000. Merry Christmas - Evening Part
000. Merry Christmas - Evening Part
"I like you, Yuriel. Will you go out with me?"
The boy in front of me spoke with an extremely nervous expression. His trembling voice was tinged with anxiety, but amidst it, a hint of anticipation could also be felt.
...Confessing with such an earnest expression makes things a bit awkward.
Ever since I possessed Yuriel, I've received countless confessions over quite a long time, but honestly, whenever I see kids blindly confessing like that without knowing what they're thinking, I just feel bad for them.
They're interested, but they don't have the confidence to say it during the semester, and what they finally come up with is a brainless confession right on the day before or two days before the end of the semester.
If usual girl-crazy bastards or popular insider assholes did this, I could just reject them without a single worry. Because they already have backup plans anyway. They just casually toss it out with the mindset of "if she accepts, it's a jackpot, and if she rejects, no real loss." Besides, guys of this type usually start making moves a month or two before Christmas anyway.
But for guys like these, what should I say—to be honest, I'm so curious if they're doing this genuinely thinking their confession will be accepted. Even if I weren't me and just an ordinary girl, if some guy who isn't even all that handsome suddenly called me out two days before the end of the semester and blurted out a confession, it's obvious he'd get coldly rejected on the spot. I just don't get it.
Just as I was about to carefully select and deliver the most sanitized sentence possible to him, worried that the boy in front of me would go home, clutch his blanket, and burst into tears...
"Um... well, you see? I'm really grateful for the confession, but the truth is I'm still not really interested in dating......"
"What's this, you were here? I was wondering where you went. What are you doing?"
That bastard Siwoo, who popped out of goodness knows where, draped his arm over my shoulder and spat out wording that would cause massive misunderstandings.
"U... um, Yu-, Yuriel. You just said you weren't interested in dating..."
"Huh? Ah, we're just close friends. Yeah. ......I told you not to do this outside...!"
I didn't go as far as saying, "You fucking asshole." At least within this village, my image was that of a kindhearted and friendly girl who was just suspiciously sleepy. Since almost all the parents in the village were interconnected through the only elementary school in town, I had to manage my image.
From the village's perspective, I was essentially an orphan begging around various towns whom they let in solely due to the stubborn insistence of Siwoo's parents. At the very least, I had to maintain a sweet mask here. Otherwise, not only my own image, but even Siwoo's parents' standing in the village would shrink. At least no one else in this village besides Siwoo knew that my personality was at the level of a total piece of trash.
With those thoughts, resolving to slam my fist into that bastard Siwoo's skull the moment I got home, I wiggled and squirmed to slip out from under Siwoo's arm resting on my shoulder with a deliberately troubled expression. Meanwhile, the boy in front of me looked at me with a desolate, world-crashing expression. No, I know what you're thinking right now, but that's not it.
Whether he knew it or not, that bastard Siwoo rested his chin on top of my head, continually doing things to invite misunderstanding, and flashed a smile characteristic of a handsome guy as he spoke to the boy in front of us.
"What, did you have something to say to Yuriel?"
"......No."
"Really? Well, that can happen. Oh right, Yuriel, I packed all your stuff. Let's hurry to our house."
"......O... our house...? D... don't tell me you guys...!"
You crazy, evil demon bastard...!
Stopping the mouth of that bastard Siwoo, who naturally pulled off the kind of oblivious blonde-tanned delinquent behavior like it was breathing, I spoke apologetically to the boy in front of me whose pupils were already trembling like there was an earthquake.
"Hey, th-, y-, you shouldn't misunderstand, we're not dating or anything like you're thinking...!"
"D-, dating and not that kind of relationship? Th-, then se-, sex... U-, uuuuuuuugh...!"
When I said he wasn't my boyfriend, the boy in front of me twisted the meaning however the fuck he wanted. His face instantly crumpled up, and letting out an incomprehensible shriek, he bolted from the spot.
"What, he left."
"......Hey, you fucking asshole."
"Why."
"I told you! Not to do things! That cause misunderstandings! At school!"
"No, what misunderstanding did I—ah, aaargh! W-, wait, you hit bone! Ah, aaargh! Aaargh!"
"Just! Die! Fucking die! You son of a bitch!"
My one-sided beating of that bastard Siwoo continued for a while, only stopping when a sound like ttuk came from his leg, as if a bone had actually cracked.
"......So, why on earth did you pull that bullshit?"
"What."
"Putting your arm around my shoulder and all that. I told you not to do things that cause misunderstandings. At least not outside."
Though I threw a massive fit about it being outside, the truth was that since my body was one that slept way too much, and for some reason I didn't feel much aversion to it, inside the house we sometimes used each other's bodies as pillows or cuddled up.
