A Date That’s Not a Date (1)

,Oppa, oppa, wake up, you need to eat.”

,I… I went to bed a bit late, so I won’t eat today. Leave me be…”

Eunha’s voice rings in my ear.

I don’t remember well, but seeing as I only remember up to 4 AM, I probably fell asleep around 4 AM.

I only slept for about 4-5 hours, and at the voice waking me up, I turned over to the opposite side of where the voice was coming from.

Ah, please, I’m going to sleep today, don’t wake me up… Last night was so rough.

I’m still not rid of the fatigue.

I feel this tired even though I only dipped a toe in? I really feel so tired that it’s hard to open my eyes.

I threw on some clothes super roughly and lay down on the sofa, and now I don’t even have the strength to move, so what’s with the food?

It’s more beneficial to take a nap during mealtime, please leave me alone…

,Jihye-unni made food, so hurry up and eat!”

,I won’t eat…? What?”

I rubbed my eyes and got up, and Eunha, wearing clothes that looked like going-out clothes but weren’t quite, pinched both of my cheeks.

,She said she made food and went out to the hospital for a bit. So eat and then sleep!”

,…Uh, okay, uh. Food, yeah, uh, I should eat.”

I yawned and sat down at the dining table, and there really was food.

No, there weren’t any side dishes or anything, so what did she do?

I definitely checked the fridge and there wasn’t anything.

,Unni said she bought it early in the morning and roughly made it. She said that since I’m lazing around at home, I should at least eat well so my body doesn’t get worse.”

…Roughly? This?

There are more than three side dishes, is this roughly?

Besides, the soup is still steaming, when did she even make it?

No, before that, what time is it now? She went early in the morning? Get a grip, get a grip!

First, I take a sip of the clear soup with a spoon, and it’s a little better.

This feeling of slamming energy directly into my parched body and it immediately seeping in.

The deep breath I exhale after drinking the still-warm soup is comfortable, filled with the soup’s aroma.

,Eunha-ya, what time is it now?”

,It’s around 9 now?”

,Then what time did Jihye go grocery shopping, around 7?”

,I woke up at 8 and she was already doing it, so wouldn’t it be around then?”

She must be more tired than I am, but she even made side dishes in the morning, I feel like a piece of trash for just lazing around at home.

Still, the side dishes and soup were good. I’ve only eaten Mom’s side dishes my whole life, but seeing how well she seasons them, she’s definitely Mom’s daughter. Definitely my sister.

Eunha sits down in front of me as I quietly eat and starts tapping on her laptop.

Is there a reason to tap on a laptop at this hour? Ah, could it be work?

Even though it’s morning, if she were a company employee, it’s a time to be working. No matter how sleepy she is, she’d have a cup of coffee and be doing a few things she needs to do in the morning.

I roughly mixed the rice and soup and ate it while watching her work.

Her serious eyes and the keyboard moving busily, she’s just moving the keyboard without saying anything, is she talking to someone?

,Talking? At this hour, who would a writer be talking to…? Ah, could it be?”

,Eunha-ya, are you perhaps having a meeting with your editor?”

,Huh? Oh, how did you know? He asked if we could have a quick meeting about what to serialize next.”

,…If even you’re living so busily, I, a jobless bum, feel a little sad.”

,Then get a job too, oppa. Until then, help me out a bit. There’s nothing to lose.”

,Even so, it pricks my conscience to be working while getting over 200 from my younger sister. Ah, did you make up with Jihye?”

It does prick my conscience to be working while getting money from my sister, who’s four years younger than me.

Even if what I did yesterday was sincere, it’s still pricking my conscience. Besides, four years, four years! She was just saying “eungae” when I was walking around.

The fact that I’m receiving money from someone like that feels new and burdensome. To be exact, it’s also a little embarrassing.

,We made up. It wasn’t even a make-up, she just said she was tired yesterday. So I gave her 50,000 won and told her to buy something to eat?”

Seeing Eunha nod and show me the money makes me feel even more humiliated.

Ah, I’m unemployed so I can’t even give that kind of money, I need to get a job quickly, I’m so upset! Really.

,And you’re embarrassed to get over 200 from your younger sister, but you’re not embarrassed about sex?”

She smiled slightly and threw it at me in a joking tone. Wow, if I hadn’t swallowed my food, I would have spit it out.

I hurriedly opened the fridge and gulped down water. The rice that had come up to my throat barely goes down, and I take a deep breath to steady my breathing.

,The things you’re pointing out are different, you need to ask if I’m embarrassed to do it with my younger sister before the sex issue.”

