Chapter 22

Sister Crystal gave me a hug.

We were in a park. It was early evening, but it wasn't dark yet.

There were only a few people walking around, some of them looked at us and smiled.

If you listened to their conversation, you'd think they were a couple in the middle of a love affair.

I was confused by Soo-jin's question because I had grown up with a brother and sister who were often mistaken for a couple.

She asked me if I loved her, and I said yes, but now she wanted to know what it felt like.

"As a family member or as a sister, either one is fine... but if not both, then what is the other?

I was speechless when I heard the last option.

Crystal stroked my cheek to check if I was nervous, and I shuddered when my warm cheek touched her fingertips.

"You touched me... what are you doing?

The awkward question and the slightly clumsy way it was asked barely gave me room to breathe.

But I hadn't been able to understand the reasoning behind her behaviour since she called me to the park.

She's Soo-jung, I don't think she would have done it without thinking.

Unlike Geum-bi and Hwa-yeon, Soo-jung was always calm when it came to important matters.

This was her way of guiding the answer to a set course and blaming her younger brothers for her failings since she was a child.

I remembered these memories and slowly recalled what she had said.

"You asked me if I loved you, didn't you?"

"Yes. And I told you yes, why?"

"And you asked me what that meant."

"Yes. ...and now you want to answer?"

"More or less. I think I've made up my mind."

"Really? What sort of mind, Terra?"

Crystal took a deep breath and flinched when he looked determined.

Suddenly, it was she who was being pressurised, and I moved my hand from her back to her shoulder, holding her in place so that she couldn't escape.

I also made sure she couldn't speak by looking at her, and then...

"I really like you."

"Oh, like, in what way?"

"As a family, as a sister, and..."

"Huh?! Ears, why are your ears...?"

I moved my face closer to hers and brushed my lips against her ear.

She shivered, either from the tickling or from embarrassment, and I whispered, undisturbed by the tremor.

"Even if you are a woman."

"Hmph?! Jee, terra nuer...!"

"What, you didn't expect me to say that, did you?"

"Eh? Eh, eh, eh? Eh...?"

I said something from a soap opera and looked at Soo-jung, who was stammering and her face was red.

As she stared at her sister in disbelief, Soo-jung realised that she had been tricked and stomped her foot.

"Ji, Terra, are you kidding me? I asked you a serious question!"

"Yes, of course you were. If it had been a joke, I would have said something at home."

"So why are you trying to hide it like this?"

"It's because your idea is so silly."

"Hmph?! What's so ridiculous about it?"

"Now I know what you're worried about and what you were thinking when you left me."

Crystal rolled her eyes, clearly nervous.

But she couldn't run away with her shoulder being grabbed, and the busy park was like handcuffs.

"You can't just scream and run away in a place like this. You fell for my trick, little sister.

Crystal bit her lip and looked at me.

I shrugged and said, "Hwa-yeon told me about this.

"Hwa-yeon told me that you saw me sleeping in Geumbi's room this morning?"

"...Yes. I saw everything, with my own eyes."

"Isn't that why you were worried? It looked like she and I were getting closer, so I wondered if she was having second thoughts."

"Keep talking."

"But she and I haven't been getting along lately, and I didn't want to use that as an excuse to fight again, but as I was the first to call her, I took her aside to see if she was thinking anything against you."

"Terra, are you sure you didn't have any feelings?"

"Ha ha, sis. We've lived in the same house for more than 20 years, and we've always been close, so what's the point of having feelings for each other, right? Does that make sense?"

"It doesn't... make sense. Yes."

"Yes, it doesn't make sense, and you know it, so why are you doing this?"

This isn't the first time I've fallen for this trick, and I'm fed up of hearing it.

Soo-jung nodded when he heard what I was saying and he knew he was in the wrong, but he lifted a finger to see if there was anything he could say to make it better.

"But let me clarify. I didn't do it without reason."

"What made you think I was being dishonest?"

"Well, for a start, why did you sleep in Goldie's room this morning? You didn't even come into my room yesterday, did you?"

"First of all, it's my room, sister."

"Don't change the subject, answer me directly."

The problem started because you slept in Geum-Bi's room.

There is no excuse for that, so I was honest.

"I was talking to her in the evening, and we got talking for hours. I went to her room and when I finished, it was still early in the morning, so I just fell asleep there."

"How did you fall asleep without realising?"

"Goldie said it was okay for me to sleep. I also wanted to make sure that Soo-Jung could sleep alone."

"Why did you care about me?"

