As the sibling introduction ended, Park Joowoo looked around the living room.
“Where is Sihoo hyung…? Did he go out?”
“He’s in his room. Just a mont.”
The noona strode over and threw open a closed door. Then she let out a lion’s roar.
“Heo Sihoo! Joowoo is here!”
At the thunderous voice, a presence erged from the room. A man in a tracksuit ca out with a hunched posture, and upon seeing Park Joowoo, he smiled warmly and opened his arms.
“You’re here. It’s been a while.”
“You’ve been well, hyung…?”
Park Joowoo ducked and leaned into the chest of the man who was much shorter than him.
After a mont of hugging Park Joowoo, Mr. Heo Sihoo also greeted .
“Hello, I’m Heo Sihoo. I believe you’re two years younger than , is that right?”
“Yes, hyungnim, please speak comfortably!”
“Only if you do too, Mr. Iwol.”
Mr. Heo Sihoo smiled slyly. After pleading that I couldn’t possibly speak casually, I managed to escape the crisis with only Mr. Sihoo speaking comfortably.
The aunt’s grand al started with tteokguk. The dumplings and tteokguk in a large bowl were very plentiful.
“Aunt, my diet…”
“Go eat and then work out. There’s a riverside trail nearby. It’d be nice if you took that Sihoo with you on your way out.”
“Why ?”
“What do you an, why! Because you don’t move an inch from the house. Mushrooms are going to grow on your clothes.”
At his aunt’s verbal onslaught, I couldn’t even open my mouth and just diligently ate my share of tteokguk.
After finishing the tteokguk, we went to a nearby gym to burn off the carbs, bought a day pass, and did so strength training. Mr. Sihoo stayed ho to ‘work on finger strength’. Park Joowoo, ho had solid strength even if his endurance was lacking, had a productive session too.
When we returned to his aunt’s house, his aunt and noona were talking in the kitchen.
“Mom, why are you cutting up so many cucumbers?”
“Joowoo doesn’t really eat fruit and stuff. I should give him a lot of what he does eat.”
“The kid’s going to turn into a rabbit at this rate.”
The thoughtful conversation between the mother and daughter ended with our arrival.
Instead, a 5-person conversation was ford, including us, with a table that looked like it would burst with cucumbers, strawberries, and sweet potatoes.
“Joowoo used to be the tallest in this house, but today it’s Iwol, huh?”
“There’s not much of a difference. Joowoo might beco taller than soon.”
In these situations, you’re supposed to deflect complints and instead praise the son. I’d done my research after the whole ordeal at Jeong Seongbin’s parents’ house.
“Joowoo, when you get taller, give so of your height.”
“It’s pathetic to beg your dongsaeng when you didn’t grow because you overslept.”
“Your noona is right. If you had played that ga half as much, you would have grown to Joowoo’s shoulder height by now. Right?”
At Mr. Heo Sihoo’s single remark, noona and mother scolded him as if they would tear him to shreds. Park Joowoo and I kept our mouths shut and only ate cucumbers.
Then soone’s phone rang. When auntie answered the phone, a familiar male voice was heard.
─ Are the kids there?
“Yeah, they’re here, eating snacks.”
─ Should I buy sothing to eat?
“Are you buying dinner? I made galbi-jjim.”
─ We can eat galbi-jjim and sothing else too. We’ve got mouths to feed.
Auntie looked at us and asked if there was anything we wanted to eat. I shook my head vigorously and exclaid that this was more than enough. If it ca to it, I was willing to snuck out to a 24-hour soup joint nearby.
“Is there anything Iwol can’t eat?”
“As long as it’s not chocolate or coffee…”
At his aunt’s words, Park Joowoo answered quietly. Thank you, Joowoo. Thanks to you, I won’t be carted off in a foreign land.
“The kids eat everything well. But we still have to feed them, so maybe tteokbokki or sothing…”
“Tteokbokki is super high in calories, so that won’t work, right? No?”
Cutting off aunt’s words, noona looked at us and asked. Assistant Manager Song had said that tteokbokki was the enemy of diets.
But co on—are guests in any position to be picky? You eat what you’re given.
“I’m really fine with anything!”
“ too. …As long as it’s mild.”
Park Joowoo also said, blushing. A short while later, Park Joowoo’s uncle returned ho with a large container of tteokbokki.
After eating a delicious dinner and tteokbokki with lots of toppings, I ran along the stream with Park Joowoo. When we returned, the living room was piled high with blankets.
“Iwol, Joowoo’s room is too small for two to sleep in. You sleep in Sihoo’s room. We can just tell Sihoo to sleep in the living room.”
“No, I’ll sleep in the living room!”
“We don’t make a guest sleep on the floor. Heo Sihoo, did you change all the bed covers I told you to change?”
At the aunt’s scolding, Mr. Heo Sihoo hurriedly ca out with a bed cover.
Because of my visit, Mr. Heo Sihoo was kicked out of his room, and auntie had to wash a new bed cover. How could I ever repay this debt?
“Auntie, I’m really fine sleeping in the living room.”
“Are you worried Sihoo will get a cold? There’s an electric blanket in the living room too, so it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
Auntie waved her hands. A heavy lump sat in my chest.
