The Fanatic (2)
An hour of lecturing?
Even thinking it over again, that really hadn't been enough. Knocking some sense into oppa's head was going to take a lot more than sixty minutes.
If the people at the Orphanage were like family to me, then Yuhan was just family. Or something beyond that.
And a person like that had gone off to do parcel loading just to buy a single game console, then come back injured. Of course I was furious.
I'd studied hard, the way he'd told me to. I'd kept up with exercise. I'd even been working on getting along better with the other kids. And he hadn't listened to a word of what I'd said to him before.
Just thinking about it again made my chest tighten.
And there was one more thing I didn't like.
With thoughts like that circling, I glanced back over my shoulder while I did the dishes.
Without a care in the world. Anyone looking at him would have thought the same thing: the blanket I'd pulled over him kicked aside, his shirt hiked up, scratching his stomach.
Worry that he'd catch a cold like that wrestled with the desire to watch him a little longer.
I was a high school girl in her prime, and oppa was really far too careless. He did things that made a person's heart race at all hours of the day, and he never seemed to think anything of it himself. Like he was the dense protagonist of some Japanese rom-com manga.
I'd always felt it, but oppa didn't seem to have much of a sense of his own looks. He went around saying being handsome was the best thing in the world, so he knew that much — he just didn't understand the kind of impact that face of his actually had.
If the heart-fluttering stuff was only for me, that would have been wonderful. As if. I just wished I didn't have to hear ridiculous things about him playing the field or leading people on.
I finished the last dish in the sink.
I ought to clean a little now... but I didn't want to run the vacuum and risk waking him, so I'd just tidy up the things lying around.
Dishes, cleaning — repetitive labor with nothing fun about it. And of course the stray thoughts came crowding in.
Earlier, he'd definitely said it. Like a married couple.
He must have figured the sound of the water had buried the words and I hadn't heard. In a place this small? As if.
If we really became that... how wonderful would that be.
There was no one closer to him than I was, but I still had years left before I was an adult, and he was already out there living in the world.
The uneasy feeling that stirred up lasted only a moment before the daydreaming started.
A handsome man in a crisp tuxedo, and me standing beside him in a dress. Whether there were a lot of guests or hardly any didn't matter. As long as I had him, that was enough.
Honeymoon in Jeju? When would we have kids? Plans for old age...
...Ugh. Damn it. No matter how I pictured it, it felt like there would be someone else at his side too.
There definitely would be.
Blonde, tanned, pierced. If it weren't for that peculiar taste of his, he'd already have had several girlfriends by now.
Still... however many wives he ended up with, if he was happy, I would accept it. I had no intention of stealing his joy just to keep him to myself.
He was the kind of person who deserved to be treated that way.
That thing he'd said a long time ago, about liking long hair. I'd grown mine all the way to my waist because of that one comment. This was just more of the same.
I pulled his shirt back down and drew the blanket over him again. It was summer, but sleeping uncovered like that was a sure way to catch a cold.
Looking at him covered up left me a little disappointed... more than a little, honestly. But he came first.
A knock at the door.
Was someone supposed to come over? His phone hadn't rung once.
It was a little mean to say, but he didn't really have anyone you'd call a friend.
That thought lasted only a second. The voice from outside answered the question for me.
"Y-Yuhan... it's me!"
A voice I'd heard somewhere before.
A voice I couldn't forget.
What was she doing here?
Worried about him, was she? I'd known him my whole life and I'd still called before coming over. Showing up out of nowhere without a word of warning — what kind of stunt was that?
At a house where a man lived alone. A man who was hurt and couldn't even move, living alone.
And as for how he'd gotten hurt in the first place.
I'd seen the collab with Lethe too. I'd clearly seen him playing on that console. And from the next day on, the Tintendo Switch had been all over his stream for a while. The look on his face then — it had been so long since I'd seen him that happy.
Then one day, out of nowhere, the Minecraft streams started up again. He claimed he was playing because he liked it, but it was hard to find any real joy on his face.
A few days after that: a back injury. Cause: he didn't have the money to buy a console.
I liked to think I had a working brain. This much, I could figure out.
