My Younger Sister Was My First Love

37. I Don’t Want To

Tomorrow would be April.

I could finally say goodbye to my thick outerwear.

The warm weather continued.

I wore a thin cardigan over a pair of jeans and waited for Minju in front of the theater.

“Hey! Ijunho!”

I was thinking that the weather had become quite mild.

Minju appeared in front of me, dressed in an outfit that perfectly fit the theme of ‘pring’ that I had in mind.

“Did you arrive?”

“Yes. Did you wait long?”

“Not really?”

Her plum-colored skirt reached just above her knees.

On top of that, she wore a white, fluffy blouse.

The cream-colored cardigan looked like it was chosen to match mine.

“Shall we go in?”

Minju’s face was full of energy, as if she was really looking forward to the movie.

She seemed more lively than when I saw her at school.

“Let’s go.”

It was a weekend evening, so the theater was packed with people around our age.

Since it was a romantic comedy, there were an unusually large number of couples, creating a lively atmosphere.

“How about the popcorn flavor?”

Since Minju had provided the tickets, buying popcorn was my job.

“Um…should we go with the usual flavor?”

It seemed like she was hesitant, and then a strange response came out.

“What’s the usual flavor, anyway?”

“It’s a memory test. Try to remember.”

There weren’t many popcorn flavors to choose from, anyway.

Minju had eaten a lot of sweet flavors, if I recalled correctly…

“I think it was caramel?”

“Oh, you remember?”

“I got it right.”

“Aww, what’s with the fake surprise?!”

Minju’s hand slapped my arm lightly.

Normally, we would have mixed original and caramel flavors, but since I had eaten popcorn yesterday, I opted for a large size of caramel flavor.

“Here you go.”

As I handed the cola to Minju, she looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“Do you prefer caramel flavor these days?”

“Not particularly.”

“You used to only eat sweet flavors, didn’t you?”

“I did eat it yesterday, though.”

“What’s with that? Did you watch a movie yesterday too?”

“I didn’t watch it at the theater, just at home.”

“What did you watch?”

It was embarrassing to admit that I had watched an adult movie with my younger sister.

“Just something on TV.”

As we entered the theater, we watched the ads and munched on our popcorn.

“Don’t you watch movies often?”

“I said I watched one yesterday.”

“I mean, aside from that.”

Ever since we met in school, I had noticed that Minju had a lot of questions about me.

She often brought up past conversations, like searching for a hidden picture, and would compare things to how they were now.

“I barely watched any movies until last year because I was studying, and after the entrance exams…um…about two movies?”

“That means you didn’t watch many, right?”

“That’s how it is.”

“Yeah, but you…um…”

Minju leaned her face closer to my arm, trying to sniff something.

“Is this your perfume?”

“Ah, yeah. That’s it.”

Ah, I knew it. The scent of a man is definitely not like this.

It’s too floral.

“It’s not mine, it’s my little brother’s. He said it’s good, so he sprayed it on me.”

“This is way too feminine, though. I like the scent, but…”

“I know, right? I must have mistaken the scent and sprayed it wrong.”

Ugh, Jihee.

I need to talk to her when I get home.

Why did she spray this on me?

We chatted for a bit, and then the lights went out and the movie started.

Since my eyes were fixed on the screen, our hands touched every time we ate popcorn, and it was like a romantic comedy scene.

But, it didn’t feel like that at all.

The reason was simple.

Due to my homeroom teacher’s antics, my dopamine levels had skyrocketed.

For me, a girl’s hand was no longer an unfamiliar existence.

Just touching it made my brain go numb.

On the contrary, watching the movie with Minju was more focused than with Jihee.

At least she wouldn’t suddenly jump on me and kiss me.

…Thinking about it again, it’s crazy.

The dim TV light.

Jihee’s face, flushed pink, appeared in my mind, and my focus was broken again.

I took a big sip of cola to calm myself down.

[Hey, are you not sitting over there?]

The movie was a romantic comedy that fit the theme perfectly.

It was moderately funny, and a bit risqué.

I laughed along with the audience, and when there were slightly erotic scenes…

“…Hmm?”

Minju touched my pinky finger, which was resting on the armrest.

I looked at her with a “what’s going on?” expression, and she whispered back with a small smile.

“…I’m shy.”

It was a non-sequitur.

The shy scene was just that, and fingers were just fingers.

I couldn’t understand the correlation between the two, but I let Minju touch my hand.

Compared to my homeroom teacher’s antics, this was cute.

It wasn’t distracting, and it didn’t feel like my skin was crawling.

Since I didn’t stop her, Minju left her finger on top of my hand even after the scene passed.

I felt like I was having a 4D experience, and it was fun.

The emotions Minju was feeling were being transmitted through her fingertips, and it was impressive.

“Fun.”

The ending credits rolled up.

The movie was quite satisfying.

Although Minju had recommended it, sometimes it’s nice to watch a movie in the theater.

“Me too.”

“But why aren’t you leaving?”

Even though people were leaving one by one, Minju remained seated, unmoving.

“Ah, there’s a cookie video! Let’s watch that too before we go.”

“Okay.”

Half of the audience had left, and the other half waited until the credits finished rolling.

The 10-second video that appeared showed the main couple teasing and playing around in one scene.

