Sister
I was an altruistic person.
I wanted to live somehow, but I didn't want to enjoy the happiness that others would snatch from me.
“Miss.”
“Hic... I'm in so much trouble. I'm about to die from suffocation.”
“You've endured it well so far.”
“The endurance so far wasn't from me, hic...”
“No. You've endured it well, Miss. If you just trust me a little more and endure, I'll find a way to solve it somehow.”
The one who endured so far was really not me, so of course the bodyguard, who didn't know that, was desperately trying to comfort me.
“You bastard, what can you do when you're called a useless idiot!”
It was a line I shouldn't have said. He said his nickname cheerfully, but it was clearly his wound. People who are usually bright often have hollow insides.
“Trust me just once, Miss. I'll definitely get you out of here.”
That's why I was grateful.
“... Why are you being so good to me...?”
“Well... perhaps it's the duty of a man who can't bear to see a pretty woman ruined.”
“Hah. What does that mean.”
In the end, the joke that my appearance was the goal made me chuckle. I never would have laughed at such a shitty joke normally.
It felt like my personality, values, everything was changing. The essence of me was disappearing.
But I didn't feel fear.
I was me. I would be me. Even if I was shaken and fell, it would still be me.
“... Make a promise with me.”
“Yes, Miss.”
“From now on, you'll protect me.”
“Of course.”
His cheerful answer made him seem like he was smiling.
***
Perhaps because I spilled all my inner thoughts, the relationship between me and the bodyguard felt much closer than before.
Unlike before, which was half coercion, I now thought it was close to a friendship. It wasn't fully a friend yet, but just having a friend I could confide in made me feel relieved.
I talked with him about various things. Actually, I was the one who usually listened, but he was the one who seemed to enjoy it.
After all, his stories about me, whose name he didn't even know, couldn't be without melancholy.
His stories were filled with unverifiable facts, but his lively tone and explanations that brought out small details made his words believable.
The topics of conversation with him were usually fights.
Throughout his life, he had only fought, so he was busy explaining his heroic deeds from his mouth.
“But women usually don't like hearing these stories, don't they?”
“... I still like them.”
“Miss has a very hard-to-talk-about Jeju dialect.”
“By the way, it's already five o'clock.”
“Already?!”
His surprised reaction to my startled response made him ask me oddly.
“Is there a problem?”
“Ah, no... It's just a personal matter. Don't worry about it.”
“Yes... Well. From now on, I'll tell you the time every hour so you can solve personal problems.”
He said it as if drawing a line, making me wonder if he was upset, but he was consistent as always.
Whether I said it or not, his same attitude was really good. And his skill in anticipating my inner thoughts and suggesting first even without me speaking made me admire him.
“Then I'll go in first. You can go home whenever you want.”
Without waiting for his answer, I moved towards the bathroom.
It was more like I ran rather than walked, but anyway.
I roughly threw my clothes and turned on the sunflower shower and quickly got inside. It was to keep my promise with Heejin.
At first, cold water coming out was natural, so my body flinched, but cold water didn't come out. It was definitely an expensive house, so hot water came out from the beginning.
“... This part is really nice...”
I washed my hair with cooling shampoo that cooled the scalp and used fragrant body wash to clean my body, finishing a pleasant shower time. I wiped my body clean with a towel. For the lower part, I couldn't bring myself to touch it, so I just wiped it roughly with running water.
Taking a bath definitely refreshed my mood. While I was carefully wiping the water off my body while humming, I heard the sound of the door opening.
Considering that a woman's body has many places to wash, and I spent about 20 minutes in the shower, she must have come in a little late today.
Oh no.
Heejin, who wants to enjoy time with me and is trying not to fall asleep, arriving home late means something like a forced situation has happened. If that's the case, her anger will all come back to me, which is already a given.
I had to quickly ease her mood. I had to leave the bathroom quickly.
“Sister?”
I have to leave, but...
Her voice, which felt like bone-chilling cold, made my body freeze.
I thought I had some immunity to her cold voice, but it was a naive thought. Even now, I should have left the bathroom and shown my face to her, but the alarm bell rang, but my body was already frozen, and my feet wouldn't move.
“Sister. Sister. Sister. Sister. Sister. Sister. Sister. Sister. Sister.”
It's scary. I really want to faint from the fear.
Thud, bang, crunch,
The sound of the bed flipping, the table shattering, and the house being destroyed came. She was clearly looking for me like a rat. The one who knew better than anyone that I couldn't escape had to be searching the house madly in desperation.
“Where are you. Where are you. Where are you. Where are you. Where did you go. Where did you go. Where did you go. Where is sister.”
Bang, bang, bang!
It seemed like she was breaking every door in the house. The sound of doors shattering and rooms turning into chaos was terrifying.
The sound of the chaos getting closer. The room next to the bathroom is the dress room.
The sound of the dress room door being smashed earlier.
“Where are you. Where are you. Where are you. Where are you. Where are you. Where are you. Where are you. Where are you.”
The sound of the entire dress room being turned upside down. But of course, she couldn't find me inside, and eventually, the sound of someone stopping in front of the bathroom door came.
“Sister is here. Sister is here. Sister is here. Sister is here.”
It wasn't a question, nor a confirmation. It was both.
It was a plea for my answer, and a muttering as if forcing herself to believe I'm here.
She couldn't open the door rashly. Perhaps because she couldn't handle the situation if I wasn't inside.
I should open the door and come out now. At the beginning, I couldn't organize the situation, and in this explosive situation where a bomb could go off at any moment, would I have the action ability to move?
What I could do was only cover my mouth and hold my breath.
“... If I open the door and sister isn't there... I'll definitely find you and tear all your tendons apart... You won't be able to escape from my side again... I'll make you pay dearly for running away from me. So... I hope you're inside. For my sake, for sister.”
It was a coercive word that anyone would fear, but the scarier fact was that she wasn't lying.
As if there was nothing more to say, the door slowly began to open.
My heart was still racing with fear, but as the door opened, relief came.
It was really fortunate. That I didn't escape today. That I didn't fall for the bodyguard's suggestion. It was really fortunate.
It seemed like I was receiving blessings because I was a person with at least minimal conscience.
Through the slowly opening door gap, I faced her, who looked deathly pale.
“Sister!”
What are you doing here? Didn't you hear me calling for sister? I thought she might scold or blame a little, but there didn't seem to be any such emotion in her heart.
Her eyes, which had lost their vitality, regained light and she rushed towards me. Her hands brushed my entire body from head to toe.
“... It's really sister...”
“... Yeah.”
Now that rationality returned, her face flushed red. I think it's really fortunate that she at least knows some shame.
“... That sister... you know...”
“Yeah.”
“... The words I said earlier were a joke... Please don't think too deeply about it...”
I was wondering what she wanted to say, hesitating in a way that wasn't like her. No matter how much she was, it seemed she realized this time she was too excessive.
“... It was really a joke, right?”
“... Yes... sister.”
I didn't think it was a joke at all, but so what? What could I do? The only thing I could do was believe her.
She stared at me without saying anything for a while. She seemed to be organizing some thoughts.
Since it didn't seem like she was organizing her thoughts in a good direction, I took her hand and led her out of the bathroom.