,Well… I’m not embarrassed to do it with oppa. In the first place, if we just walk around together, people will think you’re my girlfriend calling me oppa.”

That’s not wrong. Eunha and I don’t look alike, and if she just calls me oppa, there’s no way for people to know.

In the first place, Eunha is the one who calls me oppa the most, so adults will just brush it off.

The problem is that I’ll feel guilty. Even though we have a close relationship, we’re holding weaknesses, or rather, not-weaknesses, over each other.

…I didn’t know when we were having sex yesterday, but I’ve reaffirmed that I’m more of a crazy bastard than I thought.

Sex with my cousin, who’s four years younger, on the sofa in her house, if adults or people find out about this…?

Ooh, my 26 years of life will end right there. Absolutely not.

Still, Eunha doesn’t seem like she’ll say anything. In the first place, she’s treating me, whom she’s meeting after a long time, so warmly, it seems like she just likes me.

If she purely likes me as a person, what can I say? It’s not enough to bow and thank her, I’ll just quietly accept it.

It’s not like I dislike Eunha either.

,If we just meet quietly like an affair, there’s no problem. What, are you going to go around spreading rumors, oppa?”

,Why don’t you just tell me to go into Gangnam Prison.”

,Gangnam is a bit much, I’ll ask them to put you in Gangbuk Prison.”

,Thanks to you, the food I just ate is all backed up.”

,Oh dear… Should I do it once to help you digest…?”

I hear the sound of her giggling as she lifts up her clothes slightly.

I came once last night and it was so hard, and again this morning?

Even if I’m a male who often goes into heat, isn’t this a bit too much? I really feel like I’m going to die.

I lightly flick her forehead.

,Aya!”

,If you do that right after eating, you’ll get an upset stomach. Sit on the sofa for a bit and then sleep more.”

,Tch… Ah, I think I need to go out for a bit around lunchtime? What are you going to do?”

,Where are you going?”

I was about to grab my water bottle and go to the sofa, but the word “go out” bothers me.

She doesn’t have many friends around here, and she doesn’t know where to go to hang out, so is there a reason for her to go out?

If she needs to go somewhere, I can go with her, but it’s not urgent, so I can take a nap and then go.

,I think I need to have a quick meeting with my editor, so I’ll probably eat lunch and come back, that’s why.”

,Do you want me to go with you? Is it a place I can go?”

,No, thanks for the thought! But I need to work when I’m working. It’s just that even if oppa goes, it’ll only be tiring.”

I thought she’d say thank you if I said I’d go, but she’s surprisingly against it.

…Really surprising? I thought she’d immediately ask me to go with her and smile happily, but she’s answering so seriously that I’m speechless.

It wasn’t a look of dislike… It was like an adult’s face saying, “Work is work, so I’ll take care of this myself!”

My younger sister sometimes makes that kind of face, so what am I? A jobless bum who eats and plays at home?

The feeling that Eunha is earning money feels like helplessness to me.

If I had that kind of talent or something, I’d start working right away, but I don’t have anything like that. Unfortunately.

,Well, go and come back. Do you know the house password?”

,Unni gave me the door lock key. It’s like you two are siblings, you worry about the same things, I’d think you’re mentally connected if I saw you!”

She smiles with a “pi-” expression. Siblings are siblings, I guess, seeing how their worry points are the same.

Well, they’ve lived together for at least 24 years, it’d be weird if they didn’t resemble each other, they’re not half-siblings.

I had sex with that younger sister last night? Wow… I sighed, realizing anew that I’m really trash.

Then today is going to be a floating day. I don’t know when Jihye will come, and if Eunha goes out, there’s only one thing I can do at home.

,Then I’ll have to play games all day today. Buy me a chicken on your way back.”

,Do you want to eat it? Should I order it and leave?”

No, if you answer like that to a half-joking remark, what am I supposed to say, Eunha-ya?

I feel like the younger sibling in this situation… No, Eunha-ya, you need to have a reaction like, “Buy it yourself!”

,I’m joking, joking. If you take it so seriously, oppa will get hurt.”

,Huh! I’m the one who’s hurt by oppa! Why are you getting hurt after messing with my insides like that?”

,Insides? What are you talking about? When did I hit you?”

,Yesterday… My lower abdomen… You just…”

She makes a gesture of hitting her lower abdomen with a playful face.

No, is she getting stressed at work today? Her jokes are a little spicy?

When we were having sex yesterday, her words were like chili powder, but now her words are like nuclear fire chicken.

