Nocturnal Buddies ✩ Yang Jeongin

Chapter 26

Hyunjoo's eyes started to burn the longer she stared at her laptop. She pried them away from the blue lights infiltrating her retinas, directing them towards the little boy situated beside her. A small smile pulled at her lips, as she listened to him hum along to the quiet music playing in the background. Her eyes flickered towards the piece of paper he was scribbling on, noticing the inconsistent sizes of letters and numbers.

She raked over his work, double checking his answers, before nodding to herself in approval. Dohyun noticed that his sister stopped her vigorously studying seconds later, causing him to shift his attention towards her. A smile automatically formed on his face as they locked eyes, nose scrunching up just a little. Out of habit, she ruffled the little boy's hair, causing his smile to widen.

Her eyes shifted towards the clock displayed on her desk, before realizing that it was approaching his bedtime. Upon noticing this, she helped her brother finish his work before they went to his room. She then helped him put his belongings away before tucking him into his bed. They held a brief conversation before Hyunjoo decided to take a look in the little boy's closet, wondering if he still had anything to wear tomorrow.

The moment she slid the door open, it became evident that her recent schedule had prevented her from ironing her family's clothes. A quiet sigh helplessly fell from her lips as her stress started to pick up, knowing she had other responsibilities outside of studying. Her attention drew itself back to her younger brother, who called out to her. She smiled a little, sliding the closet door shut, before wishing him a goodnight.

After leaving Dohyun's room, she hesitantly walked towards her younger sister's room. The light streaming out from under the door made it clear that the younger girl was still awake. Hyunjoo stood in front of the room for a few seconds before slowly lifting her hand up, ready to knock. A lot of hesitation filled her as she rehearsed what she wanted to ask.

Eventually, her knuckles made contact with the wooden door, two knocks quietly echoing down the hall. The annoyed tone coming from inside made it clear that she needed to depart immediately. Nonetheless, her hand landed on the knob before she turned it, pushing the door open seconds after. Her eyes immediately landed on the younger girl who was sitting up on her bed, back pressed against the headboard.

"What?" Sohee asked, dragging on the single word out of pure irritation.

A sudden dryness formed in Hyunjoo's throat, not particularly in the mood to put up a fight she knew was going to inevitably happen. She was already stressed as it is, but a part of her thought that Sohee would understand if she explained it to her.

"Can you..." Her sentence trailed off almost instantly, before she cleared her throat, standing up a little straighter. "Can you iron the clothes?"

"Why should I?" The younger girl cocked an eyebrow at her sister, eyes still fixated on the device in her hand.

"I'm busy, do you mind just doing it for today?"

"I don't know how to."

"That's a lie, Sohee, I taught you how to do it, remember?"

"Yeah, well, I forgot since I haven't done it in a while."

"Please, just help me this once- I'll even teach you again. I have midterms coming up next week and I want to study for them-."

"Oh my gosh! How many times are you going to use school as an excuse to get me to do your stupid chores?! You're fully capable of doing it yourself! You always make time to do it, so stop trying to force me to do it! I do enough because of you."

Bewildered by the younger girl's statement, Hyunjoo furrowed her eyebrows in response.

Although she tried her best to be patient with her sister, she knew that she was the one who handled most of the chores nowadays. She was carrying so much weight to the point that it was crushing her.