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“What do you mean you aren't coming?” Dongsik stood holding the landline phone to his ear, waiting for a response from his friend.
A response didn't come right away, but the apologetic and shameful expression could still be felt from the other side of the line, despite the other person actually not being here in person. “I'm sorry, my mom found out about my mark in the latest literature test and is making me study for it…” finally answered.
“Didn't you get 91% on it though, which also was of the highest marks in our class?”
“Yeah… but my mom wants to do better, so I'm not going to study some more, tell Yuyeon and Jihwa sorry…”
Just from hearing that he scoffed, why did Jeongje's mom always make her son's life harder? Even Jinmuk couldn't come, but still at least it wasn't like it was known at the last minute, since he was busy thinking about that damn store…
Finally after the line was silent, Dongsik sighed and hung his head a little, “It's fine, I'll make sure to tell them… at least buy us some ice cream after school, alright?” By just saying that he heard a relieved sigh and a slight chuckle from the other boy. Which also made Dongsik smile a little, which he won't think any deeper about.
“Yes, yes, of course, once again, tell them I'm sorry and I hope you guys have a fun time”
“Yeah, yeah, we'll have so much fun, we'll forget that you even existed in the first place, good luck on your studying…” After a quick goodbye exchange Dongsik put the phone down and let out another sigh.
The both of them, Yuyeon and Jihwa had been planning a sleepover at the Lee’s house for a while now, since the parents weren't home that evening. Jihwa already arrived and was talking about something with Yuyeon when suddenly the landline phone rang bearing the news of their fourth member, but now it's just gonna be just him and the girls… Wait. Just him and the girls?
Finally having that realisation set in, he felt a chill run down his spine, he knew once they found out that Jeongje wasn't coming they would tackle him and…
“Dongsik! Was it Jeongje? Is something wrong?” A feminine voice suddenly called from another room in the house.
He had to think fast as to what to respond. Maybe he could lie and say that something came up that he needs to leave the house for the night and not return until later? No, maybe say that Jeongje isn't coming, BUT called him to come assist him? No, maybe he could-
“Dongsik, answer, you bastard, was it Jeongje or not?” He suddenly felt a strong presence behind him, making him flinch slightly and turn around to face a kind of an annoyed face. This expression alone could probably get a confession out of a criminal. While behind stood another person just looking over curiously, also waiting for the long-awaited answer from him.
“Um, yeah, it was him, he just said that he actually can't make it today and that he is sorry, but he'll buy us some ice cream next time after school …” Ah! Why did he confess so fast! He isn't any kind of a criminal!
Hearing that, Jihwa's expression turned from annoyed to slightly surprised. The same happened with Yuyeon standing behind her.
That was until the two girls finally looked at each other, when suddenly their faces formed a determined look and they even gave a small nod to one another like they had just made some serious plan. Dongsik gulped internally.
Suddenly Dongsik felt that he was being tackled brutally by the best fighter he knew, but that didn't stop from trying to break free from his miserable fate. However, while fighting (more like struggling) against Jihwa, he didn't notice Yuyeon leave and return with a rope with which she flawlessly tied his hands together behind his back. He was outpowered and outnumbered, he was bound to lose, but at the very least he didn't go down without a fight even though the girls, who turned to each other to give a satisfied high five, wouldn't even care about it, he could at least try to calm himself down. But now he had to mentally prepare for what was about to come next…
Sitting on the floor of the twins shared room, were Dongsik and Jihwa who was just staring at him, making sure he wouldn't do anything funny (he really wished he could), while the third member happily hummed rummaging through her drawer, searching for the right torture tools to use on her poor, poor older (by a few minutes, but still!) brother.
After a few minutes, Yuyeon was still looking through her drawer, to the point the hostage and the guard were getting bored, but Dongsik didn't dare even open his mouth as he was some sort of partisan, so that only left Jihwa to actually say something.
“Yuyeon… when will you be done? It's getting boring looking at his ugly mug…”
“What do you mean ‘his ugly mug’, I'm very handsome, thank you!” And there goes his silent treatment.
