The Night We Slept Together
LT_ I approached my packed bag.
LT_ I took out the toothbrush and the change of clothes from inside the bag, then walked over to the uncle.
LT_ "Should we brush our teeth first?"
LT_ "Yeah, go ahead. Use the bathroom here, Sia. Use the one in the bedroom."
LT_ "Yes."
LT_ I gathered all my things and headed to the bathroom.
LT_ And I brushed my teeth and washed my hair bit by bit.
LT_ I dried myself with the towel I had brought, changed into the clothes I would wear, and came out of the bathroom.
LT_ I hung the towel on the bathroom wall and put the changed clothes back in the bag in a plastic bag.
LT_ "Did you wash everything?"
LT_ "Yes, I finished and came out. What about you, Sia?"
LT_ "I'm still washing."
LT_ "I see."
LT_ "Oh, by the way, where will you sleep? It would be good if you slept with Sia."
LT_ I had never slept here at Siwoo's house until the evening before, so the question of where to sleep was a first for me.
LT_ Still, it didn't matter much.
LT_ "I don't care where I sleep."
LT_ At my words, the uncle smiled and said, "Huhu, I prepared in advance."
LT_ "..."
LT_ "Want to come?"
LT_ Following the uncle's words, I went into the room that was Siwoo's sister's room.
LT_ In Siwoo's sister's room, a small mattress was laid out with a blanket, and right next to it was the air mattress we had used for camping before.
LT_ Since Siwoo's sister didn't usually use a bed, it looked like there were two wide air mattresses placed together.
LT_ "Huhu, how is it? I just unfolded the air mattress because we were in a hurry."
LT_ "It's good. This one is really fluffy."
LT_ "I'm glad it suits you."
LT_ "But where will the uncle sleep?"
LT_ "I'll sleep in the bedroom."
LT_ "Ah..."
LT_ "Why?"
LT_ "We all sleep together as a family. I thought Sia didn't do that."
LT_ "Ah, Sia also comes to the bedroom and sleeps often."
LT_ "..."
LT_ "The reason I didn't get a bed is because I was afraid there might be a monster under it, so I deliberately didn't buy one."
LT_ "Ah..."
LT_ "So if I get scared while sleeping, I run to the bedroom."
LT_ "I see..."
LT_ "If I'm here, it will always..." Ah, I said that was a secret."
LT_ "Yes, I understand."
LT_ "Alright, do you need a thick blanket?"
LT_ "No, a thin one is enough."
LT_ "Yeah, even if it's a bit warm, it gets cold at night, so don't turn the air conditioner on too much."
LT_ "Understood."
LT_ "Then I'll head out. Get ready for bed."
LT_ "Yes."
LT_ I got on the air mattress and lay there for a while, rolling around.
LT_ KKIK
LT_ I opened the door and Sia came in.
LT_ "Ah... I'm here...?"
LT_ I stopped rolling and sat up to greet Sia.
LT_ But I lost my words.
LT_ Because Sia was wearing pink pajamas with white rabbits on them... for a moment I was speechless at the sight.
LT_ "Yeah."
LT_ I was still a bit awkward, but she smiled at me slightly and walked to the mirror table.
LT_ Then she started drying her hair with the hairdryer on the table.
LT_ WIEEING~
LT_ After drying her hair quickly, Sia walked over to my side and lay down on her blanket.
LT_ "Uhm..."
LT_ I was extremely awkward in this situation.
LT_ Thinking about it now, I had never slept with anyone who wasn't family before.
LT_ So this time sleeping with Sia was the first time.
LT_ I was very awkward.
LT_ I didn't know what to do before bed, what to talk about.
LT_ "......"
LT_ I wanted to do something with Sia, but I couldn't propose anything to her.
LT_ I could only spend an awkward time doing nothing.
LT_ "Sia, want to read this picture book?"
LT_ "Uhm?"
LT_ Sia called me.
LT_ Sia was showing me a picture book, holding one without a cover.
LT_ I wasn't going to refuse something I hadn't seen before, so I moved to sit next to Sia.
LT_ When I sat, she put the picture book between us and started turning the first page.
LT_ The first page had a cute drawing, so I couldn't hold back my curiosity and asked Sia.
LT_ "What kind of picture book is this?"
LT_ "This? Uhm... It's a picture book I drew with Mom."
LT_ "With Aunt? Then you drew it and Aunt colored it?"
LT_ "No, that's not it... When I draw, Mom comes and helps and it's done."
LT_ "Wow... Even so, you're amazing."
LT_ It wasn't just talk. I hadn't seen many picture books, but the drawings were all cute and beautiful.
LT_ Of course, they were much better than the ones on the poster, but I didn't say that.
LT_ "We're going to read it together?"
LT_ "Yeah, let's read it together."
LT_ I was curious what kind of picture book Aunt had made, so I started reading it with Sia.
LT_ [Long long ago, in a distant ancient time, there was a mischievous princess in a certain kingdom.]
