The Cure for Second Lead Syndrome by Amanda Abram

CHAPTER 1

I wanted to hurt Jeong Mi Kyong. I wanted to reach into the TV screen and slap some sense across that beautiful face of hers. Could she not see how much pain and suffering she was causing Lee Kang Dae? Or did she just not care?

He had been in love with her for years, ever since they were nine. They met when Kang Dae fell off the swing set and skinned his knee. Mi Kyong had rushed over to see if he was okay. She gave him a Band-Aid that she had been carrying in her back pocket and that was the beginning of a beautiful lifelong friendship.

Fifteen years later, they were still best friends, and Kang Dae had recently come to the realization that he was in love with Mi Kyong. But he was too late. The day before Kang Dae was hit with that startling revelation, Mi Kyong met Kim Jae Sung, a wealthy and powerful businessman. His good looks and charm instantly grabbed Mi Kyong’s attention. And despite him being cold and condescending toward her, Mi Kyong quickly found herself falling for the guy, even though her adorably sweet best friend was obviously trying to win her heart—

“Why do you watch this crap?” My brother Braden dropped down beside me on the couch and stuck his grubby hand into the bag of chips that was sitting between us.

“This,” I replied, pausing the show and pointing to the TV, “is not crap.”

“Sure, it is.” He shoved a handful of sour cream and onion potato chips into his mouth. “It’s got subtitles.”

“So?”

“So, who wants to read while watching TV?”

“I do. Now go away.” I scooted to the other side of the couch and hit the play button on the remote.

“How is it that you and I are so different?” Braden asked. “We’re twins.”

“Fraternal twins,” I reminded him.

Despite sharing a cramped space in the womb for nine months and being born only minutes apart, Braden and I couldn’t have been more different. Braden was tall. I was short. His hair was dark, almost black. Mine was light brown. His eyes were hazel. Mine were blue. He was outgoing and popular. I was introverted and a bit of a loner. We sometimes wondered if maybe one of us had been switched at birth. Since Braden seemed to take after my parents more than I did, I always figured the switched baby had been me.

Braden sat back and glanced at the TV screen. “So, what’s this show about, anyway?”

I blinked at him in surprise. This was the first time he had ever expressed interest in anything I liked. “Um, well, see, there’s this woman named Jeong Mi Kyong, and she has fallen for a rich businessman named Kim Jae Sung, even though he has so far been kind of rude to her. Meanwhile, there’s this other guy—”

“Wait, let me stop you right there.” Braden pushed off the couch. “I just realized that I don’t care.” He threw me a smirk over his shoulder before heading for the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to the TV. I didn’t want to tell him about it anyway.

This Love of Ours was, so far, the best Korean drama I had ever watched. Granted, I said that about every new K-drama I watched. Each one was always better than the last. My best friend, Natalie, felt the same way. Usually we would watch them together, but she left yesterday to spend the next week with her grandparents at their camp. We agreed to keep watching on our own in the meantime and discuss the episodes when she got back.

“Brianna.”

I froze at the sound of my mom’s voice behind me. Uh-oh. I got so caught up in my binge-watching that I lost track of time. Glancing down at my watch, I saw that it was almost six o’clock; Mom just got home from work.

“Hey, Mom,” I said casually. I quickly turned off the TV even though it was too late. I had already been caught.

My parents didn’t have many strict rules for me and Braden to follow. However, when Mom left for work this morning, she specifically requested that I keep my television-watching to only two hours. And while she couldn’t necessarily prove how long I’d been sitting in front of the TV, she had left a list of chores she wanted us to do before she got home. I hadn’t done any of mine yet.

I turned around to see Mom standing in the doorway of the living room with her eyebrows raised and her hands on her hips. “How long have you been sitting in front of the TV today?”

“Since this morning,” Braden answered for me as he reappeared in the living room.

I shot him a glare that he made sure to ignore.

“Seriously?” Mom pursed her lips. “Bria, I told you not to spend so much time watching TV.”

“I know, I know.” I jumped up from the couch. “Don’t worry. I’m going to start vacuuming right now. I’ll vacuum the wholehouse.”

“Sweetie, that’s not what I’m worried about, and you know it.” Mom sighed and motioned for me to follow her into the kitchen.

“It’s summer,” she said as she dropped her purse onto the counter and started sifting through the mail in her hands. “You should be outside enjoying the beautiful weather with your friends.”

I wasn’t Braden; I didn’t have an endless supply of people to hang out with. I had a small group of friends, but I pretty much only ever hung out with Natalie. And since she was going to be away for a while, I had nothing better to do with my time than to sit and watch K-dramas.

“I’m not going to let you waste your summer away,” Mom said.

“I’m not wasting my summer away. Once Natalie gets back, she and I have lots of fun stuff planned for the next few weeks.”

It was sort of the truth. Nat and I did have a lot of plans for our summer vacation, but those plans mostly consisted of binge watching more Korean dramas together. But I chose not to disclose that little detail to Mom.

“And that’s fine. But for the next week, until Natalie gets back, I don’t want you watching any more TV.”

