Chapter 5 Something About The Kwon’s #2
“He wishes!” Jiwon giggled. “He’s stuck with us I fear. But he’s used to it by now, constantly being surrounded by XX chromosomes.”
“He’s just like me,” I realized, and Jiwon cocked her head at me in confusion,
“How so?” she wondered.
“Because I’m constantly surrounded by XY chromosomes, so I understand what it must be like for him,” I stated, and Bae smiled at me sheepishly.
“Wynter would love that,” Bae empathized. “To have someone to understand that part of him…well any part of him—he’s a little odd but that’s okay!”
“Oh!” Sydney gasped at Bae’s forwardness. “You’re incredibly forthcoming aren’t you?”
“Oh, you have no idea, this is her being tame!” Jiwon gestured for us to follow her upstairs. “Don’t worry you’ll get used to it, now come on!”
Sydney and I turned to give each other the same knowing look, her saying that we would get used to it, insinuating that they intended to keep us around to find out.
And that, that feeling of knowing that you were wanted, the feeling of knowing that you were being considered.
It was new, and it was lovely. And so we followed Jiwon and Bae up the winding staircase into the hallway to their bedrooms. Bae’s room was wide open and carried the strong scent of paint fumes—they told us to avoid it for now.
There were four bedrooms upstairs, just the right number for their family.
Almost as if this house was made for them right from the very start.
“This is my humble abode, come in come in!” Jiwon insisted. The furniture was all over the place and she had a giant bookshelf in the corner lined up with everything from classic literature to romantic Japanese mangas. “I have very diverse taste.”
“A refined palate if you will,” I added and she giggled.
“See? You get it,” she said, “reading Charles Dickens by day and unspeakable animated love triangles by night.”
“Ah the intricacies of womanhood!” Sydney marvelled, “I too read Little Women by day and boyband fanfiction on the internet after hours, it’s rather thrilling, actually very invigorating for the mind."
“I have found my people!” Jiwon mused. “Thank God.”
“You must read a lot…” I noticed the typewriter on her desk too. “And write.”
“Ah yes, delusion is my true calling, I’ve known that for a long time,” Jiwon tells us as I help her move her desk into place and Sydney helps alphabetically organize her bookshelf, as one does, of course.
“I just like making things up. People seem to think I’m really good at it too.”
And as she spoke about books and words and fantasy, there was a glimmer in her eye that I hadn’t quite spotted before—perhaps it was only ignited by that which truly fueled her soul.
She was beautiful when she was talking, I wanted her to talk to me more about anything and everything.
All I knew is that I would listen. Jiwon Kwon was easy to listen to, and effortlessly interesting.
“So where are you guys moving here from, what brings you to Monterey?” Sydney questioned.
“The accent wasn’t a dead giveaway, huh? I would’ve thought a Union Jack would’ve been hovering over my head like a Sim the minute I spoke,” she joked and we laughed. “We grew up in Nottingham, but we move a lot, usually we just go wherever Wynter takes us.”
“Nottingham, huh? Fancy,” Sydney marvelled, “do you miss it there, miss your friends and family I mean?”
“Our family lives in Seoul, and as for friends we usually tend to not get too close when we make those, considering the fact that we are such transient creatures in every place we move to,” Jiwon explained as we pushed her bed frame into place as well.
“Bae and Wynter are more so the social butterflies than Beck and I, we tend to live in our worlds.”
“Ah you’re half Korean!” Syd realized a little too late. “And your other half?”
“English. My dad met my mom in university,” Jiwon told us, “a story far better than any on my shelves that’s for sure.”
“I’ll take your word for it. Your room is really pretty, you’ve got lots of cool stuff in here.” I glanced at the boxes full of assorted trinkets.
“Thanks, it’s a mess right now as you can tell, but I’ll get things in order soon once we settle in,” she promised.
Just then we heard the front door open and conversation downstairs. “Ah! Jiwon beamed. “Beck and Wynter are back from the bakery, they’ll come up to say hi soon.”
I don’t know why the mention of saying hi to Wynter Kwon, a boy I barely knew a damn thing about at the time, made my stomach do flips like it did.
I was far more nervous than I ever was before any recital, and I had come to the conclusion that I had to have been losing my mind. I was acting entirely beside myself.
“Jiwon where’s my hair curler, I know you have it!” Beck stormed upstairs, pushing open the door, frustration evident in her expression. “Oh.”
“I don’t even curl my hair, I don’t have it,” Jiwon refuted.
“Hi!" Sydney beamed, waving excitedly. “I’m Syd, I live next door and this is Yesoh, so does she.”
“Uh huh…cool,” Beck acknowledged absentmindedly. “You’re the girls our dad’s insisting we hang out with?”
“Well yes,” I answered, and she shook her head slowly.
“Good luck around here.” She smiled, but there was little to no humour in her tone. “Jiwon, hair curler, now.”
“I told you I don’t have your stupid hair—”
“I was using it on my Barbies…” Bae walked in and handed her sister the rather expensive-looking hair curler. "Are you mad at me?"
