The One Who Loves More
"You—!"
Song Jihye's anger shot straight to the top of her head. Even so, she couldn't let it out. Blowing up would have made her feel better, and she was confident she could put Kim Taeyoung down by force if it came to that. But then what? What if unnie asked why she had gotten so angry?
She swallowed the rage. This was her place. Not Heo Myangmyang's lover—only the younger girl who lived with her. So she ground her teeth and spoke in a low, needling voice instead.
"Take your hand off her, would you? Unnie's uncomfortable."
"Minji says she's fine. Minji, does it bother you when I touch you?"
"Huh...? Ah, no.... Jihye, I'm not uncomfortable. I'm okay."
Kim Taeyoung smiled a small, see-that smile. Song Jihye couldn't stand it any longer. She strode into the bedroom; better to shut herself away than watch this.
"Jihye? What's wrong?"
"I don't know! I'm going to sleep!"
"Jihye!"
The door slammed shut. Heo Myangmyang chased after her, but she wouldn't open it. Awkward laughter spilled out of Heo Myangmyang as she scrambled for an excuse.
"Haha.... I'm sorry. She's a good kid, really. I think her cramps are just awful today. You know how it is, right? When the pain gets bad, her mood swings all over the place."
"Yeah, I get it. That happens. She's hurting, so let's leave her be and get on with what we came to do."
Kim Taeyoung closed in on her again, this time laying a hand on her back. Heo Myangmyang flinched, then did nothing else. She accepted his touch.
I can have her today.
Her reaction settled it for him. Song Jihye picking a fight was what had started this, but Heo Myangmyang's response was better than he'd hoped. She was embarrassed by his hand and still let it stay. Push a little harder, and getting her as far as the bed would be nothing.
He didn't especially go for a loli build, but he didn't dislike one either. Huge breasts or small ones—they were still just breasts. Big ones had their advantages, and small ones had theirs. And a loli build usually meant a very tight pussy. That killer grip was a serious plus.
"Then I'll set the table right away! Just a moment, please."
Several side dishes were already laid out, but the rice and soup were still in the cooker and the pot, left there on purpose so they would stay hot. Heo Myangmyang set the warm rice and soup in front of Kim Taeyoung, then started for the seat across from him.
"Minji. Not there. Sit here."
"Huh? Right beside you?"
"Don't want to?"
"Ah, no. It's not that I don't want to. It's just a little..."
"If you don't mind, come sit."
He didn't bother laying out reasons. He simply pushed, the way he'd already noticed she was weak against. This time was no different. She wore a troubled look, let out a small sigh, then carried her bowl of rice and her soup over and sat down beside him.
"You're a lot like Jihye, oppa. She likes eating side by side too."
"Ha.... Does she?"
"Yes. She looks a little scary on the outside, but you wouldn't believe how clingy she is. And for someone that tall, she's scared of so many things."
"Unnie! What are you saying!"
Song Jihye bellowed from inside the room. She had stormed off to sulk, and now she had her ear glued to the door.
"Eek. She's hearing all of it. Please eat, oppa. I hope it suits your taste."
"Then shall I try it?"
Kim Taeyoung went for the main dish first, the spicy stir-fried pork, and the marinated meat filled his mouth.
"Whoa...."
The sound escaped him on its own. It was the best spicy pork stir-fry he had ever eaten in his life. Not a joke—actually. Sweet, salty, and hot sat in perfect balance, and the charred, smoky bite lifting the flavor was exactly right. Open a restaurant with food like this and it would be the kind of place with an hour-long wait.
"Is the taste all right?"
"It's insanely good. No wonder you were a cooking YouTuber. Seriously god-tier. Nuclear delicious. This is insane. For real?"
"Ehehe. I'm glad. Seeing you like it gives me energy too. I made the pork differently from my usual recipe. You seemed to like sweet more than spicy, so I used a special one. You mix chili powder with corn syrup, rice syrup, honey, and soy sauce..."
Once the talk turned to cooking, Heo Myangmyang chattered on and on. Kim Taeyoung didn't cut her off. When someone put food this good in front of you, the right thing was to nod along and listen.
"Aah. I'm sorry. I only talked about myself, didn't I?"
"It was fun. You're fine. I was just listening the whole time, so I'm good—but you haven't eaten a bite. Hurry up and eat. This food is seriously delicious."
"Hehe, right? I tried some too, and it was really good."
Heo Myangmyang lifted her spoon and stuffed a whole mouthful of rice in. It had to be an ordinary person's portion, and yet her cheeks ballooned. She looked like a rabbit, or a hamster. The cuteness moved his hand before he thought about it.
"You okay after yesterday's personal training? I was the one who made you do it, but I was worried it might've been too much. Your thighs must be all knotted up."
"Mmph!"
Kim Taeyoung reached out and touched her thigh, then started kneading it. With her mouth packed full of rice and side dishes, Heo Myangmyang had no idea what to do. What he said next, though, let her settle.
