the bathroom tub.
“And…there’s this famous new thing called a washing machine, so why…”
“I want to do it with all my heart, or I just want to do it.”
“I’m 18 years old and have strong wrist muscles, so I’ll wash it clean and hang it up to make it smell good.”
.
.
.
That's how we spent the last month of December.