episode_0054

Thud, thud.

I opened my eyes to the sound of raindrops hitting the window.

A thin stream of rain seeps through the dimly lit field of vision.

The reason I opened my eyes wasn’t just because of the sound of rain.

“Ugh… It’s heavy… .”

Perhaps she was not feeling well. Or maybe she was snoring too much, but Mirae was lying on my stomach and sleeping soundly.

Even his two hands were inside my T-shirt, holding my waist tightly, and his face was perfectly placed on the nape of my neck, as if he had made a custom fit.

“Sigh… .”

“Hyaang… .”

As I was struggling to push the future down, a warm breath suddenly poured down on the back of my neck.

Thump, thump.

A chill ran up my spine, followed by a dangerously high heart rate.

“Mi, is the future awake?”

“Yeah… .”

With a languid voice, the arms wrapped around her waist tightened even more.

“Mom, it’s hard… .”

I let out a small complaint and glanced at Mirae, who I thought had fallen back asleep, and she was staring up at me.

“If you do that, I’ll get out of the way.”

“What, what?”

Maybe it’s because my brain isn’t fully awake yet. The words without subjects felt a bit impure.

“Muup… .”

As if punishing me for this, Mirae covered her lips instead of answering.

What do I think about something as wholesome as a morning greeting between a mother and daughter?

“Um… Ugh… .”

A literal kiss, just overlapping lips. The heat, as if all the body temperature had been gathered, was transmitted from Mirae to me and from me to Mirae.

Maybe it’s because I did it every day, but now I’m completely used to it.

But today, for some reason, it felt more familiar. Just like it had just happened a moment ago, the warmth coming from Future’s lips felt a little lukewarm.

Did it rain and the temperature drop?

“Ha… .”

Slowly time passed, and as always, I let out a ragged breath and fell away from the future.

And the future, as promised, came down from my body and lay down next to me.

“Are you feeling a little better?”

“… … Yeah.”

The subtle gap between the answers was bothersome, but it was probably okay since he asked for a kiss as soon as he woke up.

“Mom, I have to go make breakfast.”

“There’s still time.”

The future covered itself again with the blanket and dug into my arms. Every gesture was filled with sleepiness.

I can’t push away my daughter who keeps whining and saying she wants to be with her mom… .

“Then let’s sleep a little more.”

In the end, I too closed my eyes, facing the future.

Just a little bit, just a little bit more… .

* * *

“Kids, hurry up, if you miss that I’ll be late!”

To cut to the chase, I was on the verge of experiencing my first ever lateness in life.

I must have fallen into a deep sleep during that short time, because I didn’t even hear the alarm sound, and I only woke up after Hanna Yeon woke me up.

If only the contract for Hanna Yeon’s house hadn’t been completed yet, I would have slept all day without knowing what was going on.

“Taxi.”

“Don’t you feel bad about paying for a taxi?”

“I’ll pay.”

Mirae followed at a leisurely pace, as if she had intended to take a taxi from the beginning.

“Sister, there’s a puddle over there!”

Slap.

“Ah… .”

Other people seemed to think the same way about the future.

Despite Narin’s warning, Hannayeon ends up stepping into the puddle.

“Senior, be careful with the car.”

“Ah, oh, thank you… .”

Seo-hu very sweetly pulls Narin, who is walking near the road, inward.

“Sister, sister! Hurry up and get on, it’s late!”

And Tachibana waving from a black van that just passed by.

…Tachibana?

“Huh, huh? Why is Tachibana here… .”

“I saw you passing by! It was good that we became friends, right?”

The door of the van, which had been coated on all sides like a celebrity’s car, opened, and Tachibana smiled brightly and gestured for us to come in.

“Friend… ?”

“Ugh… ?”

Maybe it was because of my work at the department store, but I didn’t feel at ease.

Still, Tachibana treats me like usual. It’s fortunate that we haven’t become awkward.

“What, isn’t your daughter’s friend your mother’s friend or something?”

I hurriedly got into the car, making up some awkward excuses.

“Excuse me… .”

As I passed by Tachibana’s legs and greeted him, the old man with white hair and a stylish mustache sitting in the driver’s seat smiled gently.

Are you a butler or something…?

It went well with Tachibana’s young lady-like atmosphere, so I thought about it naturally without even asking.

As expected, Tachibana seems to have come from a wealthy family.

“Oh, thank you… .”

Whether it was because she was impressed by the driver or because she was impressed by Tachibana’s financial power, Narin also got on board after greeting him politely.

And then Hanna Yeon sits down next to Na Rin, and Mirae, who was standing there with a displeased expression, also comes in.

“Oh, I told you to ride only with your sister?”

Tachibana stopped him by extending his arm.

Me, Narin, Hannayeon. In reality, everyone riding was older than Tachibana.

Besides, the person Tachibana stopped wasn’t just Mirai.

“Me, me too… .”

Seo-hu opened the front seat door while looking for a seat, but stopped with only his feet on the seat.

“What… I owe Seo-hoo-kun. Seo-hoo-kun, you should ride too.”

I wondered if he was trying to act funny since he told me to get on. If that was the case, I should get off too. I looked at Tachibana, and there was a deep mischief on his face that I could tell right away.

It’s a prank that can be played because you’re close friends. I didn’t have any friends to play such pranks with, so I took it too seriously. Could this be why I don’t have any friends?

He took his eyes off Tachibana and smiled brightly at Mirae, who was standing outside.

“Tsk.”