“Don't worry Jihwa, his face will soon be very pleasing to look at!” Ignoring whatever Dongsik said, his twin sister turned to face both of them, while holding all sorts of mysterious bottles and the like things in her hands with a very pleasing grin, which could probably make The Cheshire Cat jealous.
The time had come, he was about to be sacrificed to the girls' entertainment and there was nothing he could do about it.
---
He couldn't believe that he was wearing makeup on his face (which actually wasn't done as bad as he had imagined it would be) and looking through a magazine with Yuyeon and Jihwa with some kind of actors, at least they didn't paint his nails. Was it actually turning into a stereotypical girl's sleepover (even though Yuyeon was the main culprit with Jihwa as the accomplice just enjoying Dongsik's suffering)? If only Jeongje had come, this wouldn't have happened… probably, maybe? Now thinking about it, he rather wouldn't think about it more.
“Hey, this show started airing just this year, I've heard that it's pretty good and that the actors are pretty good looking too…” while flipping through the pages Yuyeon comments. Dongsik and Jihwa lay on either side of her, also peeking at the magazine, despite trying to act nonchalant.
When the magazine finally ends up on a section about the show, Yuyeon lets out a small, interested ‘Oohhh’ sound and points her finger to a picture of a handsome actor, which makes the other two people finally take a proper look at the actor's faces.
“He's really cute! What do you guys think?” Yuyeon stationed her hands under her head to hold it, while smiling sweetly at the both of them. She seems to actually be enjoying this activity. At any moment she could start kicking her feet in the air, which would make this whole thing even more absurd than it already is.
Jihwa is the first one to respond, “I don't really see what's cute about him, I think she's way prettier.” She points at a nearby picture of an actress, she must be the female lead in this show. The actress is giving a lovely smile to all the three members of the audience looking at her. She is pretty, Dongsik supposed.
“Hmmm, yeah, she's very beautiful…” Yuyeon closes her eyes, as if she's in deep thought, “but I still think that he's way more pleasing to look at!” As she said this, she once again pointed to the previous actor, also giving a handsome smile to all three of them, he could wink at them and they probably wouldn't even question how it's possible because it would seem natural … well, maybe Jihwa would be concerned.
“But all the guys look the same, they all have the same face, hair and clothes, while all the actresses actually look nice.”
“Whaaaaa? Now you're just lying, I can get where you're coming from, but still, you gotta admit that he's way more pleasing to look at!” Yuyeon lets out a slightly offended ‘hmph’, which even makes her head turn a little away from Jihwa. That wasn't good for Dongsik, because now he's once again noticed by his sister and Yuyeon's head gears seem to have turned in some direction. She looked at him for a while, when finally she exclaimed, “Oppa! Who do you think is more good looking? Him or her?” Now she used both of her hands with pointer fingers to point at each of the actor's faces. Even Jihwa seems to be intrigued by his future response. And of course she called him ‘oppa’ when it was convenient for her.
But this question isn't actually about his preference, it's more like which side he wanted to support. The girls probably wouldn't be happy if he actually pointed to the actor with the stern yet soft face because he liked him more than the given options. So he examined both of the options with an exaggerated interest and even let out an audible ‘hmmm’ sound to look even more ridiculous. He could feel both girls roll their eyes at him for that, despite not actually looking at them, because he was tasked with this very important mission. But he did genuinely look at the two actors with interest. They both were very pretty, each had their own charm.
However, in reality it actually didn't take him long to decide who to pick, but he still stalled for a bit to annoy the girls a little more. After a few (hopefully) agonising minutes for the girls, he finally pointed at his choice. He could already hear a scoff and a victorious sound emitting for the girls laying next to him.
“It's no wonder you're twins, you even have the same awful taste in guys” Jihwa let out a comment with another eye roll, but now directed at the twins. However, there wasn't actually any real annoyance and if there was, Dongsik would feel it the next time they went training.
