Egocentric [Book I]

Promise

It was the first time that Minah wanted to stay at home so badly instead of going to school when Monday morning came. Her moves were sluggish, her attitude was intolerable, and her hair was a giant untamed mess that she refused to brush neatly in place.

When she went out of her bedroom all dressed up for the day, Minjae ran across the hall and stomped on her foot purposely just to annoy her.

"I would definitely hit you with your baseball bat if I'm not in such a crappy mood." Minah muttered, dragging her feet to the kitchen so she could have breakfast.

She cringed at the sight of multicolored flowers arranged in a vase, placed in the middle of their table. It was delivered yesterday afternoon in a basket with a ribbon, but this time it's a different flower shop from where the white stargazers always came from.

Minah was the one to get the door and was met by the floral plants sitting on their front porch, a usually pretty sight for anyone except her. She picked it up and scrunched her nose, before eventually finding the small note that came with it.

This is for yelling and carrying you like a sack of rice. I hope pretty flowers would make up for it. -X

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Minah whispered to herself as she sat down to join her family. "Umma, I thought you got rid of these things."

"Minah dear, you know I can't do that." Umma reached out and fixed a flower in place. "They're too beautiful."

"They make me sneeze." Minah complained. "Plus, carnations aren't pretty. They look like paper."

"Those are peonies, not carnations." Appa corrected with a small smile. "I've learned a lot of flower names from your Halmuni. She loved them too."

"They won't make you sneeze if you don't smell them closely." Umma pointed out. "I won't throw them out as long as they aren't wilting."

"My allergy isn't the problem with those flowers, Umma." Minah huffed. "It's the person who sent them."

"Minseok hyung sent it, didn't he?" The small boy asked with a playful grin. "Noona has a boyfriend! Noona has a boyfriend!"

"Shut up, Minjae!"

"Be honest with us." Appa started when the siblings had calmed down. "Is Minseok courting you?"

"No!" Minah exclaimed in shock. Never did she guess that her father would be asking that aloud. Umma laughed and shook her head in amusement, while Minjae straightened up on his seat and listened like an adult... as if he understood what being courted meant. "He's not courting me! Why would you ask that, Appa?"

"Nothing, I was just curious." Appa chuckled. "I mean, he had been here first before your actual friends and your brother told me he takes you home often."

"It's not always what it looks like." Sometimes we just liked to shout at each other in his car.

"Then what does it look like?"

"It's hard to explain." Minah shook her head. "None of you would understand."

"Oh, you teenagers are so hard to keep up with." Umma giggled.

***

If there was another option to reach the gates without passing by the parking lot, Minah would choose that option in a heartbeat.

She walked as fast as she could when her eyes caught the sight of Xiumin getting out of his car and quickly locking it, but of course she had no escape. It would be stupid if she ran, because they were going to end up in the same homeroom anyway.