"Sara's home!" The voice of Sofia calls before I've even made it halfway through the door, the small girl running towards me. "How was your boyfriend?" she giggles, pulling an innocent face.
"My... my what now?" I stutter, hanging my bag up on my hook.
"Your boyfriend? Duh!" She sasses me, a laughing Spongebob soon heard from the living room.
Closing my eyes, I inhale a breath before opening them and looking down at Sofia, "Now, I don't know what Hansol has said but Joshua certainly isn't my boyfriend." Sofia pouts, huffing and lifting her shoulders in melodrama. "But Joshua's nice, Sara! He's really cute as well. He's the kind of boyfriend I want to have when I'm older."
"Ugh, you wish." Hansol butts in, rolling his eyes before looking up from his phone. "Oh yeah, mum wanted me to tell you that dad's gone to NJ for a business trip. She's just taking him to the airport."
I feel my face sink as I sigh and look at the floor, swallowing slightly, "O-Oh.. when he's coming back?"
"In a few weeks." I sense Hansol take a step closer to me, "You okay?"
"Y-Yeah, I just-- I just uh... it doesn't matter Hansol."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm probably just tired. I'm going to go and take a nap." I retorted.
Slowly, I look up at Hansol before walking upstairs and to my room, sitting on my bed against the backboard and bringing my knees to my chest.
Dad goes on a lot of trips, so we hardly get to see him and it worries me. He's started going on more during the past couple of years and I can tell it's playing on his health. He looks more and more tired every time he returns. Despite all the business with mum being nearly eleven years ago, I can still see the pain still clear in his eyes. They have held the same glaze since mum left. Of course, there are certain times when they return to normal, like when Melody said 'I do' or Sof's last birthday, there were also a few other times but that's not the full point.
My body jumps as Hansol walks into my room, closing the door gently behind him. "Hey... whats up?" He asks, sitting opposite me.
I shrug, sniffing slightly and leaning back as Hansol lays next to me. "Remember when we were kids and.." He begins.
"You still are a kid." I butt in, sniffling a little.
"Shut up and let me finish." He laughs slightly, "Anyways, remember in our old house where we had that window in the roof of the attic?"
"The attic that you wouldn't go in because that babysitter made us watch that movie when she was trying to sort Sofia out?"
"Yeah. That one." Hansol huffs, taking my hand in his and smiling as he turns towards me. "Remember when I had to hold your hand every time we used to go up there, and when we'd lay on the old mattress and just watch the clouds or stars?"
"I remember it all Hansol. We were like... twelve."
"No, we were younger."
"Don't bullshit me! You were the fucking whiniest twelve-year-old ever!" I scoff, looking at him with a cheeky grin.
"Okay, so what?"
"You nearly cried because I wouldn't let you have MTV on after school once!"
"Yeah? Well, I didn't want to watch Spongebob when I was twelve." He says coolly, causing me to fake gasp as I sit up and look at him, picking up a pillow and hitting him with it.
"You dissing Spongebob?!"
He laughs, picking up the other pillow and hitting me with it. I quickly stand up, hitting him again. "Spongebob is much more educational than anything you ever bothered to watch!"
He jumps up on the bed and I follow in his footsteps as he takes another strike at me "Canned Bread isn't even a thing!"
I tackle him back with quick hits as we burst into fits of laughter, "Google it, Hansol!"
After awhile, we find ourselves laying back on the bed in the same position again, I smile at him and nudge his side, causing him to giggle and try to nudge me back but failing tremendously.
"I love you, you know that right?" He blurts out, blushing slightly before letting out his Spongebob laugh. "And you know that was meant in the sibling way, right?"
"I hope so. If it wasn't, I'd make sure you'd be kicked out of this house, disowned and.... um.... didn't own a car. Incest is nasty Hansol."
"Well.... we're not blood-related." He smirks and winks at me before pulling an awkward face of embarrassment. "That is the weirdest thing I've ever said..."
I whack him with my hand and he laughs, wrapping me in his arms. "I guess if you won't stop hitting me, Teddy Bear Sara will have to make a comeback. You're not as fat anymore so it's not as good." He pouts, trying to contain another laugh.
"Wow, never knew you were a chubby chaser." I say, eventually pricing myself from my brother's arms as he sits there with another pout plastered on his face. I look back and smile at him as I sit at my desk, spinning around a few times in the chair before tilting my head and looking back at him. "You were telling me that you loved me... what do you want?" I ask an eyebrow raised, leaning back in the chair and tilting my head slightly. Hansol gets up off the bed and walks over, sitting on the desk and turning my chair around.
"What I want is for you to be a bit happier." He smiles, patting my shoulder. I nod a little, messing with my hands a little before turning back to him, "And how does that benefit you?"
"Well, you're my sister and I know you would want me to try and be happy." He sighs softly, bringing his legs onto the table and sitting crosslegged. "Y-You've become a lot happier since you a Joshua have actually tried talking. I honestly feel like I'm losing you too him."
"Losing me?" I ask again, rubbing my arm as I look up at him.
"Yeah." He chuckles. "I just want you to be happy and feel loved, and everything in between. I'm your brother and you know, I want to make sure I can make you happy and feel loved. Yet, you start talking to Joshua and you two just... I've seen you make each other smile. Even in middle school, I always noticed you two. Even though you both pretended to hate each other, if one of you ever made a joke at lunch, the other would smile or laugh at it. I couldn't even make you do that, as your brother and best friend, and the fact that he can, just annoys me you, though. And seeing you with him again, wow. It's weird." He blushes slightly, rubbing his hands out of habit. "That sounds so weird to say. Oh my God."
I laugh and yawn a little, looking at him. "It's reasonable. I was like that when you had your first girlfriend." He laughs, looking back at me. "We've been together for so long Hansol and it's hella weird when you see the person that you love just being able to laugh and smile easier without you being there. Trust me. In no matter what relationship you have with somebody, one person will always find something to get jealous over." I pat his arm and smile at him with tiredness lingering. "Oh, and by the way. I love you too, lil bro."
