Like any younger sister with an older brother, Doa was disgusted whenever Won Dogyeong was mentioned, and in contrast, she followed me well as the oppa from next door. The reason her face had been stiff all along wasn’t because of Yongyong, but because she was dissatisfied with Won Dogyeong and me becoming a set package.
“Yongyong?”
“This one.”
I tapped my belly to show her. Doa’s eyes widened.
“Why Yongyong?”
“Mom had a dragon dream.”
I gestured toward Mom moving around in the kitchen. Doa opened her mouth wide and blinked, then soon let out a small exclamation.
“Then I’m going to be Yongyong’s aunt?”
“Yeah.”
“I haven’t even graduated from college yet, what should I do?”
“What does that matter?”
When I said that with a small laugh, Doa messed up her hair wildly and let out a shriek.
“I’m just a kid! What kind of aunt is like that!”
“It could happen, you know.”
“When will they be born? Early next year?”
“Yeah, around the end of January?”
“…I don’t think I’ll be able to graduate before they’re born…”
Doa carefully counted the months, then let out a deep sigh. What kind of cute worry is that—it just makes me laugh. By the time Yongyong knows what college is, she’ll have graduated and then some.
“You don’t have to graduate.”
“Haa, I really hope Yongyong understands me.”
“I’ll teach them well.”
“But you know.”
“Yeah?”
Doa carefully leaned her head on my shoulder and smiled slyly. At times like this, she looks exactly like Won Dogyeong. They’d both hate to hear that.
“I’m happy to become family with oppa.”
My heart ached for no reason, so I pulled Doa into a hug and rubbed her head vigorously. Doa pushed me away saying not to, but kept avoiding eye contact as if embarrassed. In this way too, they were unmistakably siblings. They’d shudder at hearing this too.
I was vigorously rubbing Doa’s face with both hands when I heard the front door opening, and hyung and Won Dogyeong appeared one after another carrying things. From their expressions, nothing seemed to have happened, but I wasn’t sure.
They put the bags in a corner and set up a table in the living room, then took out the cake and placed it on top. Yeo Daun disappeared into the kitchen holding the bread, presumably to put it on a tray.
Won Dogyeong, who had folded and organized the paper bags, tapped Doa who was sitting next to me.
“Hey, move.”
“Get lost.”
“That’s my spot.”
“Get lost~.”
Doa raised her eyes sharply and held up her right middle finger. Won Dogyeong pressed the middle finger down with his palm to fold it back and squeezed in to sit between Doa and me.
“Stop showing off and hurry up and move.”
“Ah, go away!”
Watching the two bickering, I quietly got up from my seat and headed to the kitchen.
It’s cramped, you guys.
I received a tray from Uncle, who was coming out with bread piled up like a mountain in both hands, and placed it on the living room table. The kitchen seemed to be roughly cleaned up too, as Mom, Dad, Noona, and hyung also washed their hands and came out to the living room.
“How many candles?”
We gathered tightly around the table and took out the cake. Noona hesitated with the candles in hand and asked.
Right?
After pondering, I just took out one and stuck it firmly in the center.
“Just one. Since it’s commemorative.”
Noona turned the bag upside down, shook it to find matches, struck one, and lit the candle. I seemed to be the only one who saw Yeo Daun take out a lighter and quietly put it back.
“What do we do now?”
It was good that we lit it, but when you think about it, this wasn’t a birthday party or anything, and there was no song to sing. We just sat huddled together, blankly staring at the candle burning down.
What do we do? I don’t know either. Don’t know? Don’t know~.
Looking around and making eye contact didn’t bring any bright ideas. Everyone just opened their eyes wide and shrugged their shoulders.
Shrug shrug, doing great… should we sing this?
“Just you two blow it out. Come on, everyone else clap!”
At Noona’s words, unable to watch any longer, Won Dogyeong and I looked at each other bewildered and blew out the candle, while the rest clapped belatedly.
“Congratulations~.”
“Wow~.”
My face flushed bright red at the sparse congratulations flying over. This is the most embarrassing celebration of my life.
I hadn’t thought about it until now, but they’re congratulating me on my pregnancy right now…?
Mom went on again about the dragon dream, and I told them in a crawling voice that the prenatal name was Yongyong. Once I realized I was being congratulated for making a baby with Won Dogyeong, I absolutely couldn’t lift my face.
Won Dogyeong, as if nothing was wrong, calmly listened to the dragon dream story and cleaned up the melted candle. He even nodded at Dad’s baseless kimchi soup talk about how the baby would become great.
After that, we cut the cake according to the number of people, shared it, and chatted.
