Choosing Clothes
After getting a promise from Eunhye that she would arrange a meeting with Jihee, the next afternoon found me waiting for Aju in front of her school, just like always.
On the first day I had waited at a café, but after learning about Aju’s situation at school, I now stood right outside the main gate to meet her.
“Heh heh, looks like Aju is under some serious overprotection.”
“Old man, was that supposed to be a joke?”
“What do you think? Not funny? Heh heh heh.”
In the meantime I had grown rather close with the security guard at this school. Of course I never spoke first, but ever since the day I carried Aju out of school, he had been the one striking up conversations with me.
I suppose something about me caught his interest…
“By the way, you’re not Aju’s brother… I didn’t think so.”
“No, that guy passed away.”
“I did hear about that… So what exactly are you to Aju?”
“…”
The security guard spoke in the dramatic tone of a hero from a martial-arts novel, and for a moment I was at a loss for words. My relationship with Aju… could be explained as childhood friends.
But… even I knew that no ordinary childhood friend, no matter how worried they were, would end up living together.
Even if it was the request of a dead friend, most people would probably refuse.
“I’m Aju’s…”
I am Aju’s. What exactly had I been about to say next?
If I was being honest, I still didn’t fully understand what I was to her. For now I called myself her brother in front of her, but I knew better than anyone that I could never replace Daeho.
If I had stopped her tears and made her smile, Daeho was the one who had made those tears fall in the first place and then gently wiped them away.
With Daeho gone I had wiped her tears too… but that didn’t mean I was taking his place.
“Riha oppa~”
Before I could find an answer to that question, I heard Aju calling me. When I looked toward the school, I saw her running to me with a bright smile, completely different from last time.
“Well then, old man, I’ll be going.”
“Heh heh, all right. Seeing Aju look that happy puts me in a good mood.”
“If someone overheard you they’d think she was your real granddaughter.”
“If I had a granddaughter like that, I could die right now with no regrets at all.”
Coming from a man who looked at least sixty, the words didn’t sound like a joke.
Well, I knew it was one, of course.
I brushed off the security guard’s joke and walked toward Aju. As I did, his voice followed me.
“Thanks to you she can smile again… but you know she shouldn’t only smile in front of you, right?”
I didn’t answer. It was something I already understood perfectly.
“Um… Riha oppa? Why are we stopping here…”
After meeting Aju at school, I suggested we stop by downtown instead of heading straight home. Thinking I had something to buy, she nodded, but—
Too bad. I really did have something to buy, only it wasn’t for me.
“Choose.”
“…Yes?”
“Just pick whatever you like.”
“…Riha oppa?”
With everything else going on I had completely forgotten. Mom had given me money to buy Aju some clothes. The timing had felt awkward, so I kept putting it off, but today was the day.
“Um… are you buying me clothes?”
“That’s right. Most of your outerwear is pretty worn out.”
“Ah…”
Aju blinked at my words and looked around. This area was currently rated as the hottest shopping spot for young people, so naturally it was lined with clothing stores.
“You really don’t have to. I feel bad for only ever receiving things— That line is forbidden. This is simply because I want to buy you clothes.”
“…Uuu.”
Seeing me steal her line before she could say it, Aju pouted her lips.
Just as I expected.
She had developed a habit of refusing favors first. But this time it wasn’t just a simple favor.
If a favor meant doing something for someone else, then what I was doing now was a little different. Because I genuinely wanted to buy Aju clothes.
“And Mom gave me extra spending money, so we can buy quite a lot. Besides outerwear, if there’s anything else you like, let’s get that too.”
“Ah.”
“Even if I say that, I know you’ll reply with something like ‘No, you don’t have to go that far. This is already enough.’ So for anything besides outerwear, I’ll choose.”
“Uuu…”
“Pfft.”
Once again unable to get her line out, Aju pouted and gave me a tiny glare. She looked so cute that I didn’t even try to hide my laughter.
Thump. Thump.
“Stop teasing me…”
“No way. Teasing Aju is too much fun.”
“…Uuu.”
Thump. Thump. Thump.
When I told the girl who was lightly hitting me with her small fists exactly what I thought, she switched to using both hands.
Not that it hurt, of course.
“Sigh, that’s enough. Hurry up and pick some clothes. Or I’ll pinch your cheeks.”
“…You’re already pinching them…”
“Ah, I did it instinctively without thinking…”
It seemed my hands really were faster than my mouth. I had already pinched her cheeks before I even finished the sentence.
Just how far did this particular talent of mine reach?
“Huu, fine.”
In the end Aju gave up on refusing and agreed to buy clothes the way Mom and I wanted. She was finally listening.
“Instead… can we take our time looking around?”
“Of course. If you want we can even eat out.”
“No, today… I want to eat the side dishes Auntie made.”
