Five

The smell of cooking soybean paste soup was the first thing I noticed when I stepped into the house. It only meant one thing:

Uncle Dong was home.

It was the one of the few things I knew about my uncle, that he could cook. He had been a famous cook in the past, and now he writes recipes online and sells them. Uncle Dong was the only person that could make me hungry. His food was irresistible.

"You're back!" Jangmin exclaimed, tossing his backpack to the side of the room. After leaving on a trip to visit his son in Daegu, the twins hadn't seen him for a week. It had been a two weeks since the first day of school.

"Hey kids! You hungry?"

"You bet!" Jangmin flopped into a chair with a long sigh, eyes sparkling at the sight of food. I hung my bag on the hook near the door; taking off my shoes.

"How'd the trip go?" I sat opposite Jangmin, eyeing my uncle with curiosity. He sat down with a drawn out 'aish' and took my bowl, ladling the soup into it.

"It went well. Time passes quickly you know but I'm glad I went."

Jangmin was slurping down his soup but never let food get in the way of conversation,

"Hey, did you hear how Soohyun got top grading for the math test? She even beat the school's number two." I could barely hear what he was saying since he was speaking with his mouth full but I could tell he was bragging. A gain for one of the Lee twins was a gain for both.

"Wow!" Uncle Dong replied, with his mouth full too. I giggled at them, guys and their bad manners.

"By the way." Uncle Dong swallowed, cleared his throat and wiped his mouth.

"I got another call from the court today, your father wants to visit."

The table was set to silence after that. My appetite was gone. Jangmin and I met eyes across the table and I could see he was just as worried as I was.

"I knew you kids would want to know, so I'll give you time to think." Uncle Dong continued.

"And what if we don't want him to visit?" My brother sounded angry and I couldn't blame him. Whatever had caused Mom to avoid Dad, if couldn't have been anything good.

"Then he won't." My uncle looked both of us in the eye,

"Listen, I'm giving you a choice. You can give your father a chance, or you can let him go forever."

His statement made me even more anxious and I felt suddenly curious. Why did my father leave? Why didn't I remember him? Why did my mother hate him? Why was he coming back? I knew I needed to find those answers.

The rest of the dinner was spent in silence.

Jangmin and I helped each other with homework before bed, avoiding the subject of our father. We must have both decided to give some personal thinking time before coming to a final conclusion. I wanted to think about it more when I lay back on the bed, staring into the darkness of the room. But my mind was elsewhere.

I was thinking of Minhyuk again. He was almost always on my mind. His handsome face and sharp jawline. His laugh, something so beautiful it made me so happy. I had asked Eunwoo if he could help me become closer to Minhyuk, but he hadn't given me an answer. I supposed he was still upset that I was crushing on his rival.

"Soohyun?" Jangmin's whisper broke me from the memory. I turned in the bed to glimpse him on the sleeping mat. He was still awake.

"Yes?"

"I thought about father, and I realized mother didn't really tell us anything about him." He sighed and took my silence as agreement.

"Now that I remember, I've always wanted to meet my father. To at least see him once. I always envied other kids of having a father. And now, I can see him. I can meet him."

I was silent for a moment, thinking. It was true, I had wanted to meet my father. I had wondered what he looked like, what he enjoyed doing, if he'd ever return. But now I was just scared.

"But what if he isn't what we hope? What... what if everything we wished for in a father is not in ours? Then what?"

Jangmin's covers rustled as he sat up straight, meeting my eyes in the dim light,

"Then we forget him. Forever."

Morning came just as it always had, and the day was cooler than usual. The sky was cloudy and there was a breeze. I wore a jacket, arriving at the school with Jangmin early. Myungjun, Sanha, and Eunwoo were chatting in the back of class with Baeksoon. Eunwoo's eyes lit up when he saw me and sent me a wave;

"It's unusual to see you two here early." Myungjun smiled and crossed his arms. I glared at him. I still hadn't forgiven him for ruining my reputation on the first day of school.

"Jangmin, did you hear? The basketball results are out." Sanha looked excited.

I looked up from setting my bag on my desk,

"Who made it?"

"Minhyuk did." Sanha smirked at me and I slapped his shoulder,

"I was asking if Jangmin made it."

"Yep!" Baeksoon held out a paper with the names listed of the junior basketball team. Jangmin looked happy as he took the paper and found his name.

"Hey Soohyun maybe this is your chance to get closer to Minhyuk." Myungjun smiled and I looked away in annoyance. Would people stop teasing me already?

"What? She still doesn't like me?" I could almost hear him pouting.

"Of course she doesn't MJ, it's your fault for teasing her all the time." Eunwoo told him. I smiled as he slid into the seat next to mine; happy he was on my side.

"Class is starting!" As soon as the teacher crossed the line between the hall and the room there was a moment of chaos as the students found their seats. I was glad to not be that one late student running into class sweating and panting.

Sanha was whispering to Myungjun during the whole class, leaving me distracted and annoyed. I still didn't like MJ, mostly because he hadn't apologized. Good for them, the teacher didn't notice and they got away with it. For me it had been less fortunate.

I was still sulking over it when class ended and didn't realize I had been zoning out until I heard a loud rap from a pen on my desk. I looked up; started to see MJ tapping his pink Pom Pom pen in front of me. I glared at him,

"What do you want?"

MJ smirked, "I want to make a deal with you." He spun his pink pen in his fingers, leaning with one hand on my desk and looking very immature. I raised an eyebrow, not amused.

"What kind of deal?"

"Hey, aren't you coming?" Eunwoo was peering in the doorway, waiting for me.

I jumped up from my desk, "Coming!" Grabbing my bag I pushed past Myungjun. He grabbed my arm,

"Soohyun-ah! We weren't finished!" He was whining. I pulled my arm out of his grasp.

"I don't want to hear your deal." I gave him a glare and turned around sharply, stalking out of the room. Eunwoo smiled when he saw me,

"You're here?"

I nodded, stepping up to him so we could walk together. He gave me a look,

"You're still mad at Myungjun, aren't you?" There was amusement in his eyes and I wondered why he liked MJ so much. The guy was such a jerk.

"He's annoying." Was my simple answer. Eunwoo laughed,

"Did you know most of the girls go crazy for him?"

I stopped in my tracks to stare at him with my jaw dropped. He must be lying.

"Hmph, that's ridiculous." I said. Eunwoo's eyes were sparkling with laughter as he watched me pout. I didn't understand why he found my situation so funny.

"Yah Soohyun!" A tall boy was running down the hall towards us. I recognized him as one of Minhyuk's friends. He stopped panting in front of us. Seeing him up close he had messy black hair and big eyes. He looked worried. I stared at him in confusion.

"Moonbin? What's wrong?" Eunwoo asked. Moonbin took a gasping breath,

"Jangmin is missing!" His words made a thrill of fear strike me. My brother was missing? And how did this Moonbin know him?

"What? He's missing?!" I finally spoke. Moonbin nodded and opened his mouth to talk when we heard more yells from down the hall. This time is was from Sanha and Baeksoon.

"Where did you last see him?" Eunwoo asked them all. Sanha looked as if he were about to cry,

"He said he had to get something from his locker when we going to lunch and then he didn't come. I asked around and no one has seen him." He looked at me desperately.

"Minhyuk is already searching for him. Can you call him Soohyun?" Baeksoon spoke. I nodded quickly and pulled out my phone. With shaking fingers I tapped the numbers.

Dialing... Dialing..

Please pick up Jangmin...

Please be okay.