Cute Little Sister and a Heart-Pounding Boyfriend
Haa. A sigh slipped out before I could stop it.
I'd known she was streaming, so I'd slipped into Eve's room as quietly as I could — and she immediately threw me open to the entire chat!
This kid, I swear… her teasing goes way too far sometimes. Not that I mind, since it only means she likes me that much.
Does she still not get what it means when someone who announced a day off shows up on someone else's stream?
"Alright then, I'm gonna go have dinner with Kiri unnie~ Adamis and Haras, see you all tomorrow~"
"Why would the Haras be watching you…"
"They can if they want~"
"Okay then, Adamis. Want to hang out with noona tomorrow?"
"Ah, unnie!! Stop!"
"You started it!"
Eve and I kept up the back-and-forth right to the end before she finally closed the stream.
Alright. Fun time's over. Next up…
"Eve."
"…Yeah."
"Haa…"
"…Sorry. I just wanted to show you off. It's been so long since I saw you."
I knew that. I hadn't been able to visit much lately, and she got lonely easily — I understood. But I still had to say it.
"I told everyone I was taking the day off because I was sick. You know what people are going to say if I just show up on your stream like that."
"Yeah… sorry."
Hearing her sound so genuinely sorry made my resolve waver — but I still had to be firm.
"From now on, think once before you do something like that. Otherwise you might end up hurting someone without even realizing it."
"…Did I hurt you, unnie?"
"You didn't hurt me. But it could still put me in a tough spot."
"Sorry. I'll be more careful next time."
Eve hung her head, looking thoroughly dejected. Back in our trainee days she'd been surprisingly lacking in confidence, and whenever I'd encouraged her while also giving her a warning, she'd looked just like this.
Eve in moments like these… how to put it. She got smaller somehow. A little cuter.
…Ah, damn it. Now I just want to forgive her.
"As long as you get it. Don't do it again. And also—"
But this part I had to say.
"Thomas unnie called. Don't look at me…"
"Hiiik!"
In the end Eve got thoroughly chewed out by Thomas unnie, and I got scolded a little too, just for being next to her.
…So unfair.
After getting yelled at by unnie, we ordered four servings (!) of maratang to soothe our gloomy hearts with something spicy.
While we waited, I told Eve everything that had happened that day.
"…Huh? So it was all a misunderstanding?"
"Yeah. Looks like we both misheard what the other said."
"Thank goodness… You looked so down, unnie. I was worried. And you were already sick on top of that."
"I'm fine now. Body and heart."
Well… we were dating now. If anything, I felt better than before.
Ah, I miss Gachi. Eve's stream should be over by now — maybe he was eating alone somewhere.
But this guy hadn't sent a single text… Fine, I could give him a hundred — no, a thousand — steps of leeway while Eve was streaming. But once it was over, shouldn't he at least message me!?
"Uh, unnie? Your face just got scary…"
"Ah, sorry. Just… thinking about him."
"The person you like?"
"…Yeah."
Hearing it said out loud like that made me weirdly embarrassed all over again.
"Still, I'm glad it was a misunderstanding. When are you going to confess?"
"Huh? Why would I confess?"
"What do you mean? You found out it was a misunderstanding. So you have to confess again."
Heh heh heh. I still hadn't told this kid.
"We're already dating, though?"
"…"
"Eve~?"
"…Hup. Sorry, I just dreamed that unnie was dating someone. What did you just say?"
"You heard me fine. That's exactly what I said."
Eve's mouth fell open in shock. Then her lips suddenly jutted out in a pout, she hit the button on her chair, rolled right up to me — and pulled me into a hug.
"…So now you're going to see him more than you see me?"
"Don't put it like that. But yeah, since we're dating, we'll probably spend more time together."
"I'm a little jealous."
"Don't worry. I'm jealous of you."
I was jealous of Eve, Gachi's favorite streamer, and Eve was jealous of Gachi, who was dating me.
