Club Invitation (2)
Club Invitation (2)
"The club?"
When I told A-ra, who was sorting laundry, that I'd heard about the club,
she tilted her head.
She looked at Lil' One, and said she'd never thought I would join a club, that it was something unusual,
and showed a look of fresh surprise.
"They said they do the club activities through a group chat, so I joined right away."
"Hmm... there's a club like that, too? What kind of club is it?"
"A companion animal club. They said people keep all sorts of pets, not just dogs and cats."
"Ah-ha..."
Then I listed off the chinchilla and the fish I'd seen earlier that day.
Even while sorting the laundry, A-ra listened to my story all the way through.
Only then did I realize that A-ra must be tired too, and I'd done nothing but talk about myself,
so I quietly shut my chattering mouth.
"Huh? What's with the sudden silence?"
"I thought maybe I was doing nothing but talking about myself."
"Noona's fine with it. Actually, it's nice that I get to hear about how you spent your whole day."
A-ra set the now-sorted laundry aside and patted Lil' One's rump as she lay on her stomach.
"Right? Lil' One, it was fun hearing about Daddy's school too, wasn't it?"
"Woof."
"See? Lil' One says it was fun, too."
Cradling her like a baby, she held Lil' One in her arms and started rocking her gently from side to side, like a swing.
Was Lil' One tired from playing alone at home all day?
She yawned, and it looked like her eyes would close any second.
"When did they say we could start taking Lil' One for walks?"
"From around four months old. We can start next month."
"I see~ Starting next month, let's go for walks every single day with Mommy~"
I wanted to go for walks with Lil' One too...
Well, I could just go together with A-ra, right?
"I'll go put Lil' One to bed."
"Go ahead. Noona won't be able to sleep tonight."
"Want to bet on who won't be able to sleep?"
A-ra licked her lips and grinned slyly.
I had been planning to talk all night about the stuff I saw in the club,
but it seemed A-ra had a different meaning in mind for not letting me sleep.
***
"Seong-hwan-a."
"Yeah?"
I might not have batted an eye if it were Lee Min-ho, but when Jeong Hwan-yi spoke to me during class, I wondered what was up.
That was because ever since he got scolded by the professor for chatting with me before, he hadn't tried to talk to me during class.
"I heard you got interested in fish?"
Where on earth did he hear that?
Only A-ra and the club president should have known about the fish-related stuff.
"Where'd you hear that?"
"I heard you joined the companion animal club, so I joined too."
"Huh? Really?"
"I raise a dog too, remember? I thought it'd be fun, so I joined."
From the way he was talking, it seemed word that I'd joined the companion animal club had gotten around.
So apparently, Jeong Hwan-yi had heard people talking about it here and there and joined too.
"That's right, Jeong Hwan-yi, your family runs a seafood center, don't they? So you'd probably know how to raise fish, too?"
"If I had to say I know something, I've studied the saltwater fish side a bit, like clownfish."
"Clownfish??"
"You know, the Nemo you saw when you came to my place before."
"Ah~"
Now that I thought about it, Jeong Hwan-yi's family seafood center did have a big fish tank.
I remembered being fascinated because there was a Nemo inside.
Even though the only thing I knew about the difference between freshwater and saltwater fish was that one lived in rivers and the other in the sea,
if I had Jeong Hwan-yi around, I might even be able to raise a shark at home.
While I was at it, maybe I should ask Lee Min-ho to do club activities together, too.
This guy didn't seem to have any pets at all, so it might be a good chance for him to try raising something.
"Lee Min-ho, don't you do any clubs?"
"I thought about joining a hiking club, but there were only women, so I didn't."
Ah...
We had talked about hiking clubs before.
Just how much did you have to love exercise to even think about joining a club to work out?
This guy should have been born a woman, not a man.
"What's this, turning down a club full of women?"
"I have a girlfriend, you know?"
Lee Min-ho chuckled, then turned back to the front and focused on the class.
As expected, there's always a reason why someone studies well.
*
"Sunbaenim!"
As I was walking through the parking lot to go home, I heard someone loudly calling out for a senior.
When I looked around, there was no one there but me,
so thinking, 'No way they're calling for me,' I turned around.
Just as I suspected, it was the junior I'd shared a cola with at the freshman welcome party not long ago—
the only junior I'd actually exchanged words with, calling out to me.
"Uh... it was definitely...."
I had heard his name, but I couldn't remember it.
It felt like it was a name that was hard to memorize in one go.
"It's Hyeon-uk! Song Hyeon-uk!"
"Right, it was Hyeon-uk-ssi."
I gave a slight smile, carrying the nuance that I had remembered as soon as I heard it, even though I hadn't been able to recall it until just now.
