The First Stirrings of Aki's Possessiveness (3)
Two hours later, after Jaehyun’s birthday party had finally wrapped up, I found myself strolling outside with Aki, who looked unusually cheerful.
“Hmm-hmm, hm-hmm~ …Hehe.”
She was clearly in high spirits, even humming a little tune she rarely sang. Aki trotted along beside me with bouncy steps. Just a few hours earlier she’d been sulking and refusing to speak because I’d brought her to Jaehyun’s house, but after we’d gone down to the first floor together for a bit, she’d been beaming nonstop, unable to hide her happiness.
All I’d done was promise I wouldn’t lie to her anymore and that I’d marry her when we grew up. That was it.
…What’s going on?
“Ah, maybe…”
Could it be that she’d actually enjoyed Jaehyun’s birthday party? His mom had prepared all the food herself, and it really had been delicious. Ten-year-old me genuinely believed that was the reason.
Aki really does love food, huh…? I thought with slightly misplaced confidence and opened my mouth.
“Aki, are you that happy?”
“Mhm! Super happy!”
Yep, just as I thought.
So when Aki was in a bad mood, all I had to do was give her something to eat. I quietly filed that away in my mind, gently took her hand, and stepped forward.
“Aki, did you see Jaehyun’s face earlier?”
“Huh? Jaehyun?”
“The boy whose birthday party we went to. You know, the one you gave the Google gift card to yourself.”
Of course, Aki barely even remembered who Nam Jaehyun was, so she hadn’t actually bought the gift. It was something I’d prepared as a backup, just in case. I hadn’t originally planned to give it through her, but since things had turned out this way, I secretly passed it to her so she could hand it over herself. I figured it might help her get along better with my friends.
──Nam Jaehyun-sang, this is a present from Aki!
──Huh? Aki— I mean, is this a present from Fujiwara-san…?!
──It’s a Google gift card or something. You said you wanted one, right?
──F-Fujiwara-san…! Thank you so much, I’ll treasure it!
Naturally, Jaehyun, who had no idea about any of that, was genuinely moved that Aki had thought of him and thanked her from the bottom of his heart. Well, sometimes ignorance really is bliss…
“Ahh, you mean Nam Jaehyun-sang? Yeah, I saw. When I gave him the present you prepared, Wooju~chan, he looked like he was about to cry!”
“No, I think he actually did cry. I saw him rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand while saying how happy he was to get a birthday present from you.”
“Eh, really? It wasn’t even that amazing of a gift…”
“It’s his first time getting a present from a girl.”
“Ohh, I see…”
Aki trailed off, then glanced at me sideways.
“Hey, Wooju~chan.”
“Yeah? What?”
“What do you want for your birthday present this year?”
“Me? Hmm… a pencil case with a toy on it?”
It was the kind of pencil case every elementary school boy dreamed of, and I was no exception. The only problem was that I’d never had the chance to own one. It wasn’t about whether I could afford it with my allowance—my mom had forbidden it. She said you had to keep your study space and play space completely separate.
“Why do you ask? Are you thinking of buying me one?”
“Mhm! I want to get you whatever Wooju~chan really wants.”
“In that case, you can’t get me the one with the toy. Mom said it would distract me from studying, so I’m not allowed to use it. I even told her I’d buy it with my own money, but she still said no.”
“Really…? Then how about I talk to Wooju’s mama myself?”
“Talk to her? About what?”
“I’ll tell her I bought you a pencil case with a toy as a present, but then I heard you’re not allowed to use it. If I say I already opened the packaging and can’t return it, I bet your mama will let you have it. What do you think?”
“……!”
It felt like lightning had struck inside my head. I wasn’t shocked because she was suggesting we trick my seemingly infallible mother. What stunned me was Aki’s completely fresh, outside-the-box way of thinking—something I could never have imagined on my own.
I grabbed both of her hands.
“…Aki, are you a genius?”
“Huh? N-no, I’m not…”
“No, you definitely are. How did you even come up with that? You’re a genius, Aki, a real genius!”
“Ehh, hehe…”
“Aki, no—Genius Aki-nim. Can I ask you for a favor? I really, really want that pencil case with the toy!”
“Mhm, okay. If Wooju~chan is asking…”
“Whoa, thank you! Aki, you’re the best!”
“…Ahh.”
By the time our innocent conversation ended, we had reached the street near Aki’s house.
That was when it happened.
A little distance away—right across the street, just below Aki’s home—a tall woman who looked to be in her early to mid-twenties called out to us.
“Oh my? Aki! Aki—!”
I had never seen her before.
“Aki, do you know her?”
The moment I saw the stranger, my parents’ repeated warnings flashed through my mind (Wooju, even if someone says they’re a friend of Mom and Dad, you must never follow them, okay?). I instinctively stepped in front of Aki.
