My Feisty Sisters Are Coming After Me

Chapter 3

—–CROW—– 

“What is it, Noona?”

“Can I…come in, Ji-gu?”

Su-jeong Noona asked, peeking her head through the crack in the door.  If it were morning, I would have nodded immediately, but the time and the situation made me hesitate.

‘What’s going on in the middle of the night? And without even knocking?’

Unlike Geum-bi Noona, who barged into rooms, Su-jeong Noona never forgot to knock three times and ask permission to enter.  

But now, she just poked her head in without warning and then asked if she could come in.

As if she was doing something secretly, something important that needed to be said only to me, in my room, just the two of us.

“…Come in, Noona.”

“Thanks. Excuse me for a moment.”

The first thing Su-jeong Noona did after entering was carefully close the door.  She closed it so softly that I almost didn’t hear the click of the lock.

‘This is making me nervous. I’m already uneasy because of what happened this morning…ha.’

It was suspicious, but Su-jeong Noona wouldn’t do anything strange to me.  I guessed that her behavior was related to the ‘family secret’ Mom had revealed.

‘No way…is it?  Nah, it can’t be. It can’t…be.’

One of us wasn’t blood-related.  The fact that Su-jeong Noona, the eldest, had come to my room the night we heard that made my heart race.

“Can I sit next to you? You weren’t sleeping, were you?”

“No, I just finished brushing my teeth.  Sit comfortably, Noona.”

Su-jeong Noona climbed onto the bed and naturally leaned against the wall.  

I pretended to be calm as I sat next to her, but I was worried about the cold sweat trickling down my back, soaking my clothes and probably even the wallpaper.

“Did you come here to tell me something?”

“Yeah.  I…I feel like I can only tell you, Ji-gu.”

I had spoken first, unable to bear the silence, but it was a pointless attempt. I gulped too obviously and couldn’t look directly at Su-jeong Noona.

‘Noona is the eldest…Besides our parents, she’s the one who knows our family history best.’

Her memories might be hazy since she was young, but she’d remember someone being adopted one day.  And that someone being the only boy in the house, sitting right next to her now.

From daytime until now, she’d had more than enough time to think about it.

‘I should have brought some water.  My throat is parched.’

Nervousness bred suspicion, and suspicion, after much speculation, turned into certainty.  If it wasn’t true, why would Su-jeong Noona come to my room in the middle of the night?

The last time we’d had a conversation like this, shoulder to shoulder, was eight years ago, when I was in middle school.  

Just like back then, when I was going through puberty, Su-jeong Noona slowly shared her body heat, as if comforting someone.

“You’re warm, Noona.”

“I guess it’s because I stayed up late. I had a lot on my mind…”

Su-jeong Noona was the epitome of a regular lifestyle, always going to bed at the same time.  That must be it. It definitely wasn’t because her pulse was racing from nervousness or guilt.

“Can I ask what you want to talk about?”

“Yeah. …Sorry, I came all the way here and kept stalling.”

“It’s okay. It can be hard to talk about certain things.”

“Judging by your reaction, you’ve already guessed, haven’t you, Ji-gu?”

“You’re acting so differently than usual, Noona.  If this happened in the middle of the night, no one in our family wouldn’t notice.”

“I see. In our family…yeah, that’s right.”

Ah, I slipped up again.  Why did I say “our family”? Stupid, idiot. Now it’s even harder for Noona to talk.

The words “our family” came from someone who wasn’t blood-related.  I could imagine how Su-jeong Noona felt, even if I couldn’t see her face.

“Noona, um, actually, I don’t really care.”

“Huh…?”

“No matter who it is, whether we’re blood-related or not, the time we’ve spent together won’t change. We’ve all lived together for over 20 years, haven’t we?”

“Ji-gu…”

“So it’s okay. Even if we’re not blood-related, we’re still family.”

I rambled on, trying to fix my earlier slip-up.  Praying that this would lessen Su-jeong Noona’s guilt, even a little…praying that my forced smile would appear somewhat genuine.

I forced the corners of my lips up and looked at Noona, only to see tears streaming down her face.

“N-Noona? Don’t cry. What are you crying about?”

“But, still…sniff…”

“Come on, I said I’m okay.  Sigh.”

I let out a hearty laugh as if I really didn’t care and gently hugged her shoulders.  Su-jeong Noona leaned against my chest without resistance, her silent tears soaking her pajamas.

“About what Mom said this morning…Ji-gu.”

“Yeah, Noona.”

“That…it’s probably me. It must be me, sob.”

“Yeah, that it’s you…huh?”

My hand, patting her back, stopped.  It was out of pure surprise, but it made Su-jeong Noona cry out loud.

“Hic. I’m almost certain, it can only be me…sob.”

Flustered, I quickly resumed patting her back, one arm around her shoulder and the other hand stroking her back.  But Su-jeong Noona continued to cry for another ten minutes, and I had to endure the awkward position, holding her.

…While replaying the shocking truth I had just heard.

‘It wasn’t me, but Su-jeong Noona?  Noona…wasn’t blood-related to us?’

My hand kept moving, but the stunned expression on my face remained.  It was a good thing I was holding her tightly, so she couldn’t see my face.

* * *

“Are you feeling a little better, Noona?”

“Yeah…sorry.  Crying like a child at this age.”

“What’s there to be sorry about? I clung to you a lot when I was younger, too.”

“When Geum-bi scolded you? Hehe, it’s all a memory now…”

Su-jeong Noona’s face, as she reminisced, looked as if she were picturing days gone by that would never return.  Her expression made my chest ache for a different reason than before, and I held her hand and asked again,

“Noona, tell me properly. Why do you think what Mom said was about you?”

