Chapter Text
On the first day of summer break, Hwang Hyunjin learned that he was ill.
Ironically, it was a beautiful day, a sunny Saturday the teenager was already savouring fully as he rolled into his bed, smiling foolishly as he felt the rays of the warm July sun land on his face.
He was finally on holiday! No more waking up at six o'clock in the morning, no more endless and exhausting days of classes, no more endless remarks from their teachers, those psychopathic torturers who never missed an opportunity to remind them of the horrible end-of-year exam, the one that every senior in South Korea had to do to hope to be admitted to university the following year. Bye bye too to evening classes until nightfall, lunches skipped to work, weekends spent banging their heads against their desks because of homework.
On the agenda, two long chill months, whole days going out with his friends, crazy evenings having fun until dawn, and above all, whole hours catching up on the many webtoons/manhwas/fanfictions/series/films he had had to give up for his schooling.
In fact, Hyunjin wasn’t a bad student. Not at all. He didn't hate classes either. However, he was first and foremost a soon-to-be eighteen-year-old teenager; between spending his days locked up within four walls, listening to professors beat them up with knowledge for ten consecutive hours, and enjoying two months of well-deserved relaxation with his friends, the choice was quickly made.
The 'holiday program' had started the day before, when the last day of school had just ended. Indeed, Hyunjin had spent the evening - and a big part of the night - wrapped up in his bed with his sister, eyes glued to their Alice In Borderland marathon while voraciously munching on the huge, unreasonable pile of junk food they'd moved from the kitchen to his room.
Now, with his brain still foggy from sleep, his sister gone, and his frog-shaped alarm clock displaying the numbers "11:00" in flashing red, Hyunjin couldn't help but think that maybe staring at his computer screen until five in the morning wasn't the brightest idea he'd ever had.
“Never mind” he muttered, rubbing his eyes. “It was totally worth it.”
He felt that there was no time late enough to choke on popcorn watching the plot twists of what had now become his favorite Japanese drama.
After all, it was the holidays!
With a ridiculous grin still plastered on his face, Hyunjin shook off his sheets, then put his feet on the floor.
His smile faltered as a sudden, violent dizziness gripped him, nearly causing him to lose his balance. Clutching the bedside table, he managed to steady himself just in time, and forced himself to wait for the discomfort to dissipate.
When his dizziness finally faded as quickly as it had arrived, Hyunjin allowed himself to move again, more carefully this time. The slight anxiety that had gripped him a second earlier had disappeared along with his discomfort. Maybe he had stood up too quickly. It had been happening more and more often lately, but he had put it down to fatigue from classes.
Now it was the holidays, he would finally have time to recover. There was really no need to worry about so little.
A little rest, and everything would be fine.
With a light step, he left his room without even bothering to change, stumbling down the hallway dressed only in his too-large t-shirt and his old, faded night jogging suit. He also decided to skip the bathroom, and so it was with his hair in disarray that he came down the stairs, his raven curls framing his face still puffy from sleep.
Yeji was already there when he entered the kitchen, and his twin's attention immediately turned from her cell phone to the teenager, whom she greeted with a dazzling smile.
“Hey, Sleeping Beauty! Sleep well?”
“Like a baby” Hyunjin replied, returning her smile. “Honestly, I didn't think I was going to waste my first real hours of vacation playing dead.”
“You fell asleep late last night” Yeji said, putting her phone on the kitchen counter. “Besides, you were completely exhausted all week, so I thought a little rest would do you good.”
Hyunjin made a small noise in agreement.
It was true that for the past few days, he had dragged himself to school every morning looking like a wreck. School pace was gruelling, and all the students had to give their best if they wanted to ensure any academic success. During the first semester, Hyunjin had worked his ass off. With the overload of work they were given, not to mention the electives he had added to his schedule, it wasn't that surprising that in the end he could barely stand up.
It was clear that at least his hard work had paid off. Throughout the first semester, he had placed among the top of his school's class, even managing to make it into the top ten of the national rankings in mock exams. Add to that his exemplary behavior - almost all the teachers had nothing but his name on their lips - and his ease in socializing, and Hyunjin was inexorably one of the most popular students in his school. Everyone knew him, everyone wanted to be around him.
However, his true circle of friends, the ones Hyunjin shared everything with, the ones who really knew him, was quite small.
Of course, among them was Yeji, his beloved twin sister. To say that he and Yeji were close would be an understatement; in truth, the twins were simply inseparable. They both knew each other inside and out, knew exactly how to make the other laugh, or on the contrary, what buttons to push to tease. They had always clung to each other, sharing all their secrets, and helping each other out whenever necessary. Of course, as with all siblings, they often bickered; but they always made up, and that only made their relationship all the stronger.
