182 – Family
“Seonghwan, I’m going to visit my sister.”
Ara is holding the suitcase she packed last night in one hand, and holding my hand tightly in the other.
After stroking his head with his other hand, he smiled brightly and opened the front door.
“Please be careful. Do you have to call at night?”
“Yes, I know.”
Today is the day Ara leaves for her overseas performance.
The music world was abuzz for a while with the news that she was coming back after dominating the Billboard charts.
The QTube Gukbbong channel, where foreign singers are said to be more nervous than domestic singers, has become a reality.
“You can’t bother Eunji.”
“I won’t bother you!”
She spit out unrelated words in an attempt to look at him a little longer.
Ara also turned around, put her clothes on, and closed her front door.
“Ha…I have to get ready for school too…”
I have to go early today and prepare for my assignment in advance, so I am busy.
It seems so tragic that there is no time to be lonely.
“Why do other married men and women like it so much when their wives and husbands are not around?”
I will probably never understand for the rest of my life.
I want to be by your side every day, and even if you are by my side, I still find you. I, Ara, will never understand.
“What should we do with our little ones? I won’t be able to see my mom for the next two weeks.”
“Mung.”
He probably thinks Ara will come later.
Look at those bright eyes.
“Let’s get ready, get ready…”
She went out quickly or she would be late, so she changed her clothes and went outside.
If you are late today, you might get kicked out for being absent last week.
***
“Oppa!”
I smiled bitterly as I saw Minji coming towards me to be hugged.
When will my little sister become more mature when she tries to hug her older brother outside?
“I’m just a big body, but I’m still a kid on the inside.”
“hehehe.”
Still, I thought he might get upset if I didn’t hug him, so I opened my hands and hugged him.
So, he smiled and placed my hand on his head.
Even when I was young, I used to put my hand on her head and ask her to stroke it.
Now that Ara has gone abroad, did she know that I will be alone?
When Minji asked her to come pick her up from school, saying that she wanted to see her face after a long time, she went out to pick her up in front of the school.
When I saw her a while ago, she looked thin because she couldn’t eat, but now her face is starting to glow, probably because she’s been eating well.
“Have you gained some weight?”
“You got really healthy because you ate the food your brother sent you, right?”
“Nutrients?”
“I ate it all!”
Next time, I will have to take him to the hospital.
If I don’t take care of him, the only one who will take care of him is his mother, so he might die of loneliness.
At that time, I looked behind Minji.
Some girls were looking this way.
At first, I thought she was just a fan, but seeing Minji looking at her from time to time makes me think she’s a friend.
But it doesn’t feel unfamiliar.
“Hello. Are you Minji’s friends?”
“Ah…Hello! Chi…You’re my friend…!”
“Oppa, a classmate from elementary, middle, and high school who put me to sleep, and a classmate from college.”
Oh my.
Are you saying that these are the Bodhisattva friends who caused my sister trouble?
She heard that she had been living there for nearly half a year.
“Thank you so much for keeping Minji in instead of chasing her away. Even if this is just an example…”
“No, no! We’re really close friends so we don’t argue about things like that!”
When I tried to take out a wad of cash from my wallet, I was stopped.
No matter how young you are, you are much stronger than me.
“Then…”
“Oppa, I’m hungry.”
“Really? Then let’s go eat. My friends are going with us.”
“Thank you!”
“Minji, you get in the passenger seat.”
I wanted to show my gratitude to my friends, so I thought I should buy them something to eat, so I told them to get in the car.
“Wow….This car….”
“It was a Porsche…”
Perhaps because they are women, they seem to be very interested in cars.
When seen from the side, it looks like a regular SUV, but when viewed from the front, you can see a horse neighing loudly.
I picked up my friends who had been looking around for a while and left the school entrance.
Kids these days are good at wearing seatbelts even without being told to do so.
You should fasten your seat belt safely in the back seat too.
“You said you and Minji have been friends since elementary school, right? So I guess you’ve seen me before?”
“Yes! We had a meal together before.”
“Really? When?”
“When… My brother was admitted to the hospital…”
“Hospitalized? Are you talking about elementary school?”
“No, go to middle school…”
“Ah! I remembered!”
Was it the day you fell down on the playground during physical education class?
At that time, I was feeling quite unwell and was admitted to the hospital.
And after I was discharged from the hospital, I ate with my mom, Minji, and my friends as if we were two or three!
