The Twin | Kim Gyuvin ZB1

11 Your Story

After helping set up the class stall in the morning, Gyuvin met up with his friends, except for Yujin, who was preparing for his performance soon. Not sure if it was his high expectations for the fair or if the fair really wasn't as exciting as last year's, he was already feeling bored after going to a few game stalls.

Seungeon was helping the girls take photos while Gyuvin stood at the side. His eyes scanned through the stalls, looking for something to eat to feed his growling stomach. The smell of butter popcorn caught his attention, and even though he wanted something more substantial, he naturally searched for the stall. And when he finally spotted the stall, he realised that they also sold fairy floss.

'Ryu Siwon would want to eat that if she were here.' He thought to himself while remembering the girl who loved everything sweet. And in his mind, he pictured her walking around the fair with fairy floss in her hands. He didn't even realise he was giggling to himself until Seungeon interrupted him.

"Have you gone mad, Gyu?"

Gyuvin cleared his throat. "'Are you guys done? I want to go get a corn dog."

He lost count of the number of times he had thought about her since that morning. He checked the time every now and then to figure out what she would be doing. Everywhere he went, he imagined what would happen if she was here with him.

The fair wasn't less fun in any way, but the fun he wanted was to be at the orphanage with her and the kids. Yujin's dance performance was the only thing that was making him stay at the fair. Once the performance was over, he quickly excused himself and rushed off.

"I swear something's going on with Gyuvin. Is he hiding something from us?" Joohee couldn't help but wonder.

"This time I agree, too. I can't even get hold of him during the weekends lately." Seungeon concurred. "But he wouldn't tell me what's keeping him busy. Yujin, do you know anything?"

Yujin just silently shook his head. Gyuvin did tell him a bit more than he told the others.

"Sorry, Yujin, I can't tell you anything. I would be exposing someone's secrets if I said anything. But I can swear it's not something dangerous or bad."

Understanding that Gyuvin must have his own reasons for keeping quiet about his whereabouts, Yujin agreed to keep his mouth shut from the rest of the group.

On the walk from the bus stop to the orphanage, Gyuvin saw that the bungeoppang stall that Siwon loved was open, so he stopped to buy one for her.

He skipped into the orphanage with the bungeoppang, which was still steaming, and went to the playground. The kids came running to him once they spotted him.

"Oppa, I thought you weren't coming." Gyeoul couldn't hide her happiness at seeing Gyuvin.

"I missed you guys, so I left early."

"I bet you just missed Siwon Noona." Jeongwon sneered.

Gyuvin ruffled Jeongwon's hair playfully. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know best. Where is she?"

"Kitchen." Jeongwon pointed towards the main building.

Siwon was chopping up the vegetables when Gyuvin stepped into the kitchen. The sense of familiarity immediately brought a smile to Gyuvin's face.

"It seems like I came at the perfect time."

He successfully attracted the attention of all the ladies in the kitchen. Despite not showing a big reaction, Gyuvin caught the hint of surprise that flashed through Siwon's eyes. He had learnt to decipher her emotions through the tiny, subtle changes in her expression.

After dinner, Gyuvin went to play with the kids to let Siwon and Seulbi have their girls' talk. The kids and Siwon mentioned Seulbi a couple of times, so he knew that she was a very loved big sister figure at the orphanage. From what Siwon had told him, Seulbi was adopted by a very wealthy family, which he later learned to be the owner of one of the largest conglomerates in Korea and a huge sponsor of Bambi orphanage.

"I thought Seulbi Noona was already adopted when Siwon first started coming to the orphanage. How did the two of them become so close?" Seulbi had always spoken fondly of Seulbi, but seeing the two together, Gyuvin felt like he underestimated how close Siwon and Seulbi were.

"When Siwon first came with Mr. Choi, she was very closed off, even more than now." The director recalled. "I asked Seulbi if she could help. She then came every single weekend just to spend time with her. Seulbi helped Siwon to heal, but in some way, Siwon also helped Seulbi to heal."

"Siwon tries to keep people out of her world. That is her protective mechanism." The director continued. "But deep inside her, she yearns for someone to rely on. I'm glad you saw through her and gave her your time and patience." She patted Gyuvin on the back.

"What happened, though? She must have gone through a hard time for her to want to shut everyone out."

The director let out a sigh. "I don't know all the details either, but I can tell you what I know. Just because I know you really do care about Siwon. You probably already know that Siwon comes from a pretty well-off family. Her dad owns a modeling agency. From a very young age, her parents have had extremely high expectations for Siwon and her sister—both academic-wise and extracurricular-wise. And because they're twins, they're always compared to each other. The comparison only brought them apart, probably to the point where they felt like competitors more than twin sisters. For years, Siwon believed that she had to work hard to earn her parents' love. Siwon was already very good, but somehow Siyoung was always a tad bit better. She felt like she wasn't enough, so she worked harder to try to beat Siyoung and please her parents. You can imagine that life and mindset did not do her any good."

Gyuvin's brows furrowed as he listened to Siwon's story. The lines between his brows were getting deeper and deeper. It pained him to know that Siwon had never experienced true, unconditional love from her parents.

"The amount of stress only increased when she went to middle school. Soon later, she couldn't take it anymore and decided to do the complete opposite of what her parents wanted her to do. She gave up on trying to be the better twin, the decent daughter, and the hardworking student." The director's tone also turned increasingly heavy-hearted. "She chose the most extreme way to rebel against the expectations and standards that her parents and herself had for her. People naturally assumed that her drastic changes were due to bad influences. Hence, all those gang-related rumours. But in reality, she spent all her time outside of school in a bookstore, which she stumbled upon while wandering around once."

"Escape Haven?"

The director nodded. "As Siwon spent more and more time there, Mr. Choi asked if she would like to help him out and offered her a job. Mr. Choi visits us every Sunday to read stories. Siwon followed him here one weekend, and that was the first time I met her. That was more than three years ago." The director recalled.

.

Siwon and Seulbi joined the rest in the playroom later.

"Wonjangnim, I have to go now." Seulbi went up to the director to say goodbye.

"It's always nice to see you, Seulbi." The director pulled Seulbi into a hug.

"I'll visit again soon." Seulbi then turned to the children. "Kiddos, I'll get going now."

The kids all huddled around Seulbi to give her a hug one by one. And when they were done, Seulbi went up to Gyuvin.

"Lovely meeting you today, Gyuvin." She held out her hand to shake his.

"It was nice meeting you too, Seulbi Noona. I'll see you again next time when you visit."

"I guess I'll see you around then. I assume you'll take Siwon home for me?"

"Yes, of course."

"I'm starting to really like you." Seulbi grinned. She shared one more hug with Siwon before leaving the orphanage.

Soon after Seulbi left, Gyuvin and Siwon also made their way home.

"You should have come to the fair today."

"Why? I thought you said it was boring."

"Yeah, it was boring because you weren't there."

Siwon halted, thinking she had heard Gyuvin wrong.

"I came because I missed you." Gyuvin also stopped walking. Maybe it was her story that he learnt from the director today; he just felt the urge to tell her that he cared about her.

"Y...You...You've gone mad."

"Seungeon said that to me today, too. I've probably gone mad for a while now." Gyuvin chuckled to himself. There was no doubt he was enjoying this madness.

"You've lost it." Siwon speedwalked away with flushed cheeks, only for Gyuvin to catch up with her in no time as they continued their way home.