Fusional.
In all honesty, Hyunjin didn't really know where he would be, if he didn't have Yeji in his life. His sister was everything to him. And yet, for twins, they didn't look that much alike; in fact, even physically, they were relatively different.
While Hyunjin's ebony hair waved slightly - and it was ten times worse when he woke up in the morning - Yeji's hair was straight as can be, cascading over her shoulders and down her back in a cascade of raven strands. Besides, their mother often joked that Yeji's eyes looked like a cat's, while Hyunjin's were more like a doe's eyes. At such times, his sister would always sigh heavily, or make a face. As for him, he just smiled. Yes, Yeji was a bit more... expressive than he was.
While Hyunjin was essentially gentle and kind, avoiding conflict and always acting in a way that didn't hurt anyone, Yeji wasn't afraid to speak her mind and didn't really mince words. However, she wasn't inherently mean; just very outspoken... and maybe a little stubborn around the edges.
“You'd better hurry up and get ready” his sister's voice said, pulling him out of his thoughts. “Don't forget that we have to meet the others in an hour, and if you don't eat something before, Mom will get on you.”
At these words, a small pout appeared on Hyunjin's lips. “Actually, I'm not really hungry” he protested without much conviction.
He knew it was a waste of time; no one could really stand up to Hwang Yeji. Except maybe their mother.
“At least nibble something” the girl persisted, raising an eyebrow. “Seriously, Jinnie, you're eating less and less these days. You're going to end up sick.”
His sister's tone didn't really call for a reply, and Hyunjin felt his shoulders slump in defeat. Reluctantly, he shuffled over to the charcoal cabinets, then leaned on the lush white marble countertop to tiptoe up and grab a box of cereal.
Delicately, he pulled a single cornflake petal from the box and put it directly into his mouth. This earned him a disapproving look from his sister.
“Hyunjin” she said threateningly.
“Yeji” he replied in the same way.
“Felix!” exclaimed a third voice with a strong Australian accent.
The twins jumped in unison and turned in the same motion towards the window. Just in time to see a boy slip inside their kitchen, with the dubious agility of someone who was obviously a little too used to sneaking into houses in unconventional ways.
Seeing the incredibly satisfied look on the newcomer's face, Yeji let out a heavy sigh. “Didn't your parents ever teach you to walk through a door, Lee?”
The girl's cat eyes watched his blond head intently as he walked towards Hyunjin, seemingly in a good mood. Before the latter had time to escape him, Lee Felix had already snatched cornflakes from his box while pulling himself up onto the work surface, causing Hyunjin to immediately protest. “Hey!”
“Relax, guys," Felix laughed. It's summer break!”
“Which is why you're coming in through the window instead of the front door” Yeji retorted. “You're right, Felix.”
This only made the blonde's hilarity double.
Felix was the twins' best friend. They had both met him in their first year of high school. Freshly arrived from Sydney, where his family was originally from, Felix had charmed everyone in his little world in just a few months. He had managed to find his place in the school in record time, and had quickly befriended Hyunjin, Yeji and the rest of their group of friends. His natural charisma had played a big role. With his mischievous eyes, heart-shaped lips, freckled cheeks, and golden hair that made him look like an angel, Felix was like a ray of sunshine. He was funny, energetic, and undeniably one of the laughingstocks of their gang.
And he also had the annoying habit of entering the Hwang's house without ever warning, or even bothering to go through the front door like a normal person.
“Who went out the window? I'm sure it was you again, Lee Felix!”
Ms Hwang's voice echoed up the stairs, preceding her as she burst into the kitchen two seconds later. Her heels clicked on the polished tiles as she made her way to the counter, and she dropped the earring she had been struggling with to grab an apple from the fruit basket, but not before placing a kiss on both of her children's cheeks with the tip of her red-painted lips.
Always elegant, Olivia Hwang was the epitome of beauty and chic. With her long, thick black hair, big doe eyes with long lashes, and full lips, she was undeniably beautiful at five feet tall. Hyunjin had often been told that he looked a lot like his mother, which he wanted to believe. Yeji, on the other hand, looked more like their absent father.
Olivia Hwang, mostly called Liv, had become a single parent at an early age, when the twins were only five. Hyunjin could barely remember when the four of them still lived together, except for the screams of the many arguments that echoed off the walls of their house at night, when their parents thought the twins were already asleep. Their mother had always blamed their father for many things; too careless, too dreamy, too selfish to be a good father. Too toxic. He and their mother had never been married, and from the moment her children were born, Ms Hwang had done everything she could to keep them as far away from his harmful influence as possible. She had refused to let them take his last name, giving them her own maiden’s name instead.