“Okay. Let’s just buy the clothes and head straight home.”
“Yes!”
And so our clothes-shopping trip began.
First we stepped into a store popular with college students. I had come here a few times with my ex-girlfriends in the past, and they definitely kept a good selection of nice pieces.
“Oppa, how about this?”
“Hmm, not bad.”
What Aju picked out was a padded vest. It was warm, easy to wear, and comfortable even after putting it on—a practical outer layer.
“It sounded like you were just saying that half-heartedly…”
“No, I really mean it.”
Cute Aju wearing the padded vest definitely gave the impression that it suited her. But that was it. I thought it was fine to choose, yet I didn’t believe it was the best option.
“Don’t you have anything else? You can pick something more mature if you want.”
“Hmm… would mature styles look good on me?”
“Let’s try some on and see.”
After returning the padded vest to its rack, we looked around once more for anything that caught our eye.
Whatever else I might say, I was still a guy with plenty of dating experience. Naturally I had gone clothes shopping with my ex-girlfriends many times and picked outfits for them. So the situation itself felt familiar.
The only real difference was—
“Aju, how about that one?”
“Ah… I’m not good with such bright colors.”
“Really? I’ll ask if they have other colors.”
This time I was the one leading the shopping. When I used to come with my ex-girlfriends I had usually felt annoyed and just wished it would be over quickly.
How strange.
“I’m sorry. We don’t have any other colors left for that item…”
“Ah, can’t be helped then.”
It seemed there were no other colors for the piece I had just seen. Too bad—I had thought a lighter shade would suit Aju perfectly.
While thinking that, I turned back toward Aju and noticed—
“Ah…”
She was staring at a mannequin. Her eyes held a faint trace of longing and envy.
“Aju.”
“Oh, Riha oppa? What did they say?”
“Unfortunately they only had that one color.”
“That’s a shame. Shall we look at something else?”
“What about that?”
“Huh?”
I pointed at the mannequin she had been gazing at. Aju, who hadn’t immediately understood, stared at me blankly for a second.
“…That won’t suit me.”
She answered with a slightly dejected expression.
Hearing those words, I looked at the mannequin I was pointing to. It was dressed in a long knit sweater and a trench coat. Clothes with strong vertical lines usually suited taller people.
That was probably why Aju thought it wouldn’t work for her.
But—
“Wait here. I’ll check if they have your size.”
“Eh!? R-Riha oppa?”
I left Aju calling after me and asked the clerk from earlier whether the outfit on the mannequin came in Aju’s size.
“Yes, luckily we still have one of each!”
Fortunately we didn’t strike out this time.
I took the clothes from the clerk and brought them to Aju, who was still hesitating, then handed them over.
“Here, go try them on.”
“B-but… I’m not very tall.”
“That’s not what matters. If you want to wear it, then wear it. We can decide whether it suits you after you try it.”
“…”
This time Aju properly looked at the clothes I was holding. It was a style she had never attempted before.
No matter how modestly she lived, Aju was still a girl. Of course she would be interested in pretty clothes.
“…Then I’ll try it on.”
“Yeah, come out when you’re ready.”
Just as I expected, Aju accepted the clothes and disappeared into the fitting room.
To be honest I had no idea whether it would actually suit her. No matter how many times I had visited stores like this with my ex-girlfriends, my fashion sense had never improved.
Still… part of it was that her immediate assumption it wouldn’t work had frustrated me a little, and part of it was that I simply wanted to see Aju in a slightly different look.
With my heart beating faster, I waited for her to come out.
“…Riha oppa. I’m changed.”
And then—
“How do I look?”
I saw an Aju I had never seen before.
“Riha oppa?”
“Ah, yeah. Sorry… I just…”
For a moment I was so stunned I couldn’t speak. Since Aju was short, I had assumed the coat wouldn’t suit her, but with the long knit sweater underneath she looked like an incredibly charming young woman.
“You look really… mature.”
“…Do I really?”
“Yeah, you really do.”
“…I don’t look like a kid trying too hard to seem grown-up?”
Even though I had told her it suited her, Aju asked again, still a little anxious. To her, there was only one thing I could say.
“It suits you amazingly well. Honestly I didn’t think it would look this good on you.”
I spoke from the heart.
Hearing those words, Aju—
“…Hehe.”
—finally smiled, as if relieved.
She began examining her reflection in the mirror from every angle. Unlike a moment ago there was no anxiety on her face; instead I felt a slightly excited energy I didn’t usually see from her.
“Aju, what do you think? Do you like it?”
The happiest moment for someone buying a gift is when the person receiving it lights up with joy.
And right now—
“Yes, I like it a lot.”
Aju answered with the brightest smile I had seen from her in a long time. Seeing that expression, I knew we had done the right thing by coming to buy clothes today.