tiny stream

he looked down at his sister and shook his head, the heat inside him rising again at the mention of her working. that was the one thing he didn’t want, he wanted his sister to not have to worry about money ever, to just complete her studies and then live a comfortable life with him doing what she wanted.

      “no, i can’t allow that. my little sister is not getting a job. you’re going to keep at your studies, you don’t need to work i can just find more work, it’s fine. you’re not going to work, okay?”

being over protective was one of his biggest faults, he sheltered his sister more than he wanted to but at the same time he also adored keeping her safe and making sure she had everything she wanted, even though she never asked him for much.

he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, facing upward as he tried to collect himself, not wanting to set anything on fire.

      “i’m sorry. i’m sorry for making you think we need to involve them. we don’t need them, okay? i’ve gone ten years without their help. i have my ways of getting quick cash, dohee, you don’t have to worry.”

a gentle hand rested on the back of her head and pulled her closer, he patted her head soothingly then stroked at her hair softly.

      “we’ve got this, we’re strong.”

She’d mentioned it before, wanting to look for a job, but he’d always shut her down. While she usually was perfectly fine with it, she wanted to help out where she could. Though not having to work and being able to fully focus on her studies wasn’t bad at all. Now, if only money would grow on trees, she could perhaps manage to make them grow faster-- except the world wasn’t that black and white and such trees only existed in figments of people their imagination, like hers.

“I’ll just... look for a job another time, then.” She muttered, loosely wrapping her arms around his waist. Having a big height difference wasn’t too bad. “But don’t go around looking for more work, please. You’re already doing enough.” 

It’s not like she’d return to their parents with pleasure, and definitely not with a request like that. But if the two had no other options left... “Don’t get into fights again. I don’t want to go back to them either, but really, if there’s no other things left to do...” To make sure he wouldn’t burn her or anything else, she tried to calm him down, patting his back softly-- their parents weren’t exactly the number one topic she’d want to talk about, and she guessed he wouldn’t want to talk about them much either.

She was just worried, really worried. Just because it happened before didn’t mean they’d turn out alright again this time. Not that she had any idea where to get money from, her main focus was school and studying. Perhaps she should start looking around for a job. She didn’t mean to make him angry or piss him off, though. She did take a step back when she felt the temperature rising. Sometimes he could be quite the hot-headed person. Maybe a bit too literally at times.

“ are you okay? ”

“ you don’t look so good ”

“ sit down, you look faint ”

“ have you eaten today? ”

“ please, just rest for a minute please ”

“ i’m worried about you ”

“ what the hell happened? ”

“ did someone do this to you? ”

“ what’s wrong? ”

“ how long has this been going on? ”

“ why didn’t you tell me? ”

“ i can’t not care about you ”

“I am very sorry, I have no idea what you’re talking about. This is 163 centimeters of for-some-kind-of-reason-I-can’t-and-won’t-grow-taller.”

- source, not accepting.

“I’m really curious what did your brother do until you’re stuck here. Did he bother you a lot? Or is there something else?” Nicholas was curious about it as it caught his attention. “Me? Cook? I am not a good cooker, really unless you like instant noodles. I can cook that.”

“I, uh- Nothing in particular. Just being annoying. I think that’s the best way to describe it. Distracting me, things like that.” she shook her head once again, somehow being able to hide most of her red face behind her hair. “Who can’t make instant noodles? Then again, even that I seem to screw up every time. What were you planning to eat now, though? Order pizza?”

Beep. Beep. Beep. That you could actually change the settings of your phone to make it sound like you were dialing with one of those old Nokia phones. It felt almost nostalgic, if it weren’t for the fact that she never had one of those old phones. She got the number from someone, she couldn’t even remember whom she got it from, she remembered he had black hair. But almost all Koreans had black hair other than delinquents. Who in their right mind would dye their hair pink?! Or so people around her liked to think. She tapped the number shown on the small post-it note over on her phone. Maybe a text was the best option here?

“But this place is like a home to me so I can’t be called like you do. I mean, you’re the first lady to come here with a weird purpose━ to study,” he scrunched his nose a bit, opening the door to his apartment as he gestured her to come in first. “Right, maybe you can use the unused room near the toilet. It’s really quiet there and yeah, hello Dohee. Hungry?”

