Mia's POV:
A young, petite little girl, barely taller than her father’s knee, stared at the door. She had long hair, amber brown eyes and a cute nose. Her arms were folded, and there was an expression of impatience in her face. Her eyes were focused on the door handle. Finally, after a few minutes of waiting, she sighed and looked away.
"Why isn't Jae-il ho yet?" Mia grunted.
She had been looking forward to her little brother's return ever since her father announced he was going to take him to football practice. He said they'd be back by dinner ti, but it was way past that.
"Mom!"
Eun Ha was busy preparing the table for the family, while Su Ah helped her with the dishes.
"Yes, Mia?"
"Jae-il and Dad are taking too long."
Her mom gave her a look and sighed, putting the last plate down. "They'll co back when they're done, Mia."
"It's not fair! He gets all the attention and I don't!" Mia pouted and stamped her foot. "I'm the older sister!"
Su Ah gave her a quiet, sharp look—which Mia willfully ignored.
Eun Ha chuckled and patted her head affectionately, as if she was a little child.
"Mia, please behave yourself. Your brother will be here soon enough.”
Mia huffed and crossed her arms. She didn't like that her little brother was getting more attention than her, or the fact that he, in particular, didn't give any to her.
In fact, Mia and Su Ah rarely saw him nowadays. He was too serious for his age!
She was about to voice her discontent when a car could be heard parking in the driveway. A mont later, the sound of the front door opening reached her ears.
Her eyes widened. "They're back!"
Mia quickly turned around and ran towards the entrance, Su Ah following close behind her, a little more composed, but just as curious.
"Welco back, dad!" Mia exclaid as she approached him. However, all she received was a quick pat on the head before the man hurried towards his wife.
"Honey, you wouldn't believe it!" Yeong Gu began in excitent, his voice brimming with emotion. He looked like a child who'd just discovered a new toy. "You won't believe it!"
"What is it, dear?" Eun Ha chuckled, placing a pot of stew on the table.
Her husband took a deep breath, and spoke. "I took our son to the local football club today. You know, for him to try it out and see if he likes it. But he..." Yeong Gu paused dramatically, his eyes widening in excitent as he looked at his family in turn, as if to build suspense. "He played amazingly, honey! He's incredible!"
As if on cue, a sweaty Jae-il trailed after his father, a ball under his arm, and a tired, worn-down expression on his face. "Hello."
"That's my boy!" Yeong Gu bead and ruffled his son's hair, who looked at him with mild disapproval. "The coach at the club said that if he keeps practicing like this, he could beco a national star one day!"
"Jae-il!" Eun Ha's eyes sparkled with pride. "You were always so special, but I had no idea you were talented in sports as well. Just today I received Teacher Han's report, saying you've gotten another perfect score in your tests."
Both Yeong Gu and Eun Ha's eyes softened with pride as they stared at the little jewel of the household.
"Uhm... thank you?" Jae-il said uncertainly, not knowing what else to say. The attention was making him uncomfortable. It didn't feel earned, because only he knew of his particular circumstance. "Can I go to my room now...?"
Yeong Gu nodded eagerly. "Yes, of course. Take a bath and wash up for dinner. We have sothing to celebrate tonight!"
Jae-il's gaze t the ground, and he started to walk towards the stairs, but not before he was stopped by his mother's arms wrapping around his shoulders and pulling him into a hug. "I'm so proud of you." She whispered in his ear, her voice filled with emotion. "We're so lucky to have such a wonderful son like you."
Jae-il stood still and awkwardly returned the hug. "Thanks, mom..." He muttered.
Mia and Su Ah observed the whole exchange silently.
As they watched their little brother trudge up the stairs, the older sister crossed her arms, biting her lip. "What's so special about him?" She snapped, resentfully.
Su Ah kept quiet, like the observant little lady that she was. She could sense the tension between her older sister and little brother.
But, for the sake of harmony, she decided to not make it worse.
Mia, however, had always been soone who acted more on her emotions than on rationality. The fact that her brother got so much praise only served to infuriate her further. She had worked hard for her parents' attention too, but it seed like everything ca naturally to Jae-il. It wasn't fair
"I'll be in my room." Mia muttered, and Su Ah sighed. She knew that this haughty sister of hers would be anywhere but her room.
xXx
The water trickled down my skin, hot enough to lt away the stress and soreness from my limbs. I didn’t feel as tired as I would have in my previous life. My stamina had increased significantly. I was younger, more fit, and, most importantly, more determined.
