My Younger Sister Was My First Love

42. The Hundred Questions of Siblings

“Is Junho and his younger sibling not getting along?”

In front of the school bus stop.

The members of our study group, who had stayed up late to study together, were slowly dispersing.

“Yes, hyung. I’ll go in first.”

“Okay, and be careful going in, Jihee! Thanks for today!”

“Yes! Thank you!”

As it happened, a bus heading towards our home was arriving first, so Jihee and I quickly got up to leave.

Since it was close to the last bus, there weren’t many people inside.

The two of us sat side by side in the back 2-seater.

I held a vinyl bag filled with empty plastic containers, making a rustling sound.

“Jihee.”

“Yes?”

I had been thinking about this all the way down the hill.

Should I apologize first or scold her first?

But I decided to start with this.

“I’ve been saying this since earlier, if you were going to come, you should’ve sent a text message at least.”

“Then there’s no point in a surprise.”

“What if you finished your study early? You could’ve done it properly.”

Jihee chuckled and poked my cheek with her finger.

“If I had been honest, would you have told me to come?”

“What?”

“If I had said I was going to bring snacks to share with your school friends, would you have stopped me?”

“I probably would have told you not to.”

“That’s why I just came.”

“Don’t do it again next time.”

I was worried that she might suddenly show up like this again.

Jihee didn’t respond.

She quietly fiddled with her fingers and then pulled the vinyl bag I was holding towards herself.

“……Okay.”

Her face looked dejected.

But I couldn’t read her mind from that one action alone.

Jihee was a master of lies.

It wasn’t like she was going to take back what she said and start crying.

“I see.”

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, knowing the truth, and continued the conversation.

“It was really delicious, though. Thanks for bringing it.”

“What? Don’t do it again. I’ll never make it for you again.”

Is she really upset……?

Her reaction wasn’t normal.

“No. If you contact me first, who’s going to say anything? If you want to come, just say so.”

“You’ll just get scolded if you don’t make contact.”

“I’m not doing this because I dislike you or because I’m in a bad mood, but because as a student, you wasted your time on me for no reason.”

“Was it a waste?”

The atmosphere was stagnant.

I knew exactly what I had done wrong.

“Oppa, did I just waste your time by saying I’d bring you a snack?”

“No, it’s not that.”

“Don’t you think it’s ridiculous that I came to bring you a snack when you’re the one who always helps me with my studies, cooks for me, and spends time with me on weekends?”

This guy’s mouth is the problem.

I should just say something nice and end it.

Haa…….

“It’s something I made in my spare time. I worked hard to make it because I wanted to give it to my family. But how could you say that to me?”

I had to find a way to calm down Ji-hee, who was getting furious.

What should I say?

Just apologizing wouldn’t be enough.

If my guess was right, Ji-hee’s trigger point was “You’re wasting your time on your family?”

Then my answer should be…

“……Why give it to them?”

It was a faint, uncertain smile.

At this moment, I had to be shameless, thinking I was an actor.

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s food you made with your own hands. Why should your colleagues and seniors get to eat it?”

I was half-convinced, but surprisingly, my words seemed to have an effect.

“Uh……?”

Her face looked confused.

This was my chance.

“You’re saying those people have the right to eat the snacks you made with your heart and soul? Try to refute that, Ji-hee.”

I felt the atmosphere shift.

I couldn’t let this timing slip away.

I gently placed my hand on Ji-hee’s head.

“Don’t make things for others.”

“……Oppa.”

“The food you make is for me to eat alone at home.”

I was embarrassed.

I was afraid someone on the bus might hear us.

What was I saying to my younger sibling? Me?

But the effect was more than I expected, and even as I felt ashamed, I didn’t regret my choice.

“……Okay.”

She calmed down……?

Had I really calmed her down with this?

Ji-hee glanced at me sideways, as if she had gotten angry a moment ago, and her eyes seemed to be checking on me.

Even her cheeks seemed to be blushing faintly, as if she was embarrassed.

Was this really it?

If I handled it like this, I could deal with Ji-hui’s indiscriminate, crazy moments!

“……If you didn’t want others to eat, you should’ve said so earlier.”

Her voice had clearly cooled down.

“Now that you know, it’s fine.”

“Oppa.”

“Yes.”

“I have something to ask.”

“What is it?”

“How much did you hate it when others ate sandwiches?”

To be honest, I didn’t feel any resentment towards others eating.

Everyone seemed to enjoy it, and some even looked envious. Of course, this might just be my own misconception.

But excessive honesty can sometimes be poisonous.

I quietly placed the bag Ji-hui had snatched back onto my knee.

“……It’s infuriating.”

With that, I turned my head to the other side.

A bright smile bloomed on Ji-hui’s lips, reflected in the window.

* * *

A third-year high school student takes a total of six mock exams.

It’s like saying they have six bullets until the actual college entrance exam.

Of course, doing well on a mock exam doesn’t guarantee doing well on the actual exam.

What’s important is confirmation.

Understanding where I currently stand is crucial.

In that context, whether to administer the April mock exam or not was a significant concern for me, Ji-hui’s teacher.

“Oppa.”

9 pm.

Ji-hui, who had finished her last study session, emerged from her room exactly on time, without a single mistake.

“Yes.”

“What are you thinking?”

I was lost in thought, staring at my phone, and decided to discuss my concerns with the person involved.

