Chapter 51: Sister, does that….like me?

I ignored the disgusting coughing sound coming from Han Yeoreum sitting next to me and opened my mouth.

“Unni… you like… me?”

As if she didn’t understand my words, Dasom tilted her head and then stood up abruptly, frantically waving her hands.

“No, no, no, that’s not it, I mean, it’s not that I like you and want to date you, Dojin…!”

I spoke to Dasom, who was rattling off words like a machine gun, her eyes darting left and right.

“It’s okay, you can speak slowly. I can tell there’s some kind of situation.”

Dasom stared at my face for a moment, then slowly nodded and sat down.

A deep shadow was cast on her face, which peeked through her downcast hair.

“…You know, Dojin, right? I’m not really interested in that sort of thing. You know, meeting someone, dating.”
“Right.”

I recalled how she was in college. Come to think of it, there were always butterflies fluttering around her, whispering words of love. A few, no, quite a few, no, an enormous number of butterflies.

It wasn’t just a result of her appearance. Of course, it’s not that it had no effect, but it wasn’t easy to move the multifaceted thing called a heart with just that.

What moved their hearts was her scent. A sweet scent that seemed to seep into their dry hearts and caress every corner, eventually making them delusional.

Classmates, seniors, juniors, group members, and even those who just sat next to her for a moment in a liberal arts class were convinced that this woman smiling in front of them had a crush on them.

But that fantasy was never realized.
To those who passionately confessed their feelings, she would reply that it was all a misunderstanding, and the hearts of those who woke up from their dream would soon plummet to the ground.

Countless people cried in front of her, and let out empty laughs in the face of their surging shame.

But no one blamed her. No one spewed unreasonable hatred like in Yu Garyeon’s case.

Rather, even as their hearts were breaking, they were blaming themselves.

I don’t know for sure, but I dare to guess that it was because she had simply treated everyone with sincerity, and they thought that they themselves were the ones who had distorted that kindness.

Surely, they were enchanted by her scent until the very last moment.

The scent of Lee Dasom was that noble, strange, and sweet.

“It’s the same now. I don’t really know what it means to like someone, and I don’t have the time for that kind of thing.”

Dasom’s shoulders slumped, and a flower named self-deprecation bloomed on her face.

“But I guess it looks strange to normal people.”
“Who is it? This ‘normal person’?”
“Huh?”
“I should go give them a piece of my mind.”

At my words, a faint breath escaped Dasom’s lips.

After laughing emptily with a pained expression for a while, she sighed and continued.

“My parents. They nag me about men whenever they have the chance.”

Dasom, wiping her face with her palm, looked incredibly frustrated.

“They call me several times a week and give me a lecture on the importance of marriage, and whenever I go home, they shove a picture of a man I’ve never seen before in my face and tell me to meet him.”
“Do they do that even if you say you don’t want to?”
“Yeah, they let it slide when I was in college, but I guess they’re not going to let it go anymore. They say I won’t have a chance if I get any older…”

Dasom, who had been rambling, frowned as if a bad memory had come to mind.

“Last New Year’s, when I went home, we fought about that for a long time. Then the doorbell rang, so I used that as an excuse to leave for a moment.”

Dasom clenched her fists.

“They saw it then.”
“Saw what?”

At my question, she moved her lips, clenching and unclenching her fists anxiously.

“…I left my phone on the table because I ran out, and I guess I got a call while I was away.”
“So what?”
“The lock screen is displayed for a while after the call ends, right? And that…”

Dasom trailed off, then looked at me with a hesitant expression and spoke.

“My lock screen then was you, Dojin…?”
“Huh?”
“N-Not now! Look, see? I’d never do anything you don’t like, Dojin. Really… And the picture wasn’t anything weird, it was, you know, when we had a party at my place for Christmas. You fell asleep, and it was so cute, so I took it.”

Dasom, holding her phone up to my face, started explaining frantically.

Come to think of it, last Christmas, I was so frustrated that I sipped some champagne and fell asleep.

I calmed Dasom down and continued.

“It’s okay, I told you it’s okay. I don’t care at all. Look, my lock screen is also a picture we took together during our club days.”