“No, no, I think ’great minds think alike’ is more fitting for this situation, I bet if Jeongje was also here he would have agreed with this choice too!” Yuyeon made a smug expression at her dear friend, who just looked indifferent and raised an eyebrow at her in return. She also gave the same look to Dongsik, they both knew that Jeongje would most likely just agree with Yuyeon with just about anything, if she said that the sky is actually green and the grass green, he would just nod and affirm her, but they wouldn’t ever say it out loud. But even if there was a rare chance he wouldn’t agree with Yuyeon, he’d agree with Dongsik, so at the end of the day, Jihwa would be the loser in this question. Realistically Jeongje would probably also choose the actress that Jihwa picked if he wasn’t a pushover sometimes, because, now actually looking closer into it, the actress slightly resembled their dear Yuyeon. Dongsik just let out a small sigh at this whole ordeal.
“Can’t we do something more interesting?” After a long while Dongsik finally said something and did a dramatic stretch, but actually wanting to do something else, yet also quietly memorising the actor's name, which actually caught his eye. Maybe he could look into him later, not that he would ever actually confess to it…
“We could order some pizza!” Yuyeon said enthusiastically, clapping her hands slightly with the idea.
“Do they even deliver here?” It seems like Jihwa’s expression didn’t need to change with the question.
“There is a place in Munju that delivers here, we have ordered, but it usually takes some time, but I’m personally up for the idea, maybe in the meantime we could actually look for a movie to watch.” Dongsik answers to Jihwa, finally making her face return to her neutral indifferent face. And with that they finally came to a conclusion.
Dongsik would have been the one to call the pizza place, but he feared of what the two girls would agree on the movie choice, probably some cheesy romance movie which Yuyeon loved and Jihwa would just agree just to see him suffer this already stereotypical girls sleepover. That is why he asked Yuyeon to make the call, while he and Jihwa looked for a movie for them to watch.
---
Having set up the movie and getting some snacks they already had at home before the pizza arrived, they decided to actually begin the movie. Just as the movie was actually getting to the good part, the doorbell suddenly rang, making the residents flinch slightly, they honestly had forgotten about the pizza. Yuyeon paused the movie, since she had the remote closest to her and turned to look at Dongsik, “Oppa, that probably is the pizza we ordered, since you’re the closest to the door, could you please go and get it?” She even gave him a nice smile, while Jihwa just looked at the two of them and didn’t say anything, even though it looked like she did want to comment on something but resisted. Dongsik would have maybe tried to ask her what she was holding back, but decided against it, because just thinking of the pizza he already felt his mouth water slightly. At least something good had to come out of this evening.
Dongsik got up and waved his hand in affirmation that he’ll go get it. As he walked away, he heard a small snicker coming from the couch where he was just sitting, but just assumed that it was just some sort of joke between girls. Maybe that was why Jihwa looked like she wanted to say something, but didn’t because he was present, so he just mentally shrugged it off as he neared the door.
Finally getting there, he opened the door to see a person slightly older than him holding a pizza box in his hands. The good thing was that there was some money put on a nearby counter by the entrance. Their parents must have left some right for this situation, so he just took it and gave it to the person.
Only then did he notice that the delivery person was giving him a kind of dumbfounded expression at him, looking like he didn’t know what to say to the person paying him, making Dongsik himself confused.
“Is there something wrong…?” Dongsik tried to make a friendly face. Did he do something that made the other person uncomfortable? So he carefully tried to take the pizza box, which must have snapped the delivery person out of his stupor.
“Ah, no, here is the pizza, have a nice evening” He gave the pizza to Dongsik and took the money, he also quickly turned around to leave. Now leaving Dongsik standing there in his own stupor. So he closed the door and turned to go to the living room. He kept thinking as to what could have been wrong, did he actually do something or was there something wrong with him, since it seemed like the person froze as soon as he saw him…
Wait. As soon as he saw him?
Now Dongsik was the one who froze in his place as he remembered something.
… what were they doing before they agreed on pizza and a movie? That’s right. He quickly looked for a mirror or at least something that had a reflective surface only to see what he feared.
He still had the makeup on.
Everything now made sense, why that person looked so dumbfounded and why Yuyeon asked him to go get the pizza, why Jihwa looked like she wanted to say something, the snickering as he was leaving… He was looking extra nice tonight afterall.
