Ye Jun

I scraped the bottom of the tub with the spoon for the hundredth time, forcing another mouthful down even though my throat felt like it was closing up. The ice cream tasted like regret and too much sugar now. Si Woo sat on the edge of my bed watching me like a prison guard who hadn’t slept in three days. His hair was still sticking up funny from the water I dumped on him and his eyes were bloodshot as hell.

"Keep going," he muttered, voice hoarse. "You’re not stopping until it’s gone."

I glared at him so hard my head hurt. "You’re enjoying this way too much, you sadist."

"Enjoying? I drove across half the city at three in the morning because you threatened to ruin our entire family before Dad even had his first coffee. Eat the damn ice cream, Ye Jun."

I shoved another spoonful in and immediately regretted it. My stomach flipped hard. I dropped the spoon and pressed both hands over my mouth, eyes watering.

Si Woo’s face changed fast. "Shit... bathroom. Now."

He grabbed my arm and basically dragged me off the bed. I barely made it to the toilet before everything came back up in one nasty wave. Strawberry cheesecake tasted even worse the second time. I was coughing and spitting when I felt his hand on my back, rubbing slow circles even though he was still muttering curses under his breath.

"You’re such a pain in the ass," he said, but his voice wasn’t as sharp as before. "Couldn’t just let me sleep, huh? Had to make me your personal delivery slave and then throw it all up anyway."

"Shut up," I gasped between heaves. "It’s your fault my body’s like this. You did this to me."

"Yeah, blame the guy who just spent three hours hunting for graham cracker ice cream while you were blackmailing him. Real fair."

I stayed bent over the toilet for a while, breathing hard. His hand kept moving on my back, warm and steady, and for a second it actually felt nice. Then I remembered we were supposed to be stopping all this brother stuff and the nice feeling turned sour.

When I finally sat back on the cold floor, Si Woo handed me a cup of water without saying anything. I rinsed my mouth and looked up at him. He looked wrecked. Dark circles, messy hair, hoodie half-zipped like he’d thrown it on in a hurry.

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. "You look like shit."

"Thanks. You look like you just lost a fight with a tub of ice cream."

We stared at each other. The bathroom light was too bright and made everything feel more real than I wanted. I could hear the clock ticking in the hallway. Morning was coming way too fast.

Si Woo sighed and rubbed his face hard. "Listen. We need to set some rules or this is gonna blow up in our faces."

"Here we go," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

"I’m serious, Ye Jun. No more 2am blackmail. No more dumping water on my head. And definitely no more threatening to tell Mom and Dad every time you get a craving or feel like shit. That crap stops today."

I laughed, but it came out bitter. "Oh, so now you want rules? After you knocked me up and told me we’d figure it out together? Now you want boundaries like we’re some normal brothers who just argue over the TV remote?"

His jaw tightened. "I’m trying to keep us from getting caught, dumbass. You keep pushing it and one day you’re actually gonna say something in front of them and then what?"

"Then maybe I won’t have to do everything alone!" My voice cracked and I hated it. "You think this is fun for me? I’m the one puking every day. I’m the one whose stomach is getting bigger and I have to hide it with baggy shirts like some idiot. And now Dad wants to ship you off to another country like it’s no big deal. What am I supposed to do when you’re gone, huh? Just keep pretending everything’s fine while I get fat and the baby starts kicking?"

Si Woo opened his mouth but I kept going, words spilling out faster.

"You’re not the one carrying your brother’s kid. You’re not the one scared shitless every single second. So don’t stand there acting all responsible with your stupid rules when you’re probably dying to get on that plane and leave me here to deal with it."

"I never said I wanted to leave!" he snapped back, voice rising. "I told Dad I wasn’t sure, but he keeps pushing. You think I like seeing you like this? You think I sleep good knowing you’re throwing up and stressing out every night?"

"Then stop talking about rules and actually be here!"

We were both breathing hard now. Si Woo looked like he wanted to punch the wall or hug me or both at the same time. Instead he just stood there clenching his fists.

"You’re impossible," he muttered. "One minute you’re blackmailing me for ice cream, next minute you’re yelling at me for trying to keep us safe. Make up your damn mind."

"My mind is made up. I’m terrified, okay? I’m fucking scared and you’re the only person who knows and you might disappear for months. So excuse me if I don’t feel like playing nice and following your perfect little boundaries."

He didn’t answer right away. The silence felt heavy. Then he crouched down next to me on the bathroom floor, close enough that I could see how tired his eyes really were.

"I’m scared too," he said quietly. "You think I’m not? Every time you run to the bathroom during dinner I’m sitting there wondering if Mom or Dad is gonna figure it out. Every time Dad talks about the abroad program I feel sick because I don’t know how to tell him no without raising questions. And yeah... I still feel shit for what we did. But I also can’t just switch it off when you need me."