No matter how I thought about it, it really was a name that was hard to memorize.
"Anyway, is there something you needed?"
I asked because there was no reason for him to suddenly strike up a conversation with me.
Well, what, was he going to say he wanted to appear on CueTube or something?
If that was the case, I'd gladly drag him along.
I had been having a hard time lately because there were no regular people willing to appear on the channel.
"I heard that you joined the companion animal club, sunbaenim!"
"Yes, it seems the rumor has spread all over the place."
"Actually, my noona is the president of the companion animal club."
"What? That president?"
To think he was the younger brother of the person who lured me in with the full fish-keeping set.
Could it be that there was even a reason he approached me!?
Of course, I was joking.
In the first place, we'd met at the freshman welcome party, so there wasn't any calculated approach or anything.
Maybe he misunderstood something,
because Hyeon-uk-ssi scratched his head.
"We don't look very alike, do we?"
"No, now that I see it, you look incredibly alike? I could have mistaken you for twins."
"Wow, that's harsh."
Seeing him react with utter disgust when I told him they looked alike,
it seemed the sibling relationship wasn't all that great.
"My noona asked me to find out what kind of fish you'd like to receive, sunbaenim."
"Ah, right... But couldn't she just ask something like that in the group chat?"
"You're the only one she's preparing a welcome gift for. No matter what, she can't take care of everyone else to that extent, right?"
He had a point. I'd received the tank, the air pump, the filter, the light, the substrate—all of it.
It would be absolutely impossible for the president to provide all that for everyone.
So that's why she was quietly taking care of only me.
"A guppy would be fine for me."
"A guppy? Guppies are easy to raise and pretty, too."
Truthfully, the only ornamental freshwater fish I knew about was the guppy.
And I knew it was the cheapest one, as well.
It didn't feel right to ask for something expensive when I was getting it for free.
"Then I'll let my noona know that you've decided on a guppy!"
"Ah, if you're headed the same way, would you like a ride?"
"No, I still have a class left."
The freshmen still had classes left?
They must be incredibly busy.
***
When I got home today as well, Lil' One didn't come running to the front door.
A-ra was probably holding her, so that's why she couldn't come.
To think that my own wife was the one interrupting my joy... sob sob.....
I took off my shoes and stepped into the living room, and A-ra was wearing clothes that didn't suit her while playing with Lil' One.
Wait, now that I looked, I didn't think that was A-ra?
"You're home?"
"Eun-ji? What brings you here?"
When I got home, Eun-ji, one of the Queens members and the youngest, was playing with Lil' One.
Or maybe it was the other way around.
No matter how you looked at it, it was a scene where Lil' One looked like she was the one humoring her.
"I heard you adopted a puppy, so I came to see her. But what's that?"
"The fish tank?"
"There's nothing inside it."
"You have to do something called cycling the water before you actually raise fish."
She might be good at catching fish, but it seemed she knew nothing about raising them.
Girls really didn't seem to have much interest in this kind of thing, I guess.
"Can't you just put freshwater fish straight into the water?"
"No. Just like land creatures can't survive on oxygen alone, the water has to have all sorts of things mixed in for the fish to live."
"Really? I'm only interested in catching and eating fish."
After saying that, Eun-ji started petting Lil' One.
Surprisingly, she looked quite skilled at taking care of her.
"I used to raise a dog when I was little."
"You don't raise one now?"
"After it grew old and died, I couldn't bring myself to raise another."
So she had already experienced sending off a life before.
I had also once sent off a hamster before, so I understood that feeling well.
The reason I had deliberately chosen a young puppy was part of that too—I preferred the idea of living together for a long time.
"Eun-ji, want to eat dinner before you go?"
"Yeah, I'll eat and go~"
Naturally, she nodded her head and started licking her lips.
I smiled bitterly at that sight, then took off my outerwear and went into the master bedroom.
"Where's A-ra Noona?"
"Unnie went to the mart, said she was going to get stuff for dinner."
"Is she trying to get me to do some random cooking?"
Every once in a while, A-ra would grab a huge pile of random ingredients
and demand that I cook with them.
We did film those as videos, too, but most of them went up on A-ra's CueTube channel,
and it was a little disappointing that nothing ever went up on my channel.
"Kko-mol-ah~"
"Woof!"
As expected, did she recognize her dad? Even after playing with Eun-ji for a long while,
the moment I called her, she barked and came running over in a flash.
"I should take care of Lil' One's food first."
"Why don't you buy an automatic feeder?"
"An automatic feeder? What's that?"
"You know, the machine that automatically dispenses food at set times. You don't know it?"
"I don't."
Was there such a thing?
The world these days really has gotten so convenient...