He quickly ran to the living room, only to nearly bump into the girls, they must have gone up to go peek at his misadventure with getting the pizza. Their faces told him everything he needed to know. Soon they also started laughing as if this was one of the most hilarious thighs these girls have seen in their whole life. Yuyeon’s hand even reached her eye to remove a tear forming in her eye. Jihwa had turned herself away, to still try to hide her enjoyment despite not hiding the very obvious audible part of that enjoyment. He once again couldn’t believe he was wearing makeup and he even forgot about it! He’ll get his revenge at some point but it seems like tonight he couldn’t do anything and needed to just accept this (for now).
“Ahhh, my god, this is gold, it’s sad that Jeongje doesn't get to see this, hahaaa,” Yuyeon finally said something but that didn’t stop her laughter. While Dongsik was glad that Jeongje didn’t come today, this would have been even more embarrassing.
The other girl finally turned around and slightly cleared her throat. She was also the one who stopped laughing first (thanks Jihwa), but she decided to add “It seemed like you looked so breathtaking that he became speechless.” Great, thanks Jihwa for that very necessary comment.
But this didn’t actually make him that mad, “Oh yeah, I should have batted my beautiful eyelashes at him, maybe he would have forgotten about the payment, so we could have gotten a pizza for free.” The two girls laughed again, more like Yuyeon just got another reason to continue laughing and Jihwa let out a short snort at his comment.
“Alright, alright, but I’m starting to actually get hungry from all this, so let's go!” The girl who was the mastermind behind this incident exclaimed happily with a smile, Jihwa just nodded quietly and turned around to get back to the couch. As she left, Yuyeon once again looked at her brother and smiled a little apologetically at him, “I’m sorrrryy! I just had to use the chance, no hard feelings…?” She now even looked a little awkward, her hands clasping together as if to show how sorry she felt towards what happened.
To that Dongsik decided to flick her forehead (of course he made sure not to drop the pizza), that would have to do for now. “Aish, it’s fine, for the meantime. Just don’t expect that there won’t be revenge in the future.” He gave her a smile that was made not to look genuine. She returned the same smile.
“Anyway, guess I'll go get some drinks for our pizza, don't continue the movie without me!” the culprit said as she smoothly turned around and headed for the kitchen with a slight kick in her step, as if the conversation had never happened. Dongsik just sighed, shaking his head and returned to the couch, where Jihwa was already sitting, holding the remote, ready to unpause the movie when needed. He just plopped the pizza box on the coffee table in front of the TV and finally relaxed against the couch.
Jihwa sneaked a glance at him curiously, “You won't go remove the makeup?” She even raised her eyebrow at him again, it seemed like she expected that that would be the first thing he'd do after that interaction. However, Dongsik just waved his hand dismissively at her, he didn't want to bother with it at that moment, he'd just do it later. She just gave him a smug, but one that just said ‘alright’. “If you say so.”
Yuyeon finally arrived with some drinks tucked under her arms with three glasses in hands, “I sadly couldn’t find any soju or makgeolli, but found the next best thing - some cola and orange juice - so take your pick!” She handed a glass to each of them and happily sat down on the couch, once again in the middle - between her brother and her friend. “Let’s continue our movie viewing!” She said as she reached for a slice of pizza, holding it she looked quite satisfied, so he and Jihwa decided to also dig in and continue the movie.
---
After watching the movie with Dongsik’s sometimes (un)necessary comments, which even sometimes made the two other viewers audibly groan. They had concluded that the movie wasn’t the best they had seen and that Jeongje didn’t miss out on much by not watching it. The pizza was pretty good though, at least something had come from this whole thing, even if acquiring the said pizza was a topic for another time. Which also made him realise that he still had the makeup on his face, so he decided to go wash it off, right until someone suddenly grabbed his wrist.
“Wait! We should take a picture with your new look to always remember it, so that you could show your possible children that you were very cool!” Yuyeon tried to say with a confident face, she probably just wanted the photo, to remind Dongsik of this whole stupid thing.
“Hell no, and I already have very cool photos that don’t involve me wearing makeup,” he put his other free hand against his hip to give a convincing look.