He had never been present for any of the major milestones in their lives anyway. He had missed each of their birthdays, missed their first words and steps. He had not come to Yeji's first dance performance, God only knew where he could be stuffed at that moment.
Their father was an artist. An egocentric artist who could barely take care of himself. He had never been cut out for a normal family life. It had been better for everyone when Ms Hwang had kicked him and his guitar and his dreams of freedom out of the house. She had always said it was not his fault, that deep down he was not evil. Just emotionally constipated.
Hyunjin didn't care, and he knew that Yeji didn't either. He had stopped expecting anything from his sire the day he'd left without saying goodbye, without even looking back one last time. Without hugging his children, or even trying.
Everything he had today, everything he had accomplished, Hyunjin owed to his mother. She had always fought for him and his sister, had always done everything she could to give them what they needed, and more. While she wasn't overly wealthy either, it was thanks to her arduous work as a highly prized interior designer that they were living this comfortable life today. She had always been there, right to the end, and they both knew she would never let them down.
Even if it meant she had to put up with their friends, as strange and ungodly as Felix was.
“And may I ask what you're doing at my house on a Saturday morning so early, young man?” Ms Hwang inquired, pointing an accusing finger at the concerned teen.
He smiled mischievously.
“To admire your beautiful eyes, Ms. Hwang, I'm ready to infiltrate your home at any time of the day or night” he whispered with a wink.
This brought a chorus of disgusted cries. Hyunjin punched his friend in the arm, and Yeji threw a tangerine in his face.
“Seriously?” the exasperated girl shouted, raising her arms to the sky.
“Felix, I'm flattered, but find someone your own age” Ms Hwang sighed, shaking her head. My daughter is still single, and I've been saying for years that you'd be better with her than with me!”
This statement caused Yeji to grimace even more, while Hyunjin let out an even louder scream than the previous one. To say that he felt genuinely outraged by this whole scene would be an understatement.
“Mom, that's disgusting! We're talking about Felix, he's like a brother! He and Yeji could never... they're not gonna... ew!”
Felix only laughed, as he always did. The way he always made light of everything impressed Hyunjin. Himself would never have been able to show such detachment.
Ms Hwang gave him a mocking smile in response. Then her eyes, sharp as an eagle's, caught sight of the box of cornflake left on the counter, and she immediately frowned. “I hope you took the trouble to eat something, Hwang Hyunjin.”
“He ate a cornflake” Yeji immediately betrayed him.
Hyunjin glared at her, pretending not to see the one his mother was glaring at him with.
“Only one?" Felix said.
“That counts” Hyunjin protested.
“No, it doesn't” Olivia replied sharply. “Anyway, it doesn't matter. Yeji, I see you're already ready. Good for you. Hyunjin, go put something on. We're having lunch at the club with the Lees this afternoon. And we're leaving in twenty minutes. I suppose that's why you're here, Felix?”
Felix’s mouth opened a perfect "o", but no sound came out. Hyunjin too felt momentarily petrified. He exchanged a look with his sister, realized that Yeji looked just as mortified as him.
The lunch at the country club! Their mother had been harping on it for two weeks now. They hadn't been there in a while because they hadn't had time with all the work the twins had to do. Now that they were on vacation, they had no more excuses to escape from these gatherings of old people as rich as they were boring.
After their silence, their mother gave the three of them a look that spoke volumes. “Don't tell me you've forgotten?”
“Well, yes" Felix reacted first. “We had planned to go to the beach with the gang to celebrate the beginning of the holidays...”
“I don't think so" Olivia cut him off. “You can try to arrange with the others to postpone your paddling, but you're not getting out of this lunch. Even if I have to drag you there by the skin of your teeth!”
Hyunjin held his breath, following his mother with his eyes as she pretended to turn away, her barely-begun apple still in her hand. She was about to leave the kitchen when she looked back one last time. “Besides, if you're going to hang out with your friends, why don't you suggest to Seungmin? It's been a long time since I've had the pleasure of seeing him.”
Felix's face broke into a wide, disbelieving grin, and his eyebrows rose so high that Hyunjin thought for a moment that they were going to go all the way to the top of his head.
“Seungmin?” the blonde asked in an amused tone. “Like, Kim Seungmin? The Kim Seungmin, the same one from high school?”
“Oh, please mom” Yeji grumbled, rolling her eyes. “We're not twelve anymore!”
“We haven't talked to him for a while” Hyunjin explained, a little embarrassed.
A while was not really the word. In fact, it would be more accurate to say "years". A long time ago, when Felix and his sunny smile hadn't yet set foot on South Korean soil, Hyunjin's little world had been limited to three people: his sister, of course, and his two best and only friends at the time. Kim Seungmin was one of them.