Park Joowoo, who was watching crying inwardly, said cautiously.
“Aunt… can’t Iwol hyung and I sleep in the living room?”
“The two of you?”
“Yeah. I don’t mind sleeping in the living room, so…”
It was a good solution that could send Mr. Heo Sihoo back to his room and persuade his aunt. Indeed, the aunt, perhaps thinking it was because we were really close, readily agreed.
A short while later, Park Joowoo’s white bedding and my share of bedding with an abstract pattern were laid out in the living room. His uncle checked several tis to see if the power button of the electric mat was on, saying we would get a stiff neck if we slept without turning on the mat.
The kindness felt excessive. I had looked after Lee Cheonghyeon because he was composing, and Jeong Seongbin because he was the leader and had a lot on his plate—but I hadn’t really taken care of Park Joowoo much before, which made it feel all the more burdenso.
I told him I would wash up first and escaped to the bathroom. Hot water poured fiercely from the shower.
‘Don’t you hate it when there’s no warm water in the bathroom in winter?’
‘You’ll get frostbite trying to stay clean, and you’ll beco unclean trying to avoid frostbite…’
‘That’s why I shove my hands under my armpits as soon as I wash them.’
‘How much hot water can the staff possibly use… Is the company that broke?’
‘You think they are? The execs were grinning ear to ear after that new app took off.’
Old mories blood, mixed with the steam.
When I turned off the valve, water droplets dripped from the shower head. Even the last drop was warm.
I was about to get dressed and go out, but I heard the sound of a dispute outside.
“Who just sends over that much money out of the blue? If you worked hard and earned it, you should spend a little on yourself too.”
“But still…”
It seed Park Joowoo had given a portion of his settlent money to his aunt. Park Joowoo hesitated.
“Aunt, you spent a lot of money because of …”
Hmm, this felt too personal to be eavesdropping on.
I was about to fill a washbasin with water and wash my face until it peeled, but his aunt’s words struck my ears.
“What kind of parent expects their kid to pay them back for raising them?”
Suddenly, I rembered the words that had been stabbed into my back on the day I left my family ho with my noona, dragging a single suitcase.
‘You should at least be grateful for being raised this much.’
And those words, my noona, walking ahead with my backpack on her shoulders, had said in response:
‘As if they ever really did anything for us.’
The entire ti we were going to the bus stop, my noona had urged .
To never feel sorry for those people, no matter what happened to them. That it was sothing she would handle by herself, and not a problem for to worry about.
To live as if I had no family.
Who did my noona an by ‘handling it herself’?
Mom and Dad? Or was it, by any chance, noona herself?
Splashing cold water on my face cleared so of the miscellaneous thoughts. Instead, my face was tingling. My face in the mirror had turned red from the cold.
I still rembered noona’s words as she looked back at , who was dragging a suitcase.
“You’re going through a lot on such a cold day.”
Maybe my noona saw my face exactly like this back then. My face, heading to a new house, completely frozen and red, because I didn’t have a proper winter coat.
* * *
Park Joowoo and I lay side by side in the living room. When all the lights in the house were turned off, the surroundings beca quiet, as if it had never been noisy at all.
I turned on my phone, which I hadn’t checked for a while because I’d been talking with the aunt and uncle. ssages had piled up in the group chat.
ntal Pillar Jeong Seongbin
[What’s everyone up to?]
King of Cuteness Kang Kiyeon
[I’m talking with my mom and dad.]
20-Year-Old tal Marble Park Joowoo
[I’m about to go wash up]
[Iwol hyung is chatting away]
Cutie Pretty Visual Lee Cheonghyeon
[Lying in bed hehe]
Center Emperor Choi Jeho
[Sleep]
For goodness’ sake. I didn’t chat that much.
But sothing was strange. For so reason, Lee Cheonghyeon’s ssage stuck with .
Lee Cheonghyeon wasn’t the type to see a ssage late. Especially not at a ti with no schedule.
There were no tildes, emoticons, or flashy exclamation marks. This was the guy who would have popped up early and pestered the hyungs to send pictures of what they were doing.
“Joowoo.”
“Yeah.”
“Can you take a look? Am I the only one who thinks Cheonghyeon’s ssage seems odd?”
I lowered the screen brightness of my phone and showed it to Park Joowoo. He quietly stared at the screen.
“You’re right. Did sothing happen…?”
A shadow was cast over Park Joowoo’s face.
Just in case, I sent a short private ssage to Lee Cheonghyeon.
[Everything’s okay?]
[Call if anything happens.]
The read receipt didn’t disappear for quite a while.
Cutie Pretty Visual Lee Cheonghyeon
[Don’t worry~]
The reply that ca back was concise.
Perhaps because of the phone light, Park Joowoo tossed and turned next to in silence. I hurriedly turned off my phone and pulled the blanket over .
‘I should contact him tomorrow.’
Was it because it was my first long-distance outing since the trip to Busan, or was it because it had been a long ti since I had been surrounded by strangers?
Sleepiness quickly ca over my relaxed body.
And the next day, before lunchti.
─ Hyung, can I go back to the dorm a little early?
A call ca from Lee Cheonghyeon.
His voice was drenched in tears.
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