“I actually agree with Yuyeon, we might never be able to get you to look this cool after tonight, so you should let us take some photos,” suddenly intervened Jihwa with an old polaroid camera already in her hands (genuinely how?), ready to take a picture any moment now.
Dongsik knew that at least he had to save some dignity (at least what was left of it), but he also knew that just avoiding this situation would be meaningless. Hence he had to come up with a plan right then and there.
“How about we play some game, where if I win, I get to peacefully remove this paint job on my face, or where you win, you get to immortalise this look forever?” Was that the best he could think of? Maybe, but what mattered was that it was already said and that the two girls were actually considering his offer, so he also added, “Of course, I get to choose the game, since it seems I’ll be outnumbered regardless of the game.” Yuyeon let his wrist go and went to Jihwa to privately discuss the further details of the offer, until they both turned around.
“It’s on,” Jihwa put the old camera away in her pocket and crossed her arms.
“This will be fun!” Yuyeon just joyfully clenched her hands into fists.
He had to win this.
---
They had agreed to play two games with best of three, but if the results were tied, there would be another game with only best of one with a simple ‘rock, paper, scissors’, but Dongsik that it wouldn’t come to that, since he was the one who decided on the games after all. Maybe it’s sometimes good to be the one in danger - in which he won’t be after playing these games.
He got two small pieces of paper and wrote down the names of the games on each. After that he turned around with each piece of paper hidden in each hand behind his back. The first girl who was ready to challenge him was, of course, his sister, the one and only Yuyeon, bless her little heart. Without saying anything, only showing a confident aura and smile she chose his left hand. Ah, really, bless her little heart. He gave her a relieved smile and handed the chosen hand in her direction. She took the small piece of paper to read it, only for her face to sink and her confidence to dwindle within seconds. It said ‘biseokchigi’. He already knew that his little dear sister wasn’t good at it, so he was already feeling good, if Jihwa had gotten this one that would have been a different story. In the meantime, Yuyeon threw her partner an apologetic look, she replied with just a slightly sad sigh and a shrug saying ‘nothing that can be done’.
A point counted, when the target was knocked over, so the stone would just need to be hit at max five times. The set was made ready, Dongsik decided to let his sister go first out of courtesy, he wasn't evil after all. Yuyeon nervously took the other object to throw and glanced at it, she once again looked at her partner, possibly looking for advice or encouragement. The said partner just gave her a small thumbs up, shrugging again.
She let out a sigh and got into position, ready to throw, swinging her arm slightly, maybe to gain some confidence back. After a small while, she finally threw it and it… hit?
Yuyeon's expression instantly brightened, while her partner's and rival's jaws nearly dropped. This wasn't supposed to happen! That probably was just beginner's luck. There was no way.
After that Dongsik took her place and threw the object a little nervously, but despite the nature of the throw, it still knocked over. So it became 1:1.
The other team's next rounds weren't so lucky, it seemed like he was right, just beginner's luck, because it soon became 1:3. Leaving Dongsik as the winner. He even felt a relieved sigh escape him, his sister's first throw caught him slightly off guard after all.
With that, there was the last game left with Jihwa - jebi kicks. He felt quite confident about this one, because he hadn't ever seen her play this game, so piece of cake, right?
…
3:0.
How did this happen?
“I have seen you guys play this, seemed easy enough, guess I was right, and I guess the mandatory football practices paid off,” it seems like his inner thought was actually said out loud, which just made the winner shrug with a bored expression. Give her a juice box and she would seem like the nonchalant cool boy type in those school life shows.
Ah, guess the last would need to be played, damn it. He let out an unnoticeable sigh and put his hand behind his neck, he could still salvage this after all. “Ah, guess it leaves us with the last game… Yuyeon, play with me? Since you were the loser in your game after all”
Yuyeon agreed and came up to him. He had to win this, his last dignity relied on this after all.
They both got ready in position (if there even was a ‘rock, paper, scissors’ position to begin with). Jihwa would be the one to say when they can draw their chosen sign.
“Kawi… Bawi… Bo!”
