A Severely Mentally Unstable Sister
A Severely Mentally Unstable Sister
Ding-dong, ding-dong.
The doorbell kept ringing.
If someone was ringing the bell this insistently, it couldn't just be someone proselytizing.
"Aria, go into your room for a moment."
"Oh, Brother!"
Aria reached out with a clearly regretful expression.
But the mood was already broken, and if I left that uninvited guest alone like this, it would be impossible to recover the atmosphere.
"I'll deal with it and be right back."
Either way, I couldn't let anyone see Aria dressed like this.
Only after confirming that Aria had dejectedly returned to her room did I open the front door.
There stood a rather unexpected person.
"Why were you so slow coming out?"
"Because I just woke up."
My appearance really was still disheveled, with messy hair and a hoodie that anyone could tell I'd just thrown on, so Seo-yeon seemed to accept it without much suspicion.
"Must be nice having no classes today."
"Cut me some slack. A person needs days to sleep in. Do you know how much I've been racking my brain lately?"
"Fine. Putting that aside, where's Aria?"
I felt a jolt for a second, but I quickly feigned composure and said,
"How should I know? She's probably still asleep."
"Hmm. I doubt Aria's still sleeping, let alone you. Or did you two do something last night?"
"Do what? Has your mind been in the gutter lately?"
I protested because that accusation genuinely felt unfair.
Sure, after dinner we'd cuddled on the sofa and watched TV with some physical affection, but we'd slept separately.
"I don't want to hear that from you. Anyway, I'm coming in."
Seo-yeon trudged in, taking off her shoes.
I had no chance to stop her, and no justification to.
"I'll just go wash my face. Help yourself to something to drink."
"You probably just stocked up on zero-calorie drinks. Let's see what you've got~"
While Seo-yeon rummaged through the fridge, I headed to the bathroom sink.
First, I sent Aria a phone message that Seo-yeon had arrived, then lightly washed my face and fixed my hair.
I wanted to just take a full shower, but it wouldn't be polite to leave a guest alone.
When I came out to the living room, Seo-yeon was pouring herself a cup from a bottle of zero-calorie black tea. After downing the last bit straight from the bottle, she asked,
"So why'd you suddenly come over this early in the morning?"
"That's cold. Can't a little sister come see her brother?"
"That depends on the time and occasion. No, wait—don't you have a lecture today?"
"Ah, about that. Professor Choi was hospitalized. So classes will probably be canceled this week."
"Hold on, then do I not have a lecture tomorrow either?"
There could be any number of professors named Choi in the world, but if it was a Professor Choi that both Seo-yeon and I would immediately recognize, there was only one.
The professor from that general education lecture where I'd dozed off and run into Seo-yeon last time.
"Come on! The professor's been hospitalized and your first thought is whether you have class tomorrow?"
"If he's sick enough to be hospitalized long-term, they'd have brought in a substitute lecturer. If they only mentioned canceling class, it's probably just for this week at most, right? Then they'll make it up later."
"Well, that's true, but..."
Judging from Seo-yeon's reaction, I could tell his condition wasn't all that serious.
I could also roughly guess why I hadn't gotten a text yet.
Since he taught other general education lectures too, the text probably went out first to the students in today's lecture. Seo-yeon must have heard the news through that class.
"Or what, are you trying to make this about empathy?"
"Well, it's only natural to worry when someone's been hospitalized, isn't it? Not that what you said is wrong."
It's not that I'm some emotionless psychopath. If I had to put it, I'd say it's a difference between men and women.
Women might react with something like "Oh my god, what do we do ㅠㅠ," but from a guy's perspective, a reaction like mine is probably the standard one.
Of course, not all men lack empathy.
At least in this case, I knew he hadn't been hospitalized with a serious illness or major injury, so that was why.
Seo-yeon seemed to understand that difference well enough not to press me further.
But once the conversation stopped, the atmosphere felt oddly awkward. I had no choice but to clear my throat and walk over to Seo-yeon.
"You changed your hair."
"Huh? Oh, yeah..."
Her reaction was subtle, as if the sudden topic change caught her off guard, but the way the corners of her mouth lifted told me she didn't dislike that I'd noticed.
I drove the point home once more.
"The ponytail looks pretty too."
