Later in the afternoon, I drop my sister's friends off at their respective houses, urging her to hurry up when she tries to continue their conversation and hug them for far too long. Why is she acting like this is the last time she is going to see them? She whiningly tells me not to rush her but the second I threaten to leave without her, she quickly hugs her friend goodbye again and then sulkily jogs over to my car. Instead of sitting in the back, she runs over to the passenger seat.
"What are you doing?" I muse when she settles into the seat, shifting around to get comfortable. "You should sit in the backseat. It's safer."
"What, are you afraid that you might crash the car and kill us both?" She smiles over at me laughingly even when I glower at her warningly.
"That's not funny."
"Don't you think it looks weird driving someone around while they sit in the back? It makes you look like an Uber driver."
"What the hell do you know about Uber drivers?" I question, leaning over to click her seatbelt on before doing the same thing.
"I know plenty about Uber drivers."
"From where?" I demand, starting the car and steering the car into the street after checking my mirrors and blind spots.
"While you were on your camping trip, Yang Jin took us with him to the arcade at the shopping centre while hanging with Francine. We drove there in an Uber because when he tried to get us to ride with him on the motorbike, Amma said no."
It doesn't come as a surprise that she refused. That bike is dangerous, especially in my brother's hands. I would prefer to take the twins in my car rather than let them ride with Yang Jin and that says a lot. Besides, how was he going to fit three people on a motorbike?
"Wait, you met Francine?"
"Mm-hmm."
"How is she?"
"Really cool," she says and when I take a quick glance over at her in surprise, I do not miss the soft grin that stretches onto her lips as she reminisces about hanging out with our brother's girlfriend.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah," she bobs her head up and down enthusiastically. "At first I thought I wasn't going to like her, but she beat me at all the games in the arcade."
"Even Dance Dance Revolution?"
"Yep. Apparently, she used to work in an arcade before and whenever she had some downtime she used to play the games. It inspired me to want to also work in an arcade when I grow up so I can play games all day."
"Don't let Amma hear you saying that," I say to her warningly. "She had such a fit about me wanting to be a fashion designer. I can only imagine what she'll do to you when she hears that you want to play games all day."
"You're not wrong," she concedes. "By the way, what did you and Dominic talk about?"
As I close my eyes with annoyance, I turn to her and ask, "Why are you so interested in my personal affairs? You're so nosy."
"Oh, that's funny. That's not what you were saying when I had to play therapist and listen to you when you thought he exposed your secrets to Taylor."
"You're the one who wanted to play therapist. I just went along with it to indulge you."
"Indulge me? What does that mean?"
"It means I did it for our entertainment. It was fun, you know?"
When I don't respond to her question about what Dominic and I were speaking about, she clicks her tongue a bit annoyed before turning around to look out of her window. I find it amusing how her childish side comes out at times. Normally she tries her hardest to act like an adult.
When I spot our familiar house in the near distance, I slow my car down as a result and park it in our driveway.
"I just want to know if you're dating. I'm getting sick and tired of waiting for you to overcome your cowardly behaviour. You're always just blubbering like an idiot whenever you're around him."
"Shut up, Chu Hua."
As we enter the house, Ji Ho suddenly approaches me with a look of panic. He takes a few deep breaths in and out, causing his chest to rise and fall rapidly. My body immediately becomes tense, recalling the last time he had this expression when our older brother was arrested and I had to plead with Dominic to bail him out. That reminds me, I need to check if Yang Jin repaid his debt to Dominic.
"What's wrong?" I ask him, bending down on one knee to be on eye level.
"I'm sorry. I tried my best to save it," he signs regretfully. When his lower lip quivers and his eyes glisten with fresh tears, concern begins to settle into my bones.
"What's your problem, you crybaby?" Chu Hua demands in confusion, crossing her arms.
I quickly flick her in the arm scoldingly and she flinches, pouting petulantly. "What happened, Ji Ho?"
He has a little sniffle and his nose turns slightly rosy. When a single tear falls down his cheek, I gently swipe it away. I look at him reassuringly and encourage him to tell me what he tried his best to save. I think he's crying out of fear that I'll be upset with him but I cannot be upset with him, especially since he is already crying.
Instead of telling me what the problem is, he takes my hand and hesitantly drags me along with him with his chin buried deep within his chest. My brows furrow in bemusement, wondering what could get him so upset.
I balance my free hand on the metal railing and up the stairs we go. Although pretending to be uninterested Chu Hua curiously follows after us. When he takes a turn into my room, I'm filled with even more bemusement.
He turns around once standing in the middle of my surprisingly still tidy room and hesitantly points at the window. I glance over there and when I don't see anything of interest, my eyes fall back on him questioningly.
"The rose," he clarifies.
Once again, I glance towards the window and notice the rose in the vase. Despite the gentle yellow light shining on it, the flower appears to be struggling. It previously seemed to be withering away but now it has lost its vibrant red hue and droops wearily over the edge of the vase. A few petals have fallen onto the table, shrivelled up from a lack of fresh water.
"That's what you're crying about?" Chu Hua exclaims, the astonishment in her tone not going unnoticed.
"Chu Hua," I face her scoldingly, "stop making fun of him. You're just like Yang Jin, I swear."
"Whatever," she mutters under her breath before stomping out of my room, nicking the lip balm I left out on my dresser.
I turn around to look at Ji Ho again who's staring up at me like a deer caught in headlights with his widened gaze. "Why are you upset about the rose?"
"Yang Jin told me that you wanted me to look after it while you were gone but I lost track of time."
In other words, he was too focused on watching another episode of his favourite cartoon. Why did Hyeong tell him that I told him to ask him to take care of my rose? I never instructed anyone to do so. Truthfully, I became lazy and neglected the rose long before my camping trip. Eventually, I just lost interest in taking care of it.
"First of all, Yang Jin is a liar. I didn't say that."
"I thought you said Hyeong doesn't lie."
"Yeah, that was a lie. He lies all the time, chronically. Did I not tell you the story about how I didn't drink milk because of him telling me that unclear drinks contain bugs?"
I notice a flicker in his eyebrows, revealing to me that I have previously mentioned this to him. He then asks, with a hint of apprehension, "So, you're not mad?"
With a soft smile, I shake my head. "It's just a plant. I could get another one if I really wanted to."