Mom and Dad were planning to travel to Canada soon, and hyung was moving soon. Noona had started a weekend farm with her brother-in-law, and Uncle said he had gotten his graying hair dyed for the first time because he had so much white hair. Doa said she was working part-time at a academy, but was annoyed because the high school students looked down on her too much.
I think they’re just being friendly and joking around. Doa is absolutely not someone who would be looked down on anywhere.
We exchanged stories we hadn’t finished for a long time, and since hyung said he needed to go to the company, everyone busily cleaned up around before dinner.
“Take some galbi.”
“Uh… should I?”
“Japchae too.”
“Really…?”
Before I could answer, Mom opened containers and scooped out side dishes. I don’t know why she made so much, but even after packing a heaping portion each for Noona and hyung, there was still some left. She gave us double, saying we were two people so we should take more. Even if I couldn’t eat it, I figured Won Dogyeong would, so I accepted and packed it.
Won Dogyeong likes our mom’s food. Mom tends to make food on the sweet side, and it seemed to suit his childish taste.
He could just make it like that himself, but when it comes to cooking, he stubbornly says he doesn’t want to do it that way. He says when he does it, it’s just sweet and doesn’t have that taste or something.
“Want to take some kimchi too? I bought it because they said it was good, and it’s pretty good.”
“Just a little.”
“What about kkakdugi?”
“Then that too.”
On the side, Uncle was packing kimchi for Won Dogyeong.
With that much, they’ll be eating for a while, my goodness.
Every time we turned around, they’d call us to ask if we wanted this too, and every time we turned around again, they’d call to ask if we wanted that too, so things kept piling up, and when we left through the front door, we had armfuls of things from both houses. There was so much that we had to take out a paper box from the veranda recycling, assemble it, and pack things in it.
Leaving behind a vague promise that we’d come again soon, we went back down to the parking lot and got in the car.
“Whew, I’m full.”
“Me too.”
Won Dogyeong glanced at the side dish containers piled in the back seat.
“When are we going to eat all that?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“Will you be okay with motion sickness?”
“Won’t I be okay? Can’t you release pheromones?”
“I was going to do that anyway… but tell me if it’s hard. We can go slowly.”
He looked at me sitting with the passenger seat slightly reclined with a worried expression, then started the engine. A refreshing pheromone like mint leaves instantly filled the car. When I breathed in deeply, a sense of stability like being buried in blankets quietly came over me.
It was nothing short of amazing. Does Yongyong like Won Dogyeong’s pheromones, or do I like them?
Since they’re the same thing, I can’t say definitively which one it is.
The car smoothly left the parking lot and drove down the street where the sun was beginning to set. I watched Won Dogyeong with his hand on the steering wheel for a moment, then asked about something that had been bothering me.
“What did hyung say?”
“Ah… he didn’t say much. Just.”
“Yeah.”
“He asked what I was going to do from now on.”
“Yeah.”
“I said I’d do whatever you want to do.”
Won Dogyeong spoke casually while tapping the steering wheel with his fingers. As if recalling the conversation in the parking lot, he was slowly rubbing his lips with his hand while resting his left arm on the window frame.
I chewed my lips with a somewhat unsettled feeling.
What’s that? What does it mean to do what I want?
“What did he say then?”
He glanced at me and let out a small laugh.
“Why, what is it.”
“He said to suffer.”
I was at a loss for words and just widened my eyes.
Huh, well. Suffer? Suhffer?
“I think I got a bit closer to Daun hyung.”
Won Dogyeong laughed heartily while looking at me, frozen with an incredulous expression. I couldn’t explain it, but something didn’t sit right with me.
When was it not my business and something we had to solve together, but now what’s this about doing what I want, and what’s with telling him to suffer? Is he saying I’m making him suffer?
And why is hyung suddenly taking Won Dogyeong’s side… No, this is a problem between us, is it my business? Am I the only one who should care?
I stared at the license plate of the car ahead with dissatisfaction, then straightened up and glared at Won Dogyeong.
“What does it mean to do what I want?”
“Hm? Just what it sounds like.”
“If I say I like it, we date, and if I say I don’t, we stop?”
“Um… well… are you going to say you don’t like it?”
“What about you? Don’t you have any thoughts?”
“If you really, truly say you don’t like it, I can’t force you any more than that… Do you dislike me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Hey!”
Won Dogyeong, who had been frowning and watching my complexion, called out to me sharply. For some reason, I kept feeling twisted inside.
You say you like me, but you tell me to do what I want? You’re not even going to try to hold on?
What a great gentleman you are.
