Ch.195Wherever You Are (8)

After paying Doha-min in advance for the gift, my daily life continued as usual.

The news about Seongcheon High School’s admission scandal, which had heated up our household on the first day of the second semester, occasionally featured the chairman’s face on the morning news, along with reports that the student on the waiting list had taken Doha-min’s place.

Even though the matter was cleanly resolved and I would never have to see him again.

Strangely, whenever the chairman appeared on the morning news, there was an odd smile in the corners of Doha-min’s eyes.

Why on earth, after admitting that I want to remain as Ban Do-young forever,

is the first person to make me feel jealous a 40-something man who looks like a parasite?

Isn’t this kind of heroine jealousy usually directed at some blonde, busty foreign exchange student who clings to the protagonist when a new season starts?

Well, even if there were such a foreign student, with the genes inherited from the lady of our house,

I wouldn’t lose in terms of looks or chest size, so there’d be no reason to feel jealous anyway.

‘Hmm… oh my. It’s almost time for Doha-min to arrive. I should shower first.’

Even after the second semester began, Doha-min would come to our house early in the morning unless he specifically said otherwise, and we would eat breakfast together before going to school.

Mom and Dad liked it.

Especially Dad.

Because when my boyfriend came over, his daughter wouldn’t be late for school.

As a result, spending more than half of each day together from morning until evening became our routine.

I directed my usual amount of teasing toward Doha-min,

and received my usual amount of scolding from Ban Do-young.

‘Do-young, soon you’ll finally be 16 years old too.’

‘Welcome to the chicken-cat line you’ve been chattering about every day, kid.’

‘Ha-min, the birthday celebration preparations are going well, right?’

‘Ban Do-young, if you don’t properly celebrate these things, I’ll remember it and bring it up during arguments even 20 years later when we’re married. You need to do it right.’

‘I-I’m trying… hehe.’

‘Oh, Ha-min seems confident. Let’s hear it then. What’s your romantic business plan?’

‘No spoilers, please, chicken-cat people. He’ll do what he needs to do when the time comes, why rush?’

‘…Normally you’d be the first one to ask.’

However, by tacit agreement, neither Doha-min nor I brought up the topic of my upcoming birthday.

It seemed like he didn’t want to talk about it, and I didn’t mind this time of waiting for him to prepare something for me, just like during the school trip.

‘Heehee.’

‘Ah, she’s smiling to herself again. That’s not a fake smile, it’s a genuine one.’

‘That’s how excited she is.’

No, I should be honest.

I just liked it.

I liked it a lot.

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They say time flies when you’re having fun.

The second semester that had arrived in the blink of an eye had already passed through September, and suddenly it was September 6th, my birthday.

“Ahem… ah-choo.”

Just because it was my birthday didn’t mean I could skip school.

Waking up earlier than usual, I quickly finished my shower and was alone in the kitchen.

Just as Doha-min had prepared something on his own for today,

I too had things I wanted to prepare for today, separate from receiving his congratulations.

“Do-young…?”

“Oh, Mom. You’re up?”

Perhaps hearing the bustling sounds from the kitchen early in the morning,

Mom came to the kitchen in her sexy pajamas.

Mom’s half-closed eyes gradually widened when she saw me wearing her pink apron.

“Do-young, are you wearing my apron and preparing breakfast?”

“Yes.”

“But it’s your birthday today.”

“Yes, that’s why I’m making seaweed soup.”

“I was planning to make seaweed soup this morning too, so I soaked the seaweed last night before bed.”

“I saw that. But I wanted to make it secretly, so I woke up earlier. I’ll prepare the seaweed soup and breakfast, so Mom, please have a seat.”

“Oh, okay…”

Mom, with a bewildered expression, couldn’t settle down and seemed uncomfortable just sitting there,

so she got up from the table and started setting out the chopsticks and spoons.

“This is quite surprising. Not just that you woke up so early, but that you’d actually volunteer to make seaweed soup yourself.”

“I learned by watching you when you made it for Dad’s birthday last time, just picking up bits and pieces.”