“Fine, perfect excuse. I’ll let it go. Hey, I take my grades and my education serious, I can’t study at home without my brother rushing in wanting my attention. And he’s supposed to be twenty-six.” she followed, kicking off her shoes before walking in further. “Sounds great. Yes, I’m very hungry. Can you cook, I wonder.”

Peppermint: a candied kiss; our muses fight over the last candy...the one who does manage to grab it gets a sweet surprise, when the other muse kisses them, pulling away with a satisfied smirk, and the sweet treat between their lips.

Cold Coffee: sweet kisses and tired eyes; our muses wake up next to each other, in a tangle of limbs, the sun peaking slightly through the window...but they don't get up, it's much too comfortable in each other's arms.

Fireflies: starry nights, and fireflies; our muses are laying in the grass, either around the pitch black midnight, or somewhere after, with lidded eyes watching the stars, and playing with fireflies.

Pumpkin Spice: messy hair, and warm mugs; our muses are sitting around, having the perfect lazy day...most of it a daze of stolen kisses, and the taste of pumpkin spice on each other's lips.

Lips or Reading: trade a book for my lips; one of our muses has been really invested in a book all day...the other muse feels the need to steal said book away and retrieve his/her kisses.

Splash!: wet hair, transparent underwear; our muses are chasing each other around in the park, eventually in a collision of ankles they are soaked to the bone in a public fountain...not a good day to wear white.

Detention: ticking clocks, and chalky bums; our muses are stuck in detention...they get tired of sitting around and start having fun around the classroom. They end up with chalky hand-prints on their bums.

I Prefer Blue: paint in your hair, you don't play 'fair'; our muses are painting some rooms in the house, a debate between which hue ensues, and ends in an all out paint-war.

“Study in this weird place? You really have a weird taste, don’t you think so?” he snorted slightly, hands shoving into the pockets of his black hoodie as he walked down the dead street to his apartment. “Nah, the hospital’s fee is way too expensive besides…we don’t want our faces to be all over the news the next morning if you get what I mean. Nicholas, the name’s Nicholas and you are?”

“Pfft. You were wandering around here as well. I’m not the only one with a so-called ‘weird’ taste.” she shook her head, looking around as she tried her best to follow him with her eyes on other things. “Ah, yeah. Say, Nicholas, I’ll get you guys back on your feet whenever you hurt yourself, but in return I get... a quiet place to study? Home’s not an option. So find one for me, yeah? It’s a decent trade, don’t you think? Oh, I’m Dohee. Hello.”

“Mocking you? I don’t think so.” He made some snort sounds and there was a smile plastered on his face as he stretched out a bit. “Pizza sounds good. You must agree with me. Follow me.” He beckoned the female to follow him as he turned around to walk away from the place. “Ah, I see and what are you doing here? And…yes, of course. I mean, we both sometimes got hurt and really in need of someone to heal us.”

She stuck her hands in the pockets of her coat as she followed him, still somewhat untrustworthy of him. “I’m here to study, and because oppa already had a place here, I naturally followed and ended up at his place. And going to the hospital is not an option because...? You haven’t even told me your name yet, are you going to, before I have to clean up wounds?”

“It might be nice but you can’t judge the book by its cover, right?” he snorted slightly. “Pretty quick, huh? Seems like we gain a flash here and hm? To be frank, I’m the only nicest here along with my brother. Well, if you want to let yourself be a prey to those scary people out there…” he shrugged his shoulders furtively. “Yes, I do have one. He’s my hyung and you have two brothers, huh? Where are they now? Tsk, you can’t help but to scratch open your skin when you see something…weird and annoying like the one that I told you. Wow, a nurse and a flash. How amusing. You can learn to heal me and my brother whenever we get into something terrible.”

“I suppose that’s true. Hey, are you mocking me? Don’t make fun of my agility skills. Well, I am hungry. I suppose a pizza doesn’t sound too bad. Woah, you’re actually the younger one? I somehow.. didn’t expect that. Then again, you’ve got quite the attitude.” She literally waved it off, her hand in front of her face. “They’re at home. Well, Seoul and Pohang. I live with the oldest of us three. Pfft. Already thinking of taking advantage of my nursing skills, huh, I see. Is that how you usually go about things?”