But she peeked out from beside me and shouted,
“Ah! Mama…!”
“…Huh? Mama?”
She started running toward the crosswalk, which had just turned green. I followed after her, thinking, Wait, did she just say ‘Mama’?
“Mama, Mama—!”
“Mhm, Aki. Have you been doing well?”
“Yes! Aki has been doing great!”
“Good. Mommy’s been healthy too. But Aki, it’s dangerous here, so let’s cross the street first, okay?”
The two of them hugged warmly and crossed the road together. I quickly followed before the light changed. As soon as we reached the other side, Aki waved at me. I was standing about three steps away.
“Wooju~chan, come here!”
“Uh… okay.”
She clearly knew this person, but I didn’t. Still, she’d told me to come over, so I approached hesitantly. The unfamiliar woman smiled softly at me, apparently finding my timid behavior cute.
“Mama, say hello. This boy is the Wooju~chan I told you about! And Wooju~chan, this is my mama!”
“Ah… so you’re her mother?”
I’d thought she was a stranger, but she turned out to be Aki’s mom.
…If I speak Korean she probably won’t understand. Should I try French?
But I didn’t know any French. What should I do?
After a moment of hesitation, I greeted her in the third language I knew—Japanese.
“Hajimemashite. Uchuu desu.”
“Oh my, you can speak Japanese?”
“Yes, a little. I learned it from Aki.”
“My goodness, is that so? Our Aki taught you…”
“That’s right! I taught Wooju~chan Japanese!”
The second the conversation turned to her, Aki puffed out her chest proudly. Her mother looked down at her with fond eyes, then smiled beautifully and stroked her hair.
“Our Aki… it feels like just yesterday you were begging me for milk. When did you become such a big girl?”
“Ahh, Mama! Wooju~chan is right here…!”
“……”
Recalling my dad’s life advice that the best response to an awkward comment is to pretend you didn’t hear it, I stared off into the distance like I hadn’t heard a thing.
“Ah, so this is the boy you call Wooju-chan?”
“Mama, I just told you! This boy is Wooju~chan!”
“Mhm, sorry. Mama was so happy to see you that I got a little distracted.”
After giving Aki another warm hug, her mother turned to me.
“Sorry for the late greeting. Nice to meet you. I’m Aki’s mom. My name is Iroha Fujiwara.”
“Ah, yes. Hello…”
“Do you know what I do for a living?”
“I think Aki mentioned that you work as a model.”
When I repeated what I vaguely remembered Aki saying, Iroha smiled as if I’d given the correct answer. Only then did I feel the tension ease a little, and I took a quick look at her from head to toe.
She looked about mid-twenties at most—maybe even younger. She was so youthful that, without exaggeration, you could easily believe she was Aki’s older sister rather than her mother. Her hair was the same soft pink as Aki’s, but her face was tiny, her features strikingly defined, and her limbs and overall figure were long and elegant. Just like Aki had once told me, she had that bright, Western look that clearly showed her French heritage, along with the natural grace of someone born to wear clothes. Anyone would instantly understand why she was a model.
“……”
Overall, she looked like a more mature, slightly different version of Aki. I found myself imagining what Aki might look like in ten years.
That was when Aki’s mother suddenly laughed.
“Did you fall for Auntie or something?”
“…Pardon?”
“What? You didn’t? You were staring so hard I thought maybe you had~”
“Ah…”
So this was what Aki’s mom was like. Even though we’d only just met, I felt like I understood her personality already. My earlier thought that she was similar to Aki but somehow different had been spot on.
“Ah! Mama!”
While I was slowly nodding, Aki suddenly jumped out of her mother’s arms and quickly linked her own arm with mine.
“Mama can’t go after Wooju~chan! Wooju~chan belongs to watashi (me)!”
“Oh my, is that true?”
“Huh? Um… I’m not sure, Mother.”
I’d learned some Japanese, but I wasn’t fluent yet, so I used the word I knew—okāsan—to refer to Aki’s mother.
“Hmm, ‘Mother’? Isn’t that a bit early to be calling me that…?”
I had no idea that in Japanese the word could also mean “mother-in-law,” a fact I would only learn much later… But that wasn’t important right now.
“By the way, Mama, why did you suddenly come to Korea? You said you were too busy with modeling work to visit!”
“It’s a bit complicated to explain… To put it simply, I had some free time. I wanted to see our Aki after so long, and I wanted to see your dad too.”
“Then do you have to go back to Japan soon?”
“Yes, I do. Mommy still has a lot of work in Japan, so I have to go back.”
“Ah… I see…”
When her mother, whom she hadn’t seen in a long time, said she’d have to leave again soon, Aki’s face fell.
“…Aki.”
Her mother gazed down at her quietly, then spoke.
“Would you like to come live with Mommy in Japan?”
…She said something that made me doubt my own ears.