“Ji-hui, are you going to take the mock exam this month?”

“Weren’t we supposed to take it every month?”

“You didn’t take it in April last year, did you?”

“Did I? It’s fuzzy. It’s been a long time.”

It was just a year ago!

Ji-hui scrunched up her face as if recalling a 10-year-old incident.

“Did you read the mock exam questions from last year?”

“Just the Korean language section.”

That means she didn’t even look at the rest.

Phew.

No way. It’s better that way.

If I had poured my heart and soul into it and got that score, I would have been even more frustrated than I am now.

“Do you think practicing for the test itself is necessary? Or do I just need to see if I’ve improved this much?”

“Whatever. I’ll just do what oppa tells me to do. Oppa knows, and I’m stupid, so I don’t know anything.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that.

What kind of idiot is this good at studying?

Every time I studied with him, I felt like he was getting more and more energized by the studying itself.

The number of questions he brought up was still similar, but the time it took for him to understand them had significantly decreased.

Especially when I taught him math, he would grasp it incredibly quickly, which even amazed me, the teacher.

“Then let’s finish the mid-term exam and schedule a meeting at the end of the month.”

“Okay. Is that all you have to say?”

“Why.”

“Do I have something I want to do with oppa.”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“Just a minute.”

Jihee jumped into the room, making a “tak-tak-tak” sound with her feet, and sat down next to me with a tablet.

“Let’s do this. Do you have a tablet, oppa?”

“I do.”

On Jihee’s tablet was a PDF file.

[Couple’s 100 Questions and Answers]

“… Are we doing this?”

“Yes! I thought we still don’t know each other that well.”

I wondered if we really needed such a direct method to get to know each other.

And this was it.

“… Isn’t this for couples?”

“There wasn’t a sibling version, so I prepared the most similar one.”

That was a strangely reasonable thing to say.

A sibling version of 100 Questions and Answers wouldn’t even exist.

Family members usually grow up in the same environment, so they already know a lot about each other without even trying.

“I’ll share the file with oppa, and we can do it together! It won’t even take 15 minutes!”

“Okay.”

I knew this kind of thing was circulating on the internet, but this was the first time I was doing it.

I took the tablet and, like a student taking a test, quickly scanned through the questions.

Name. Nickname. Birthdate. Blood type. Occupation. Favorite animal. Personality. Hobby. Etc.

The beginning felt like a census, but the real problem was what came after.

“Hey, Jihee.”

“Yes?”

“Do I have to fill out the rest of this?”

Since it’s a couple-themed questionnaire, there were many questions that were difficult to answer unless you were a couple.

For instance:

[What’s your ideal honeymoon destination with your partner?]

[What do you wish for the most in your married life with your partner?]

[What’s the most attractive part of your partner’s body?]

[What’s the most romantic thing your partner could say to you?]

“I’m writing everything except for anniversaries and such.”

“Then, have you written down your ideal honeymoon destination after getting married?”

“Yes, I’ve thought about it beforehand.”

“Do you have plans for children?”

“Ah, don’t ask me that! It’s a spoiler!”

Jihee pulled the tablet towards her chest as if to hide it.

“You don’t have to project it onto me, so just think of it as the ideal partner in your fantasies and write away.”

That made it easy.

In my fantasy, I could write about my ideal partner and our romantic getaway to Europe, maybe France or the UK.

I’d want our new home to be an apartment with at least two rooms, even if it’s not a newly built one.

I skipped the questions that were hard to answer or filled them in with my imagination, and for the ambiguous ones, I just thought of Jihee and wrote accordingly.

“……Done?”

Finally, the last question.

After finishing the questionnaire, Jihee placed her hand on my shoulder.

“Want to exchange?”

I had fun writing it, but I felt awkward showing it to Jihee.

It felt like I was revealing my personal preferences, and it was uncomfortable.

“……Yes.”

Even amidst the awkwardness, I decided to exchange because I was curious about Jihee’s answers.

I wondered what Jihee would say, and I had questions about her answers.

[Where was your first kiss with your partner?]

What would Jihee’s answer be?

As for me, I left it blank.

I scrolled down to find the 38th question and held my breath.

Jihee’s unique, childish handwriting was there, with five characters.

[Our living room]

There was even a small heart next to it.

I hesitated whether to write it or not, but in the end, I didn’t.

Jihee suddenly checked my answers and seemed to be thinking about something.

“Oppa.”

“……Yes?”

“Why did you leave this one blank?”

Jihee’s index finger pointed to the 38th question that I had been curious about.

“Ahahaha… that’s…”

“It’s unfair that my first kiss was stolen from me, but why didn’t you write it down?”

“I just didn’t feel like writing it. It’s just…”

“This isn’t something you can lie about. Write it down again with your own hand, oppa.”

Jihee handed me back my tablet.

My hand, which had regained the pencil, trembled violently.

I wrote two short words.

[Living room]

“Done?”

“Yes.”

“Then hand it back.”

When I returned the tablet to Jihee, she finally smiled brightly.

“Ah, oppa. I have something to say to you too.”

“Yes.”

“Except for the blank spaces, I wrote everything as if I were you, so please understand!”

If that’s true, then I don’t know about other things, but [I want to be in a relationship and get married] shouldn’t have been excluded, right?

Jihee seemed to be losing her mind after saying that.