“Because I’m…the eldest. I can’t not know. I know everything, from when everyone came into our family to how they grew up.”

Su-jeong Noona’s reasoning was simple.  She was the first one in the house, and she had seen all the younger children being born, so none of them could be adopted.  In other words, only she could have been secretly adopted.

“But…it was when we were very young, right? I barely remember kindergarten, but you remember it clearly?”

“Not everything, but…I remember most of it.  Around the time Mom was pregnant, preparing for childbirth at the hospital, even what you all looked like as newborns.”

“Oh…um, sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“It’s okay.  It’s something we have to face eventually, so it’s good to be certain.”

My rash questioning had only opened old wounds.  Come to think of it, I could vaguely recall when the youngest was born.  There was no denying it.

‘I should change the subject.  If we keep talking about this, Noona might cry again.’

I didn’t want to see that.  Because she was the most mature and reliable among us, it was even harder to see her vulnerable side.

…It might sound selfish, but I didn’t know how to comfort her now that she was so fragile.

“Um, but why did you come to my room, Noona?”

“Ugh, sorry.  Suddenly coming in the middle of the night and talking about this…it must have been burdensome.”

“Oh, no, that’s not what I meant…!  There are other siblings on the second floor, so I was wondering why you came all the way down to the first floor…”

I really was an idiot.  My attempt to change the subject ended up sounding like I was blaming her.  I needed to be more careful with my words.

“Is that what you meant? I thought…I was being a burden to you, Ji-gu.”

“Not at all. I like these kinds of talks.  And with Su-jeong Noona, you can be as much of a burden as you want.”

“Hehe, what’s that supposed to mean?  Saying you like burdens, that’s not something you say to a person.”

“I have a driver’s license, so I can be your chauffeur.  Our car has a big trunk, so you can load it with all your baggage, whether you have it or not!”

“I don’t have that much baggage!  And you just said I wasn’t a burden?”

“Ah, I meant…not now…but in the future.  I meant you can always rely on me, haha.”

“Sigh, anyway, thanks.  Hearing that makes me feel a little better, hehe.”

It turned into a bit of a joke, but Su-jeong Noona seemed to feel better, smiling at the ceiling.  As expected, a smile suited her best.  I hoped she wouldn’t look so down again.

“I chose Ji-gu because…I thought you were the only one in the house I could talk to about this.”

“Why?”

“Hwa-yeon and Mok-hee are too young.  It’s not something twenty-one and twenty-year-olds can handle.”

“Hmm, that’s true.  Even if they act like adults, they’re still kids.”

Not all adults were the same.  There was a considerable difference between someone in their mid-twenties who had experienced university and work life, and someone in their early twenties who had just shed their teenage years.

‘I’m twenty-three, so I barely make it as mid-twenties…I guess that makes sense.’

One last question.  Scratching my cheek, I mentioned the person who came to mind first.

“But if that’s the case, wouldn’t Geum-bi Noona have been better? She’s only a year older than you, and her room is right next door.”

“Geum-bi…reacted that way during the day.”

“Oh, right.  That’s true.”

At the mention of Geum-bi Noona, Su-jeong Noona’s face darkened.  At the same time, I remembered what had happened earlier and realized why Su-jeong Noona hesitated.

“Besides that…Geum-bi won’t do.”

“Huh? Why?”

“…Anyway, she won’t do.  She absolutely won’t do.”

Su-jeong Noona shook her head repeatedly.  At first, I didn’t pay much attention, but her reaction, biting her lip tightly, made me ask again.

“Is there…something more?”

“…It’s a secret.  Only you know, Ji-gu.”

“Okay.”

Su-jeong Noona closed her eyes tightly and took a deep breath.  I could feel how tense she was, how much she was trying to calm down, through our clasped hands.

“My memories…aren’t perfect either.”

“Okay.”

“Especially around when I was one…naturally, I don’t remember anything.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

“If, just if, it’s not me…there’s only one other possibility.”

“…Ah.”

I understood immediately. Su-jeong Noona’s assumption was based entirely on her own memories. And from that period where her memory was incomplete, only one person, Geum-bi Noona, couldn’t be completely ruled out.

‘Su-jeong Noona thinks that either she was adopted, or Geum-bi Noona was adopted during a time she doesn’t remember.’

I understood why Su-jeong Noona was hesitant to talk. And also…why she brought this up later, even though she initially seemed certain that she was the one who was adopted.

“Uh?! J-Ji-gu?”

“Thank you.  I said it yesterday, but I’m always grateful and I love you, Noona.”

“S-suddenly?  This is so out of the blue…I’m a little flustered.”

“Like you barging into my room in the middle of the night?”

“Well, when you put it that way…I can’t argue with that, hehe.”

Unable to contain myself, I hugged Su-jeong Noona again, touched by her thoughtfulness.  I hugged her tightly, this foolish Noona who was trying to bear the burden alone, regardless of the truth, if I hadn’t asked.  But as her younger brother, I was too embarrassed to praise her for being mature or for her efforts, and my hands, having lost their direction, simply stroked her back gently.

“Um, Ji-gu. I’m sorry for bothering you in the middle of the night…since I’m already hugging you, can I lean on you a little longer?”

“Lean on me as much as you want. I’m renting out my embrace to you for the whole day.”

“Hehehe, you can say cheesy things like that now too.  I really did raise you well…our Ji-gu.”

Su-jeong Noona smiled and willingly snuggled into my arms. She rubbed her eyes against my chest like a child, but I couldn’t tease her for acting like one.  I just held her tightly in the darkness.

The cold sweat had dried on my back, but the front of my t-shirt remained damp throughout the night.  I thought I should do laundry first thing in the morning.

—–CROW—–