The Kims

Chapter 1: The Cheerleader

Ten years later, somewhere in Virginia:

I wake up from a dream. I lay still for a couple more minutes before getting up. I shake off the grogginess away and drag myself out from the bed. I rub my eyes and head inside the bathroom for a nice, long shower.

"Yah!"

I flinch when i hear someone pounding against the door. I unconsciously cover myself with my hands.

"Hurry it up! I need to use the bathroom!"

I roll my eyes and ignore my brother who keeps pounding on the door. I turn the shower to the fullest until his protests are all muffled by the strong gush coming from the shower head.

"Yah! Kim Jisoo!" My brother shouts. "Don't make me break the door!"

I groan. I hurriedly get my towel and cover myself up. I open the door and see Kim Jiwon, my twin brother, glaring at me.

"Are you deaf or what?" He shoves past me and closes the door behind him in a hurry.

I just shake my head and head towards my room. I look around the place and see how messy it is. There are clothes sprawled everywhere. I can see some books, lying on my bed and my suitcases, waiting to be filled in. I sigh and drag myself to my closet to look for something nice to wear. I need to at least look presentable since we're finally going home.

I sigh. I'm almost done with my packing when i hear Aunt Yejin, knock on the other side of my door.

"Come in." I say.

"Done with your packing already?" Aunt Yejin smiles and sits on my bed.

Aunt Yejin is actually our late grandfather's younger sister. She prefers to be called our aunt since it makes her feel younger according to her. She's a widow without any kids on her own. That's why after our grandfather died, she took me and my twin brother with her and raised us all on her own.

You see, my siblings and i are orphans. We lost both our parents in a plane crash leaving us in the care of our grandfather. The whole Kim Industries grieved especially our grandfather since he lost an heir that day. Since then, grandpa decided to raise us in honor of our deceased father.

"Yep." I smile and join Aunt Yejin on the bed. "I'm gonna miss you."

I reach out and pull her into a hug. Aunt Yejin hugs me back.

"Be good and always listen to your brothers, okay?"

We break from the embrace. I nod and smile again goofily.

"And please," Aunt Yejin rolls her eyes. "Watch over Jiwon. That kid's a pain in the ass."

My eyes widen and i laugh. "Auntie! Where did you learn to talk like that?"

She scoffs. "Where do you think?"

I shake my head playfully. "Don't worry, i'll manage somehow."

Aunt Yejin leaves. I'm about to finish my packing when i hear my phone ring. I run across the room and pick it up. I answer it in the 2nd ring.

"Sophie here."

"Sophie!" Jane shouts.

I cringe back. Living in a foreign land, we've learned to adapt an english name for ourselves. Bobby for Jiwon and Sophie for mine.

"What is it?" I ask. "And don't shout. You're hurting my ears."

"There's trouble." Jane ignores me.

Jane is my friend and a classmate of mine. She's basically my bestfriend. She's the very first friend i made since we moved in from Korea.

I gulp. Oh no. "What trouble?"

"Just open your email." She answers. "I already sent you the link."

I hurriedly hang up and head to get my laptop. I open my email and true enough, there's a link. I open it and is horrified to see an embarrasing event unfolding before me.

It's a video of one of our cheerleading performances. If i remember correctly, it was during a football match. In the video, the boys are hurling me upward and when i land, i suddenly throw up.

What the hell? I already erased this video from the feed. I spent a hundred dollars just to hire a hacker to bury this embarrasing moment in my life.

I look below and see that the said video already reached thousands of views. My eyes widen and i forcefully close my laptop. I inhale deeply before screaming my lungs out.

"BOBBY!"