LT_ The story flowed like an old fairy tale.
LT_ [The princess, who lived as usual, was very bored. Then suddenly she met a knight.]
LT_ "Knight?"
LT_ "Shh."
LT_ "Ah, sorry."
LT_ Usually in fairy tales it's prince, but it came out as knight, so I blurted it out unintentionally.
LT_ [The princess became interested in the knight and started doing everything with him. Studying, eating, playing.]
LT_ The princess in the picture book acted as she pleased.
LT_ Well... that's because she's a princess.
LT_ [The princess who spent so much time with the knight one day left because of her mistake.]
LT_ "......"
LT_ I wanted to read the rest, but since Sia had told me to be quiet earlier, I focused on the fairy tale book quietly.
LT_ [But luckily the two reconciled.]
LT_ In the picture, they were shaking hands for reconciliation, but the princess still looked a bit upset.
LT_ [So the two thought there would only be good things, but a big crisis came.]
LT_ The picture showed a scene with shadows falling on the two.
LT_ [It was a very bad dragon trying to kidnap the princess.]
LT_ The dragon was trying to fly away with the princess's clothes in its mouth.
LT_ But.
LT_ [But the knight didn't stay still, he drew his sword and rushed at the dragon trying to kidnap the princess.]
LT_ The knight drew his sword and faced the dragon.
LT_ Of course the dragon won the fight.
LT_ [Even though the knight was very hurt, he didn't give up until the end. Then the magic on the knight broke, and the knight turned into a prince, and the prince defeated the dragon.]
LT_ "Oh..."
LT_ [The princess fell in love with the prince who saved her, and the two got married.]
LT_ The picture showed the princess and prince at the wedding, and the appearance didn't change.
LT_ Normally if magic was cast, the appearance would change, but it didn't.
LT_ I was curious about this and asked Sia.
LT_ "Just... that's how it looked to me."
LT_ "Yeah...?"
LT_ She said it's how she sees it.
LT_ If Sia drew the picture book like that... well, that's how it is.
LT_ Even though Aunt helped, the picture book Sia drew looked really good.
LT_ The content was fun and the drawings were cute, so I really liked it.
LT_ "How was the picture book?"
LT_ "It was fun."
LT_ I answered honestly, but Siia's reaction was a bit subtle.
LT_ A happy but slightly disappointed expression.
LT_ Seeing Siia's ambiguous expression, I said it again.
LT_ "The content was really fun and the drawings were pretty."
LT_ "Uhm... Besides that, while reading this book, anything else came to mind?"
LT_ "Uhm... Frog Prince?"
LT_ "......"
LT_ Since he said the magic would break, I thought it was the Frog Prince.
LT_ But it seems Sia didn't want the answer to be the Frog Prince.
LT_ "... I see."
LT_ I answered that I understood and started organizing the fairy tale book.
LT_ While putting it back in place, Sia muttered to herself, but unfortunately I couldn't hear the mutter.
LT_ "Then shall we sleep?"
LT_ "Yeah."
LT_ It was already past 9, so we turned off the lights in the room.
LT_ With the room lights off, the only sounds were a bit of breathing and the fan turning.
LT_ While it was getting dark, I suddenly lost consciousness to the sleep that came pouring in.
LT_ ◇◇◇◇◇◇
LT_ "Sia, are you awake?"
LT_ "......"
LT_ "Awake?"
LT_ The room with the lights off.
LT_ Sia was trying to close her eyes and sleep, but she couldn't fall asleep easily, so she turned her head.
LT_ There, Park Siwoo was soundly asleep.
LT_ Even with the lights off, he was sleeping much better compared to herself who couldn't sleep.
LT_ "Uhm...!"
LT_ Seeing Park Siwoo sleeping, I was a bit annoyed and wriggled my body towards him.
LT_ When I reached him.
LT_ When I touched the air mattress, I heard a "Ppuwak!" sound and was worried that Park Siwoo would wake up, but luckily he didn't wake up.
LT_ "Huu..."
LT_ I calmed down and kept going to Park Siwoo and finally arrived right next to him.
LT_ With eyes familiar with the darkness, I saw Park Siwoo sleeping soundly.
LT_ Seeing Park Siwoo sleeping more soundly than me, I felt a bit mischievous and was about to pinch his cheek but pulled back my hand and crawled into his arms.
LT_ Feeling his body heat like that, I remembered that memory.
LT_ The day Park Siwoo protected me.
LT_ Park Siwoo didn't remember, but since the scene didn't fade from my mind, I had asked Mom to help make it into a picture book.
LT_ And I was going to show it to him someday... but this time I couldn't hold back and showed it.
LT_ Just in case the memory would come back.
LT_ But unfortunately the memory didn't return to Park Siwoo.
LT_ It was disappointing but it was okay.
LT_ Because we could continue the relationship like this.
LT_ But besides that.
LT_ "... Idiot."
LT_ What I entered into Park Siwoo's arms was the punishment for him.