My throat got tight. I looked away and stared at the tiles instead.

"Then stop trying to set rules like we can control any of this," I said, voice smaller. "It’s not working. We said we’d stop but every time something happens you’re still here. And I hate needing you this much but I do."

Si Woo let out a long breath. "Yeah. I know."

We stayed like that for a minute, both of us too exhausted to keep yelling. Then he stood up and pulled me to my feet.

"Come on. We gotta clean up before they wake up. Your bed’s probably still wet from the water I wore earlier and there’s an empty ice cream tub that looks suspicious as hell."

We moved fast, messy and half-asleep. I stripped the wet sheets while Si Woo took the tub and spoon to the kitchen to wash them. He came back and helped me put fresh covers on, both of us working without talking much. My arms felt heavy and my eyes kept wanting to close.

By the time the sky outside turned gray, the room looked normal again. Mostly. Si Woo still looked like he’d been hit by a truck though.

We went back to the bathroom so he could splash water on his face. While he was drying off I lifted my shirt a little and looked at my stomach in the mirror. It was definitely rounder than last week. Not huge, but enough that loose shirts weren’t going to hide it forever.

"Shit," I whispered.

Si Woo turned around and saw me staring. He stepped closer, eyes serious. "How far along are you now, anyway?"

"I don’t know exactly. Like... almost two months? Maybe more." My voice shook a little. "It’s starting to show for real. What if they notice?"

He didn’t say anything at first. Just looked at my stomach in the mirror, then at my face. His hand moved like he wanted to touch it but he stopped himself.

"We’ll figure it out," he said finally. "Baggy hoodies. Maybe say you’ve been stress-eating because of exams or something."

"That’s your plan? Stress-eating?" I let out a sharp laugh. "Real original, genius."

"You got a better one?"

"No," I admitted, shoulders dropping. "I don’t have anything. That’s the problem."

He rubbed the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable. "We need to talk about long-term stuff soon. Not just surviving the next week. Like... actual plans. Doctors. Money. What happens when you can’t hide it anymore."

Hearing him say it out loud made my chest feel tight again. "Yeah. But not right now. I’m too tired to think about any of that."

The sound of Mom’s alarm went off down the hall. We both froze.

"Shit, go to your room," I hissed, pushing him toward the door. "And try to look less like you stayed up all night committing crimes."

"Hard to do when my little brother poured water on me and made me drive around like a delivery boy," he shot back, but he was already moving.

I climbed into bed quick and pulled the covers up. A few minutes later I heard Dad’s voice from the kitchen, loud and cheerful like always.

"Si Woo? You up already? You look terrible. Did you sneak out last night or something?"

My heart jumped into my throat. I stayed completely still, listening.

Si Woo’s voice came back, tired but trying to sound normal. "Nah, just didn’t sleep great. Bad dreams or whatever."

"Bad dreams?" Dad laughed. "At your age? Must be that promotion stress getting to all of us. Anyway, your mom and I have news."

I heard Mom’s voice next, excited. "We’re leaving for Jeju in less than two days! We’ve already booked everything. Which means you boys will have the house to yourselves for almost two whole weeks. Think you can behave and not burn the place down?"

Si Woo made some vague agreeing noise. I could picture his face right now, trying not to look guilty.

Dad kept talking. "We’re trusting you two to take care of each other, okay? Cook proper meals, don’t stay up too late, help each other out. You’re brothers. Lean on each other while we’re gone."

I almost laughed out loud from pure panic. Lean on each other. If they only knew how much leaning had already happened.

"Yeah, sure," Si Woo said. His voice sounded a little strained. "We’ll be fine."

Mom added, "Ye Jun, you hear that? Take it easy on your brother while we’re away. He might be going abroad soon too, so enjoy the time together."

My stomach twisted again, and this time it wasn’t from the ice cream. Two weeks alone with Si Woo. No parents. No one to walk in on us. The thought made me feel both relieved and terrified at the same time.

I stayed in bed pretending to be half-asleep until they left for work. The second the front door closed, Si Woo appeared in my doorway, arms crossed.

"Two weeks," he said flatly. "They want us to ’take care of each other’ for two weeks."

I sat up slowly, still feeling gross from the vomiting. "Yeah. Funny, right? They have no idea how much taking care you’ve already been doing."

He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "We need to talk for real this time. No yelling. No blackmail. Just... actual talking."

I looked at him standing there, still exhausted, still angry, still worried. Part of me wanted to snap at him again. The other part just wanted him to sit on the bed and stay close like he did in the bathroom earlier.

"Fine," I said, sighing. "Talk."

Si Woo sat down on the edge of the bed, same spot as before. He looked at me for a long second, then at my stomach under the blanket.