My Sister Has Returned

"Hey, Si-hyeon. We've got an open spot at a blind date tonight. Come fill it. Drinks are on me, okay?"

"You think I'd go? Choi Woo-jin, you obviously used me as bait when you sold them on it."

"If you know that, you should come even more! What's a friend for? And with a face blessed like yours, why don't you get a girlfriend?"

Maybe because the lecture had ended and the room had emptied out, Woo-jin's voice sounded louder than usual.

He wasn't the type to be doing this because he couldn't get a woman himself, either.

"I've got a cautionary tale for that. And you just like drinking parties with lots of people, don't you? Didn't you blow off a woman who contacted you first after that last blind date?"

"Ah, well, that was... She wasn't my type, either. Anyway, what do you mean, a cautionary tale?"

He hemmed and hawed, then blatantly changed the subject. It wasn't a pleasant topic to talk about, but I answered with a sigh.

"My dad. You know the gist, right?"

"Ah... Sorry, man."

Maybe he realized that digging any deeper risked putting his foot in his mouth, because he shut up without complaint. He knew my father had remarried, at least.

My father, Baek Jin-seong, is trash.

At the same time, he was handsome enough that even I, who despised him, had to admit it.

With that natural-born face, before he was even an adult, he seduced and impregnated a chaebol daughter younger than himself. That daughter would be my biological mother, Madam Han Ji-young.

But there was no way my mother's family would accept such a marriage. Back then, my father truly had nothing going for him except his looks.

So the two of them eloped. But there was no way a marriage that started like that could go smoothly, and then a certain incident happened on top of everything else. After a long period of marital fighting, they divorced.

...That was when I was five years old.

"Still, that's that and this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is this! You can just come and drink, so please come, I'm begging you."

"I'd like to, but I've got something to do."

"What something? Don't tell me you're grinding solo queue to Master again."

"No, my sister who was studying abroad is coming back today with my stepmother. I'm the only one home, so I have to be there to greet them."

"What, you had a sister?"

"Yeah. It's already been six years since I last saw her, so it'll probably be awkward when we actually meet..."

I scratched the back of my head as I pictured my sister's face.

And at the same time, this was another reason I despised my father.

I learned about the "certain incident" I mentioned earlier three years after the divorce.

After divorcing my mother, my father remarried before long. And to a famous musician from Sweden, no less.

When I heard that news, I couldn't hold back my anger and confronted my father.

"Did you divorce Mom just to do this?!"

My father's face hardened at those words, and in the end, he came clean.

Namely, my father had a mistress. One he had already gotten pregnant, at that. With that, my mother's reaction made sense.

There were exactly two reasons I didn't leave home back then.

Even though I was only eight, I had been running the household on my own and had matured enough to know that I was still too young to be independent and didn't have the means for it.

On top of that, my mother's circumstances at the time weren't great for me to go live with her, either.

So I stayed at home, but to my younger self, everything my father said and did was revolting. Especially the way he tried to act like a father only after the date for his remarriage had been set.

'Why now, when you couldn't do it when it mattered? Because that woman was better than Mom?'

'Did you ever really treasure me and Mom?'

'If only you had done things just a little more right, our family would have—'

Along with those thoughts, I secretly despised the woman who was remarrying my father and the half-sister who shared half my blood. Because I believed the two of them, along with my father, were the ones who had destroyed our family.

But that hatred crumbled so easily it was almost laughable, even to myself.

"It's nice to meet you, Si-hyeon. My name is Linnea Lindblom. I know I'm lacking, but if you'll have me, I'd like to become your mother. Now, Aria, you should greet your brother too."

"H-Hello..."

That was my first meeting with the two of them.

Linnea bowed politely to young me, and Aria, still little, hid behind Linnea and greeted me in awkward Korean.

Looking at my sister, who was three years younger than me, I thought without meaning to that she looked like a fairy. Her hair, and even her eyelashes, held a beautiful silvery light, and her large, lovely eyes were a blue that called to mind the sky or a lake.

Her skin was so fair and smooth that I almost wondered whether she really had any Asian ancestry in her like I did. At first, I genuinely questioned whether she was my half-sister.

And at the same time, seeing Aria hiding behind Linnea, frightened, I realized.

That child was also afraid of having a new family. That she was no different from me.

My wariness and hatred toward Aria completely dissolved in that moment.

Rather, I thought I had to protect her.

Because we were in the same situation.

Because I hoped this child wouldn't go through the same sadness I had.

"I'm Baek Si-hyeon. I hope we get along, Aria."

