episode_0097

What does family mean to me?

I never had it in my past life.

It happened for the first time after I returned.

In my previous life, I couldn’t even dream.

It was only after I returned that I realized it for the first time.

What I regress to and what I cherish most.

family.

It’s been tied together from birth.

No matter how much money I had, I couldn’t buy it.

Some people might think that money can buy a family.

But I think people who think that way have never felt a real family.

Because I also realized what family is only after experiencing familial love in this life.

Honestly, I don’t know about Dad, but I thought I did my best at least for Mom and Ye-eun.

But what on earth is the problem?

Ye-eun started avoiding me little by little one day, and now she’s avoiding me openly.

I wonder if I’m embarrassed because I don’t have any friends.

Now that you are in your first year of middle school, I fully understand that you may be sensitive, embarrassed, and ashamed about such things.

I know it in my head, but my heart still feels heavy.

The emotion I feel right now is betrayal, sadness, or anger.

In the midst of the whirlwind of unpleasant emotions, I couldn’t even tell what the emotion was, and I never once imagined that Ye-eun would avoid me.

Late at night, with a thousand thoughts running through my head, I tossed and turned for a long time before I could finally fall asleep.

The next day, I go to school as usual, have lunch with Minjun, and see Ye-eun from afar.

Ye-eun and her friends, who were clearly coming towards me, suddenly changed direction and started heading in the other direction.

For some reason, my hand, which was half raised in a greeting to improve relations, helplessly went down again.

I headed back to the class I was going to.

“Jaehoon. Did you fight with Ye-eun?”

“No. Why?”

“Didn’t you two just avoid each other?”

“Ye-eun avoided it. Are you embarrassed if you hang out with me?”

“Isn’t it more ambiguous than embarrassing?”

“What?”

“You’re so handsome that no girl can come after you.”

“That crazy guy is real.”

“Are you sure?”

I was serious, but I ignored Minjun’s teasing and went back to class.

On the way home after school.

I can’t stand it anymore because telling my mom will only lead to a bad future, so I’m going to ask Ye-eun again directly.

After saying a quick hello to my mom and waiting for Ye-eun to come into the house, after a while Ye-eun came into the house.

I headed to Ye-eun’s room thirty minutes after she came home, thinking that I would give her enough time to change her clothes.

-dripping

“Am I coming in?”

There was no answer, but I thought it was okay to open the door and went in.

Ye-eun, who knew I would come in, was sitting on the bed and looking at me.

“Yeun-ah. Why are you avoiding me at school?”

Ye-eun just looked at me without answering.

“Are you embarrassed because you don’t have any friends?”

After I finished speaking, I stared at Ye-eun who didn’t respond, and Ye-eun had a tearful expression on her face.

I’m the one who wants to cry, but I don’t know what I did right to be crying, but Ye-eun’s closed mouth finally opened.

“That’s not it, so get out.”

In the end, Ye-eun avoided answering again today and just left the room when I told her to leave.

I really don’t know what the problem is and where it went wrong.

If it weren’t for my younger brother, I would have been confident that I could live comfortably without even pretending to know him.

I really don’t know what to do when my only sibling acts like that.

I headed back to my room, and just like most days, there was no more conversation with Ye-eun today.

***

The situation with Ye-eun continued for over a week.

Then one day.

I woke up in the morning, ate breakfast, took a shower, and tried to put on my uniform, only to find it wrinkled.

All three sets of uniforms, including the spare, were crumpled.

There’s no way my dad or mom would do something like this, so it must be Ye-eun.

Is Ye-eun really crazy?

When I went into Ye-eun’s room, she was already out of the room, probably because she had gone to school.

“Son. Why? Do you have something to say to Ye-eun?”

“No, I just took a look.”

“You went out while my son was washing~”

After hearing the news that Ye-eun had run away a while ago, I was late for school for the first time today because I had to iron my wrinkled school uniform.

I opened the door and went inside, and there was already a morning roll call going on in the classroom.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sit down quickly.”

“Yes.”

I don’t know if it was because I never was late or because my grades were good, but fortunately I was able to sit down without getting scolded by my homeroom teacher.

