The little girl in the corner was new here. He could tell. She had a red handprint on her left cheek still burning brightly. The tears that ran freely down her face reflected the dingy yellow light coming from the bare bulb that hung from the ceiling. He walked over to her, understanding her feelings of loneliness all too well. "Well hello there," he said trying his hardest to put on a convincing smile as he offered his hand to help her up. Her head didn't even reach his waist and she couldn't have been more than three years old. He wiped her face as best he could and brushed off the dust that had already begun to settle on her curly blonde hair. As he looked into her deep brown eyes filled with sorrow and loss, he found himself tasting saltwater as it streamed down his mud crusted skin. "What's your name," he whispered, unable to maintain the false smile. She could only utter a single word between her muffled breathing spasms.
"L…..l…Luna"
"He is SOOO adorable! I'd say he even looks a bit like Teukie," my best friend Scarlet teased a bit too loud.
I blushed at the mention of his name. She knew that I had had a huge crush on the handsome leader ever since I started listening to Super Junior. "SSSHHHH! My brother's right next door!" I whispered through clenched teeth.
"But I thought that this was your brother," she pointed to the boy in the photo she was holding. He was about 10 years old and had the cutest Asian baby face. "And this was you," she moved her finger up the photo to the little girl sitting on his shoulders.
"Yes, but…" I tried to find the right words to describe our relationship. "Well…..that…..that was back then," I said as the atmosphere seemed to tense around me.
"Once a brother, always a brother. That's what I think," she said, rather matter-of-factly. "It 's getting late, I'd better be heading home now. See ya Michelle!"
I was too deep in thought to respond. "Once a brother, always a brother," I murmured to myself with a sad chuckle. "I wish that that was true."
I ran my fingers over the boy's face before flipping the picture over and tracing the letters on the back, fading from the many years of wear from my hands. "Never forget your oppa."
"I won't," I promised before slipping into a peaceful sleep.