I walked closer, bent my upper body slightly to meet her eyes, and carefully held out my hand.

Aria cautiously looked back and forth between my hand and my face, then took my hand in both of hers and asked.

"Si-hyeon, can I call you big brother?"

Without realizing it, I'd started reminiscing about that day. It had been a long time, but I could still remember exactly what Aria looked like back then.

How had she grown up? The last image I remembered of Aria was her throwing a fit, saying she didn't want to be apart from her brother and didn't want to study abroad.

"Come to think of it, she's already an adult now..."

"Your sister?"

"Yeah. She's three years younger than me."

Even as I answered Woo-jin, my gaze didn't leave the lecture hall ceiling. More precisely, it didn't leave the memories beyond it.

"I'm kind of scared to meet her. We haven't been in touch even once all this time."

"You haven't been in touch even once? These days there are more than enough ways to stay in contact even overseas. Phone, email, whatever."

"To be precise, I kept in touch with my stepmother often, but I couldn't with Aria. She said she couldn't answer because hearing my voice would dull the resolve she'd worked so hard to build."

"Resolve? What resolve?"

"Resolve to keep living abroad, probably. She really didn't want to study abroad."

That was understandable. She lived in Sweden until she was five, then suddenly came to Korea and had just barely adjusted when she was sent back to her home country to study at fourteen, right in the middle of puberty.

I checked my smartphone. 3 p.m. I'd heard the arrival time was 5 p.m., but I planned to go home a little early and at least get dinner ready in advance.

"Anyway, I'm heading out first. Take it easy."

"Tch, family stuff can't be helped. Get going."

He waved at me as I got up from my seat. I waved back the same way and left the lecture hall.

* * *

"I'm home."

There was no answer. By now, that was nothing unusual. My father, who had belatedly started acting like a father, was going away on business more and more often.

I worried he might be setting up a mistress somewhere, but at least since the remarriage, there didn't seem to have been anything like that. Even after I went so far as to look into him because I couldn't bring myself to trust him, he seemed to have just worked diligently.

I first shoved the ingredients I'd bought at the supermarket on the way into the refrigerator. Up until now, I'd basically been living alone, so it was fine to just scrape by with meals, but that wouldn't be the case from now on.

The refrigerator, which had been almost empty except for eggs and drinks, filled up in an instant. The sight stirred a strange feeling in me.

'Starting today, we're living together.'

The refrigerator door closed. There were still plenty of ingredients left in the plastic bags, but those were all for today's cooking.

Next, I took out the big pot shoved into the corner of a kitchen drawer. It hadn't gathered dust, but I rinsed it once with water and then prepped the ingredients.

Linnea liked seaweed soup, I thought.

And Aria liked braised short ribs.

I cooked the prepared ingredients, adding them to the pot in order. Then I lowered the heat a little and put the lid on. Dinner prep was done.

"Let's see, I think it was around here..."

With some time left, I went back to my room and rummaged through the drawers. In a corner of the bottom drawer sat an old smartphone I'd kept carefully stored away.

"Ah, found it. Will this thing even turn on?"

It was an early-generation smartphone. It would have been surprising if it even turned on, but perhaps because I'd kept it in a sealed case, at least it looked to be in good condition.

"Is it just that the battery's dead?"

Just in case, I connected the charger I'd kept stored right next to it to an outlet and plugged it in. A green battery icon indicating it was charging appeared on the screen right away.

I waited until it had charged to some extent, then held down the power button. It turned on.

"Ah, there it is."

The quality was poor compared to videos these days. Still, there was a video on this phone that I wanted to find.

I played the video. It showed Aria about five years after she had come to Korea.

"When Aria grows up, she's going to marry Big Brother!"

In the video, Aria clung ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to me and said that. Watching the video brought back old memories.

I think Aria was probably the first subject I filmed after getting a new phone from Linnea.

There had been various ups and downs at first, but after a few years, Aria had grown very attached to me.

Maybe because she'd come to enjoy life in Korea, she studied Korean hard and came to eat Korean food readily.

Of course, I also thought of Aria as a real little sister and doted on her. Leaving this video behind was part of that.

And the reason I was looking for this video now was to somehow break the ice with Aria.

It had been six years since we'd seen each other. No matter how close we'd once been, awkwardness was only natural.

If she liked it and said it brought back memories, that would be good, and if she got embarrassed, that would also be a starting point for conversation.

If she genuinely hated it, then it would be a shame, but I could just delete it. Her own wishes mattered most.

Ding-dong, ding-dong.