“So that’s why… you were secretly watching from behind the kitchen. Are you planning to show off to Ha-min when he comes? Is this a strategy to appeal to him as a filial daughter who knows how to make seaweed soup for her mother on her birthday? My daughter is quite clever, isn’t she?”

Even in her surprise, Mom pointed her index finger at me, snapping her fingers as if trying to imitate young people.

I placed a bowl of freshly cooked rice on the table in front of her and said:

“No, Doha-min isn’t coming this morning.”

“Huh?”

“We agreed to have dinner together. But he said if he ate breakfast here too, he’d be having all three meals with me, and his sister Doha-mi might feel a bit left out, so he’ll eat breakfast at home and come later.”

“Ah… I guess I’d feel a bit sad too if my unmarried son said he was going to have all three meals with his girlfriend. Maybe I should be glad I married him off before that could happen. Hehe.”

After hearing why Doha-min couldn’t join us for breakfast, Mom nodded as if she understood and gave a slight smile.

She seemed to be imagining Doha-mi’s face as she complained to her brother about feeling left out.

“Wait? Then why did you make seaweed soup yourself on your birthday…? It’s not like you’re showing it to Ha-min.”

“Hey, even though I’m generous with Doha-min, I’m not just trying to impress him. This has nothing to do with Doha-min; I wanted to do this for you and Dad. Seaweed soup is traditionally eaten by mothers who have given birth, right?”

“That’s true, though I won’t be eating it for that reason for quite a while yet…”

“Huh?”

“Oh, nothing. Never mind.”

“Here, Mom, I know you don’t like seafood, so I put extra meat in your bowl specially.”

I placed a steaming bowl of seaweed soup in front of Mom.

“…”

Mom silently stared at the seaweed soup in front of her for a moment.

“…This feels both nice and bittersweet. I’m happy that my daughter thinks of such things, but also a bit sad that you’ve grown up so much already.”

“At 174cm with H-cups, isn’t it a bit much to expect me to grow even more?”

“Hehe, I suppose so. I should take a picture later to show Grandma. Tell her I got to taste seaweed soup made by my granddaughter for the first time.”

“…I guess Ban Do-young didn’t really cook much before. She probably never made seaweed soup for her mother on her birthday.”

It could have been interpreted simply as a filial daughter event—making seaweed soup for her mother on her birthday.

Mom and Dad would probably take it as nothing more than that.

“…I’m sorry, Mom.”

“Hmm? Why are you suddenly apologizing?”

“For not doing things like this when I was just your daughter.”

But even if Mom and Dad didn’t know, I needed to assign my own meaning to this meal.

It was a statement that I truly wanted to live as their daughter, as the real Ban Do-young.

It was also a sort of apology for the fact that even if the real Ban Do-young had a chance to return, I, who was nothing but a fake, wanted to continue living as her.

I had nothing to say if it was taken as an offering, a plea to continue being their daughter from now on.

Even if the possession had happened without my will, I couldn’t deny that I wanted to completely make Ban Do-young’s life my own.

“Maybe if I had done this kind of event before dating Doha-min, I would have felt a little less sorry.”

“What are you talking about? Why are you acting like a daughter who’s already married off and gone far away?”

Mom boldly dumped her rice into the seaweed soup, mixing them together as she spoke.

“No matter where you are or what you look like, whether you want to leave home or be with someone else, Ban Do-young, you are Mom and Dad’s child. Whether you like it or not, that won’t change.”

-Hoo hoo

“So don’t worry about keeping up appearances. If there’s something you want to do for us, just do it. Mom and Dad are quite materialistic, so we like that sort of thing.”

Mom blew on the spoonful of seaweed soup and rice that had just been in the hot pot and took a big bite.

“Mm, my daughter’s creation is delicious.”

“Really?”

“Yes, it’s delicious, so make it again for Mom’s birthday too. I should go wake up Dad and Si-young. They should taste our daughter’s first seaweed soup while it’s still piping hot.”

“Okay, I’ll go wake them up right now!”

“Wait, my daughter. Stop.”

“Yes… why?”

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“I let it slide because of what I’m wearing too, but Dad and Si-young won’t tolerate you walking around like that.”

“Oh, is it not okay? But I am wearing underwear.”