Chapter 110: feel warmth

-Mom, Mom! Heehee.

-What’s with you?

-Ehehe, it’s because I’m happy.

Ji-yeon grew up to be a very affectionate child.

By the time she entered middle school, the minor illnesses she had suffered from were almost gone, and she could now be considered a healthy child.

Since I had been taking care of her since she was little, she was particularly open to expressing her affection towards me.

She was a bright child who loved her family in addition to that.

On the other hand, Ji-eun became a somewhat indifferent child.

-…Ji-eun, do you need anything?

-No, I’m okay.

-Tell me if you need anything. Mom will buy it for you.

Rather than being indifferent, she seemed used to hiding her feelings.

She seemed to laugh and show a bright side, at least in front of her younger sister, but in front of me and her father, she always just said she was okay.

Only then did I realize that my relationship with Ji-eun had become strained, and I tried to mend it, but it wasn’t easy.

At that time, the company got busy, so I couldn’t pay more attention to her.

This is all an excuse, I guess. I should have fixed my relationship with Ji-eun, no matter what the company said.

While I was growing apart from Ji-eun, something happened.

-I wasn’t your biological child.

-Where did you hear that?

-I saw it in the storage room, Mom’s notebook.

My notebook contained records from when I first adopted Ji-eun to her upbringing.

Ji-eun said that she realized she wasn’t my biological child through that.

-It’s okay, Mom, you’re still my mom, right? I’m Mom’s daughter.

I was relieved by Ji-eun’s face as she said that and smiled, and that day passed like that.

Just because she said she was okay doesn’t mean she was really okay, but because she always said she was okay, I should have been suspicious and moved on, but I didn’t do anything.

Maybe I was scared, really scared of the words of resentment Ji-eun would utter when I dug into her true feelings.

I was a coward, so I ran away, and eventually paid the price.

-Thank you for raising me all this time.

Ji-eun left only that note and disappeared without a trace, leaving behind all the clothes she had been wearing and the things she had been using. She left with only the bare necessities.

I wanted to know how she got a house, if she was eating well, and if she was okay now, but I couldn’t ask anything.

I couldn’t contact her.

No, even if I could contact her, I wouldn’t have been able to say anything. What could I say to a child who was already full of wounds, but excuses?

As time passed, Ji-yeon seemed to be interacting with her, and Ji-yeon occasionally showed signs of meeting her sister. I spent days, months, and years trying to reassure myself by looking at Ji-yeon’s face.

I let time pass without doing anything.

I averted my eyes from the stiff household and focused more on my work, Encourage myself.

I shouldn’t have done that, but I was still a coward.

All that remains are memories of regret.

-Even if you’re not my biological child, Mom loves you. I’ve wanted to say this for a long time.

-Yes, yes…

-Ahem, Dad too. I’ve never thought of Ji-eun as not my daughter. Dad even keeps your picture in his wallet and looks at it. My subordinates make fun of me all the time.

It’s a sudden confession time.

The role of the priest who listens to the confession is me.

This happened when I sat down with an awkward face after being told to sit down for a moment.

I don’t know anything, though.

-It’s okay, Mom. I’m okay…

-Hic!

I was flustered as I faced my mother with her eyes red and repeatedly said that I was okay.

However, my mother began to wail as if she had heard something strange.

What, did I say something wrong?

-I, I’m okay.

-H, hoo-eong!

Well, I should just shut up and stay still.

I had no choice but to sweat and hold my mother’s hands as she cried with an unknown sound as if an animal was crying.

My father, who was watching the scene, also took off his glasses and wiped away his tears, as if he felt something.

Is this it? Is it done?

Ji-eun left home because she wasn’t her biological child, and after some time, she came home and reconciled with her parents.

Let’s end it with such a happy ending. I originally liked sad endings and open endings more because happy endings seem bland, but if that happens in real life, I’m a crazy woman.

Tap tap-

I awkwardly patted my mother’s back as she buried her face in my arms and thought.

Then Ji-yeon doesn’t know anything?

I don’t know if Ji-yeon knows that Lee Ji-eun is not her biological sister.

