9 – sister’s sister
I had a dream.
It is… a memory of the past that has been forgotten for quite a long time.
In that memory, my older sister looked at me when I was still young and asked with a warm smile as usual.
“Jinhyunie, what do you want to do when you grow up?”
“me? I… ”
As I said that, my eyes turned to my older sister in front of me.
A time when you haven’t matured yet.
Nevertheless, at that time, whenever I saw my sister, I would blush a little, feeling that a part of my heart warmed.
The problem was that I didn’t know the courage or method to convey that feeling at all…
Like that, instead of talking about what I really want to do while looking at my sister.
He told a story that immediately popped into his mind.
“I want to have adventures later when I grow up. Go to a city you’ve never seen before, have a strange experience, and meet new people. I want to live so fresh and free.”
“okay? It’s really… I think it’s a good dream.”
An older sister who gives me a warm smile while listening to my words.
Looking at my older sister like that, I felt a little embarrassed and asked cautiously.
“Uh.. then… what do you want to do when you grow up?”
“Well… there are many things I want to do… but I…”
and..
With the words that followed, the older sister showed complex emotions on her face.
Anticipation and joy… and the unknown feeling of sadness.
*
“!…”
Unfamiliar ceiling.
I saw it in front of me when I automatically opened my eyes.
“What.. what time is it now?”
I automatically started looking for my cell phone, worried that I might automatically hear that damned wake-up call in my ears.
But… soon after I recognized where I was
I just stopped moving my hand.
“Ah.. that’s right.. I was discharged..”
I began to feel a deep sense of relief as I realized that what I was seeing in front of me was not a luxurious executive office and drunk couples strewn about like corpses, but a simple family home.
Once again, realizing that I had escaped that damn place, I slowly rose from my seat.
‘Is your sister still sleeping?
It is 6 am now.
As the opening preparations are at 8:00, it will probably take some time for my sister who is sleeping in the bed in the master bedroom to wake up.
Maybe because I drank that much yesterday, I could wake up a little later.
Right after I washed my face to wake up like that
Feeling a little sick from my hangover, I decided to go downstairs to the cafe for a glass of water.
Even though it’s indoors, you can feel the cool yet fresh air of dawn as soon as you open the door and step out.
I started to descend the stairs while inhaling deeply.
In the meantime, I suddenly started to recall the story my sister told me the night before I fell asleep drunk.
‘My sister’s younger brother… Ira.’
In my memory, there was no such thing as an older sister or a younger brother.
I knew that I had lost my parents when I was young and was living with relatives, but I had never heard of any blood brothers or sisters.
About the existence of a younger sister that such an older sister said… I automatically began to think of various things.
‘Even if it’s only me right now, I’m treating it with almost the same feeling as my younger brother. If that’s the case, does that kind of brother mean that the younger brother he knows?’
Considering the current situation, it is natural to think so.
Anyway, one thing was clear: if my sister wanted to introduce that person to me regarding her future job, as I said yesterday, I had no particular reason to refuse it.
‘It’s not someone else, it’s because my sister introduced me to it. What’s the problem? If something doesn’t suit me, then I just have to refuse.’
As much as I had no intention of living as an unemployed while eating my severance pay anyway, I decided to think about this issue as positively as possible.
With such thoughts in mind, I arrived at the cafe before I knew it and poured water into a glass placed on one side.
at that time..
“… .”
“uh?”
The next moment, I turn my head to the gaze I feel from somewhere.
And there…
“… sister?”
“… ”
Sitting there is the figure of my older sister in a black suit.
But immediately after
‘… huh? Oh, no… hey?’
I came to recognize that she was not the Sooyoung noona I knew, but a different person.
His facial features were strikingly similar to his sister’s.
Even if it’s the same person, I can’t believe it.
However, in terms of appearance, she had only one difference.
That is, unlike her older sister, who has black eyes, her eyes have a bright red light that is easily recognizable.
However, other than eye color, the decisive difference was the atmosphere.
It feels calm like her older sister, but from the woman in front of her, instead of the warmth contained within, she felt an atmosphere of coldness.
That’s how it was at that time when I was feeling a bit strange about this person in front of me.
“Are you… Lee Jin-hyun?”
“yes? Ah yes. you’re right. My name is Lee Jin-hyun, but…”
“okay..”
After saying that, she slowly nodded and approached me.
At one point, a woman who looked just like my older sister approached me, even though she felt different.
For a moment, I felt my heart pounding.
Right after standing right in front of me like that,
She bowed and greeted me in a polite voice.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Lee Jin-hyun. My name is Iare. He is the younger sister of Mr. Han Su-yeong, and he was introduced to me by my older sister.”
“Ah.. yes.. nice to meet you.”
She introduced herself as her sister’s younger sister.
Iare.
As I listened to her words, I could clearly understand the story that she was my sister’s younger sister, putting aside the context.
If someone who resembles this much isn’t a sister, it’s to the point where you might think it’s even more strange.
‘by the way. I really didn’t know that my sister had a younger brother like this? No, it might be that the story is a bit complicated as the surnames are different in the first place..’
As Suyeong’s noona lost her parents when she was young, there was a possibility that she had a younger brother who separated in the process.
That’s how I understood the current situation in my own way. The person named Iare looked at me and said with a slightly puzzled voice.
“By the way… it seems like I came too soon at the wrong timing.”
“Yes?.. Ah… ”
in her words,
Suddenly, I realized one fact and started to feel embarrassed.
To describe my condition at this moment, I just washed my face and hair right after waking up from sleeping on the sofa.
As for the attire, he was wearing a half-unbuttoned shirt and slippers dragging his feet.
Plus, he hasn’t shaved yet, so it’s a bonus that he has a thick beard growing on his chin.
“Ah.. that.. time.. Excuse me. That…then wait a minute…”
“Okay, then I’ll wait for a while.”
Blushing like that, I hurriedly began to go upstairs.
‘Damn it… He’s someone I might be working with in the future, but from the very beginning he’s like this…’
Honestly, as I visited at a fairly early time, this kind of mistake of mine was a part that the other side had to endure to some extent.
that..
Even if it’s the first time I’ve seen it…
I want to show a little bit of a good side to her who resembles my older sister.
It was an agitation of emotions stemming from such trivial greed.
*
After Lee Jin-hyun hurriedly went upstairs,
Are, who was left alone, quietly sat down and poured water into the glass in front of her.
At first glance, her appearance seemed to maintain the same calm.
But at this moment,
Her hand holding the glass of water was shaking very slightly.
What is contained in it is an emotion called tension.
Without trying to express it as much as possible, she began to drink some cold water in haste, trying to calm herself as much as possible.
‘Lee Jin-hyun…’