I didn’t want to waste ti—especially not now, with a football finally in my hands. There was a long road ahead if I wanted to regain my forr strength, technique, and speed. But for now, the most important part was to have fun. There’d be no point in being good at kicking a ball if it didn’t bring joy.
I turned off the water and wrapped a towel around myself.
The steam in the bathroom slowly dispersed, and I caught my reflection in the mirror.
Dark black hair, purple eyes, and a small face. I didn’t exactly look like a football prodigy. Not the kind of face you'd expect to see plastered on football magazines—too pretty, too delicate to belong to a professional player.
By the ti I got dressed and was heading down for dinner, Mia intercepted .
"Mia Noona."
She stood by the stairs, arms folded, staring down.
"I’ve heard the news," she began, her tone even, though she glanced briefly away.
Still a little too young for intimidation tactics.
"Congratulations."
I could barely hear her.
"Thank you..." I murmured, unsure what else to say.
She gritted her teeth and pushed off the wall, stalking toward . We still had a considerable height gap, but I’d overtake her in a couple of years easily. “I’m glad you’re having fun, little brother.”
“I appreciate the sentint, but I’m not sure why you’re telling this.”
“Because you’re my precious brother.” She smiled brightly, and I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “So… I was wondering if you could share your secret of success with , hm?”
“There’s no secret. I’m not doing anything special,” I said, giving her a sideways glance. I wasn’t really in the mood for a deep talk.
“Oh… really?” She narrowed her eyes. “Because I think you are doing sothing special. And I don’t like secrets in this house.” Her eyes glittered—not with tears, but with that sharp, glinty frustration of a kid who knew she’d just been excluded from sothing big.
I blinked. “I really just… practiced, Mia Noona.”
“Hah! Practiced.” She scoffed and took a couple of steps back and forth, pacing like a tiny general inspecting her troops. “I practiced my piano every single day for two years and no one ever said I’d be a national star.”
I nodded slowly. “You’re good at piano.”
“That’s not the point!” she snapped, her composure cracking for a mont. “The point is—everyone keeps saying you’re amazing and gifted and incredible, and all you did was kick a ball around for one day. I wrote a poem about Grandma last month and cried while reading it out loud, and all Dad said was ‘That’s nice, Mia.’”
I blinked again. I wanted to say sothing kind, sothing grown-up and wise, but it’s hard to sound like a wise old soul when you still have a baby tooth hanging by a thread.
So I went with honesty. “I didn’t an to steal the attention. I don’t even like being the center of it.”
Mia turned to abruptly. “Then give it back.”
“What?”
“The attention. Share it.”
I stared at her. How did one go about dividing attention like slices of cake? “How do I—?”
She cut off by grabbing my shoulders and spinning toward the stairs. “You’ll find a way, dummy. You’re supposed to be the smartest kid in the house.”
“I thought that was Su Ah.”
“She’s smart, but you’re supposed to be a genius or sothing, which is different, sohow. Adults can never decide which one they like better, though.”
I let out an irritated sigh. “Mia Noona, does it really matter who likes who better? We’re all family, right? If you really need soone to tell you that you’re amazing, I can do it. No need to get validation from our parents; that’s just unhealthy.”
She turned away, her lower lip trembling. “I don’t care about what you think." She muttered. “It’s their opinion that matters.”
I looked at her for a mont—really looked. Then, quietly, I said, “Noona… if their love can be taken away just because soone else shines for a mont, then maybe it was never as real as you thought.”
That stopped her.
Mia froze, her breath catching. Her lips parted, like she wanted to argue—but nothing ca out. She just stood there, staring at with wide eyes, blinking like soone who’d just heard a crack in the foundation of sothing they thought would never break.
I stepped past her, calm and steady. “And for what it’s worth… I’ve always thought you were amazing. Even when you didn’t see at all.”
And with that, I left her standing there in the hall, fists clenched at her sides, her face a tangled ss of anger, confusion, and sothing that looked a lot like fear.
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