My Brother My Enemy

The Beginning ~

Summer was over, and senior year was just about to begin. My grades and test scores were high enough for me to go to Uni early, but despite what my parents wanted, I chose to stay in high school for another year. The biggest reason was so I could still see y/n. She has been my best friend since we were in grade school. She had just moved to Korea with her family, since her dad was military. She barely spoke the language, so it was easy for the other kids to make fun of her. I remember sticking up for her when a group of girls were messing with her during recess, and after that we had been inseparable ever since.
Y/n has been away most of the summer visiting her family in the states, but we planned to hang out the day she got back. I couldn't wait to see her, mostly to show her my music I had been working on for the last few weeks. She was the only one I could share that part of me with, mainly because my parents didn't approve of anything that wasn't focused around my studies. I had loved music ever since I had seen the movie 8 Mile. To see that someone like Slim could make it to the top despite where he had come from, it was everything I wanted. We weren't the poorest of families, but it was always nailed into our brains to study hard so we could be successful and take care of our family in the future. If I told my parents I wanted to pursue music instead of business, or medicine, they would disown me-just like they disowned my older brother. We bonded over our love for rap and producing music on our own, but he had finally had enough of hiding that part of himself from our parents. When he told them he wanted to be a producer, they gave him a choice; stay here and go to college, or leave and never come back. He was gone the same night. After the drama that went down that night he left, I knew I had to continue to keep that part of my life secret. Y/n was the only one who made me feel like I could show that part of myself, like it actually mattered. She wanted me to tell my parents the truth, but I knew there was no use. They would never understand. My biggest regret is not sticking up for my brother that night, and packing my own bags and leaving with him. He checked in everyone once in a while, but I knew it was hard for him out there. I just hoped he was safe. The last time we talked he told me he was going to an audition for a small label in Seoul.
"Hello? Anyone home?" I heard y/n call from downstairs. I jumped up from my desk and ran downstairs to greet her. "What's up?" She said with a big grin, giving me a hug. "Ready for tomorrow?" tomorrow?"
"I guess," I told her. "Come upstairs, I have something to show you."
Back in my bedroom I opened my computer and pulled up the track I had been working on. "Shut the door!" I told her.
"Ok, ok, calm down," she replied.
"Sorry," I quickly said. "Mom's in the kitchen, so we have to be quiet."
"You would think we were making bathtub babies with they way you're acting Joonie," y/n teased.
I ignored y/n's comment and pressed play. Before it even got to the chorus I noticed she was trying not to laugh. I quickly pressed pause and shot her a look. "Is there a problem?"
She tried to stop but she couldn't help but keep laughing. "You're rapping about things you have no business rapping about."
"What do you mean no business?"
"I mean, you've never even had a girlfriend. It sounds like you're trying too hard. Stick with writing about things that you know about. Like, idk? Life."
"Who wants to hear me talk about life?" I said annoyed. What did y/n know about writing music anyway?
"Me."
Part of me was touched that y/n cared so much about what I had to say in my music, I guess you could say she was biggest fan.
"You'd be the only person in this world who'd want to hear that."
"You never know unless you try," she said. "Are we done with this? I'm starving."
We headed around the block to the convenient store and grabbed some snacks. Y/n always picked the weirdest things go try. I just stuck with my ramen. "So, have you heard from him?" Y/n asked, referring to my brother.
"Not since last month. Guess he's really busy."
"You should call him, right now!"
"He won't answer, he rarely answers these days."
Just then y/n grabbed my phone and ran off.
"Fine! I'll do it!"
"Y/n you're so childish. Cant you just be normal?"
"Your brother could be the next big thing. Aren't you curious what his life is like?"
She had no idea how curious I was, in fact I was jealous that he had the guts to do what I couldn't.
I stood up and walked over to her. "Hand it over, I'll do it."
I dialed his number and sure enough got his voicemail.
"See?" I told her, hanging up.
"You're too quick to give up," she said. "In fact, I think it's about time you took a chance. It's killing you not being your true self Joonie."
What did y/n expect me to do? I chose my path. Maybe one day it could be different, but I was too afraid to let my family down.
"I think we should go." She said.
"Go where?"
"To Seoul. Right now."
Now I was the one who was laughing.
"Sometimes I don't know why I'm friends with you," I told her.
"I'm serious! Let's get on a bus and go find him. You deserve to audition for that label just as much as he does!"
"School starts tomorrow, or did you forget that?"
"You're a year ahead. I think you can risk it."
"What about you?"
"I'll catch up later, besides no one's cares if the foreigner shows up anyway. One less person to compete with for a spot in a stupid university."
She wasn't wrong, school was never her priority, but she always did enjoy proving everyone wrong when her tests would come back with perfect scores.
"My parent would kill me," I told her.
"If you ask me, you're dead no matter what you do. I think you should get on that bus and never look back."
"You're crazy, I'm not going to ruin my life for some stupid dream," I said to y/n.

"Is that what it is?" She said calling my bluff. "You think what your brother is doing is stupid? Doesn't seem so stupid when you spend all night writing music does it?"
Y/n was right, it wasn't a stupid dream. It was all I could think about, and the what ifs if I didn't take a chance and give it a real shot.
"Let's do it," I said not looking back.
Y/n looked surprised to hear my sudden change of heart, but the smile on her face told me that she was just as excited as I was.
"Meet you at the bus station in a hour!" She said running off.