Joon bent down in pain when I pulled onto his earlobe with all my strength, bringing his face to my eye level, not afraid to turn him into a modern Van Gogh if he even tried any tricks with me. In the corner of my eye, I could see two boys staring at us, hesitant to interfere.

“No worries, guys. I'm his sister!” I announced, purposely making the whole situation even more embarrassing for Joon, and then turned around to leave, dragging my brother with me.

"Hey, stop!" He whined, staggering after me as he tried to keep up with my fast pace. And being the nice sister I was, I sped up instead which only riled him more. "Hey, that f*ckin' hurts!"

"Watch your language, you brat," I scolded him, dragging with me to my car. "Can't you come up with any other words than that? Our mother would get a heart attack if she heard you."

He huffed angrily, and I could feel his furious eyes boring a hole in the back of my head. If I wasn't eight years older than this rascal, that look would've sent cold chills down my spine. After all, Joon's deadly glare was something he had inherited from our crazy mother. But Joon was only sixteen and I was the one who was an adult here so I decided to acknowledge his threatening efforts with nothing more than a loud snort. And then I braced myself for his snarky comment.

Because there always was one coming from him.

"Fine," he muttered under his nose, "Your too callous grip on my precious piece of body is outrageously uncomfortable, so could you be so kind and stop destroying my blood circulation?"

There it was - the snarky comment. Joon had never disappointed me.

"One. Your body isn't precious, and if anyone has ever told you otherwise, he's lying." I reached into my bag to take the car key out, still not letting go of his ear. When I finally found it between my notebook and a wallet, I looked back at my pissed off brother and smiled sweetly to make him even more aggravated. "And two, you're grounded till the rest of your stay."

The warm night breeze ruffled his black hair and the frown on his lips deepened momentarily. "I swear, you're such a b*tch."

My mouth fell open as I stared at my brother in utter shock, "What did you just call me?"

"Aww, isn't someone having hearing problems now?" He said in a sing-song voice, blinking sweetly at me. "Someone's already getting old and ugly. Wait, no. You always were ugly."

I closed my eyes for a mere moment, trying to remember why I had to put up with that little brat in the first place but the only reason popping in my head was 'money' and I swear, right now it wasn't enough to stop me from killing him.

“Lisen, shit head,” I growled, staring at my brother with so much burning fury that I could miraculously lit up a candle with just one glance. “You better shut up and behave because I'm just this close to kicking your sorry ass and I swear, when that happens, you're going to shit all over the moon as you fly to another galaxy.”

I expected Joon to fire back, but instead, I heard a delighted chuckle coming from the direction of my parked car. Joon and I whipped our heads to the side, and I froze on the spot when I noticed a guy casually sitting on top of my car's bonnet. He had a black baseball cap on that covered half of his face but I still could see how his lips curled up in a joyful half-smile. The moment he realized we caught him eavesdropping on us, he lifted his hand in the air and waved which left me even more dumbfounded.

“Is this guy one of your friends?” I asked, finally letting go of Joon's ear, and he shook his head immediately.

“I don't know him.”

I eyed the stranger, feeling my heartbeat pick up the pace. I knew well how dangerous the city was at night. Weird people tended to wander around in the darkness and that was the main reason I wanted to keep Joon at home after 10pm. He was just sixteen after all; he knew nothing about the danger awaiting.

Taking a deep breath, I turned to the new guy, hoping to resolve the situation as fast as possible, “Excuse me but can you please– ”

“Is this your car?” The guy cut me off before I managed to point out how he was casually sitting on my precious car.

Confused, I nodded and his head tilted to the side in interest as he eyed me in silence for a moment too long to be considered comfortable. I switched my weight from one leg to another, wondering if he would take Joon over me if it turned out we were dealing with a serious killer right now.

After another few quiet seconds, the man turned the cap's front to the back of his head and slid down to stand right before me. I made a small step back, surprised to have him taller than me because he didn't look like the 5'8 ft he certainly was. A few black strands of hair fell on his forehead and the sleeveless gray t-shirt he wore rolled up a little before he fixed it, slowly enough for me to notice the fine outline of his stomach.

I cleared my throat, suddenly embarrassed for looking where I shouldn't have.