Looking at her reaction so far, it seems like she doesn’t know. Then what does she know as the reason Ji-eun left home?

Just a simple fight with her parents? Belated puberty? A trip to grow up more?

I was worried about that.

Thump-!

A sound similar to when I fell.

I turned my eyes to that side, wondering if it was her, and Ji-yeon was sticking her head out with an awkward face.

-Sorry… I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I couldn’t sleep, so I came out…

I was convinced by the reaction.

Ji-yeon didn’t know either.

I knew something had happened between Mom and my sister.

More precisely, it was between my sister and my parents. Anyway.

I had been curious about the reason, but I had long given up asking because my parents, who didn’t answer even if I asked subtly, and the atmosphere in the house, which darkened as I talked about it.

But I didn’t know there was such a story hidden.

‘My sister is not my biological sister…?’

I’m dazed. I’m really just dazed.

I felt like I had been hit in the back of the head from an unexpected angle. One of the premises of life that I had taken for granted had been broken.

I knew that my sister looked different from me in the eyes of others.

My sister was a cold-looking beauty, and I was a relatively kind-looking, round beauty.

There was a common denominator that both were beautiful, but it was difficult to see that the atmosphere and appearance were the same.

Nevertheless, how many people would suspect that my sister is not my biological sister?

To have such a thought just because the appearance is slightly different is an act that deviates from the scope of normal people’s thinking.

However, life doesn’t always go the same way. Just as the intuition of a madman occasionally comes true, this case was also one of those cases.

-Ji-yeon, you were very surprised, right? Dad and Mom were going to tell you someday… We couldn’t find the right time.

-Ah, no. It’s okay.

It’s not lip service, it’s really okay. It’s okay, of course.

What if my sister is not my biological sister? Does anything change?

Lee Ji-eun is still Lee Ji-yeon’s sister and Lee Jang-hoon and Kim Soo-yeon’s daughter.

They have been a family since Ji-yeon was born, and she couldn’t accept it even if they said they were not a family now.

Ji-yeon thought so and tried to organize her expression.

If she showed a flustered expression here, the atmosphere that had been loosened would become stiff again. Her mother and sister were in the process of releasing their emotions, and she couldn’t be a stumbling block.

-Yeah, I’m glad you like it. Ji-yeon has had a hard time too, right? I’m glad Mom and your sister are getting along. It’s nice to see you laughing like that.

-Yes? Yes…

However, Ji-yeon couldn’t help but be embarrassed again at her father’s words that followed.

‘Liked it? Me?’

Ji-yeon groped her face to check her condition.

The corners of her mouth were subtly raised, and she looked like she was smiling.

She tried to organize her expression, but she didn’t try to force herself to smile.

She was just trying to take a stance like ‘Anyway, my sister is our family, so what does it matter’ as calmly as possible so as not to disturb them.

Beyond that, she was smiling.

She was smiling without knowing it? Why?

‘Because I felt good.’

Ji-yeon, who was looking for a reason for the unknown emotion, turned her head and looked at her sister.

‘My sister came back into the family, so I smiled without knowing it.’

This was a reasonable guess, but Ji-yeon felt uneasy. It felt like she was missing something.

Ji-yeon calmly observed her condition. And she realized.

When did her emotions fluctuate most violently? It was…

‘When I found out that my sister was not my biological sister.’

She thought it was just embarrassment, but there was another emotion hidden inside.

Hidden in the embarrassment was a subtle joy.

Is there any reason to be happy that my sister is not my biological sister?

After thinking for a while, Ji-yeon came up with a possibility that satisfied all of this.

But it was so sinister and insidious that she had come up with it, so disappointing that she couldn’t believe it came from her. At the same time, she was strangely excited.

Ji-yeon smiled even more brightly than she had smiled a while ago, lest anyone find out what she was thinking.

-Ji-yeon, are you that happy? That your sister came back?

-Yes.

I’m happy. I’m so happy.

The rest of the words were swallowed inside. Because it was an emotion that she was not yet sure of. She didn’t even add a subject separately.

Just for now. Just up to this point.

Her father was looking at her with a proud face, and her mother was hugging her sister. Her sister had an awkward face.

It was a good night just with that.