Objectively speaking, Lethe hadn't done anything that wrong when it came to the Switch. So what. People were selfish and self-centered by nature. He was what mattered most to me, and I hated whatever had gotten him hurt. That was all.
The door. Should I open it?
Honestly, I really didn't want to... Picturing the way she'd once grabbed him by the collar over a misunderstanding of her own only made me like her less.
...I didn't know if she'd heard me moving around in here. If she had, and she didn't know the situation inside, she'd probably decide he'd refused to open the door on purpose. She was the type who put a lot of stock in her own judgment, so that possibility was more than likely.
If I acted on my feelings and got him talked about for it, I couldn't think of anything worse.
Asking what he wanted was the right thing to do.
Still... before I woke him.
I wanted a look at that pretty face of hers.
"Yuhan! Are you oka—"
Lethe, startled at the sight of me.
If she'd shown up this suddenly, didn't she know how bad his back was? Don't tell me she'd thought he'd get up and open the door himself.
"...Hello."
"Y-you're the one from the Orphanage that time...?"
"Yes, that's me. Why?"
"Why are you... here...?"
What kind of question was that. I'd assumed she knew he and I were close. Even when we'd met at the Orphanage, I'd been stuck to his side the whole time.
I was about to give her a halfway answer when she spoke again.
"Where's Yuhan? Is he okay? Could I come in for a bit?"
"Oppa... is sleeping right now. And his body isn't doing too well."
"How did he..."
The worry on her face made it clear she was genuinely concerned about him. But according to the wiki, this was someone who already had a boyfriend. Why come all the way out here and act like this?
From the streams, it had looked like she'd gotten fairly close to him. Was she just here as a friend, paying a sick visit?
This woman. Something about her was off. I had a bad feeling.
"...Did Yuhan get in touch with his parents?"
?
He still hadn't even told her that?
It wasn't like he went around hiding the fact that he was an orphan. Did that mean they weren't actually that close?
That didn't track with what I'd seen during the collab, though. Maybe he'd just forgotten to mention it. Or maybe he'd changed his mind and kept it from her on purpose.
Or maybe she was the only one under the illusion that they were close.
If that was it, this was pretty funny.
"Ah... pfft. His parents...? Well, I wouldn't really know about that. You came out in a bit of a hurry, didn't you?"
"I heard a friend got hurt, so..."
Mm. I could understand there being a lot of women around him. And if he liked her, I could accept this one being nearby too. As his friend.
Look at the state of her. However you sliced it, she'd rushed over. She must have come running the moment she heard about him.
A woman going to see a man with zero effort put into her appearance was strange too, even if that man was a male friend. Clearly she hadn't had the time.
Worrying about another man that much when he wasn't even her boyfriend? That was insane.
This woman was interested in him. Probably as a man.
I'd learned how to read people from a young age. Growing up without parents, taking every kind of contempt there was — it was a skill I'd had no choice but to develop. My eyes were sure.
I really didn't like it, but... what I liked didn't change anything.
If she'd fallen for him, there would come a day when he made his choice. If he said he liked her, I'd try to like her too. If he said he didn't, I'd try to dislike her even more than I already did.
Honestly, a man like him was worth throwing over a boyfriend for. Whether she was cheating right now wasn't my concern.
But if she was going to feel that way — if she was going to take an interest in him — she ought to at least understand her own feelings. You needed that much if you were going to be ready to give him everything.
From what I could see, this woman who'd only ever lived in the safe zone had no idea what she was feeling right now. Whether she didn't know she was already being dyed in his colors, or knew and was refusing it.
"How did it happen? Did you hear?"
I, at least, didn't think approaching him with that kind of half-hearted attitude counted as coming closer.
"He said he got hurt doing hard labor... trying to save up money to buy a Switch?"
How was I supposed to describe that look on her face. I wasn't sure, but—
"...What?"
Vacant? Or like her mind had left her body?
She stood there for a long time, unable to say a word. Then:
"I-I'll... get in touch with Yuhan separately later..."
And she backed off like she was running away.
I hadn't meant to drive her out. She'd left on her own, so that was that. Not having to wake him was a plus.
If she wanted to be with him carrying feelings beyond friendship.
She'd better show up having figured that out.
Anyone who couldn't even manage that much — I would not accept.