I stood over Sunwoo, who was sprawled out like a dead fish.
"I thought you had at least a shred of common sense," I sighed.
Doeksun tried shoving banana milk into his mouth, which he clearly hated.
"Ya ya ya, just leave and go home," he grumbled.
"You're sick and you're worried about me?" Doeksun huffed.
"He's worried about himself, you idiots," Junghwan chimed in as they started bickering.
"How stupid can you be to pull that crazy stunt in the ad?" I asked, still baffled.
"Jesus Christ, it was a mistake! Leave me alone," Sunwoo groaned.
I gave his leg a light kick. "Maybe try not being so dumb next time."
This season, the cold was unbearable. We’d managed to get a huge heater that turned the whole house into a warm haven. Every night, we'd all start off in our bedrooms, but somehow, one by one, we'd end up in the living room. It was like an unplanned father-son-daughter sleepover every night.
This morning, I sat on the wooden plank chair, watching my dad sweep the street. I had insisted on doing it for him, but he was too stubborn to let me.
Junghwan's mom stepped out, greeting me with a cheerful, "Tayeon, good morning!"
"Good morning," I replied, smiling back at her.
She turned to my dad, who was still sweeping. "Taek's dad, stop cleaning the alley and take a break," she called out, shaking her head while they both laughed. Then she turned to me, "Is Taek back?"
Right on cue, Taek walked out of the house, grumbling, " the water isn't warm."
"Good morning, Taek," she greeted him.
"Good morning," he replied, looking a bit groggy.
"You haven’t had breakfast yet, right? Why don’t you come over for some abalone porridge?" she offered, and Taek, not one to turn down food, followed her.
Just then, I heard another gate creak, and Sunwoo appeared with his crutches, looking determined but clearly struggling. "Ya, are you out of your mind, walking around like that?" I exclaimed, scrambling to my feet to help him.
"Doeksun, can I borrow your Korean-English dictionary?" Sunwoo asked, trying to sound casual. She nodded and headed inside.
Junghwan frowned, confused. "I thought you already had one?"
Sunwoo hesitated, glancing away. "No, I don’t," he replied, but the way he avoided eye contact made it obvious he was lying.
I smirked, catching on. "Right. And I suppose you also need a dictionary to figure out how to lie better?" I whispered to him hut ye only nudged me.
Doeksun and I flanked Sunwoo, each of us gripping an arm as he insisted, for the hundredth time, that he could walk on his own. We ignored him and carefully helped him down to her house, taking small, steady steps.
As we moved, I glanced back and caught Taek and Junghwan just standing there, watching us like we were some kind of odd parade.
After Junghwan’s mom had to leave for two days because her mother sprained her ankle or something, she left me with the small but terrifying task of checking up on the guys in her house. About an hour later, I headed over to Junghwan’s place, thinking it’d be an easy job. I knocked on the door—no answer. Knocked again—still nothing. So, I used the spare key and walked right in.
I stepped into the living room and immediately regretted my life choices. There were Junghwan and his dad, lying on the floor in front of the TV, blaring at full volume, wearing nothing but their boxers. To make it worse, Jong-bong was in the corner, shoveling down a concoction of rice, butter, mayo, and sugar like it was his last meal. The house was a battlefield of dirty laundry, snacks, and chaos.
I grabbed a rolled-up newspaper and whacked it against the wooden pillar as hard as I could. They all jumped like they’d been caught in the act. I kept my eyes pointed at the ceiling to avoid seeing too much. “First things first, put some pants on, all of you!” I shouted, trying not to laugh at how ridiculous they looked.
After letting out a deep sigh at the disaster in front of me, I made them clean up the entire house. My job was done, but I still needed to lay down the law. "Listen," I started, making sure I had their full attention, "I don't care what you do in this house as long as it’s still standing by the time your mom gets back." They all nodded, looking like kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
"Eat whatever, drink whatever, sleep whenever, wear whatever," I said, my tone casual. Then, I narrowed my eyes at them. "But if I find this place looking like a pigsty again, trust me, you'll regret it." With that, I turned on my heel and headed back to my own house, feeling like I’d just survived a war zone.
Later that evening, Doeksun and Dongyong were hanging out in my brother's room. Doeksun was all worked up, ranting about how her sister had joined some college protest gang, and Dogyong was nodding along, trying—and failing—to calm her down.
As we were getting ready to head to the study room, Doeksun suddenly perked up. "Yaa, I'll grab some orange juice before we go, alright?" she asked.
I nodded. "It's on the bottom shelf of the fridge!" I shouted after her.
I turned to Dongyong and asked, "So, how's your life going?" He shot back, "Good, yours?" I replied, "Same here." We both stared at each other, and then Dongyong cracked, "We both lying, aren't we?" I laughed and said, "Absolutely'
“Chocolate is a salad,” Dongyong said. I just looked at him confused. “Think about it. Chocolate comes from cocoa.”
“No.” I say realising where this was going. “Cocoa is a tree.” he continued. “Stop.” I protested. “A tree is a plant therefore it’s a salad.”
“No. No, it ain’t. Stop.”
“It is—” he argued
“You have broken my brain!”
"What are you two doing?" Junghwan asked as he walked in.
"Just bonding over our lack of life choices," Dongyong replied, slinging an arm around my shoulder.
"Yaa, let’s go already!" Doeksun shouted, gathering her stuff.
"Go where?" Junghwan questioned, frowning.
"To the study room," I said.
"Do you even know what time it is? The sun’s gone down!" he said.
"We’ll be back before midnight," Doeksun assured him.
"Even if you’re that ugly, being out this late is dangerous. Just give up college like me," Dongyong added with a smirk.
"The study room’s right there, chill out," I said, brushing past Junghwan, grabbing Doeksun’s hand, and pulling her along as we left.