Dasom’s shoulders trembled as if she were surprised when she saw my lock screen.

“Th-That’s really the picture we took when we went to Gangneung.”
“Yeah, remember?”
“O-Of course, of course, of course. How could I forget? You were so cute, splashing around in the water! Phew, hehe, I coated all the pictures from that time and put them in an album—”

Dasom, who had been rambling, suddenly covered her mouth. She cleared her throat a few times, composed herself, and then spoke again.

“…Anyway, my dad saw that and went through my phone gallery without my permission. And in there, a very small part of my gallery, a r-really, really, really small part, had your pictures, Dojin.”
“Wait, then, don’t tell me…”

Dasom nodded slightly and let out a groan.

“When I came back, he shoved my phone in my face and started yelling at me, saying I should have told him if I had a boyfriend, why didn’t I tell him. H-He even thought we were living together after seeing a picture of you at my place! My god, how could he make such a ridiculous misunderstanding…”
“Still, people don’t usually think that just from a picture. Hmm, was there a picture that could be misunderstood?”

We took a lot of pictures together, but I don’t remember taking any that could be misunderstood by others.

“It’s true! Seriously! What picture did he see to have such an absurd, thought, you know…?”

Dasom, who had been raising her voice and patting her thigh as if frustrated, suddenly stopped.

“Unni, what’s wrong?”
“U-Uh? W-Why?”
“No, your face suddenly turned pale. Are you not feeling well?”
“Uh, uh. Yeah, I think what I ate for lunch wasn’t good. M-My stomach is churning, suddenly.”
“I have some digestive medicine, do you want some?”
“No, no, I’m fine now. You don’t have to worry.”

Dasom reached out, gulped down the green tea on the table, and then spoke again.

“A-Anyway, that day, I kept saying it. That you and I are just friends, nothing more, nothing less. But he wouldn’t believe me. He distorted my explanations and took them in a weird way, and in the end, he got all excited by himself and started making a fuss about when we would have our family meeting. I was really… And then the holiday ended, so I came back without being able to clear up the misunderstanding.”

Dasom clutched her shoulders as if she were shuddering.

“Still, I thought I had to set a date and resolve it someday. But as you know, Dojin, I’ve been busy with work since this year, and the nagging phone calls from my parents stopped after that day, so I didn’t have a chance to talk to them. And for the past few weeks, I’ve been so busy taking care of myself that I haven’t had any time to worry about others…”

Dasom’s voice began to tremble as she continued.

“That was the problem. I shouldn’t have done that.”

Dasom lowered her head and bit her lip, letting out a soft breath.

“…A few days ago, I got a call from my mom, and she said my dad was hospitalized.”
“What?”
“She said he misstepped. And it wasn’t just a fall, he fractured his ankle… and even got a concussion.”

Dasom’s eyes, as she continued, chewing on her lip, were already welling up with tears, so much so that it was painful for me to watch.
I wiped away her tears and asked again.

“Is he okay?”
“Yeah… Fortunately, they said there’s no major problem with his brain. If the ankle surgery goes well, he’ll be discharged in a week at most.”
“I see, that’s a relief.”
“…Still.”

Dasom said, her swollen lips parting.

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen my dad so weak. It feels like he could just disappear, and it wouldn’t be strange…”

Soon, she burst into tears, and I silently offered her my chest. As if she could no longer hold it in, she started trembling and pouring out her tearful words.

“How could I refuse in that situation! Hic, I can’t, I can’t do something like that…!”
“…He wanted to see me, didn’t he?”

Dasom nodded silently at my words.

“At first, I was going to say no. Even if it’s a sick person’s wish, what’s wrong is wrong. But he, who had been in so much pain… smiled so brightly when he saw the picture of you and me…”

Her voice, strained and halting, conveyed the agony she must have been through these past few days, and a corner of my heart ached.

“I know, I know I’m talking crazy right now. But…”

An unusual request. And in a situation where she felt guilty towards me, it must have been difficult for her to say it.

“Seeing my dad smile so brightly like that, it’s really, it’s been so long…!”

Dasom’s eyes, looking up at me as she sniffled, were filled with a deep sadness.