Chapter 89 – 89. March
“I’m home.”
“Ah, ⋯ are you here, brother?”
I am like an older brother who lives by taking advantage of his younger sister.
Even after New Year’s Day, thanks to my younger brother, I was able to regain my energy.
It’s been a while since I contacted my friends, and I was teased for not being behind you.
When I returned home after drinking a drink or two, Winter would wait for me at the front door, just like now.
“Uh. Mom is?”
“Sleep. ⋯Did you drink again?”
“About two cans of beer? That’s why I don’t drink at all.”
“What did you say about quitting every day? Do you know what I drink every weekend these days?”
“Hey. Still, my friend from the military went on vacation, so I need to adjust the mood.”
“Ha… Okay. ⋯Come over here for a second.”
“Why?”
“Don’t mumble, hurry up.”
My younger brother turns off the light in the living room and approaches the front door.
⋯ I don’t do it in my mouth today.
It’s a bit unfortunate.
“I drank, so that’s enough for today.”
“⋯I won’t drink from now on. Mi⋯, thank you.”
“Are you sorry or thank you?”
“Of course, thank you. You decided not to say sorry.”
After promising not to feel sorry for each other, the relationship that seemed like there was no room for improvement has developed much better than before.
The guilt I had in one corner of my heart hasn’t disappeared, but should I say that it’s reduced a lot?
⋯ Even if the guilt I felt toward my mother didn’t go away, the feeling I felt toward her brother did.
I’m happy thanks to you, but I didn’t have to feel sorry for you,
The reverse was also true.
“Don’t you have any plans for tomorrow?”
“If not, ⋯what are you going to do for me?”
“⋯Well, if you don’t have it, you can order chicken or eat it. Or… I was going to boil and eat cup noodles.”
“⋯Perversion.”
“Why. Is it pervert to eat?”
“Your brother loves homemade food so much, but it’s obvious that he wants to eat something like that. It’s not like we’re going to eat outside.”
“You like to eat in bed, but pretend you don’t.”
“⋯Okay, wash up quickly and call me. I’m getting sleepy too.”
“Okay okay.”
In order to do this, I ate up the love of my brother who has been waiting for me until this time,
February went by without any major problems.
***
Alba quit.
I also felt guilty about quitting after working part-time for a couple of months, but I made an excuse that I couldn’t help it because of her start of class, so the boss didn’t like it, but eventually accepted it.
If it didn’t work out, she tried to ask her classmate and tell her that it couldn’t be done, but it seems she didn’t have to go that far.
It stayed until the end of February, finished the work, and disappeared as if nothing had happened.
⋯ To be honest, after quitting, she felt very comfortable.
Because there were people who had no choice but to look at us with uncomfortable eyes.
It’s absolutely not that those people did anything wrong, or that they spread any insinuations between us.
Still, from the point of view of the wrongdoer, just having a witness nearby is not comfortable inside.
With no time to enjoy the unemployed life she had, it was time for her to go back to college.
⋯ But after the semester started, it seemed like I was back to being unemployed in the corner of the room.
I didn’t feel like I had even returned to school.
No, it’s more strange to feel it when you’re only taking classes in your room.
The college life that remained in my head was very spectacular and full of excitement.
Even I, who don’t have a proper college friend, heard a lot of stories through rumors.
She had her own expectations and put on a college student ticket, but after listening to lectures a few times in a non-face-to-face manner, she questioned me as if something was strange.
‘Brother. ⋯Is college like this?’
‘I know. I didn’t expect this to happen either.’
‘⋯Isn’t it that I can’t make friends in college?’
‘⋯ My high school friends last the longest. All college friends are business.’
The brother and sister’s grand plan to make many people who would support us, if not friends, easily disappeared like a bubble.
⋯I knew it couldn’t be true.
If it was that easy, I wouldn’t have lived like this all this time.
It’s a guy who finds it difficult to make friends even face-to-face, but it’s even more difficult to make friends with someone without seeing their face.
It’s a very difficult mission to see people who often refuse to approach and approach them first.
It’s better to just take care of the friends you have.
Still, it seemed that Winter was a little better than me.
Maybe because Winter is a freshman and I’m a returning student, it smells musty.
In the category of his own motivation, he will make it until he manages to get to know each other.
Of course, it wasn’t that I didn’t have motivations to talk about college, but now I’m in the army and I don’t have them.