"No muscle soreness today? You're supposed to work it out with a massage like this before the soreness sets in."
His hands grew bolder. Now he was openly kneading her thighs with both of them. Heo Myangmyang hurriedly chewed and swallowed.
"I'm fine.... Jihye massaged me the second we finished yesterday. So you don't have to."
"Fine, my ass. After hard exercise the soreness lasts two or three days at least. So regular massages are better."
"Aah, i-is that so...?"
"Yaaaaah! You bastard! What the hell are you doing to unnie!"
Unable to hold it any longer, Song Jihye burst out of the room. The pressure rolling off that six-foot-one wall of an athlete was tremendous. But Kim Taeyoung had an invincible shield.
"Minji. Your little sister still seems pretty upset. Calm her down, will you?"
"Ah, yes! Jihye. What's wrong? Does it hurt a lot? Want some painkillers?"
"Haa.... Unnie, do you even know what's being done to you right now? This is why I'm angry. Because he's the kind of guy who sweet-talks a naive unnie and pulls weird shit!"
It was a sudden blow-up. She should have held the anger and explained the situation step by step. She could have persuaded Heo Myangmyang and made her see that Kim Taeyoung was lewdly toying with her. But she couldn't manage it. She just screamed first and thought later.
"Song Jihye! Is that any way to talk to Taeyoung oppa!"
Heo Myangmyang shot to her feet, planted her hands on her hips in front of Song Jihye, and scolded her. A rabbit throwing its weight around before a tiger. And yet the tiger couldn't so much as twitch.
Heo Myangmyang had no awareness at all that she was being sexually harassed. Song Jihye herself had given her muscle massages, and when it came to exercise she trusted her completely, so massaging before the soreness set in was as close to gospel as anything got. It was a little embarrassing that the person doing it was a man, Kim Taeyoung, but what did man or woman matter in a treatment? Think that way and you couldn't even step into an OB-GYN, or any hospital that had a male doctor.
The younger sister Heo Minji cherished most in the world was Song Jihye. Precisely because of that, she believed she had to correct Song Jihye's mistakes properly. Yelling at someone else just because you were in pain was wrong. An elementary schooler might be forgiven for it. A full-grown adult should not.
"Uh, unnie! Why are you doing this to me?"
"Because you were wrong. Apologize to Taeyoung oppa right now. Or you're really going to get it!"
"Unnie! That's not—!"
"Don't 'that's not.' Apologize first. If you don't, unnie is going to be really disappointed."
"Ugh.... This is so unfair! Unnie, I hate you!"
Good grief. Even an elementary-school fight wouldn't go like this.
Watching the two of them, Kim Taeyoung let out an empty laugh. When Song Jihye had burst out of the room he had expected a brawl, but the moment Heo Myangmyang stepped in, it turned into a children's cartoon. Song Jihye really did live under Heo Myangmyang's thumb. Nothing to be done about it. The one who loves more always loses. Though the word love seemed to mean quite different things for Heo Myangmyang and for Song Jihye.
"Haa.... Oppa, I'm so sorry, I don't know what to do. I was the one who invited you, and my sister.... She's really not like that. She's just unusually on edge today."
"It's fine. It happens. That's why they call it the magic day. Leave her be. More importantly, eat. I'm done, and you haven't even gotten through half."
Heo Myangmyang sat back down and focused on her meal. Kim Taeyoung focused on her thigh. Even with his hand on her, she no longer startled.
"Oppa, I'm grateful you're massaging me. But wouldn't it be better after we finish eating? It's uncomfortable for me, and it must be for you too."
This time Kim Taeyoung was the one surprised. Was she really saying that because she didn't know? Or was it a meticulously designed seduction? He couldn't tell from her face alone. With that extreme baby face, Heo Myangmyang looked like an innocent child who knew nothing.
Either way, it doesn't matter.
Permission to knead her openly had just been granted.
"Haha, I thought so. I felt bad, so I guess I rushed it."
"Yes. Oh, would you like more rice?"
"I'm good. Even without rice I keep eating the side dishes. They're so good they just keep going down. I feel like I'm going to gain a ton today."
"They say if you eat it happily, it's zero calories. So don't worry!"
They kept eating, talking in a warm little back-and-forth. Conversation with Heo Myangmyang was genuinely pleasant. Unlike with Hwayeon or Su Yeoning, he didn't have to stay on edge and parse what she really meant. There was no hidden intent in anything she said; she simply spoke exactly what she felt. A mental age impossible to believe of a twenty-eight-year-old. That wasn't a bad thing. It meant she was easy to talk to, and that her character fit her looks.
"By the way, Minji. How many boyfriends have you had?"
"Aah.... Th-that's...."
It was a question tossed out without much thought, the kind of thing a man and a woman ask each other at least once. But Heo Myangmyang was visibly flustered, and from that flustered face Kim Taeyoung could already read the answer. She ducked her head and answered in a small voice.
"Ah, I haven't dated even once yet.... It's weird, right...? Being twenty-eight and still never having had a boyfriend...."