“Awesome, I thought I would have to spend here another few hours before the party's over.” He finally announced, jabbing his thumb in the direction of my car. “Can you please move it? You blocked me and I can't drive back home.”

Oh?

I looked at the vehicle trapped between the building and my own car. Then the realization poured down on me and I rushed to the car's door, feeling the embarrassing blush creep up my face. “Oh shit, I'm so sorry!”

“No worries,” he assured with another wide smile, giving my brother a short glance. “You guys were entertaining enough for me to enjoy the wait.”

Not sure what to say to that, I only smiled awkwardly, unlocking my car. I looked at Joon – who strangely kept staring at the guy with such determination it was a miracle the poor stranger didn't run away, feeling attacked – and pointed at the door, “Joon, get in.”

It took him a while to register what I had just said and I cleared my throat with impatience. Giving the guy the last look, Joon finally got in the car and I turned to the stranger with an apologetic smile, “Sorry once again for the trouble.”

He gave me a short nod of acknowledgment before I closed the door and drove off, leaving that embarrassing experience behind.

“That guy looked familiar, didn't he?” Joon suddenly asked. I had no idea what he was referring to because that man's face didn't ring any bell for me. I was sure my brain would've made sure to save the image of that handsome creature and torture me with it in moments of my deepest depression caused by my life as a single.

So, nope – I didn't know the guy. But I surely wouldn't have minded getting to know him.

“Anyway,” I glanced back at Joon, who seemed still deep in thoughts. “Why did you go to Phoenix? I warned you several times that this is not a place for you to be in. If you keep behaving like a dumb little shit, you will sleep on the street. Or I will send you back home."

"You won't kick me out," he said, raising his brow to look even more confident than he already was. "And if you send me home, mom won't pay you."

Joon has a point but I was the one in charge here and, even if the money our mom had offered for the babysitting were tempting, I wasn't going to endure that unpleasant show of teenage rebellion for the entire summer holiday. So instead of admitting to his observation, I smiled at him, fluttering my eyelashes just like he did before. "Try me."

"Gosh, I hate you," he groaned, visibly displeased as he sank into the car seat.

"Good, the feeling is mutual then."

Maybe my aggressive behavior made me look like a bad sister but I liked to think otherwise. I was a good sister, a brilliant one, he couldn't wish for someone better. After all, I took him in for an entire two months. It was fully Joon's fault I was in a constant hulk mode since he had arrived because that dumbass didn't listen to what I said. At all.

I tried to be more forbearing but Joon seemed to forget at times why he even was here in the first place. He was supposed to attend the holiday course our mother had signed him up for in one of the best music schools in Seoul, and play the shit out of his cello night and day. But instead, he kept fooling around, going to clubs and skipping classes. He hadn't touched his cello even once and I knew our mom would skin me alive if she were to find out Joon was slacking the entire time.

I was just trying to save my own life here, okay?

"You know, Kia," Joon spoke with a suspicious glee to his voice and I winced, preparing myself for another verbal battle to win. "Getting laid makes people less cranky. You should try that."

I made sure to abruptly turn left without slowing down and smiled with satisfaction when Joon's head hit the window.

***

“Not gonna lie, you look like shit today.”

“Thanks, Bobby. That's exactly what I've been dying to hear all day long.” I mumbled, still with my gaze fixed on the paragraph I was trying to read for the fifth time. My eyes stopped on the last word and I stared for a long moment at the small black period behind it, amazed how for the fifth time today I had no bloody idea what I'd just read.

That was going to be a very productive day.

Hearing the chair scratch against the asphalt, I looked up to see Bobby taking a seat across from me, his hands busy holding a few plastic bags he then placed on the table. A smell of fried chicken spread around us the moment he opened the box he'd probably bought in one of the restaurants close to our University, and I swallowed the sudden desire to join him with a bottle of cold beer. Today was one of those unbearably hot summer days and, even though we were sitting outside with a big umbrella above our heads, I felt as if my head was about to catch fire.

“My amazing man's intuition is telling me it's all your brother's fault. Am I right?” Bobby concluded, taking a bite of the chicken leg he was holding now.

I eyed the oily mess around his lips, then reached for one of the napkins he brought along with the meal and threw it at his face, “For once, Bobby, you could at least try eating like a regular human being.”

