"Ryujin, you should come to the party. I need a designated driver" my brother is on my bed, annoying me.
"Why the hell would I go to a party where I'm surrounded by drunk people? Do you not know me?" I scoff.
"But don't you love your dear old brother?" He whines.
"First of all, you're one month older than me. Second, I didn't want a brother but my dad decided to marry your mom so I didn't really have a choice. I miss the old days where I didn't know you existed" I push him off my bed so I can lay down and play games on my phone.
"Why are you so mean? You know I'm sensitive" he fake cries.
"Sensitive, my ass. You were just teasing Yuna earlier" I shake my head.
"I'll pay you then" He's talking my language now.
"How much?" I show interest but I'm still holding back because I don't want him to think he can give chump change.
"How much do you want?" He slowly ask.
"200 dollars" I say.
"For driving me? Are you insane?"
"150" I lower it. I always start at 200 dollars because maybe one day he will be crazy enough to agree.
"Twenty bucks" he counters and I laugh at him.
"I know you're not supposed to go to this party so 125" I reject his offer.
"100 and that's it."
"Deal" I happily say.
"Out of all the step siblings I could have, the universe gave me a con artist" he shakes his head.
"So I'll tell our parents that we're gonna watch a movie together then we head to the party" he shares his plan.
"Why do you even like going to these parties? Music is too loud, drunk people everywhere. Just the thought of it is already tiring me out."
"Because we're only young once. I want to live a little" his reason isn't good enough.
"Wise words of people that ends up in prison or dead" I say.
"Just get ready and I'll tell our parents our plan" he finally leaves my room.
"Why am I so nice?" I sigh while rolling off the bed so I can get dressed.
---
We're now at the party and as expected, Beomgyu is going crazy once he has his drinks.
"This is not the movies" Yuna is sitting next to me. We're on the couch since we're not interested in getting drunk.
"Beomgyu lied so he can go to this party. Don't tell our parents. I'll split the money he gave me with you, okay?" I say to my younger sister.
Yuna is my biological sibling. Our mom died giving birth to her so for a while it was just my dad, Yuna and myself. Then when I was 7 or 8 years old, my dad met Beomgyu's mom and later on got married.
She looks around and I can tell she's not comfortable with this scene.
"Just don't leave my side and you'll be okay" I try to make her feel safe.
She clings to my arm while she continues to look around to make sure that she doesn't get attacked out of nowhere.
The loud music is blaring and more people are getting drunk. You see people making out and throwing up in places they shouldn't be throwing up in but that's not my business.
I look around to see if I can find Beomgyu but he's not around. He better not be doing anything stupid.
"You know our parents would kill you two if they find out about this" Yuna states.
"I know" I simply say.
"But this isn't the first time we've done this. I join Beomgyu to whatever party he goes to so he doesn't do anything stupid like drink and drive" I add.
Our parents are what you call respectable people. My dad is a lawyer with his law firm and my stepmom is a chief surgeon. If there's one thing anyone should know about my stepmom, it's that she cares about her image a lot. She wants people to see us as a perfect family so she can be strict sometimes.
My dad used to not care about that but being married to her for a while now, I think he stays quiet to make her happy.
"Does Chaeryeong know about this?" She asks and just hearing her name scares me already.
"Don't you dare tell her!" I cover her mouth.
Chaeryeong is my best friend. We met in middle school and have been friends since. We're in our last year of high school now and we're planning to attend the same college as well.
"Why not? You tell her everything" she mocks me.
"Not this kind of stuff because she will nag me and worry about me at the same time. That's the worst combination because she cares about you but she's too angry to be sweet so she just scolds me and I can't handle that" I explain.
"Then why do things that will make her act like that?" Yuna genuinely questions.
I ponder for a moment, "That's a good question" I just laugh.
After a couple of hours, I finally see Beomgyu talking to a girl. I roll my eyes because I don't understand how he can kiss random people. I feel like it doesn't feel as good if you have no feelings for the person you're kissing.
"Wait here" I instruct Yuna before going to Beomgyu to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.
I have to go around a few drunk people before I make it to my brother. He has this girl pressed up against the wall so I tap his shoulder.
He angrily turns around until he sees that it's me.
"Oh hey Ryujin" he has a goofy smile on his face.
"Remember, don't do anything stupid" I say while I take a glance at the woman he's kissing.
She seems drunk but I don't know how drunk.