What a weird love triangle. And it was all Gachi's fault.
"Because he's an Adami?"
"Yeah. A huge one."
"Hmm… Do you know his username? I might recognize him if I've seen him around a lot."
I honestly hadn't thought of that… In that case…
"I don't know it. I'll ask him later. But is it okay if I tell you?"
"…Part of me wants to know, and part of me thinks it's better not to…"
Eve fretted to herself for a while, then pulled back from me and said:
"Can I… meet him? Ah, I'll keep the Eve thing a secret, of course."
"What!?"
What was she even saying? Suddenly wanting to meet my boyfriend. And keeping it a secret… Well, she could keep it secret, sure.
But more than that—
"You can barely talk in front of other people."
"He's unnie's boyfriend. So it's fine."
"I appreciate you saying that, but…"
Thinking about it, if it was Gachi, I actually felt pretty safe. I couldn't imagine him looking at Eve with any kind of prejudice. He'd probably treat her well, too… which left me with some complicated feelings.
And since there was no chance he'd recognize her by voice alone, maybe letting them meet wouldn't be so bad?
"Mm… I'll ask him, at least."
Come to think of it, I should introduce him to Eve someday. She was that precious a little sister to me. And Gachi was the person I loved.
Ding-dong~
The doorbell rang just then. The maratang must have arrived.
"Alright, food first."
"Yeah, let's go. I'm hungry now…"
"Got it, hang on."
I slid both arms under Eve's armpits and lifted her slightly; she timed it with me, pushing up with her arms so her hips left the chair. Then, with practiced ease, I settled her into her wheelchair.
"Hehe. It's been a while since unnie pushed me."
"Yeah, about a month?"
"Longer~ You've been so busy lately~"
"Alright, alright. I'll come more often."
"Okay!"
I wheeled Eve into the living room.
We finished every last bit of the maratang and spent a while chatting about nothing in particular.
And for the record, during all of that — not once!
Did Gachi contact me!
Haa… Seriously. Now that we're dating, couldn't he message first for once?
"Unnie, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. My boyfriend just isn't texting me… and we literally just started dating."
"Hmm… Maybe he's mad because you came to see me?"
"Absolutely not."
That much I was sure of. This was the guy who'd been listening to Eve's stream during our date! If he got mad over something this small, I'd be the one getting mad!
"Haa, I can't take it. I'm going over there to complain."
"You're leaving already?"
Eve sounded disappointed. I gave her cheek a light pinch and smiled.
"I'll come again. Today I just… kind of… want to be with Gachi."
"Gachi… that was his name, right?"
"Yeah. Nice name, isn't it?"
"…Yeah. It is a nice name."
So Eve thought so too. Well, she and I had always been on the same wavelength.
"I'll walk you out, then."
"It's fine, you'll get tired."
"No, I've been going on walks lately. Just to the front of the building, but still."
I'd heard about that. Eve was getting better little by little. Good for her.
"Then just to the elevator. I'm calling a taxi right out front anyway."
"Okay. Hang on… ah, here it is."
Basically all the furniture in Eve's room was low — so she could reach everything from her wheelchair. The clothes rack was the exception, of course; it hung too high for her arms.
For that, Thomas unnie had bought her a laundry pole. Eve hooked a hanger down with it and draped a brown cardigan over her shoulders.
"Now we're matching, unnie."
"We did buy them together."
"Hehe. Let's go, then."
Eve wheeled herself toward the front door, and I followed. She saw me all the way to the elevator, waving with a faintly wistful look.
"See you later, unnie~ Next time, introduce me to that Adami boyfriend of yours."
…Even if that last part was a little annoying.
By the time the taxi dropped me at the mansion, the sky was already dark. Even with the weather starting to warm up, nights were still pretty chilly, so I was glad I'd worn the cardigan. I was about to call Gachi to voice my complaints about the total radio silence — then stopped.
