Bonds That Matter

01

Like every other morning, Jisung wakes up at 8. Usually he would knock his sister's door. But today it was different.

*knocking sound*
"Yujinie?"

No reply. He got confused and opened the door slowly.

She's not there. Her bed was neat.

Jisung panicked a little and quickly ran downstairs only to find his sister munching on a sandwich.

She saw him and showed him her charming eye-smile.

"Aishh.. at least you could've woke me up. You scared me," Jisung said, sulking. Yujin quickly got up from her seat, leaving her sandwich behind and patted Jisung's hair. "Mianhae," she sheepishly smiled.

Today's going to be Yujin's first day at middle school. Jisung is glad she's in the same school as him. He can look after her at school.

"Yah, go take your bath. We'll be late for school," their grandma's voice could be heard from afar. The two siblings exchanged glances and giggled.

They're now at the school's main entrance. Yujin was beyond nervous. She's not that good at making friends. Timid, in other word. Or maybe quite introverted?

Jisung saw his sister flinching and her shaky hands. So he grabs her hand and guide her to walk into the school.

"Cheer up, sis! It's a fresh new day for a fresh start," he tried to lift the mood. And fortunately, it works. Yujin is now smiling. Too cute that she actually looks like a baby.

"Hey, Jisung-ya!" from afar stood 3 boys waving at their directions. "Oh, that's oppa's friends. Come, let me introduce them to you," he said and fasten up their pace. "Ahhh... so this is the infamous Jisung's dongsaeng. Wahh the rumors weren't joking, she's ethereal," one of the chinese boys in the group, Renjun said.

"Hi, my name's Ahn Yujin. Please take a good care of me," Yujin introduced herself first, thinking since she's the maknae in the group. Scanning their faces, Yujin's face lit up. "Lele oppa!" she exclaimed happily.

The other boys, minus Jisung (of course lol) gave a bewildered look at Chenle. "YOU GUYS KNOW EACH OTHER?"

Chenle sighed. "Well duh, since I always hangout at their house. And welcome to the school Yujinie!!!"
Yujin chuckled at their reactions.

"I'm Huang Renjun. Nice to meet you,"
"And I'm Lee Jeno. You can come to me if you have any problems with science,"
Yeah, he's one of the school's top student after all.

Yujin is grateful her brother had great and warm-hearted people as his friends.

The school bell rang, telling it's time to go to each assigned classes. Jisung already led Yujin to her class after memorizing her time table. He waved goodbye and reminded her to stay safe.

Before entering the class, Yujin made sure to grab her books for the upcoming lessons.
"Let's see.... textbook, notebook, pencilcase. Okay I'm all set!" She mumbled to herself. She locked her locker and turned around. Well, maybe she turned too fast. She accidently bumped into someone, making the latter fall down. Yujin was panicking. She hated it. Panicking. It makes her think so much. Thousands of thoughts were running in her mind when suddenly she heard a scoff.

"Tsk, how rude. Not even an apologize?" the latter was now standing, fixing her uniform. "This uniform is brand-new. Knitted by my lovely aunt. And you almost ruined it!"
Her face was distorted in rage. And that doesn't help Yujin's situation any better. Yujin dropped her books and crouched in fear. The situation grabbed of plenty student's attention.

From the other side of the hallway, Jisung already felt uneasy. So he quickly run towards the scene. Jeno, Chenle and Renjun followed suit.

"Wah! Are you crying? Are you trying to make me look bad? Unbelievable," the tall girl scoffed yet again.
"Please, stop," a voice was heard among the crowd.
Everyone turned to look at him. "And what brings you here?" the girl asked sarcastically. "Wonyoung, please. My sister is not in a good condition. I apologize on her behalf. I'll pay if you want," Jisung pleaded.
Wonyoung glared at him, then made an
eye-roll. She pushed Yujin to her side and pushed away the crowd. There's now voices everywhere. People whispering. Yujin hates these. Those voices.... makes her wants to run away and stay in a quiet place.

Unaware, tears start rolling down her cheeks. Suddenly she felt someone's arm around her shoulders. She didn't bother to look at the person. She's too weak to. But she's familliar with this feeling. The same warmth she felt everyday. No other than her own caring brother.

"So what are you guys still doing here? Get into your class!" Jeno shouted, making everyone clumsily continue their walk.

Well, the first period didn't go well. Yujin couldn't make it to her class so she went to the counseling room instead. She knows the counselor here. It's her aunt, Joohyun. She's very open with her aunt. Her aunt listens to her well and she's really glad about it.

"Mango tea?" Joohyun said, passing her the drink. Yujin thanked and took a sip of the tea. "Did you eat your medicine this morning?". Yujin shaked her head. "Ahh, I guess you were in a rush, right?" Joohyun tried her best not to make her sentence sounds harsh. Yujin's fragile. She needs others' support, love and care. The things she lost after her parents passed away.

It's lunchtime. Joohyun told Jisung that she would take care of Yujin. In her mind, she wants Yujin to socialize so she analyzed some of her best (psychologically) students.
"Hmm... should I call Eunbi? She's very reliable," and so she did. Eunbi is now knocking at the door. "Yes, come in,"

Eunbi bowed and asked the teacher why she called her.
"Ah yes. This is a new student. She has a little bit of a problem. I hope you could show her around and well, get to know each other," Joohyun finished her sentence, smiling. Eunbi glanced at Yujin. Their eyes met. Eunbi smiled at her. Yes, that's it. The smile that makes Yujin feels safe.

"Where's the library?" Yujin asked. Eunbi looked at her, stunned. Yujin never spoke during their whole tour. Eunbi was glad, nevertheless. "I was about to bring you there," Eunbi smiled.

"Now here we are!". Yujin looked around. The library was, not bad. It looks comfy in and out. "Do you enjoy reading?" Eunbi asked, breaking Yujin's train of thoughts. Yujin nodded. Eunbi starts humming. Yujin liked it. At a very peaceful place, and a very soothing voice. They walked at the school's garden. Yujin looked so happy with this kind of environmen. She saw a rose bush and ran towards it. She picked one rose and put it between her hair. She giggled to herself and spontaneously, she turned to Eunbi and placed a flower in her hair as well. Eunbi thought Yujin was finally open to her.

Eunbi took this as a cue for her to get to know Yujin better. "I'm Kwon Eunbi, a year 2 student,". Yujin looked at her with a blank face. But soon it turned into a small smile. "I'm Ahn Yu Jin," she replied.

"Unnie, do you know red rose expresses love? It's quite a happy sign, isn't it? But the deep red ones could express sorrow and regrets. After my parents died, I've only seen the deep red ones. Nobody else other than my brother loves me," Yujin spoke her thoughts. Her left hand playing with the rose petals.

Eunbi thinks of a good response. She exhales. "Hmm then why don't you look at the other flowers? For example I'll say a yellow daffodil. This flower represents new begginings. Starting today, I want you to try to brush off your past and enjoy life as it is. Can you do that for unnie?"

Yujin smiled. She don't know why, but Eunbi's words really comforted her. Yujin took Eunbi's hand and traced "thank you" on her palm. "You know, we should get to class now," Eunbi stated and both girls laughed.

That night, after dinner Yujin shared her story about the new unnie to Jisung.

"Ahhh.. so you met my class' president. Yeah, she's sweet," Jisung commented after finish hearing to her story. "I want her to be my real unnie~" Yujin half whined. Jisung just couldn't resist his sister's cuteness. "I'll tell her,". Yujin cheered happily. She went to sleep that night thinking how to go through tomorrow.