Jealousy
And so we ended our park outing. I went home with my mom to rest before heading back to her place for the evening. When we arrived at my house, my mom had already come back earlier than expected. As we reached the gate, Sia seemed to feel quite disappointed about me leaving so soon, but since we would see each other again at kindergarten anyway, she quickly let me go. Inside the car on the way back, my mom asked me something. "Siwoo-ya, what happened today?" "Huh? No?" "Hmm... It's just that Sia seemed really upset when you left her. Did you suddenly come home in the middle of something?" "Yeah, we were just watching TV on the couch and then left?" "Hmm... I see." "Yeah, why? Is there a problem?" "No, mom was just curious." "Ah... yeah..."
That day’s outing came to an end. The reason Sia had clung to me so tightly from the morning was probably because she wanted to go on the trip together. Ever since we were kids, whenever she wanted something, she would act this way. So I thought that starting tomorrow, we would return to our usual normal selves. But... that thought turned out to be completely wrong. "Son." "Yeah..." "Did Sia do or say anything that made you upset?" "No, not at all..." "But... um... never mind, let's go." "Okay..."
What happened was that today, since my mom had finished work early for once in a long time, she said she couldn't bring me back together with Sia. Sia...!! Almost on the verge of crying, she clung to me tightly, but since today was Friday and we had family plans, I had no choice but to persuade her. 'Eek! I want to go too!' she kept tugging at my sleeve. Of course, when the auntie arrived, Sia's attempts to cling were quickly suppressed. "......" The expression on Sia's face when she said goodbye was one that words simply couldn't describe. The auntie was also at a loss since she knew Sia hated being separated from me. But my mom and I were able to get into the car, brushing aside Sia's gaze. I was scared about what might happen next Monday, but... there was nothing I could do. After all, today was the outing I had been looking forward to with the family. I went to the buffet with my mom. My dad had gone there before for a business meeting and loved it, so he had started going regularly since then. He even mentioned that since I was thinking of it today, he had left work early to join me for dinner. After parking the car and entering the buffet, beautiful decorations greeted us. Lights hung from the ceiling, and along the wall were wine racks that completely filled one entire side. When my mom went to the counter and gave the reservation name, the staff responded. "I'll guide you." The employee personally led us to our seats. "Siwoo, let's go." "Yeah." The place my mom and I went to was the inner sofa section. My dad was already seated, looking at the menu and choosing something seriously. "Dad!" "Hm! Son's here!" When I ran over to my dad, he hugged me. "Haha, today we'll order everything you want to eat." "Yeah!" "You two should hurry and choose." "Hehe, so is it steak today?" "Steak sounds good." With that, our family began eating. I wandered around the salad bar, picking up what I wanted, then sat down and started eating with great enjoyment. How much time passed? I had nearly finished the steak I ordered separately, and my stomach was getting full. So we started talking casually while digesting. We usually loved talking a lot, but lately my dad had been too busy, so we hadn't shared many stories. "Yeah, Siwoo, how's kindergarten lately? Do you like it?" "Um..." The question about how kindergarten was made me hesitate for a moment. Since I had been with Sia almost every single day since the first day, most of my stories were about things we did together. But my dad already knew I was playing with Sia, so I wondered if I should say more... but there were still things he didn't know. So I told him about playing with Sia. "Um... it sounds like most of it is just playing with Sia?" "Yeah, that's right." "Wow... our son really is a talented one, huh." "Yeah, exactly. Even when I went to pick up Siwoo earlier, Sia said I couldn't leave her side." "Is that true? Tsk... Siwoo, you're so lucky. I couldn't do that at your age..." "Stop talking about kids like that!" "Haha, anyway, you two are still close, huh?" "Yeah? It seems like it's because Siwoo is so grown-up." "Um... but then... is Sia really that upset?" "Probably... yeah? Because we were playing late together lately. Right, Siwoo?" "Yeah... right." "Hmm... I see... Siwoo, you like playing with Sia?" "Um..." I fell into thought at my dad's words. At first, the relationship started because Sia unilaterally approached me. Later we fought and argued, but now we were inseparable best friends at kindergarten. So I enjoyed spending time with Sia. "Yeah... it feels good." "Hmm... I see." My dad then got lost in his own thoughts. Of course, I didn't take it seriously and just ate the tiramisu brought as dessert. Then... "Son, so what about Sia's family?" "Auntie and uncle?" "Yeah... right." "Um... they seem nice. They've been taking good care of me." "Son...! I'm..." "Of course Mom is the best." "Aw, this pretty thing..." My mom hugged me tightly and hugged me from behind, rubbing me vigorously. I shook my body saying 'uuuuu', but since this had happened many times before, I just let it go. "Hmm... son, so it's good that you can play with Sia, and even play with her parents?" "Yeah!" "Okay... got it." "Why? Is something wrong?" "No, nothing. I just feel happy that my son is getting along well." "Ah..." I didn't think much of it at the time and just let it go. After finishing the family outing, we headed home. Spending time with the family after such a long time made me incredibly happy. That night, I nodded off on the couch and fell asleep. Of course, I had no idea what would happen next week. ◇◇◇◇◇◇ Next week, Monday. I arrived at kindergarten as usual. "......" "Ah, hello, Sia." "Did you have fun?" "Yeah? What?" "You went out with the family, right? Did you have fun?" "Ah... yeah, since it was a long time since we played together?" "Eek..." Sia looked like she wanted to say something, but she swallowed it back quickly. Probably, since her dad was away for long hours, she understood how important it was to spend time with the whole family. She didn't get angry even though things didn't go according to her plans, unlike me. "Come on, let's go inside. The entrance is hot." Seeing Sia's appearance, I remembered my dad's words and held out my hand first. I recalled what dad said: 'Since Sia is treating you well, you should treat her well too, okay?' I thought I was already doing enough, but I decided to do this for Sia's sake, so I held out my hand first. "...Yeah." Sia immediately grabbed my hand. And so we both entered the classroom together. Once inside, we quickly went to the edge section and sat in our usual spots. We sat in the spot that had become almost our designated seat, and a short silence fell between us. Both of us had nothing to say. We played with the toys around us without talking to each other. Then... "Sia." "Siwoo." We called each other's names at the same time. We both opened our eyes wide and burst into laughter. There wasn't anything particularly funny, but since we did the exact same thing, we couldn't help but laugh. Then, after I laughed a little longer and stopped, I told Sia. "Hey, today I'll do everything you want for pretend play." "...Really?" "Yeah, really really." Sia was laughing for a long time until I said I would do all the pretend play. She immediately stopped laughing. Then she asked me if it was really true, but the atmosphere Sia was giving off was very scary. Of course, when I said I was telling the truth, she smiled brightly with joy. Even though I didn't really like pretend play, I felt satisfied since Sia liked it. The homeroom teacher came, and the real school day began. From that moment until I went home, I had to do pretend play with Sia. And it wasn't just one long pretend play session. Every hour we changed the theme of the pretend play, so my mind was even more confused. At first it was newlyweds, then in the middle it was me falling in love with Alice, company boss and subordinate, and finally pirates and a civilian being plundered. We did pretend play with a variety of themes. There were already several that had gone beyond normal pretend play... but we didn't have the mental energy to argue about it. Of course, especially for me, there was also the fact that I was the one getting beaten up among the roles we played. But... well... I enjoyed it, so it was good. When Sia started acting confidently again, I felt a bit better. Anyway, I thought the family outing would disappear from my memory, but I didn't expect it to appear again so soon.