Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Caught in the Blanket
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*Sniff... Ha...*
Yerin slipped into the room and naturally made her way to my bed.
She sat down lightly, her small mouth slightly parted, her eyes full of curiosity as she glanced around the room.
Looking for something?
Her gaze darting everywhere like a chick that had just hatched from its egg was pretty cute.
But cute was cute, and...
I'd already checked that there were no traces of mine in the trash can, but I still felt a bit uneasy. And even though she'd already seen everything, showing her my room as it was felt embarrassing. So I gently coaxed her to step out for a bit.
But she acted like that was out of the question.
Turning her head this way and that, pretending not to hear, she plopped down right in the middle of my bed and wouldn't budge. I was dumbfounded.
...She's pretty stubborn, huh?
Learning this new side of Yerin was nice, but I wished it hadn't been right now in my room.
In the end, I let out a small sigh and said,
"Seo Jinhyuk's room probably isn't that different...?"
I'd never been in Jinhyuk's room, but guys' rooms are all pretty much the same, right?
I couldn't understand why she was making such a fuss over my utterly ordinary room.
"It is different...?"
Her response carried a hint of dissatisfaction.
...Did she just get sulky?
I glanced at her, half-disbelieving, and sure enough, her previously slightly open mouth was now pursed tight, her cheeks puffed out just a little.
"...What's different about it?"
She was pouting.
It was a new look, and cute as hell, but I needed to get those cheeks back to normal before they puffed up even more.
"Oppa."
"Yeah."
"What if you came into my room...?"
Oh.
What would it be like?
Just imagining Yerin's room, one I'd never seen, made a sweet floral scent tickle the tip of my nose for some reason.
"...Sounds nice?"
"...Even though my room and Sea's aren't that different?"
Ah.
The floral scent that had been teasing my nose vanished in an instant.
I felt like I understood Archimedes shouting Eureka.
It's not about the place or the looks...!!!
"See? It's different, right...?"
Yerin asked, watching me flounder in my revelation.
Her slightly puffed cheeks had returned to normal, replaced by a mischievous smile.
As if to say, Now do you get it?
...I can't win against her.
"...Yeah, it is."
If she asked me exactly what was different, I couldn't answer right now.
But I had no choice but to admit it was.
After that, whenever Yerin pointed around my room and asked questions, I answered and killed time that way.
At one point, I stepped out to grab some snacks for her, and when I snuck back in to surprise her like she'd done to me earlier,
"Fwaaaah...... Heh?"
"......Wha...t...?"
The unbelievable sight made me freeze in place.
An overturned pillow. Bed sheets all messed up.
My eyes met Yerin's as she rolled around on my bed, her face flushed and buried deep in the blanket that enveloped her completely.
Silence.
Neither of us said a word, yet it felt like piercing screams were echoing somewhere, hurting my ears.
It was like a silent uproar—
"Uh,"
Yerin broke the silence first, her voice trembling.
"Wh-when... did you... get back...?"
"...Just now. I wanted to surprise you like you did to me earlier..."
Yerin's face, peeking out from the blanket, was flushed so red it seemed impossible to get any redder. And inside that face, her eyes—deeper pink than I'd ever seen—sparkled defiantly, as if begging me not to look, completely opposite to their owner's feelings.
"Fr-from where... did you see...?"
Even asking that seemed agonizing for her; she forced out each syllable with effort.
No, more importantly, what did she even mean by "from where"?
My brain couldn't keep up.
The scene I'd witnessed was shocking enough—what, there was even more before that?
My limited imagination couldn't even picture it.
"...Should I pretend I didn't see?"
"........."
I'd meant it as a kindness.
But upon hearing me, Yerin squeezed her eyes shut, shuddered like she'd been struck by lightning,
and pulled the blanket over her head, curling up tight and burrowing into the bed.
Tada.
A tiny pillbug had formed on my bed.
"Sniff. Oppa, I wanna be alone for a bit......"
That's my bed, though.
But I had enough sense not to say that out loud.
Leaving Yerin huddled under my blanket, sniffling, I quietly closed the door behind me.
...Tonight's gonna be filled with thoughts of Yerin.
I wondered when it'd be okay to go back in, but luckily, that worry was resolved from an unexpected direction.
"I'm home~!"
