Ch.167167. The Story Only I Didn’t Know

“Um, I want to marry Nabi by the end of this year.”

“……?!”

—Splash.

Perhaps shocked by my statement, water flowed like a waterfall from my sister’s gaping mouth. As a result, all the water poured into my brother’s cup that was under her chin.

I thought my brother would be horrified by this catastrophic scene, but he was surprisingly calm. After waiting for all the water to drain from my sister’s mouth, he naturally switched their cups.

Meanwhile, my sister was still standing there with her mouth open. Just when I was starting to wonder if her jaw might dislocate, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Marriage? You’re getting married? You and her?”

“Yeah, why? Is there a problem?”

“Problem? Of course there is. You’re only twenty years old. And you’re already saying you want to get married?”

Unlike my sister who panicked and tried to talk me out of it as soon as she heard my marriage announcement, the reactions from the rest of my family were incredibly calm.

It was as if they were thinking, ‘This was bound to happen,’ or ‘I see, so that’s how it is.’ As proof, my father just quietly nodded, and my mother muttered to herself, “We don’t need to prepare a newlywed home, but we should prepare the wedding gifts.”

As for my brother… he’s just looking at me with a smile.

“What’s going on, Mom? Did everyone know about this except me?”

When the reactions from the rest of the family were lukewarm, my sister turned to my mother and asked. The answer came not from my mother, but from my brother.

“We’re hearing this for the first time too.”

“Is it really the first time? Then why are you all so calm? You all look like you knew about this already!”

My sister’s voice grew louder, perhaps from excitement. I know she’s worried about me, but… if she wanted to have this conversation when it was just the two of us, that would be one thing. But doing this in front of our parents isn’t right.

Just as I was about to say something—

Thud. My brother put down his water cup. Then, looking at my sister, he spoke in a low voice.

“Hey, Han Jinwoo. Are you crazy? Why are you shouting?”

“What? Crazy? Did you just finish talking?”

“No, I’m not done yet. Who asked you to get married? Instead of congratulating your brother who wants to get married, you’re raising your voice in front of our parents. What kind of behavior is this?”

“It’s not bad behavior, I’m just worried about Siwoo…!”

“Since we’re on the topic, what was that nonsense earlier? Why are you bringing up things from the past? Don’t you think it makes people uncomfortable? Didn’t I tell you to think before you speak? Siwoo didn’t say anything because he’s nice. If it were someone else, they would have started a fight by now. You know that?”

After firing off words like a machine gun, my brother gulped down his water. The atmosphere is tense. The temperature seems to have dropped by about 10 degrees.

My brother’s words might have been a bit excessive, but separately, I felt a bit of satisfaction. My sister is my sister, and she’s older, so I was cautious about speaking up. But didn’t my brother just scratch that itch for me?

I think Hwa Nabi will scold me later, but my sister should get scolded too for fairness. While thinking such childish thoughts, I turned my head. My sister seemed at a loss for words, and after glancing around, she looked at my mother.

It was a look asking for help, but my mother quietly shook her head. It was as if she was saying with her eyes, ‘Jinwoo, you’re in the wrong, aren’t you?’

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to apologize?”

“…Sorry.”

“Not to me, to Siwoo, right?”

My brother’s gaze fixed on me. My sister’s gaze followed. Whether it was because she felt sorry or for some other reason, my sister hesitated for a long time before finally speaking.

“Um… sorry.”

“Ah… yeah, it’s okay.”

Seeing my sister, who is five years older than me, looking dejected, I felt more sorry even though I was the one receiving the apology. After giving a lukewarm response, I glanced at my brother.

It’s a rare occasion where we’re all having a meal together with our parents. But the atmosphere is too bleak. Shouldn’t we lighten it up a bit?

“Well, let’s drop this topic. Siwoo, can I ask you something?”

Noticing the meaning in my gaze, my brother started a conversation to match. I also responded brightly to match him.

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“What made you decide to get married?”

“Uh… what made me decide?”

“Yes, what made you decide.”

My father, who had seemed uninterested in the argument between my brother and sister, my mother, who had only scolded my sister with her eyes, my dejected sister, my brother who had asked me the question, and Hwa Nabi who had been looking at me the whole time—everyone’s eyes were on me.

Though no one said it, they were all curious about what made me decide to get married.

“……”

What made me decide? I had been thinking about it for a while, but what really sealed the deal was Hwa Nabi’s pregnancy. It’s not that I’m getting married because she’s pregnant, but rather, while I had been vaguely imagining it, the pregnancy gave me a good reason to propose. That would be the right way to express it.

The former and the latter are similar yet different. It’s not ‘I’m getting married because she’s pregnant,’ but rather, ‘I wanted to get married, and coincidentally she got pregnant, so I thought it was a good time to propose…’ Does that make sense?