"You were drunk last night, you had the smell of alcohol on your face and you were struggling, so I thought it would be difficult for you...?"

"Ugh, that's enough! Okay, okay, let's get on with it."

When I brought up the subject of my drunkenness, Soo-sung was embarrassed, so she quickly covered my mouth and ended the questioning.

But it saved my life.To be honest, I was embarrassed to have to leave out the middle part.

I can't tell you the whole story," I said, "why we talked so much at night, or why she asked me to sleep in her room.

First of all, I only told the truth as much as possible.

Soo-jung blushed and shook his head, then jumped to the next question.

"So, two. Earth... when you sleep with me, why do you always get an erection?"

"Huh?"

"Don't even think about it. I'm telling you with my own eyes."

"Eh? What? No, wait, what are you talking about?!"

"Don't pretend you don't see it. I've seen everything. Every morning when I wake up... Wow, the bottom four corners of the Earth are all swollen..."

"Wow! Sis, that's not an accident, it's just a mistake. It's instinct!"

"See, instinct? Isn't that what you think when you're sleeping with me?"

"No, it's not! Didn't you have sex education lessons when you were a student? Why don't you know that even better than Geumbi?"

I must have got too carried away with the illusion.

I raised my voice and everyone looked at me.

I leaned over and whispered to Crystal, my face flushed.

"There you are, sister."

"Eh, what?"

"It's just that, in the morning, she sometimes reacts without thinking."

"Oh really? It's just, like, spontaneous, with no strings attached?"

"Didn't they tell you about that in sex education lessons, or how you found out in a relationship...?"

"Well, my friends and I were embarrassed when it happened... I haven't even been in a relationship yet."

"You too?""No, I mean, isn't Soo-jung very popular?"

It's the same with Geumbi's sister, but she's so quiet that men can't get close to her.

If you're a nice and friendly person, they won't leave you alone, will they?

"But I didn't think about it when I was at school, I was too busy looking after you.When I was twenty, Geumbi was a gosam, and at twenty-one, the children downstairs hit puberty, and the following year, you became a gosam, and so on..."

Soo-jung stammered, and I couldn't help adding.

"Was it because of us? We didn't have to give up our relationship because of you.

I realised that Geum-bi was probably in a similar situation and I felt sorry for both of them.

So I stopped asking any more questions and just gave Soo-jung a quick explanation about the male body.

"Anyway, remember this, sister. You can't avoid it in the morning, because men are like that even when there's no one around, even when you don't think about it."

"Mmm, okay... I can see from your expression that you're serious."

I didn't ask what my expression was.

It felt warm, and the temperature must have risen several degrees.

"At least it's a shadow.It's dark, so you won't be able to see much of my face.

At least not to everyone around me.

Sister Crystal, right in front of me... she's already been seen.

"So, have you finished explaining?"

"No, actually, there's one last thing."

"What is it? Don't you think there's something bigger than that?"

"I think... this is the biggest problem."

I thought I was drowning in problems, but was there something bigger?

I felt nervous and my legs were shaking.

"To be honest, if it was just me or Goldie, I'd probably hit him and be done with it."

"Yeah, but?"

"I heard you say that you... touched your brothers downstairs too."

"Huh? No, what? Hwa-yeon or Mok-hee?"

"Hwa-yeon."

I felt as if I'd been hit on the head by a meteorite after the introduction.

I held my breath as I felt my legs tremble, then my arms, then the arms holding my sister.

The third reason for the crystal sister's confession was...

"This is the last... Terra, did you say that Hwayeon spanked you in front of your nose?"

"What are you talking about?!"

I shouted out against the ridiculous rumours that had brought the incident to this point.

Everyone in the park, which I had somehow managed to avoid, looked at us.

I lowered my head to the ground, shaking and clenching my teeth.

"Yang Hua-yeon, you should have given me back the 100,000 won, or rather, I should have taken it from you!

What's really annoying is that, after hearing this, everything about Suzie's behaviour today makes sense.

I was worried because my sister was sleeping with her and waking up with an erection, and one day she went to the other sister's room to sleep... and now I've heard rumours that she masturbated in front of my sister downstairs, so how could I not test it?

I thought, "You're lucky you didn't hit her.Maybe it's because she's Soo-jung's sister, haha."

I sighed, shocked by this strange misunderstanding.

She blinked at me, wondering what was going on, but I needed a moment to calm down.

I need to think about how Hwa-yeon is going to kill her.

Wait a minute, big sister.

Clear your throat and wait, Hwa-yeon Yang.