Of course, that was only possible because neither of us had any romantic feelings toward each other at all. I had no intention of dating a guy in the first place, and that bastard Siwoo also seemed to have zero interest in women.
Even so, I had told him to refrain from this kind of stuff outside just in case some weird rumors started spreading, but today of all days, I had no clue what kind of bullshit he was on.
"Weren't you going to reject the confession anyway?"
"......You knew it was a confession and you still did that?"
"Originally, you shouldn't give half-assed hope for things like that. If you do, they'll keep doing stupid things without even realizing they're digging their own graves."
"......That's true, but."
Why on earth was he spitting that out as if it came straight from his heart, acting like he'd been through that kind of thing a dozen times? With a face like that, even a brainless confession would be an automatic free pass.
Ah. I want to possess that bastard Siwoo — !
Having such absurd thoughts, I exchanged idle chatter with that bastard Siwoo as we walked along the path toward our house.
"I'm home from school — "
"Merry Christmas — !!"
"Oh."
As soon as we opened the front door, amidst the pung-pung sounds of mini firecrackers, Siwoo's parents came into view, greeting us looking extremely excited.
"Now, now, it must be freezing, come inside quickly. Let's warm your hands by the fireplace."
After washing our hands and feet and stepping into the living room, a wave of cozy warmth and all sorts of dishes on the living room table greeted us. Well-roasted smoked turkey, colorful fruits and cookies, salad tossed in just the right dressing, and even a cake decorating Christmas. Not a single thing was missing.
"Mother, did you make all of these dishes yourself?"
"Oh my, I didn't make all of them...!"
"Roar!!"
Uhehehe.
As I asked Siwoo's mother, who must have had a hard time preparing such a splendid feast, someone hugged my body from right behind with a sound mimicking a tiger.
"Yuriel, Yuriel... Eonni missed Yuriel so much......"
"W-, wait a minute, i-, it's too hard to breathe......"
While I was distracted by the soft something rubbing against my back continuously, she rubbed her soft cheeks wildly against my face.
"Mm - muah! Mm - muah!"
"......K-, kiss, stooop......"
"No way! I won't stop until Yuriel speaks informally and says, 'Eonni, I'm here,' cutely!"
"E-, eonni... I'm heere......"
"That's a good girl."
Only after coercing me into blurting out words I didn't want to say did Sia, Siwoo's older sister, finally finish her physical affection.
Unlike that bastard Siwoo, who inherited his mother's hair color, she inherited her father's genes, featuring brownish hair and mesmerizingly seductive purple eyes. Even covered in clothes, her alluring figure was obvious. Every time I looked at her appearance—which would have surely made her a leading candidate for the "true heroine" position if she had appeared in the original novel—I realized there was a good reason why that bastard Siwoo had no interest in women.
Growing up looking at a woman like this, other women wouldn't look like women to him. No matter how I think about it, it doesn't make sense. And she's tall, too.
No matter how I look at it, watching these siblings who had no choice but to live life on Easy Mode made me petty and annoyed. I should flick Siwoo on the forehead later.
"By the way, eonni. How come you came? You must be very busy......"
"Well, of course I came to see our Yuriel. But are you going to keep speaking informally to eonni like that? Eonni is sad......"
"Ah, y-, yeah, I'll speak informally......"
"Noona, wasn't you coming to see me? Ha, I'm disappointed."
"Shut up, you."
"Now, you haven't been here in a long time so don't do that, sit down quickly. Here, here."
Around the round table set with colorful, delicious foods were Siwoo's father, mother, that bastard Siwoo, Sia eonni, and even me. Gathering together to sit, with the sound of firewood cracking (tadak) in the fireplace as background, we lit the candles on the cake.
Amidst a truly romantic atmosphere straight out of a fairy tale, starting with Siwoo's father, we closed our eyes, folded our hands neatly, and began to make our respective wishes.
Even for someone like me who didn't particularly have a wish to make, gradually soaking into the warm, somewhat soft and tender atmosphere of this place, I unconsciously began to murmur a wish in my heart.
When I close my eyes, the moment I first dropped into this place often comes to mind.
My appearance huddled under a streetlight, shivering from biting, flesh-cutting cold while wrapped in tattered rags that could hardly be called clothes.
And them, extending their hands to me without a moment's hesitation and inviting me into their home, that moment being drawn vividly in my mind as if a photograph had been taken,
I prayed, putting every ounce of sincerity left in my heart.
May happiness and peace abound in the days ahead for this family.
May I too someday be able to repay them for these countless favors I have received.
......When time passes and passes and we finally reach the end of this story, may I be able to return here and spend more time with them.
I prayed.