Each drew their sign, but Dongsik closed his eyes as they did. But from the silence he slightly peeked through an eye to see his sister's expressionless face. So he finally peeked down… he chose rock and she - paper… he lost again…
“Yay! Jihwa, we won! We're the best, haha!” Yuyeon went to give her partner a tight hug. Jihwa just patted her back with an affirming hum. When suddenly the recent winner pushed her back to look into her eyes, “You know what that means, get the camera!”
Jihwa could have even given her a ‘roger that’, but was more preoccupied with actually getting the camera.
While she went to get it, Yuyeon turned to her brother, giving him an encouraging smile, “Hey, it's actually not that bad, this way this moment will be remembered, imagine us in 30 years or more, we'll be so old by then,” she let out an exaggerated shiver for comedic effect, “we'll look at this picture and laugh at it because we looked so young and good back then!” It seemed like she was actually trying to comfort him. It maybe worked a little, he wouldn't admit to it though, so he just let out a small sigh and smirked.
“I don't know about you, but I'm sure that I'll be very handsome in 30 years! You might just need this picture to show in the future saying that I actually wasn't as good looking back then,” he even let out a short snicker.
They both laughed at each other until the cameraman returned.
“Alright, get ready to pose for the photo.” She was already adjusting the camera to her eye, to see the shot. Dongsik made a grace face pose with both his hands while also showing a slight kissy face and wink, his twin did the same pose, but with one hand and slightly leaned in and a photogenic smile.
The photo printed out of the old polaroid, they both were visible in the photo, but there was a smudged finger in the photo's corner, it seemed like Jihwa also became part of the picture. Yuyeon enthusiastically took the photo and a red marker nearby to write something on the other side of the photo.
The two other people curiously glanced at each other and then at the writer, waiting for her to finish.
When she finished, she revealed the text ‘The sore loser and winner(s) of ‘95’. She seemed very proud of it, her partner snorted and her twin just rolled his eyes but still smiled. The picture did come pretty good after all. He wondered how he’ll look back at this moment with Yuyeon in 30 years…
---
The time had come when they decided to get ready to go to sleep (he could finally remove the makeup). The mattress for their only guest this time was set down with a pillow and blanket waiting for its inhabitant for this night. It was actually quite surprising how quickly Jihwa fell asleep, he thought that they would still talk some more. Maybe she was trained that way, who knows.
It also seemed like he was the last one to fall asleep, now just laying in the silence and darkness…
…
“Psst! Are you asleep?” Suddenly a whisper spoke to him. Guess that the previous statement wasn't true.
Instead of responding, he just turned his head to the direction of the voice. Seemed like the source of the whisper saw him and smiled, “Let's also do this next time, yeah? I personally think it was quite fun, even Jihwa seemed entertained.”
He knew what she already meant, making him sigh and turn his head back to the dark ceiling. “Next time do it to Jeongje, since he ditched us this time, I also think that it would look better on him anyway,” he let out a quiet chuckle, which Yuyeon reciprocated. He wouldn't be surprised if she had already started thinking of designs to put on the poor guy's face. “Also, don't show that picture to anyone else.” He looked at her again through the distance between them, she once again smiled sweetly at him and just said,
“Goodnight, oppa!”
---
The school day came soon after, when he arrived at his classroom, he saw Jeongje already sitting at his desk reading something. Dongsik sat behind him as usual and let out a yawn. “‘Morning, how was the studying?” As he said this, he leaned on his desk.
The boy in front of him flinched a little, guess he didn't notice him, but soon turned around to face the speaker. “Good morning to you too, it was fine, nothing other than the usual, I'm guessing the sleepover was fun?” He smiled curiously at him.
He couldn't stop a scoff appearing, “You wouldn't believe it, don't forget that you promised ice cream after school! And next time you are for sure coming!” He pointed an accusatory finger at Jeongje.
“Of course, I wouldn't want to make the beautiful sore loser of ‘95 even more upset after all,” replied his friend, soon after the teacher entered the classroom. Which made the boy turn back to face the board, leaving Dongsik dumbfounded.
Damn you, Yuyeon!