Anyway, trying to compress my feelings into a brief statement, I cut out too much context. So the result:

“Because she’s pregnant.”

…this short sentence was formed, and my sister was shocked when she heard it.

“……Gasp.”

—Splash.

“Ah, damn…! Hey, that’s disgusting, seriously!”

My sister spewed the water she was holding like a waterfall. My brother, who had endured the first disaster well, couldn’t bear it this time and expressed his disgust.

*

After a series of ups and downs, lunch was over.

My father and brother went up to the study, saying they had urgent business, and my mother and Hwa Nabi are chatting while cleaning up. I don’t know where my sister went.

Judging by her bag still being here, she must be somewhere in the house, but this place is so big. If she doesn’t answer her phone, it’s a task to go looking for her.

“Hmm.”

Where on earth did she go? I want to talk to her, but it’s impossible if she’s not around. Planning to search various parts of the house, I first stopped by the kitchen.

There were two women in the unnecessarily spacious kitchen inside, standing in front of the sink. However, they weren’t the person I was looking for right now.

“Nabi, have you seen my sister?”

At my question, Hwa Nabi turned and said:

“She hasn’t come to the kitchen. But why do you ask?”

“She’s nowhere to be seen and not answering her phone, so I thought maybe she was helping out in the kitchen.”

Judging by the lack of any trace, that doesn’t seem to be the case. I casually asked while taking dishes out of the dishwasher that had finished its cycle:

“Need any help?”

“Ah, no. It’s fine. We’re almost done.”

“Usually you don’t lift a finger, but now you’re trying to score points because of the new baby?”

“I already have a perfect score, so there are no more points to earn, Mother.”

“Oh my, Siwoo is so lucky. Having such a gentle and kind new daughter-in-law as his wife.”

“No, not at all. You’re also very beautiful, Mother. Father must be very happy, having a woman like you supporting him.”

Hwa Nabi and my mother are laughing together, complimenting each other. I don’t know when they first met, but they’ve become so close.

Seeing no opportunity to join in, I put down the dishes and went to the refrigerator to get some water.

“By the way, Mother, I’m curious about something.”

“My dear, who’s your mother?”

“……Pardon?”

“Since when did you become so formal? Don’t call me ‘Mother,’ call me ‘Mom.’ You sound so distant.”

“Then, after we get married, should I call you Mom? Mother?”

“Oh my, really? I’d like that. Then our baby needs to marry Siwoo quickly.”

“……”

I’m completely sidelined here. Feeling awkward, I scratched the back of my neck.

They seem to be in a good mood together, and I was about to leave, but thinking this might be my only chance to ask, I spoke up:

“Um, Mom. About my brother and sister.”

“Yes, what about Jiwoo and Jinwoo?”

“Since when have they been on such bad terms? It’s been so long, I can’t remember clearly.”

“Well, they weren’t like that when you were young, right? Jiwoo and Jinwoo were very close until Jiwoo entered university.”

At nineteen and twenty, they passed through a typically sensitive age without any issues. Then what suddenly made their relationship go bad? Did they have a big fight or something?

“I think it was the day after Jinwoo’s college entrance exam. You know about this, right? Jinwoo went to study abroad in France.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

She went to study art, if I recall correctly. That’s all I know, but I don’t know the details. I never really asked about it, and my brother tends to avoid the topic of my sister, so I never had the chance to hear about it.

“I don’t know for sure either, but it seems Jinwoo lied to Jiwoo about it.”

“Lied? What kind of lie?”

“What was it again? He thought she went to take the exam, but actually she went to get a passport…?”

“……”

“Jinwoo always used to say something like a mantra. That she would definitely go to the same university as her brother later, so Jiwoo worked hard to teach Jinwoo too… but when Jinwoo went to get a passport without even taking the exam, it’s understandable that Jiwoo would be angry, right?”

“Ah….”

Hearing this, it wasn’t incomprehensible. If my sibling did that, I’d probably be angry too, but is that really the only reason? With my brother’s personality, I think he would at least listen to the circumstances even if something like that happened.

“And then they seemed to have a big fight, and since that day, they start growling at each other whenever they see each other. They’re both adults now, not children anymore, so I wonder how long they’re going to keep this up.”

A dispute due to differences in opinion, and lingering resentment from not reconciling afterwards—is that it? Hearing this, it wasn’t incomprehensible.

“What are you talking about?”

Just then, there was a presence from behind. A familiar male voice—I knew it was my brother without having to turn around. The timing is impeccable. I almost suspect he was hiding somewhere listening.

“Siwoo’s here too. Are you doing the dishes? You should have called me, I would have helped.”

“Thanks for the offer, at least.”

After chatting with my mother, my brother turned to me. His eyes suggested he had something to say.

“Siwoo.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Want to get some fresh air?”

“…Sure, let’s do that.”