The doorbell pulled my consciousness out of my thoughts.

It seemed quite a long time had passed while I was lost in memories watching the video. Looking at the clock, it was already just before 5 p.m.

I shoved the old phone into my pocket and hurried to the front door. When I opened it, two familiar people were standing there.

None of us spoke. I also found myself at a loss for what to say first and just stared blankly at the two of them.

Both Linnea and Aria looked almost untouched by time. Linnea had always been a mature-looking beauty, so with her it was not strange enough to seem uncanny, but...

'Aria hasn't changed all that much, either.'

The last Aria I had seen was fourteen-year-old Aria. Middle school is a time when kids grow like crazy, isn't it? I'd naturally assumed she would have changed beyond recognition.

It wasn't that she hadn't grown at all. She'd gotten a little taller, and more than anything, her whole air felt much more mature. But to be honest, she had the kind of looks where you'd believe it even if someone said she was still in middle school.

That was as far as my thoughts went. I couldn't leave the two of them, exhausted from the long flight and car ride, standing outside forever. In the end, I was the one who spoke first.

"Both of you, come in and unpack first. You must be tired."

"I'm home, Brother."

Only then did Aria startle for a moment, then give a soft smile and bow her head in greeting.

"I'm home. You've grown so much, Si-hyeon."

Linnea approached me with a smile that seemed somehow complicated. Then she pulled me into a hug.

"I'm sorry. I said I wanted to become your mother, but in the end, I left you alone for six years like this."

"I've never once thought of it as being left alone. I supported Aria's studying abroad in the first place, and there was no way she could go alone."

This, at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠least, was sincere. Linnea had called me first every evening to ask how I was doing. If anything, I felt I had been loved plenty.

"If anything, I'm the one who's sorry. You care for me this much, and I still can't bring myself to call you Mother."

"That's the one thing you don't need to apologize for. The very fact that you consider me family is a joy to me."

Those words made my chest tighten. As Linnea said, she was unmistakably my family, and my stepmother.

But the form of address was a separate matter. It wasn't as if I had fallen out with my biological mother; we still kept in touch and got along well.

"You've gotten so tall, too. The last time I saw you, you were about my height, and now you've completely grown up. To the point where I have to look up at you."

"I'm an adult now, after all."

At that, Linnea smiled gently and let me go.

"It smells wonderful. Is that the dinner you prepared, Si-hyeon?"

"Yes. I got it ready so you could eat as soon as you arrived. Shall I set the table right away?"

"You ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠can take your time. Aria and I need to unpack first."

Since the furniture they had used before was still here, all they had brought with them were the suitcases each of them was pulling.

"I'll be out soon, Brother."

With those words, Aria went into her room first, and then Linnea went into the room she had originally used.

I also went to the kitchen, dished out rice and soup, and set the side dishes on the table. As I did, what Aria had just said suddenly came to mind.

"'Brother,' huh."

Aria used to call me “big brother.” Once we had grown close, she had also dropped the polite speech and talked to me casually.

I felt a strange emotion at the change in address and tone, but I didn't dislike the change entirely. It suited Aria's more mature air.

"Yes, Brother. Or would you prefer I call you ‘big brother,’ like I used to?"

Startled by the voice suddenly coming from behind me, I whipped around. Aria, already changed into comfortable indoor clothes, had come out into the living room.

"You scared me."

"I'm sorry if I startled you. Um... big brother?"

"You can call me whatever's comfortable. But wow, you came out fast."

"Yes. My luggage is mostly just clothes. Mother has a lot of important things, so she'll take longer."

The conversation ended there. As I'd expected, trying to talk one-on-one only made the awkwardness worse. What should I bring up?

As if she'd noticed how I felt, Aria giggled, took my arm, and led me to the sofa.

"So let's talk about all the things we couldn't talk about all this time, Brother."

Led by Aria's hand, I sat on the sofa. Asking how studying abroad was, how life in Sweden was, would be fine, but that felt like it would only make the distance between us more obvious.

So I steeled myself for the possibility of being hated and reached into my pocket.

"Come to think of it, I found this while tidying my room earlier."

I turned on the old smartphone and played the video.

"Aria, do you remember this? It's a video from when you were little, clinging to me and saying, ‘I'm going to marry Big Brother!’..."

But unlike my expectations, Aria just watched the video to the end with a calm expression.

I was the one flustered by how different her reaction was from what I had expected. Aria looked at me and answered calmly.

"I know. That's why I came back, Brother."

Little sister, what do you mean by that?