I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

“Ah, that was funny.”

“Yeah, it was.”

When we came out, it was already past 8 pm.

“Do you want to eat together?”

Minju nodded vigorously, as if it was a matter of course, when I asked to confirm.

“I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten anything since lunch.”

“You ate popcorn, though.”

“Yeah, but that’s not a meal.”

“Anyway, I’m fine with anything, so let’s go eat something.”

After strolling around with Minju, we arrived at a Japanese home-style restaurant.

“I’ll have one Misokatsu set and one Hormone set, please!”

I thought the order was finished, but…

“I Junho. I Junho.”

“Yes?”

“Do you want to have a drink?”

“A drink? Here?”

“Yes! If we’re eating something this greasy, we should have a beer to go with it!”

……Is that so?

To be honest, I thought it would be fine to just have a cola, but I ended up ordering a beer to follow Minju.

“Cheers!”

The sound of the glasses clinking was refreshing.

The foam that had formed a thick layer, like snow piled up, stuck to my lips.

I wiped it off with a tissue and thought to myself.

I’ve been drinking too much lately.

I even got drunk yesterday.

“Did you post about the movie we watched today on Story?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

Jihee was like that, and Minju was the same.

Everyone’s going to die if they don’t do that.

“What did you do yesterday?”

“I helped my younger sibling with a mock test at home.”

“A mock test? Can’t you just do it alone? Did you correct their mistakes?”

“No, I sat with them and pretended to be the proctor.”

Min-ju’s eyes widened in surprise.

“So you stayed with them from morning till afternoon, watching over them?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you getting paid millions by some aunt or uncle to do that?”

Min-ju was so shocked that they couldn’t close their mouth.

“No way! Who helps their sibling study like that?”

“But if you make them take the test alone, it doesn’t have that special feeling.”

“Aww, just send them to a private academy then! What’s the point of doing that?”

I didn’t want to send them away either.

How can I send them away when they’re going to die?

“If they want to do it at home, I’ll help them. What’s the big deal?”

“Yeah, yeah. But you should also enjoy your life. You’re in your first year, the best time to have fun.”

Min-ju seemed to have pent-up emotions and started pouring out their words.

“You always go home to help your sibling when you’re supposed to be out drinking, and today you had to come home early too. You’re not even having fun, and when you become a senior, you’ll really regret it?”

“But it’s not like you have to stay out late to have real fun.”

“Aigh, this is frustrating.”

Min-ju punched their own chest with their fist.

“No, I’m not trying to suck up to my sibling or force them to do something. I’m saying this because I genuinely enjoy it.”

We met friends on the weekend, watched a movie, and had a delicious meal.

Isn’t that enough?

Do you really need to stay out till dawn to have a fulfilling day? That’s hard to agree with.

“Is that enough?”

“Yeah, I think it’s enough to have a good time with you like this.”

“……Really?”

The rapid-fire questions of anger stopped for a moment.

Min-ju touched their chin with their finger, lost in thought, and then took a sip of beer alone.

“Then let’s meet up and have fun again? This time, we had leftover movie tickets, but next time, it’ll be just us.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

I readily agreed.

There was no reason to refuse.

In reality, I was quite satisfied with today’s routine.

“……Really?”

“Yeah, I was just kidding. I didn’t mean it.”

“No, no, no. This can’t be.”

“What’s going on?”

“You’re something else.”

The way he spoke, as if trying to provoke me, made my lips curl up.

“I’ve been feeling this all day, but don’t you get along really well with girls? You seem to have a natural flair for it.”

“How would I know that feeling?”

“No, it’s hard to explain, but people like you have a unique vibe.”

Min-ju scratched his head, as if he knew his explanation wasn’t convincing.

“Anyway, be honest with me. Have you dated before?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Then, don’t you often hang out with girls?”

“Do you think I’d be able to come to Korea University if I did that all the time?”

“Ah, but somehow, you give me this feeling……”

I’m not sure, but I think Min-ju is saying this to me because…

“It might be because I’ve been with Ji-hee for a long time.”

“Ji-hee?”

“My younger sister’s name. Lee Ji-hee.”

“What a pretty name.”

“Anyway, living with Ji-hee at home, I’ve learned a lot and naturally came to understand how girls think and play.”

“Ah, I see! That makes sense!”

Min-ju nodded quickly, as if he finally understood.

“That feeling doesn’t just come out of nowhere, naturally.”

To be honest, if Ji-hee weren’t around, I might have misunderstood when Min-ju touched my hand at the theater, thinking it was a green light.

But not anymore.

“Do you often hang out with your sister?”

“I rejected her invitation to hang out today.”

“It’s only been a few months since we started living together. Are you that close?”

Yeah, we even kissed yesterday.

“We study together, and our parents are abroad, so we rely on each other.”

“That’s true. You do rely on each other.”

“That’s how it is.”

“Introduce me to your sister later.”

“Ji-hee?”

“Yeah! I’m curious. Ah, would she be uncomfortable? She’s a student, after all.”

“No, she’s curious about my friends, so I’ll ask her. She’ll probably say yes.”

So I asked him when I got home.

“Do you dislike it?”

A cold response.

“Why do I have to meet your friend and that older sister of yours?”