It’s because he wasn’t really close to him, whether it was Shin Ha-neul or me.
⋯If I had to question it, it was fortunate that I wasn’t friendly.
Wake up early in the morning, eat breakfast with your mother, brother and sister,
Listening to the lecture in each room, then having lunch with the family again at lunchtime,
First, the one who finished the lecture said he was going to meet a friend, and waited outside.
The one who finished late came out later and had dinner together,
As it got darker, the daily routine of returning home with a time lag was repeated for about two weeks.
I thought that in a week her mom would ask if she had a boyfriend ⋯,
My mother’s condition is a bit strange these days.
It sounds like you don’t have much of an appetite.
You call often.
Her expression doesn’t look very comfortable, to the point of worrying about her.
You quit your job and were free, so you must have been fine until last month.
I wondered if he might have noticed our relationship, but I haven’t felt that way yet.
They seem to be asleep and have no time to pay attention to us.
⋯ Or maybe you’re avoiding it.
Not sure what the problem is.
“⋯Son, daughter. Are you busy these days?”
“Yes?”
“Do you have any appointments today?”
“Yes. Well… Let’s meet friends from lunch.”
“⋯I also have an appointment with a friend from high school.”
“Okay. I should meet my friends Don’t come in too late.”
The end of the second week of March.
My mother spoke to us in a serious voice.
I wondered why people were surprised on Saturday morning, and I couldn’t help but ask back.
“⋯Mom, do you have anything to say?”
“Uh? ⋯No no. Mom is fine.”
“⋯I asked if you had anything to say, but I did.”
“⋯ Mom is fine. Mom is.”
“What… Did someone you know have something bad happen?”
“It’s not like that. I’ll tell her mom later. Is it a bit difficult to talk now?”
“Yeah, what… As long as you don’t have a letter of guarantee… It’s fine.”
“Is there anything you can’t say to your mother? ⋯It’s never like that, so don’t worry. I’ll tell you later.”
Unlike usual, my mother left the table first with an awkward smile.
To be honest, I had a chimney-like desire to know what was going on, but I was reluctant to ask further questions here.
⋯ What if I noticed?
She doesn’t think she left any emotional or material evidence to her mother, but
If you’ve noticed our relationship, and that’s why you’re struggling like that,
I was so afraid of the answer that would come out when I asked until the end.
I don’t think so, but I’m not sure if it isn’t.
“Brother, maybe your mother…”
“Winter, be quiet.”
“Oh, not like that. ⋯It’s a different story.”
Around the time my legs trembled slightly from the anxiety that I thought had disappeared, Kyeolgyeolyi started talking to me.
⋯ Not like that, the word itself is dangerous.
Even if it’s not a sound you can hear over the wall.
“Mom⋯, ⋯isn’t it?”
“Like what?”
“⋯Are you in menopause?. Mommy is old now too.”
“Is your mother going to be so depressed over that? And if that’s the case, you probably told me. You don’t hide it.”
“Even if it’s not just because of that… I think you’re depressed.”
“It’s probably because we’ve been going out a lot these days. You stopped working Even though he often hangs out… He can be lonely.”
I couldn’t figure out the exact reason.
Because menopause?
Are you bored after quitting your job?
My son and daughter-in-law went to college, and when they got bored, they ran out of the house?
⋯Because you realize that the bastards are committing immorality?
Various reasons may have overlapped, but
At least not as much as the last reason, I hoped.
“⋯ Shall we cut down on going out, oppa?”
“Well… Let’s cut down on seeing friends for a while. I have an appointment today, so even if I can’t help it…”
“Yes.”
If it was someone else, I wouldn’t have cared too much.
If it’s someone else, you can handle things you don’t know,
If we’re friends, it’s enough to ask for a meal or a drink.
But I don’t know how to deal with her mother.
I didn’t even know why he was like that, and because it might be our fault, the guilt that had been buried in the corner of his chest was creeping out.
⋯ If you really want to be suspicious, the answer is to reduce suspicious things.
While solving a problem that requires covering up the question and stating the answer,
It wasn’t long before the hidden question was revealed.
The descriptive answer sheet has also been changed to an OX question rather than a subjective one.
“Son, do you want to make ⋯mom’s boyfriend?”
“⋯ Yes?”
“Do you want to go out with your dad again?”
It wasn’t the worst problem, but
It was a matter of the lesser evil that I really did not want to solve.