"I won't. Now, leave. You're ruining our moment" he shoves me then he goes back to kissing the girl.
I walk away contemplating if I should stop that or not. I mean they're just kissing so what's the harm in that? People kiss random people nowadays and she didn't look like she was against it.
I go back to the couch and I panic when I see Yuna is no longer there. I spin around, trying to search for her.
"Yuna!" I shout as I start walking.
"Yuna!"
I take out my phone to pull up a picture of her so I can ask people if they've seen her. One big problem is, they're all drunks so they don't know what they're talking about.
"Yuna!" I run around in the house. Searching every room and corner.
"Yuna!" I shout again then my phone rings and it's her calling.
I answer right away, "Where the hell are you!?"
"Don't shout" She's crying now.
"I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at myself for leaving you. Where are you?" I try to calm down.
"I'm in the bathroom. Some guy was harassing me so I ran here" she sobs.
"Don't cry. I'll come to you" I hang up the phone to search all the bathrooms in this gigantic house.
I finally find her and she cries in my arms.
"I'm so sorry, Yuna" I hug her. I do feel bad for leaving her.
"Why didn't you come out when I was calling your name?" I ask.
"I was scared" she wipes away her tears.
"Can we go home now? I don't like it here" she cutely ask. She's only 2 years younger than me but sometimes she can really act like a baby.
"We can't because mom and dad will find out that we didn't go to the movies. We can wait in the car if you're more comfortable with that" I suggest and she nods her head.
I guide her out to the car and I just hope that Beomgyu will behave since I'm not there to watch him now.
We get in the car and she lays down in the backseat.
"How are you gonna hide him being drunk?" Yuna ask once she's calmed down.
"Remember, it's not the first time we've done this. We pretend to fight when we get home and we go straight to our rooms. Our parents normally leave us alone to calm down before talking to us. By that time, Beomgyu would have showered already and he'll fall asleep while dad talks to me about how it's normal for siblings to fight and such. With you being in the picture tonight, I'm not sure what the plan is. Thankfully, Beomgyu doesn't get drunk enough to where I have to help him walk or do anything."
"This is good stuff because now if I want something then I can use this against you" I can tell she has an evil smile even though I'm not looking at her.
"You're gonna sell us out? Siblings should stick together" I say.
"I'm not telling our parents. I'll tell Chaeryeong" she laughs.
I grab the steering wheel with my left hand as I turn my body around to look at Yuna, "You wouldn't dare!"
"I can't believe you're more scared of Chaeryeong than our parents" She's still laughing.
"Because I care about what Chaeryeong thinks of me. I don't care about how our parents see me."
"Dad has changed a lot" Yuna is serious now.
"It's what happens when you marry someone, I guess. You change to make them happy" I sigh.
"I remember when dad would tell us that we can be anything we want. We can do anything we set our mind to but now he's pretty much forcing us to either be a doctor or a lawyer" the car moves a little as Yuna sits up now.
"You can still do anything you want, Yuna. I won't let them stop you from pursuing your dreams" I face the front again.
Our stepmom isn't evil or anything. She does care about us but she focuses too much on what a perfect child should be like. She wants us to be successful, I get that but forcing us to be something we're not just doesn't seem right.
After some time, Beomgyu finally gets in the car. He buckles up and he places his head on the window.
"I feel so dizzy" he groans.
"Maybe you should stop drinking" I start the car.
I drive to the gas station we always stop at to get him coffee so he can be more sober.
"I can't believe you find this fun" Yuna comments from the backseat.
"I don't consider this fun. I consider it work because he pays me" I say.
"You two are talking too loud" he covers his ears so to annoy him more, I turn on the radio and crank up the volume.
"Ryujin!" He shouts then whimpers right away from his headache and I laugh.
I grab him coffee once we arrive and he drinks it while I drive us back home.
"God, I feel like shit" Beomgyu has his eyes closed.
"You look like shit" I don't try to be nice to him right now.
When we get to the house, we tell Yuna to go in first and act like she's annoyed with us because she's upset that we spent all night fighting with each other so she couldn't enjoy the movie and dinner.
We wait a few minutes before we go in and act like we want to kill each other. As expected, our parents give us space and then try to talk to us once they think we've calmed down.
My dad leaves my room and I can finally relax. I think this is the last time I'm gonna agree on doing this. I feel like at some point our parents are gonna catch on and I don't know if I wanna be a part of it when it happens.