My jaw dropped in horror. “What?”

“I think you heard me.” Mom set the mail down on the counter. “I’m changing the password to all our streaming services.”

A lump of panic began to form in my throat. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, I’m very serious.”

“Mom, I’m sorry I didn’t vacuum today. I forgot to.”

“Yeah. You forgot because you were glued to the television screen.”

I glanced down at the floor in shame. “Well, things were starting to get good on This Love of Ours,” I mumbled.

Mom sighed. “Bria, it’s a silly TV show.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “It’s not silly.”

“Honey, I know you like watching those dramas of yours, but you can’t let them be a replacement for real life. Not only are they preventing you from doing the chores I ask you to do, but they are preventing you from going out and living your life.”

“That’s a bit of an exaggeration.”

“Is it? Bria, it’s Friday night. You should be begging me and your father to let you go out with friends tonight.”

“But Natalie is out of town, remember? If she’s not here, I have nowhere to go.”

Mom appeared to mull that over for a moment before her face lit up. “Actually, you do have somewhere to go.”

I arched a brow. “Where?”

“Hey, Braden!” she called out past me. “Come here for a minute, please!”

Confused, I turned and watched as my brother sauntered back into the kitchen, popping another chip into his mouth. “What’s up?” he asked, spewing crumbs at me as he spoke.

“Bria is looking for something to do tonight,” Mom replied, giving Braden a look as if he should know what that meant.

But he just stared at her. “Okay…”

“And Natalie is out of town,” Mom continued, intensifying her look.

Braden scratched his head and looked to me for clarification. “Um…cool?”

Mom let out an annoyed breath and cut to the chase: “Aren’t you going to a bonfire tonight with your friends?”

My stomach dropped as I realized where this was going.

“Yeah,” he replied, and then it finally dawned on him what Mom was getting at. “Oh, wait…”

“You should bring your sister with you.”

“No thanks,” Braden and I said at the same time.

Mom crossed her arms tightly over her chest, which meant she was about to go into Stern Mom Mode. “Sorry, let me reword that: you will bring your sister with you.”

Braden and I groaned in unison. The bonfire was being thrown by Jordan Anderson, the most popular guy at our school. There was no way Braden wanted to bring me with him. He knew he would have to babysit me the whole night. I didn’t want to go because I wouldn’t know anyone there.

I placed a hand over my abdomen and doubled over slightly. “I’m actually not feeling well.”

“Nice try, but you were feeling fine a second ago.” Mom turned to Braden. “You don’t mind bringing Bria along, do you?”

“Um…” he hesitated before forming his mouth into the biggest, most insincere smile I had ever seen. “Not at all. I would love to bring Bria along with me. I mean if she wants to go.”

He knew I didn’t want to go, and I knew he didn’t want me to go. But we both knew that Mom wasn’t going to take no for an answer, so I mirrored his insincere smile with one of my own and said, “Yup. I definitely want to go.”

Mom grinned and placed a hand on each of our shoulders. “Great! It’s settled. I’ll start dinner.”

She waved us away, and as soon as we were out of the kitchen, Braden turned to glare at me.

“Gee, thanks,” he muttered.

“For what?” I asked.

“For making Mom talk me into bringing you to the bonfire tonight.”

“Hey,” I said, holding up my hands in defense, “I had nothing to do with that. She came up with that idea all on her own. You know I don’t want to go to that stupid party.”

“It’s not stupid, and it’s not a party—it’s a bonfire.”

“Well, whatever it is, I want no part of it.” I brushed past him toward the staircase. “But these are Mom’s orders. We have to do as she says.”

“Okay,” he said, following me. “At least tell me you’re going to change into something else before we leave.”

I glanced down at my attire: gray yoga pants and a mesh tank top over a sports bra. I’d had the intent of doing a workout earlier but started my This Love of Ours marathon instead.

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

“First of all, we’re going to a bonfire, not the gym. Secondly, those pants are way too tight.”

I couldn’t help but smile at that. Braden hated it when I wore clothing he deemed “too revealing” or “too tight”, especially when I was around his friends. Because we were twins and Braden himself was extremely good-looking, he seemed to be under the impression that I was too. He usually liked to keep his friends a safe distance away from me, as though he was worried one might try to hit on me or something. But he had nothing to worry about; no boy had ever tried hitting on me and I was pretty sure they weren’t going to start tonight.

“Fine, I’ll change.” We started up the stairs. “By the way, how long are we planning on staying there?”

“We’re planning on staying as long as I want to stay there,” he replied with a smug smile. “Probably until curfew.” When we reached the top of the stairs, he disappeared into his bedroom without another word.

Great. I was going to be stuck at a party for hours with a bunch of people I had no interest in talking to while my brother would probably be off somewhere making out with some random girl.

Not my idea of a fun night.

Oh well. At least I could bring my phone with me. Assuming Mom wouldn’t rush to change all the passwords to everything as soon as I left, I could still watch episodes of This Love of Ours while I sat on a log and waited for the night to be over.

It was better than nothing.