“You were using my L’Oréal hair curler for your what?” Beck, clearly starting to lose her temper, grabbed it from the younger grasp. “Oh you’re so d—”
“Bae.” A gentler voice spoke from behind them as a hand was placed atop her head to calm the little girl’s nerves. “What do we do when we want something that does not belong to us?”
“But she wasn’t going to let—” Bae protested towards her older brother who was now staring down at her with a stern gaze.
“What do we do?” he repeated himself, and Bae took a deep breath in defeat.
“We ask nicely and we don’t take things from each other,” she relented.
“And why is that?” he countered, turning her around to face him.
“Because we aren’t heathens,” she quoted, and I couldn’t help but smile to myself.
He nodded. “Exactly now apologize to Beck.”
“I’m sorry I stole your hair curler to give my Malibu Barbie a beach blowout like in Barbie in A Mermaid Tale Two,” Bae apologized bowing. Beck shook her head slowly.
“Yeah yeah, whatever, I accept your apology,” she gave in.
And it was in that moment when the Kwon siblings were all standing next to each other that I was able to realize the uncanny resemblance between them.
They all had the same suede black, dark hair except that Wynter’s was a slightly lighter brown.
They all had the same white, skunk stripe that sliced through almost as if it were dyed that way.
But I knew better. I’d seen a few people like that before. It was genetic.
Beck’s hair was shoulder length and curly, she had more prominent cheekbones that gave her a far more mature look.
You could tell that she was the oldest not just in the way that she carried herself, but her eyes seemed just a little bit wiser, too.
Or at least, as wise as you could be at the age of sixteen.
Her lips were full and pillow away with a sharp Cupid’s bow and even sharper stare. She wore a blue skirt and bikini top.
Jiwon’s hair was the longest and it was a straighter midnight black that cascaded down to her hip bone.
Her cheeks were fuller, and she had a rounder face than Beck did.
Adorning her with a more gentle, and doe-like appearance.
Jiwon had braces at the time too, and you could hear it in the lisp when she spoke.
She wore thick-framed glasses and a thick woollen sweater, even in the midst of summer.
It was a Christmas sweater with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on it.
It wasn’t even Christmas. But I got the sense that the world was whatever Jiwon made it.
Bae, the youngest, was the spitting image of her older brother, they had the same nose and long eyelashes.
They both had the same white stripe in their eyebrow above their left eye.
They were all tall which made Sydney and I feel minuscule—almost like they were royalty and this was their little palace, and we were just subjects.
“Thank you.” Wynter sighed then his gaze met mine, locking me in. “It’s nice to see you again, Soh, you too, Sydney. You should come around more often, the girls…they’re so terribly lonely.”
“We are not!” Jiwon refuted. “Get out of here!”
“God, You’re so annoying.” Beck rolled her eyes, walking away.
“I’m only teasing.” He shook his head then disappeared down the hall, still speaking, “But I meant every word before. I met your brothers by the beach, they invited me over to play water polo out back, so I’ll see you around later this afternoon.”
“We will!” Sydney assured him.
“Sure, see you around,” I agreed.
We helped the girls with their rooms for the rest of the day—we stayed for about two hours.
We didn’t even realize how fast time was passing because we were having so much fun.
After everything, their father proceeded to make us a jar of lemonade in the kitchen, and we all gathered around it and filled them in on all the neighbourhood gossip.
We made sure to tell them about all the best spots in town to see the stars and to get food to eat.
We welcomed them to the neighbourhood the best way that we knew how.
Soon enough, it was time for us to leave. As Jiwon escorted us out, I paused as I noticed the huge trophy shelf in the corner by the credenza. It was towering from floor to ceiling of shimmering silver and gold trophies and medals all displayed in an array. “Wow you guys must be really talented…”
“Yeah, holy shit!” Sydney mused in shock looking closer. “What do you guys compete in?”
“Oh…yeah those aren’t ours.” Jiwon scratched the back of her neck.
“Who are they for then?” I wondered.
“Read,” she said, and I did it, moving my eyes over every label on every trophy and certificate. She was right. Every single award belonged to one person, and one person in this house only.
“Kwon Wynter…Kwon Wynter…Kwon Wynter,” I read aloud. “What does he…”
“He’s a figure skater, I told you earlier that every time we move it’s at his accord, yes? Well, this is it. This is his thing, he was born for the ice. And as you can see, he’s really good at it, so yeah,” she explained to us.
Just then, my gaze shifted to the family photo on the table next to it, it was an old one, because the girls looked much younger than they did.
Now, some of their eyes maybe even a little brighter with childhood wonder.
It was then that I noticed their mother in the photograph.
I hadn’t seen her around the house at all, and I didn’t get the sense that she was here at all.
And judging by the way that Jiwon swallowed hard, and was looking at me like I had just seen something I wasn’t supposed to.
I got the sense that I shouldn’t ask and that I should leave things as they were.
But I could not help but wonder even still where she was.
We made our way outside and wished them goodbye as we made our way down Clementine Street and away from the little blue house.
But when we looked back, we saw them all standing by the window on the top floor in Beck’s room.
They waved at us from all the way up there, and we waved back, a warm feeling spreading across my chest. But there was also a darkness that lingered after seeing that photograph.
There was just something about the Kwon girls.