At the same time, Mirae frowned, clicked her tongue slightly, and started walking.

“Ta, catch Tachibana quickly! If the future is twisted, it’ll take a long time!”

I hurriedly shouted at Tachibana. I unintentionally exposed my daughter’s pettiness, but I couldn’t help it if it meant not to ruin our friendship.

The future shouldn’t be lonely like me.

“Mi, Future Yang! Just kidding, kidding. The first person to help me last time was Future Yang, right? I may be mean, but I am definitely not an ungrateful person.”

Inside the slowly moving car with the door open, Tachibana soothed Mirae with a soft voice.

But the future moved forward silently without even giving it a glance.

“Mi, the future! If you don’t hit the future, Mom will get off too!”

I also join in and persuade Mirae. Mirae is an altruistic child. She can’t stand seeing me suffer because of her.

“Down.”

“Huh, huh?”

The magnitude of the anger that Mirae felt was much greater than I expected. I never thought that she would tell me to get off… .

But it’s not that I couldn’t understand the mind of the future. While everyone else was laughing and riding, I was the only one left behind. Even though I was pretending to be calm on the outside, I’m sure I was burning up inside.

I know of several similar anecdotes.

During gym class, I don’t have a partner, so I have to play with the wall alone. During a school trip, all the kids assigned to the same room go to play in the next room, so I’m left alone. When I eat bread at the cafeteria, a subtle space forms around me, and I snicker at the name I give it, calling it the “Iharu Zone.”

Oh, of course that’s not something I’ve actually experienced.

It’s just that… there are people like that.

“Mirae-ya Tachibana also said sorry, so now let’s relax… .”

I, who have an amazingly high level of empathy, appealed to the future with sincere eyes.

“Um… .”

In the midst of this tense tug-of-war, Narin suddenly took out a notebook from her bag while letting out a low grumble.

And let’s roughly draw a line with a sharpie.

The line that was hanging down rose from the notebook and soon began to grow longer.

“Me, Narina?”

“Don’t worry. I won’t harm you.”

It looked like a wire with extremely low resolution, and soon wrapped around the future body, lifting it up and pulling it inside.

Mirai ended up sitting next to Tachibana against her will.

“Friends… should we get along well?”

Narin stuck her head between the two of them and smiled silently.

I thought, looking at that spine-chilling smile.

I don’t know about other people, but let’s never make Narin angry.

* * *

“Ta, Tachibana… Why is your hand suddenly… .”

“My hands are numb. Since we’re friends, this is okay, right?”

Perhaps Tachibana’s words that he would make her regret it were not a misunderstanding.

When I asked her to stretch her hand out and hold it for a moment, she only grabbed my little finger, but then she suddenly grabbed my finger tightly like a snake swallowing its prey, and from then on, no matter how hard I tried, she wouldn’t let go.

“Friends are next to you too… .”

“The future sheep is cold. In body and mind. Well… because she has the power of ice!”

I thought people said my daughter was cold, but it seems they said it because of her abilities.

After failing to free my hand, I glanced at Hanna Yeon.

Is this what real friends do?

I sent her a look full of questions, but Hanna Yeon just stared at my hand and turned her head away.

Well… Hannah Yeon and Nana, that’s it.

“Friends don’t do that. Don’t fool your mom into hanging out with you either.”

Instead, Mirae, with whom they had maintained a normal relationship, gently twisted Tachibana’s index finger, forcing him away, and told him the truth.

“Huh… Does that sound like I lied to Unnie Haru?”

Tachibana, who seemed dissatisfied with something, pushed away from me and buried his body in the back of the chair.

“Wrong?”

“Hey, kids?”

In the suddenly calm atmosphere without any warning, Narin, sitting in the middle seat, looked embarrassed.

“Hmm… I can’t deny it because everyone’s perception of distance is different, but it feels a bit strange to hear that from Mirae Yang.”

Tachibana stopped Narin with his palm and smiled at Mirae.

“I kiss my sister every day.”

“Uh, how….”

Hannayeon looks at me. Narin looks at me too. I look at Tachibana.

I was so surprised that I couldn’t even speak.

All he could do was move his lips and utter a few words.

It was something honest, so there was no need to make excuses, but I still felt a little embarrassed because it was being talked about in a crowded place.

“I’m a vampire after all. It’s difficult to put me on the same level as normal people.”

Instead of answering, Tachibana half-raised his body and brought the tip of his nose to the corner of my mouth.

Sniff sniff.

Could it be that I could tell by the smell? Tachibana muttered as he returned to his seat after twitching his nose for a moment.

“This is at least 5 minutes… .”

5 minutes…?

Even if he was a vampire, his sense of smell couldn’t have been that developed. He must have just tried it randomly and it happened to be a coincidence.

“Ah, no, there’s no way it’s going to last that long! And it’s not a kiss, it’s a peck! It’s something Mirae has been doing since she started kindergarten.”

Yeah, it’s just a simple kiss.

Not the sticky stuff that lovers do, that makes your face burn just thinking about it.

A kiss that can be called a lip smacking, just to confirm each other’s affection.

Most people fall before they can even breathe completely, so it’s probably only 20 seconds at most. But even so, 5 minutes is ridiculous.

“Ugh… .”

Tachibana looked into the future with a meaningful gaze, perhaps not wanting to admit that he was wrong.

“Then shall we leave it like that?”

“… … .”

Mirae glanced at Tachibana for a moment, then frowned and leaned her head against the window.

Maybe Mirai and Tachibana… just don’t get along.