Is there something bothering her? No, wait, could it be… Last night?

,You’re a little spicy today? Did I do something wrong?”

,No!”

She denies it brightly.

What, then why are you so spicy today? Eunha-ya, please, I didn’t get rid of my fatigue yesterday, I’m going to die of sleepiness today.

Please save me. It’s a loss for both of us if emotions explode… No, wait, thinking about it, I’m the trash, aren’t I?

I’m the one who did it, I’m the one who caused it, and I’m the one who’s tired, why am I trying to take it out on someone else, you crazy bastard!

I tap my head to try to come to my senses.

Get a grip, I’m the one who caused everything, so I can’t say anything to anyone else. Calm down.

,I’m just acting like this because I don’t want to go to the meeting… Sorry. It’s like a cartoonist’s only stress?”

,What’s it usually like that this is stressful?”

,Usually, I just send the storyboards, the simply drawn ones, over the internet to get reviewed. But this time, they said they need a meeting because of the new series.”

Well… Even if the work isn’t hard, being in contact with people is the hardest.

Everyone says that even if the work is hard, they can endure it, but even if the work is easy, they can’t endure it if the people are difficult.

I couldn’t help her, so I nodded silently.

,So I’m going out for a bit. Then you need to watch the house well by yourself?”

,This is our house… Eunha-ya, it’s not your house…”

,I know, but it’s boring to be alone. Or oppa can go out for some fresh air. The weather’s nice?”

Outside the veranda, the air was clear without any fine dust for the first time in a while.

A wide-open sky that you could really call blue, and the sun shining down hotly.

The weather is really nice. Even just taking a walk on a day like this, you can know what freshness is, I can feel it with my body.

Should I really go out? Hmm… There’s nothing to do even if I go out, I should sleep a bit and then think about it.

,I should go out later. Then first, I’ll sleep a bit…”

,Ugh! You’ll get indigestion if you lie down after eating. Don’t be surprised if I’m not here when you wake up?”

,Don’t worry, I originally like being alone.”

Even though she knows I just ate, I’m even sleepier after eating, so I just lie down on the sofa and wiggle around.

I don’t even think about looking at my phone, I quietly lie down and close my eyes. Ah, how sweet it is to sleep after eating.

I quietly fell asleep, using the sound of Eunha’s laptop as a lullaby, gazing at the blurry something beyond my closed eyes.

–

,Ughhh…. Slept well.”

I opened my eyes and looked at the clock, and it was just approaching 1 PM.

I must have been more tired than I thought, because even though I fell asleep after eating, my stomach doesn’t hurt, but rather I’m even more hungry.

Did I really use up all my strength last night? Ugh, I’m hungry, I need to eat again.

Uuung-

I hear the sound of my phone ringing.

At this hour? Huh…? There’s no reason for my phone to ring at this hour.

It’s not like I’m working, so the only people who would call me are my family, but who in my family would call at this hour.

,What, it’s Jihye? Ah, she said she was going to the hospital earlier and hasn’t come back yet?”

I was too sleepy to think about it earlier, but she said she was going to the hospital.

Even if the hospital is far away, it’s a distance you can go and come back from in an hour, so she should be home now, but if she’s not home… Is she buying something outside?

,Hello.”

,Where are you?”

As soon as I answer the phone, she abruptly asks for my location.

Her tone is a bit cold as usual, so I almost got upset, but I remembered that she’s always like that and endured it.

,I’m at home, why are you asking?”

,Don’t you remember last night?”

Last night? What did I say…? Ah.

,Could it be, because of the underwear?”

,I’m letting you off this time because you’re quick on the uptake. Come out quickly to buy it, I’m at M Department Store here.”

,Wait a minute, so suddenly? I need time to prepare, don’t I?”

,You’ve been at home all this time, do you need more time to prepare? We’re going to eat lunch too, so come out quickly.”

I get annoyed because she only says what she wants and hangs up, but I endure it.

Yeah, let’s endure it, what’s the point of getting angry now, we’ll just end up fighting again?

Her attitude has changed so much that you wouldn’t even imagine her being so kind last night, I’m starting to suspect she might have multiple personalities.

A promise is a promise.

I quickly washed my hair in the bathroom, changed my clothes, and left the house.

But she’s buying underwear at the department store…? Is it okay for me to go with her?

I felt a bit uneasy, but I headed to the department store anyway.

It’ll take 20 minutes to walk, so I should enjoy the weather for a bit.

I walked lightly, feeling welcomed by the unusually clear and blue sky and the warm sunlight.