The four of them were inseparable; they all lived in the same neighborhood and spent their time at each other's houses. Seungmin's house was right across the street from Hwang's. However, things had changed when they entered high school. Slowly, without Hyunjin even seeing it coming, they had grown apart. They didn't see each other as much as they used to, they didn't talk like they used to. And, one day, their friendship ended.
Hyunjin and Yeji had met new people, made new friends. Their paths had crossed with other teenagers, including Lee Felix, with whom they had quickly formed a happy little gang. And they had never heard from their old friends again.
“I didn't know you were friends” Felix said with a raised eyebrow.
“We're not” Yeji retorted dryly.
“Ah. No, because he's a little... well…” He laughed, as if he had just said something very funny. Hyunjin, however, did not share his hilarity. He looked at him blankly.
From what he remembered, Seungmin was not a bad guy. Even though they didn't talk anymore, they had often passed each other in the high school corridors. But they never bothered to speak to each other. To tell the truth, his old friend didn't have much to do with Hyunjin's squad; his actual friends were used to having everyone’s eyes glued to them. They were quite loud, always laughing loudly, and even when they weren't doing anything about it, were somehow the attention center. Hyunjin wasn't blind; he knew that a lot of people knew them in high school. He and his friends were among the coolest, most popular students. They were all young, charismatic, and had comfortable lives. That was bound to attract attention.
Seungmin, well... was none of those things. He was quiet, serious, disciplined. He was the best student in the school and, indirectly, Hyunjin's biggest rival. Although they were not in the same class, the two of them were always competing for the top spot in common exams. When one wasn't the first, it was inevitably the other. Seungmin was also his class representative and the spokesperson for the seniors on the school council. Hyunjin's friends loved to make fun of him because they thought he was too uptight.
“Okay, let's stop talking about him” Yeji ordered, grabbing her phone roughly. “I'm calling Ryujin.”
Hyunjin and Felix moved closer as she did so. She turned on the speakerphone, and two long rings echoed through the kitchen before someone picked up. Immediately, hysterical screams could be heard in the background on the other end of the line, causing the three friends to grimace.
“How do tiny Japanese dogs say hello?” answered a cheerful voice, which was surely not Ryujin's.
“Konichihuahua?" replied Felix.
For the third time in less than fifteen minutes, exasperated moans rose in the Hwang kitchen. Felix was struck again, and on the other end of the line, Han Jisung burst out laughing.
“Guys!”
“Do you realize that your uncle's jokes don't make anyone laugh?”
“Hey, they are always funny!” Jisung defended.
Hyunjin could perfectly imagine him puffing out his huge cheeks in displeasure.
“No, they are not” Yeji contradicted him, leaning towards the phone. “And what's with all the shouting? It sounds like you're in the middle of Baghdad on market day!”
She hadn't bothered to ask him why he was the one answering her best friend's phone. It was a pointless question. Ever since Jisung and Ryujin had gotten together, it was like all their possessions had suddenly been pooled. Everything that belonged to one was the other's. So, it was no surprise when Jisung automatically picked up the phone when his girlfriend was called, and vice versa.
“Uh, Ryu is fighting with her sister. She's been acting up again.”
“Oh no, again?" Felix complained.
Hyunjin could hardly agree more. Ryujin's little sister, Yuna, might have been cute when she wanted to be, but at thirteen years old she was still a very temperamental teenager. She was a real daddy's girl, a spoiled brat whose parents never refused her anything. Everyone always gave her everything, except her sister. And lately, Yuna's biggest whim was to stick to her sister and her friends.
Of course, Ryujin refused to deal with her, and that always resulted in a monster fight. At least that explained why Hyunjin felt like he was in the middle of a wrestling ring. He thought it was actually pretty calm for the situation.
“We're not taking her in, but we're waiting for you to show up and leave her at home” Jisung explained. Lia has already arrived. We're just waiting for you.
“Yes, about that," Hyunjin interjected, “We'll be late. My mother and Felix's parents are taking the three of us to eat at the country club, but we'll meet you as soon as we can. We didn't try to negotiate, but you know my mother...”
“The terrifying Liv Hwang!” giggled Jisung. “Right, we'll wait until you're done. That'll give us more time to spend with the little monster. I'll tell it to Ryu, but she won't like it.”
“Who cares” Yeji said. “It's not like we have the choice anyway. We'll meet you at Ryujin's place like we planned.”
“Get it! I guess it's dead for Busan today, then?”
“It's okay” Felix reassured him. “We've got the whole summer ahead of us!”
The summer, which promised to be hot, golden, resplendent, which evoked the sweetness of ice cream and the iodized air of the sea.
All those months of freedom, two months as long as eternity...
He didn't know it yet, but Hyunjin wished Felix was right.