"Come to think of it… do I even need to call? I'm his girlfriend."
That's right. Right now, I was Gachi's girlfriend!
Which. Meant.
"…Let's go."
Something I'd almost done last time but couldn't, because my position had been too ambiguous.
I was going to do it now.
Normally I'd head for my room at the end of the hallway — but instead I climbed the stairs. And stopped in front of the door right next to them.
"…"
My heart was racing for no good reason. But it wasn't like I was doing anything hard. I was just… visiting my boyfriend's place.
Gachi had come to mine, so this was the same thing!
"…Hoo."
Knock knock.
I took a deep breath and knocked on the door of unit 201. It opened almost immediately.
And standing there, phone in hand, was Gachi.
…So he'd had his phone the whole time?? I'd imagined maybe he'd lost it, or was busy with something else.
No wriggling out of this one.
"…Wa Sol noona? You came?"
"Yeah. I came. My boyfriend wouldn't text me, so I came myself."
"…Sorry."
I'd been hearing that word a lot today.
"Hmph."
"I— I mean…"
"Planning to keep me standing out here?"
"Ah, no. Come in. Luckily it's not that messy."
Gachi invited me in more easily than I'd expected. And once I was inside, his room was honestly a surprise.
I'd figured a guy living alone would have a cluttered place that smelled a little off — but he'd clearly been cleaning and airing it out. It wasn't dirty at all. Then again, I'd never once seen Gachi look messy.
Seeing yet another side of him I hadn't known about, the anger started to melt away again…
But I couldn't let it end here.
"Sit wherever's comfortable — that chair's fine."
"Okay."
I sat in the chair at his desk; Gachi perched on the edge of the bed. He had his hands clasped together and his head bowed, looking for all the world like a guilty kid.
"So why didn't you text me? Don't tell me you went café-hopping after Eve's stream or something."
Even so, if that turned out to be true, I'd be pretty hurt. Honestly I hadn't texted first either, so I didn't have much room to talk.
But before we started dating, I'd always been the one to reach out first… This time, I'd wanted Gachi to do it.
"No! Definitely not that."
"Then? You seem to have had your phone the whole time…"
"Actually…"
Gachi fidgeted, this big guy shrinking his shoulders even smaller — then, as if steeling himself, held out his phone screen.
On it—
"…What's this?"
"I was trying to send a text… I just didn't know how to start."
There were several memo drafts of messages he'd practiced sending me. Looking at the timestamps, some of them had even been written during Eve's stream.
"I didn't want to interrupt while you were streaming, so I was practicing to send something after it ended. But when it came time to actually hit send, I started overthinking everything. Like, would noona hate this? Am I being too annoying… stuff like that."
…
..
.
"…Really?"
"Yeah."
Ah, what do I do.
The anger… was completely gone.
And what even was that one… 'Noona noona when are you coming?' — pfft… It didn't suit him at all. No, I couldn't laugh right now, that would be rude. Looking at the memos, he'd clearly been taking this seriously.
And thinking that… made me so, so happy.
"Do you remember what I said before I left for Eve's?"
"…Yeah. I remember all of it."
"You remembered everything this time."
"Well… of course."
"Then you know. I like everything Gachi does for me."
So next time, don't overthink it like this.
Spend that time with me instead.
"Got it?"
"Yeah."
Gachi smiled, looking relieved. Strong, reliable, and kind without a single ounce of pretense.
A boyfriend I still wanted to lead by the hand for a little while longer.
But then—
"Honestly, I just… wanted to send 'I miss you.'"
"!?"
Sometimes he said things that made my heart race all over again — the Gachi I loved.
I always wanted to be with him.
"…I missed you too."
"…Haha."
"Hehe."
Laughter bubbled up for no reason, and we just sat there grinning at each other.
And that was how our relationship began.
What would happen from here, and how our relationship would grow — I still didn't know any of it. But there was at least one thing I was sure of.
I was always going to be with Gachi.