"Really?"
At my words, Seo-yeon swept her ponytail back once and giggled.
"It's getting hot since summer's coming, so I tried changing it up. If you like it, should I keep wearing it like this from now on?"
"I like it. It feels like a change of mood too."
She's my little sister, but wasn't she a little too easy to please?
Still, thanks to that, the topic change went surprisingly smoothly.
Then I brought it back to the main point.
"So, why did you actually come?"
"Ah, I hadn't gotten to that yet. We haven't all four gotten together lately, right?"
"That's true."
It was a topic I'd been meaning to bring up soon myself, so I quietly agreed with Seo-yeon.
"So I thought we could all meet up today. That's why I already called Victoria over here too. She'll come as soon as her morning lecture ends."
"No, shouldn't you at least get permission from the homeowner first?"
I asked back, dumbfounded.
There was a reason I hadn't told Victoria where I lived until now.
Well, separate from the fact that Seo-yeon had revealed it, I'd been thinking it was about time to let her know anyway.
I'd hidden it because I was worried she might suddenly show up and pester us like last time, demanding a match with Aria, but lately Victoria had been surprisingly well-behaved.
Maybe it was simply because she herself was busy.
"Come on, Victoria's close with you now, so that much—"
"Han Seo-yeon."
I called Seo-yeon's name in a low voice.
Lately Seo-yeon seemed to be trying to close the distance by acting overly familiar, but this was too far.
"O-Brother? What's wrong, all of a sudden."
"Giving out someone else's home address without permission isn't exactly a good thing. Am I wrong?"
Seo-yeon's gaze wavered back and forth.
She seemed to be gradually realizing her mistake, so if I just gave her a light warning and left it at that—
"Hic, hic..."
Suddenly tears welled up in Seo-yeon's eyes, and the brimming tears streamed down her cheeks and dripped onto the table.
"Seo-yeon?"
No matter how I thought about it, I didn't think I'd scolded her that harshly, so her suddenly bursting into tears flustered me too.
"Brother, what's going on?"
As if things couldn't get worse, Aria came out after changing clothes and was equally bewildered.
Where should I even start?
First, I relayed everything that had happened as objectively as possible.
Fortunately, Aria's tone wasn't accusatory toward me.
But I couldn't properly explain why Seo-yeon had suddenly burst into tears either, since I didn't know myself. Aria seemed to think calming Seo-yeon down came first, so she said to me,
"Brother, could you go into your room for a bit? I'll try to soothe Seo-yeon."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, there are things only girls can talk about together."
Trusting that Aria would handle it well, I returned to my room.
I lay on the bed killing time for about twenty or thirty minutes when I heard a knock on the door.
"Brother, may I come in?"
"Come in."
Aria carefully opened the door and came in, then closed it quietly so it wouldn't make noise.
"What about Seo-yeon?"
"She's collecting herself right now."
"Did you hear why she cried?"
"Well..."
Aria relayed what Seo-yeon had said while being comforted, along with her own speculation.
First, according to Seo-yeon, this was the first time she'd seen me angry since we'd reconciled, and the tears had simply burst out.
And Aria's follow-up speculation was this:
Lately Seo-yeon had seemed much more stable, but in reality her dependency had actually grown worse than before, and she was anxious that I might abandon her.
"Sorry, but just from hearing that much, I don't really understand why she suddenly got like that."
"In the past, she seems to have rationalized it to herself by taking a hostile attitude toward you, thinking, 'Of course Brother hates someone with a bad personality like me. So it can't be helped if I'm abandoned.'
But now that problem's been resolved, and she's on good terms with you, right? Her love for you only grows day by day, so when you—who no longer has any reason to dislike her—got angry, she must have been scared that she was being abandoned."
"Hah..."
I felt like I'd been sighing a lot lately, but I couldn't stop this one from coming out.
What brother wouldn't lament the fact that his cool-looking biological little sister was actually severely mentally unstable?
I hadn't even yelled at her or scolded her harshly—she'd cried over the fear of being abandoned just from a light warning. I had no idea where to even begin fixing this.
"Wouldn't it be best for you to comfort her directly, Brother?"
"Won't it get worse if I go?"
"In the end, what matters is that she doesn't want to be abandoned by you. I think Seo-yeon will only feel reassured if you go see her yourself."