Han Sea burst in through the door with a bright smile—the most welcome sight right now.
"Oppa, why're you out here alone in the living room? Where's Yerin? Did she already go home?"
I was pondering how to answer Sea's puzzled question when,
with a click, the door opened, and out came Yerin from my room, looking a bit more disheveled than before.
"Huh? Why's Yerin coming out of Oppa's room? And why're you out here, Oppa?"
Sea looked back and forth between us, utterly confused.
"Yerin's messy clothes... her beet-red face... pink eyes... No way...?"
Sea muttered to herself, then wore a shocked expression.
"What did you two do...!? Eek!"
"Rude."
I flicked her forehead to shut her up as she went off the rails, and she protested like she was the wronged one.
"But no matter how you look at it, the vibe is...!"
"It's not, Sea. There were circumstances."
"Circumstances...?"
"Hey, Han Sea."
I pinched her cheeks, stretching them like mochi on her shocked face as she started with the dirty jokes.
"Uwabwa—You made it sound misleading!"
"I didn't."
After tugging a few more times in our tussle, I let go, leaving red handprints on her cheeks.
"Tch... You two are ganging up to exclude me. I took over an hour to get back, and no one even asks why I was late. I'm the third wheel, huh?"
I averted my eyes and stayed silent instead of saying, Yeah, pretty much.
The surprising part?
I figured Yerin would deny it, but she clamped her mouth shut too, avoiding Sea's gaze—which led her eyes to meet mine.
...You too?
"Wow, I was joking earlier, but now I'm actually upset. Fine, you two have fun without me!!!"
We spent over ten minutes soothing Sea, who stormed toward her room fuming with unknown blessings or curses, before she finally calmed down.
Ugh.
Only after barely cheering up Han Sea could the three of us sit together in the living room.
Sea grinned mischievously and suggested playing in my room, but Yerin shook her head furiously, thankfully nixing the idea.
...Even I wasn't keen on my room right now.
I couldn't forget that scene.
"Yerin, you're good at studying, right?"
"Me...? I just do it moderately...?"
"What'd you get on last year's finals?"
"Uh... missed one, I think...?"
What?
Yerin, do you know what "moderately" means?
The snarky words rose to my throat, but I swallowed them down with effort.
Some new tic?
Looking at her expression, surprisingly, there wasn't a hint of bragging on her face.
She genuinely seemed to think she studied "moderately."
"...Do you like studying, by any chance?"
I'm smack in the middle of the pack.
Shrivel.
I felt smaller for no reason.
"No. Not really...?"
She doesn't particularly like studying, yet only misses one on a test?
The moment I thought it was too much for her to be this gorgeous and a genius, Yerin continued.
"I didn't have anything else to do at school or home besides studying..."
But now it'll be a little less, she added,
glancing at me and Sea as she wiggled her fingers happily.
That small gesture, full of excitement for the future,
made my earlier inferiority complex vanish, replaced by a surge of emotion.
"Let's... hang out a ton. Promise. Anywhere you wanna go?"
"Me and Oppa will corrupt you good. You'll forget studying even exists."
"That sounds kinda wrong?"
"Ah, not that, Oppa?"
Yerin just nodded happily at our dumb banter,
gazing at us with her rippling yellow eyes.
Nice.
Spending time alone with Yerin was great,
but hanging out with Sea as a trio felt good too.
I could see sides of Yerin I didn't know, like how she acted with her friend.
Satisfying.
"Yerin, wanna stay for dinner?"
With Mom and Dad running late, I asked before prepping dinner.
"Ah, yeah. I'll eat and go..."
"Won't Jinhyuk be home from academy?"
I suddenly remembered Jinhyuk would be back soon after his classes.
Still, siblings should eat together, right? When I asked, Yerin's expression cooled a bit as she replied.
"...I'll talk to Oppa about it."
"Uh, okay..."
Spooky.
As I prepared dinner, figuring Jinhyuk would handle it himself, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
Ugh, what the hell is this?
The screen filled with text the moment I looked scared me so much I nearly dropped the phone, thinking it was some curse.
What on earth did she say to him? The moment I looked up,
"Oppa says eat without him!"
Yerin beamed at me happily, and I couldn't bring myself to ask what she'd told Jinhyuk.
Sorry, Jinhyuk...
Amen...