episode_0027

One day, Ji-won started acting strangely.

“Ji-hoo, my head hurts… my shoulders are so heavy I could die.”

Ji-won began complaining of pain.

I massaged her head when she said it hurt.

I rubbed her shoulders when she mentioned they were aching.

Even when she complained of leg pain and asked for a massage.

“It hurts… it’s tough.”

It felt like the Ji-won I knew was different than usual.

The person who always claimed to never have any aches or pains seemed to be in considerable discomfort today.

Perhaps it was time to take her to the hospital.

“If you’re really in pain, we should go to the hospital.”

“I don’t want to!”

“Why?”

“I’m scared of hospitals.”

“Scared of hospitals? Stop with the nonsense. Get up.”

“I don’t want to!! What if I go to the hospital and it’s nothing serious!”

“On the flip side, if you don’t go to the hospital and something happens, then what?”

Upon hearing my words, Ji-won stared at me as if contemplating for a moment.

Thinking that I had somewhat convinced her, I urged her to hurry up, but she refused.

“No, still don’t want to! It’s scary!”

I was looking for the Ji-won who used to brush off any pain complaints.

To think that even a tough cookie like her found hospitals frightening. Even elementary school kids handle hospitals better; they might as well take on the title of tough cookies.

In the end, I abandoned the idea of taking Ji-won to the hospital and decided to let her rest in my room instead of on the cold floor.

It would be better for her to lie on the bed rather than the chilly ground.

I even laid an electric blanket to keep her warm.

Hoping she would feel better once she warmed up, I tucked Ji-won in and spread a blanket on the floor for myself to sleep.

“Are you going to sleep here too?”

“What’s wrong with me sleeping in my own room in my own bed?”

“Well… it’s not about that, but sleeping together as a guy and a girl…”

Has she finally lost it?

Since when have we been concerned about such things?

Honestly, while I do consider us to be in a relationship, I don’t think we’re at that stage yet.

With that thought in mind, I lay down on the bed.

Ji-won kept eyeing me nervously, as if worried about something.

Thinking she’s overthinking things, I got up and went to the adjacent room.

“Where are you going?”

“You seem so anxious, just sleep alone.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Ji-won simply nodded and lay down on the bed.

She falls asleep really fast.

I entered the room and tried to get some sleep myself.

“Oh man… clean up a bit.”

Underwear scattered on the floor and half-eaten snacks.

Seriously, she doesn’t clean properly…

I thought about scolding her to tidy up, but considering I haven’t been cleaning much lately either, I couldn’t say anything.

Well, I guess I’ll try to sleep now.

Before falling asleep, should I mention to Ji-hoo that I feel burdened by how well he’s treating me?

He’s always causing trouble, so why is he being so nice today?

Is it just because I said I wasn’t feeling well?

Thanks to the electric blanket, the floor is warm.

My lower abdomen has been hurting so much since earlier, like I was dying.

Now that my stomach is warm, I feel a bit better.

While feeling better, I got up for a moment, checked my appearance on my phone.

“Yeah… I used to be a total tough cookie, but I look pretty.”

Now that I’ve become a woman, I wondered if I should try being a delicate lady instead of a tough cookie.

But suddenly, it seemed like there were too many challenges to becoming a delicate lady, so it didn’t seem feasible.

Checking myself on camera, I felt a bit suffocated by my chest, like it had grown slightly larger.

It’s already uncomfortable being this big; if it grows more here…

Maybe Ji-hoo will find it tempting.

What used to make black people exclaim “Oh my God! Korean very good!” has now come back to haunt me.

Is it inevitable for them to grow this big?

I resented my big breasts now; they used to be great when I was a man.

Now they’re too big, and all I can think about is how uncomfortable they are.

While pondering this, my stomach started hurting again.

My lower abdomen started to ache slowly, and I thought it was just a stomachache.

Since the pain was coming from my belly button area, I hesitated to say anything about it.

I’m not sure if I should go to the hospital.

But because my stomach hurts, let’s just go to the bathroom for now.

I left the room and went into the bathroom.

Then, I took off my skirt, pulled down my underwear, and sat down.

As I quietly attended to my business with thoughts of why my stomach kept hurting, I looked down…

“Oh… Oh… What is this?!”

**

“Ugh! Damn it!”