Aria was right.
If Aria's speculation was correct, leaving things as they were wasn't the best move, and anyway, to confirm whether Aria's speculation was right, I'd have to face Seo-yeon.
When I went out to the living room, Seo-yeon was sitting demurely on the sofa. She'd stopped crying, but her eyes were red and swollen, and she was sniffling quietly.
"Seo-yeon."
I sat down beside her and called her name.
Seo-yeon answered with her head hung low.
"Sorry. I won't ever make this kind of mistake again."
"Come here."
I pulled Seo-yeon into a hug and stroked her back with my hand.
I could feel Seo-yeon's trembling gradually subside.
"I wasn't angry just now. I just wanted you to talk to me first next time, so I gave you a warning."
"Okay..."
Still, even Seo-yeon had at least a minimum of rationality.
Even if she'd suddenly burst into tears from being overwhelmed with emotion, she probably couldn't bring herself to say why she'd cried.
"No more crying now. Your eyes are all swollen—your pretty face is a mess."
It was almost a tone you'd use to soothe a child, but it was more effective than I'd expected. Seo-yeon, who'd buried her face in my chest, seemed much calmer than before.
"Brother."
"Yeah?"
"Like this, I can smell you. Your scent."
"Really? I showered last night and didn't sweat while sleeping."
I sniffed myself to see if I smelled, but naturally, since it was my own scent, I couldn't detect anything particular.
Should I have washed up before coming out?
"It's not a bad smell. It's a good smell."
Seo-yeon's arms around me tightened.
And I hoped I was imagining it, but I thought she was sniffing more intensely.
Maybe she'd calmed down a bit, because Seo-yeon carefully looked up at me and asked,
"You haven't come to hate me, right...?"
"What kind of stupid thing is that to say? Would I go this far for someone I hated?"
"Still, I want to hear it from your mouth."
"There's no reason I'd ever hate you. Not now, not ever. You're my precious little sister, after all."
At those words, Seo-yeon finally smiled with relief.
When I stroked her hair, Seo-yeon met my eyes and said,
"I'll work hard so you'll like me even more."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, because I can do anything if you want it..."
Somehow it felt like my little sister's mental instability and dependency had gotten even worse.
It must be because the love-hate that had nowhere to go had now all turned into affection.
Seeing her suddenly burst into tears, Seo-yeon probably couldn't control her emotions well herself.
Until recently, she'd maintained a smooth relationship with me without any problems, so it just hadn't shown.
Then Aria, who had probably been watching us, came over and said,
"Sorry to interrupt, but don't you two think it's about time to separate?"
"Seo-yeon's holding onto me and won't let go..."
Seo-yeon was hugging me tightly and staring at Aria like a child who didn't want her doll taken away.
Still, there was no hostility at all in her gaze—it was closer to a child's sulking—so Aria must have comforted her kindly earlier.
"Didn't you say Victoria would come as soon as her morning lecture ended? Then we should start getting ready. You should go wash up too, Brother, and Seo-yeon needs to start getting ready now if she wants to cover the puffiness around her eyes."
At those words, Seo-yeon seemed to reluctantly accept it and pulled away from me.
Aria spoke to us in her usual crisp manner.
"Now, now. Brother, go to the bathroom. Seo-yeon, go fix your makeup at the sink in the powder room."
At that, Seo-yeon nodded silently and headed to the powder room first.
Just as I was about to head to the bathroom too, Aria hugged me.
"Aria, I can't go wash if you do this."
"Just a moment. I'll cover the smell Seo-yeon left with my own scent before sending you off."
Well, Aria had said it herself.
That my happiness was the most important thing, but that she also got jealous and possessive like anyone else.
The conversation and physical affection I'd just shared with Seo-yeon probably hadn't been entirely pleasant for Aria to watch.
This was only natural.
Aria had accepted that I had multiple women, but she'd also said she wanted to be number one among them.
I bent down and carefully kissed Aria.
Our lightly touching lips parted, and I whispered to Aria,
"You know. At least right now, you're the only one I do this with."
"Yes. I'm satisfied with this too."
Aria smiled bashfully and let me go.
And that was how the morning passed, with me being pestered by my clingy little sisters.