It's Ninety Nine [On hiatus]

Curse Five

THE FIFTH MISFORTUNE: MAELSTROM

Jui woke up to the sound of crinkling packets, her senses immediately on alert. The darkness in her room was thick, with only the faint outline of the large window barely visible. She could hear the distant hum of city life outside, but it was the shuffling noise within her apartment that kept her focused. Sitting up, she glanced around her bare room, the single bed taking up most of the space, leaving little room for anything else. Her eyes fixed on the door to her right, where a sliver of light seeped through from underneath, casting a faint glow on the floor. The hallroom was likely lit.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Jui threw off the bedsheet and slowly got out of bed. Her movements were quiet and deliberate as she tied her hair up into a messy bun. Her gaze flicked to the small metal pole leaning against the wall next to her door, a tool she kept close for moments like this. Grabbing it, she trudged towards the door, her bare feet silent against the cold floor. There could only be two possible explanations for the noise: a thief—or worse, her brothers.

Taking a deep breath, she gripped the doorknob tightly before flinging the door open with a burst of energy. Her suspicion was confirmed the moment her eyes landed on the culprits. There, on the floor of the lit hall, were her older brothers, Juan and Carlos, surrounded by a mess of empty noodle packets. Their heads snapped up at the sound of the door, eyes wide like children caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"Juan? Carlos?" Jui’s voice was sharp, cutting through the silence of the early morning.

Juan, the elder of the two, quickly scrambled to his feet, his expression a mix of guilt and frustration. "Jui!" he exclaimed, his tone accusatory. "The fridge is empty. Didn't you bring in groceries today?"

Jui scoffed, a dry laugh escaping her lips as she knelt to their level, bringing her face close to theirs. The dim light from the hallway cast shadows on her sharp features, making her look almost menacing. "Listen," she began, her voice low and firm, "my world is already a mess thanks to your broke asses. I worked two part-time jobs a day just to feed you," she said, waving the metal pole in front of their faces for emphasis. "So you better not come to me crawling and asking for food. Because I am already very tired. Got it?"

Juan narrowed his eyes at her, his posture stiff as he rose to his full height, with Carlos following suit. Jui watched them stand, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips as she shook her head in exasperation.

"Jui, we understand what you’re going through," Juan started, his tone softer now, trying to reason with her. "But me and Carlos are not your villains—"

"Blah blah," Jui cut him off with a dismissive wave. "The real villains aren't around, and I gotta blame someone, dear brother."

Juan's expression darkened as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You'll turn out to be like your mother—"

Before he could finish, Jui moved with lightning speed, thrusting the metal pole dangerously close to Juan's eyes, stopping just a centimeter short. "Hey. Don't talk about her," she warned, her voice a deadly whisper.

"Fine, fine! Get that thing away from me," Juan backed off, raising his hands in surrender, but the tension between them remained thick in the air.

Carlos, however, wasn’t as easily intimidated. He stepped forward, glaring at Jui with a look of defiance. He couldn’t stand the way she treated Juan, especially when they were all going through the same hardship. "We should learn to live with this together instead of threatening to harm each other," he snapped, his eyes flicking to the pole in her hand. With a sudden burst of strength, he grabbed the pole, yanking it from her grasp before she had time to react.

Jui’s eyes narrowed dangerously, a twitch of anger flashing across her face. Juan, sensing the brewing storm, quickly stepped in, placing a hand on Carlos's shoulder, trying to defuse the situation with a shake of his head. But Carlos was hot-blooded and wouldn’t back down so easily.

Jui let out a feral roar, her frustration boiling over as she pounced on Carlos like an animal. Carlos was caught off guard, the force of her attack sending him sprawling onto the couch. "Give it back!" she shouted, reaching for the pole in his hands.

"Let go of me, stupid!" Carlos winced, trying to push her away as she clawed at him, desperate to reclaim her weapon. Juan hovered nearby, desperately trying to calm them down, but his attempts were in vain as the siblings wrestled with each other.

Finally, Carlos gathered all his strength and shoved Jui back, hard enough that she stumbled into a nearby chair. The impact threw her off balance, and she twisted her ankle as she fell to the floor. "Ugh!" Jui cried out, clutching her right ankle in pain.

Juan immediately crouched down beside her, his expression a mix of concern and exasperation. "This is what happens when you behave like animals," he muttered, gently grabbing her ankle and rubbing it to soothe the pain.

"Sissy, if you hadn’t pounced on me like a hungry bear, that wouldn’t have happened," Carlos grumbled as he slumped back on the couch, rubbing his own sore spots from their scuffle.

Jui sighed heavily, the adrenaline from the fight quickly fading as she leaned her head back against the chair. "I couldn’t help it, okay?" she murmured, looking up at Juan with weary eyes. "Sometimes… it just reminds me that you and Carlos looked so similar to her. It ate at me."

Juan let out a sigh of his own, his hand still resting on her ankle. "We look like her. But we are not her." His voice was gentle, a reminder that they were different, that they were trying to survive together in this harsh reality. The room fell into a tense silence, the echoes of their earlier fight still hanging in the air, but underneath it all, there was an unspoken bond of shared pain and understanding between them.