I was awakened by Jiwon’s scream while I was sleeping.

Startled, I got up from bed and went into the room.

Jiwon was nowhere to be seen in the room.

“Jihu!! What do I do?”

I heard Jiwon’s panicked voice coming from the bathroom.

“What’s wrong? What’s going on?!”

I knocked on the bathroom door.

Soon, Jiwon’s voice fell silent.

Damn, I suggested going to the hospital for this exact reason.

Even after knocking continuously, Jiwon wouldn’t open the door.

“Hey! I told you to open it!”

Not knowing what might be happening inside, I immediately opened the door and checked on Jiwon.

Jiwon was sitting on the toilet, halfway crying, looking at me.

“Hey hey! Damn it, pull up your panties!”

When I opened the door, Jiwon was in the middle of pulling down her panties.

I quickly covered my eyes and told her to pull them up.

“Ji… Jihu, am I dying now?”

Looking at me with tears in her eyes, she approached me.

“Hey, are you going to wipe and come back?”

As she took a step back, trying to escape.

I glanced inside the toilet and was shocked to see…

“What… that blood…?”

**

“Sob… Sniff… There’s… there’s so much blood.”

“Calm down, you bastard. You’ve been waking people up since dawn.”

Honestly, I was quite surprised.

Lately, my emotions had been fluctuating a lot.

I had been asking for sweet things all the time, complaining of body aches, and stomach pains.

Thinking back, those symptoms were too similar.

“Ha… It’s been over a month since you became a woman. I expected this to happen.”

“Damn it… Sob, I was so scared… the blood…”

“I didn’t know menstruation could be this painful!”

I looked at Jiwon as she said that.

It seemed like the shock was quite significant.

In the current situation, there was nothing I could say.

So, I just stayed by her side, offering support.

Quietly, I went out of the room to start boiling water in the kettle.

“Jihu… I hope I’m not going to die like this.”

“You’re not going to die, so don’t worry too much.”

Seeing Jiwon extremely worried, I reassured her that everything would be okay.

It must be terrifying since it was her first experience, understandably.

Thinking that way, I poured the hot water into a plastic bottle.

With the warm bottle in hand, I gave it to Jiwon.

“Hold this against your stomach for now. It will help ease the pain.”

Thankful for my words, Jiwon hugged the bottle against her stomach.

“Yeah… I feel a bit better now.”

“Well, that’s a relief.”

Seeing Jiwon calming down a bit, I told her to sit still.

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll just quickly go to the convenience store. I’ll be right back.”

Despite Jiwon’s teary protest, I had something important to buy.

“Just wait a moment; I’ll be back soon.”

With reassuring words, I asked Jiwon to wait for me.

She nodded understandingly, seeming relieved. Thinking it was safe to leave, I changed clothes and headed outside.

**

I went to the convenience store and returned shortly.

Jiwon seemed tired and was sleeping on the bed.

Well, it must have been quite a shock.

After all, it was her first period since becoming a woman.

I had anticipated her being surprised by it.

That aside, it was no small matter.

Was she under stress?

Or maybe, was Jiwon stressed because I did something wrong?

It seems like one of the two is the cause.

I have to hand this over to Jiwon as soon as he wakes up.

I don’t know what to call this or how to hand it over.

While contemplating for a while,

“Yeah… Uh… Jihoo…”

Jiwon woke up from his sleep.

I debated whether to give it to him tomorrow morning, but since giving it now or later would be the same anyway.

“Hey, put this on.”

I handed Jiwon an item contained in a plastic bag.

Taking it, Jiwon chuckled and said the product name.

“A good feeling…? Damn, a good feeling is definitely not something I can feel right now.”

“Who the hell told you to talk about your feelings?”

That’s how Jiwon carefully examined the plastic bag.

And then he checked one sentence written on the plastic bag.

“Sanitary pad? Hey damn, is this a sanitary pad?”

“Well, if you’re menstruating, you should wear a sanitary pad.”

Jiwon was taken aback by my words.

“I don’t know how to wear this.”

I was flustered by Jiwon’s words.

Well, he was originally a man, so he probably doesn’t know how to wear these things.

But the biggest problem here is…

“I don’t know either.”

I had only heard of it but didn’t know how to wear it.

“Hey… Jihoo.”

“What.”

“Help me put this on.”