Soon the class started and as I sat there meditating I felt frustrated and angry.

No matter how much I think about it for days, I haven’t done anything wrong to Ye-eun.

If you don’t like something, whether it’s my behavior or anything else, you should think about talking to me instead of annoying me by crumpling up my uniform.

Now that you’re in your first year of middle school, I think you at least know right from wrong.

I thought that at least he would know what was wrong, so I endured the class with the thought of going home, asking him why, and at least giving him a spanking. School finally ended.

After school ended, I came straight home and waited for Ye-eun.

I tried calling, but there was no answer and no reply to my messages.

I also told Sae-ah not to come home today.

Ye-eun comes home after an hour, two hours, three hours have passed and it is time for dinner.

I followed Ye-eun into the room.

“Why is your uniform like that in the morning?”

“…..”

“At least if you’re in the first year of middle school, shouldn’t you be able to tell the difference between what to do and what not to do?”

“…..”

“Nothing to say?”

“…..”

I left the room, leaving Ye-eun, who didn’t answer even though I stared at her intently.

I waited for Ye-eun to come home, thinking I would lay her down and spank her butt, but when I actually saw her face, I couldn’t bring myself to hit her.

A situation where Ye-eun continues to refuse to talk and eventually crosses the line.

There was nothing I could do anymore except complain to my mother.

Ye-eun usually listens to me more than her mother. Will telling her mother solve the problem?

I thought to myself that I shouldn’t stress my mom out unnecessarily, so there was nothing I could do anymore.

I couldn’t give up my only sibling, so I had no choice but to put my choice on hold.

***

Living in the same house, not exchanging a word with each other and acting like strangers continued for another week.

Although we ate dinner together every night, we never said anything to each other.

As this situation continued, my parents began to think it was strange.

One evening after dinner, my mom came into my room and asked what was going on with Ye-eun.

Actually, I didn’t know anything either, so I could only pretend that nothing happened.

After school, Sae-ah’s older sister came home and we were lying next to each other in bed as usual.

“Are you still like that with Ye-eun?”

“Yeah.”

“I asked you?”

“No. There’s no need to worry about your older sister.”

“Jaehoon. This is different for men and women. If I go and ask, it might change.”

“Hey. What difference does it make if I go and ask you? I kept asking you but you didn’t answer even once. ”

“Let me tell you. Can’t you trust me just this once?”

“Okay. Instead, if you don’t answer, don’t stress yourself out and just come out.”

“Okay.”

Sae-ah noona headed to Ye-eun’s room, and I lay down in my room and waited for Sae-ah noona.

Five minutes have passed, but Sae-ah hasn’t come into the room.

Seriously, just like you said, I wonder if I can communicate with Sae-ah, unlike me, a man.

After about 10 minutes, Sae-ah came back into the room with the same expression she had when she left.

“What happened?”

“Good talk. Just wait a little and everything will be fine.”

“What the hell was the problem?”

“I promised Ye-eun that it would be a secret, right?”

“You can tell me.”

“No.”

I had known for a long time that my sister’s mouth was heavy, so I didn’t ask any more questions, knowing that I would not get an answer if I asked her tightly shut mouth.

After lying together for a while and eating dinner together, it was late at night before Sae-ah returned home.

Sae-ah said that everything would be okay if we just waited a little bit, so I guess I should just stay still.

Since thinking about it any longer would not make a difference, I gave up on thinking any further and went to sleep.

***

The next day, after dinner, I was lying down in my room when Ye-eun came to my room.

“Oppa. Sorry.”

“What?”

“I’m just sorry for everything.”

Ye-eun came out of nowhere to apologize. Her expression clearly showed sincerity as she lowered her head and spoke with tears in her eyes.

“So why is that?”

“…..”

“Okay. Go out.”

As expected, the reason wasn’t explained, and in the end, I received an apology, but I didn’t feel anything and went back to bed.

If you’re going to apologize, shouldn’t you at least give a reason?

Ye-eun’s behavior, which had continued for nearly a month, ended, but I just couldn’t understand her.