“I would if I was a regular human being.”

He gave me a cheeky smile and I barely held back a chuckle. He had a point there.

With his short height and a rather small body frame, Bobby wasn't your typical handsome star of the University. In fact, most people would call him ordinary but there was something captivating in him that captured people's attention. His black hair was always on point, pushed back with the sides neatly shaved. He also had a great style, wearing button-down shirts every day with its sleeves rolled up during warm days. But the killer part had to be his big, round eyes and that wide, pearl-white smile that adorned his face almost every day.

I rested my chin on hand, looking at him still grinning proudly. “Yeah, yeah, we all know you're no ordinary human being,” I concluded, and Bobby's lips curled up in a satisfying grin as he pointed the chicken leg at me.

“Oh, stop with the compliments so early in the morning. You'll make me blush.”

That actually cracked me up a little and I threw another clean napkin at him, trying to surpass the need to smile wider. It still was a mystery to me why I loved his sense of humor so much. But that was probably the reason why we had clicked so well at the very beginning of our first year in University and still kept hanging out together despite him being a sarcastic ass twenty-four seven.

Oh and let's not forget about Lin – the main reason Bobby had even started talking to us. The little boy had a crush on my friend from the first day he'd seen her and followed her around since then. But that of course was a secret I kept to myself because Bobby didn't know I'd seen through him almost immediately.

“Anyways, going back to the topic,” Bobby spoke between another bite. “What did Joon do this time?”

I sighed, feeling like this was the only thing I'd been doing recently – complaining about my miserable helplessness when it came to taming my younger brother. No matter what methods I tried to use, talking to Joon seemed as effective and satisfying as speaking to a wall. Oh, wait. Actually, I take it back. Walls were better – at least they didn't talk back.

“I'm running out of ideas,” I finally grumbled, slouching in my seat. “I've tried playing the good cop and the bad cop. Na Eun said I'm too strict with him but when I'm giving him more space, he just skips classes and practice. Yesterday he went to Phoenix even though I clearly warned him to stay away from that place. I dragged him back home and scolded until 3 am, and do you know what was the only thing he said to me at the end?” I lowered my voice, trying to imitate my brother: “'All that preaching made me hungry. Do we have bread?'”

Bobby snorted at my angry imitation of my brother, almost choking on the chunk of chicken he currently had in his mouth. I opened a bottle of water for him and he accepted it gratefully.

“What should I do with him?” I sighed again, watching Bobby take a few sips of water to calm his irritated throat.

“Just tie him down to a heater.” He proposed and I couldn't help but grin to myself remembering how I'd planned to do the similar thing yesterday. Too bad this – although truly brilliant idea – wasn't going to solve Joon's hatred towards everything that was alive.

“Tie down who?”

Startled to hear another voice, I looked up to see Lin hovering over me. She smiled at us both before she took the empty space beside me.

“My little brother,” I explained. To make more space on the bench for my friend, I grabbed my bag and placed it on my left. Lin hummed in understanding, knowing about my yesterday's frantic search for Joon.

“So did he really go to Phoenix?” She asked and I nodded half-heartedly, again feeling tired from having only three hours of sleep.

“Have you already heard the rumors?” Bobby looked at us both, ditching the food for a moment when I sent him a confused look. A satisfying grin tugged at the corners of his mouth, “According to the rumors, Sweet Havoc was supposed to play in Phoenix yesterday but in the end, they didn't show up.”

Oh... That would explain why there had been so many people at the club yesterday night.

“Maybe Joon wanted to see them, too?” Lin speculated and Bobby nodded, fully agreeing with this idea. I, on the other hand, wasn't very convinced. With a grimace on my face, I leaned back thinking it over again. It was hard to believe that Joon, after spending just a mere two weeks in Seoul, knew about  that band when even I barely knew about their existence.

“Are they really that famous and amazing?” I wondered out loud. “I don't even know how they look like. I just know they're hot and that's still just a knowledge based on the rumors I've heard.”

Lin ditched her lunch to find her phone, “As far as I know, they cover famous songs, giving them more rockish touch, and apparently, people love it. Watch this one, someone posted it two weeks ago after one of their gigs at Phoenix. In a few hours, it reached one million views.”