These are them!
“I’m sorry, my brother often forgets.”
“No, we’ve only seen each other for about 30 minutes, so there’s nothing we can do.”
“Wow…But how on earth can you all go to dental school?”
“Minji taught us to study.”
“hehehe, I’m embarrassed.”
“…Minji?”
I knew you were good at studying, but are you also good at teaching?
Isn’t it almost a human-level talent that can send students of the same age to dental school in Seoul?
“Minji.”
“Hung?”
Minji answers while smiling brightly.
He seems to be in a very good mood.
“I think it would be okay to try a part-time job as a tutor during your vacation.”
“Really? Then shall we give it a try?”
“My brother will introduce it to me, so give it a try.”
Now that things have come to this, we have to send all of our orphanage younger siblings to Seoul.
If what those friends say is true, Minji is a tremendous talent.
Isn’t it difficult to take care of people if you go to a rural area?
Our little brothers, cheer up!
*
“That’s right. Have you ever been to Minji’s house?”
“Yes, we were really surprised.”
“I was worried because he didn’t come home, but then I got a call bragging that he had a house…”
It looks like he bragged about it the next day.
How surprised would you be when your friend, who had been wandering around without a home, suddenly found a home?
“At first, I was worried that he might have to go to a goshiwon again… If that’s the case, I should just live with him at my house…”
“I was surprised to see that there were two rooms, all furniture and cooking utensils, and even a refrigerator with side dishes.
“At first, I thought they buried it in someone’s land and took the house.”
“Huh? What does that mean?”
Minji turns her head and looks at her friends after hearing her teasing words.
The two quickly cleared their faces and cleared their throats, as if they hadn’t said anything.
“At first, I thought my brother was busy and couldn’t take care of Minji, but it turned out that Minji didn’t even make a phone call to her brother…”
“We were also embarrassed, so we told them to hurry up and make a phone call.”
“So that’s why I called…”
“Hot…..”
It seems like my friends sent me a text message asking me to meet them because they told me to call them.
Where in the world are there really friends like this?
“Minji, you’ve used all your luck in making friends.”
“About 70% from meeting my brother and teacher, and about 30% from meeting my friends? And since the bastards called parents abandoned me when I was born, wouldn’t there still be an additional 100%?”
A huge noise came out at that moment, but no one here panicked.
Minji is a really nice and cute girl, but strangely, whenever her parents are mentioned, she says a lot.
I’ve known it since I was young, and my friends probably already know it because we’ve been together for so long.
“Oops, if I say that one more time, will you get angry?”
As you can see, Minji hates her parents who gave birth to her.
Of course, she doesn’t know anything about her parents since they were abandoned at birth, but she harbors such a deep hatred that she curses them every night.
“Chii….Oppa is so kind.”
“Not very nice.”
Of course, I can say that because I was in the same situation.
Even if other people say, ‘No matter how much you are a parent, isn’t that kind of comment harsh?’, It is not that it is not helpful, but it is the same as pushing Minji’s nuclear button.
“So, why don’t you start calling your mom her mom?”
“No. To me, the word ‘mother’ means a waste worse than nuclear waste.”
“Ugh….”
I knew Minji’s feelings well, so instead of forcing her, I just asked her if she could give it a try just once.
I guess Minji can’t call her mother her mother.
***
After finishing the meal, I dropped off her friends and arrived in front of Minji’s house.
But she sat still for a long time without getting out of the car.
“What’s wrong?”
“Brother, can I sleep at your house just for one day?”
“At home? Hmm… There’s nothing that can’t be done…”
“You said you were raising a dog, right? I’d like to see one…”
I guess the problem was that the parents were mentioned earlier.
When I was young, whenever Minji talked about her parents, she would always come into my arms every night.
However, since she is bringing a woman into the house, I should at least call Ara so that there is no misunderstanding.
“Wait a minute, I’ll just make a phone call.”
“Ara sister?”
“Yes. You left the country today.”
“That’s right… I forgot.”
I saw Minji’s bitterly smiling expression and stroked her head.
She then took out her cell phone and called Ara.
Ah, it’s not good for her to bring someone else to her house without her sister’s permission.
Even though she is family, I think she should get permission from Ara-unni.
Wouldn’t that be the first step to respecting her head of the household?
I am a sensible husband who respects the head of the family.