A Date (2)
A Date (2)
"If it's hard to hold it, want to go to the bathroom?"
When I asked in a low voice, Aria shook her head from side to side. But worry got the better of me anyway.
The movie was now at its final stretch, reaching the highlight.
If a jump scare popped out and startled her, the strength would leave her body, and it would probably turn into a total disaster.
Still, it seemed watching this movie was more important to Aria.
The reason wasn't hard to imagine.
She hated scary things, and if she stayed still like this, she might end up embarrassing herself.
But she probably didn't want to ruin the memory of watching a movie in a theater with me for the first time.
There was probably some consideration for me too, but Aria herself wanted this. As her brother, I had no choice but to respect that.
And honestly, I wasn't in any position to worry about someone else right now.
Because ever since a while ago, I hadn't been able to focus on the movie at all thanks to the sensation I felt in my lower body.
I never imagined I'd pay this kind of price for thoughtlessly sitting her on my lap.
I had no choice but to grab Aria's waist with both hands, lift her slightly, and whisper.
"Aria. Sorry, but my legs are going numb, so let's slowly go back to your original seat..."
"Ah, no!"
It was Aria's voice, close to a scream, but fortunately at the same moment a monster burst out on the screen and the woman who had been a castaway screamed.
I glanced sideways at the other seats, but since it was the highlight, everyone seemed focused, and there was no sign of anyone glaring this way.
Aria also looked around, apparently worried she'd been a nuisance, then whispered softly to me.
"I'm sorry. I'm, um, desperately holding it in right now, so standing up is..."
"No. I'm the one who's sorry."
In the end, we were back to square one.
The national anthem I'd been reciting in my head had already passed the third verse and was racing toward the fourth.
I thought I'd forgotten everything except the first verse of the national anthem, but apparently there was some truth to the saying that the brain kicked into gear when a person was pushed to the limit. The lyrics were coming back to me effortlessly.
"Mmph, mmmph!"
Every time a jump scare scene appeared, Aria's movements grew more violent.
Every time a startling scene came up, I diverted my reason to the national anthem and my nerves to covering Aria's mouth, so even though I was clearly watching the movie, none of the content registered in my eyes.
It felt like I'd become Pavlov's dog, reflexively tightening my grip every time a jump scare appeared.
"Mmmph, mmmmmph!"
This really made me feel like I was doing something wrong.
Holding my little sister in my arms and covering her mouth. I didn't even want to imagine how this looked to the people around us.
Fortunately, the downside of American-style horror movies with monsters was actually helpful right now.
Namely, at the climax—the movie's biggest highlight—the fight with the monster would finally be settled.
At last, the monster's massive body collapsed, and the movie showed the survivors as the ending credits rolled.
'It's over...'
It had been torture.
Simply sitting Aria on my lap was something I'd done often before, so I'd figured it wouldn't be a problem, but there was no way around the soft flesh rubbing against me.
It's just that the body's structure itself reacts when subjected to continuous stimulation, so there was nothing I could do. At least, thanks to desperately clearing my head of stray thoughts, no worse accident had occurred.
But unlike me, who was relieved, Aria only flinched and showed no sign of moving, even though the movie was over and she must want to go to the bathroom.
Judging from the fact that my pants weren't getting warmly soaked, she seemed to still be holding it in, but...
"Aria, can't you move?"
Aria nodded slightly.
At that reaction, I carefully took my hand off her mouth and slipped my hand between the backs of Aria's knees.
"Hold on just a little."
"Huh? What do you—, eek!"
I lifted Aria into a princess carry and ran out of the theater. Carrying her on my back would draw less attention, but to properly piggyback her, her legs would inevitably have to spread apart.
Fortunately, thanks to the theater's considerate design, the bathroom came into view not long after we exited the screening room.
When I carefully set Aria down on the ground, Aria silently scurried off toward the bathroom with quick little steps.
After waiting at the entrance for a few minutes, Aria, her face turned bright red, cautiously peeked out.
"Um, I, I'm sorry, Brother."
"What's there to be sorry about? Don't worry about it."
"But still, I feel like I ruined the mood..."
"You're worrying for nothing. Your brother had a good time, so don't get down about something like that."
I ruffled Aria's hair and grinned.
"Aren't you hungry?"
"I'm not really hungry. Ah, but if you're hungry, Brother, it's fine to go eat!"
"I'm not really hungry either, because of the popcorn. Then let's look around here a bit more."
"Okay!"
This shopping mall was especially large even by Seoul standards, so it had plenty of things to enjoy.
"Want to start with the aquarium?"
The aquarium was on the top floor of this shopping mall, and it was quite large, making it a popular date spot.
Of course, I'd never actually been there myself.
I wasn't particularly interested in marine life, so what would a guy on his own come all the way up to an aquarium on the top floor of a shopping mall for?
I'd only occasionally thought things like, 'If an accident like an earthquake happened there, would they even be able to handle it?'
"Wow, there's an aquarium too?"
"There is. I've never been either, so I don't know the details."
"Then this time it's a first for both you and me. I really want to go."
And so we headed to the aquarium on the top floor.
When we bought tickets and went inside, beautiful tanks decorated with all kinds of coral greeted us.
The dark-toned lighting cast a blue glow over the entire floor, making it feel like we'd entered the ocean.
"Wow..."
Aria's eyes sparkled with admiration too.
Neither I nor Aria seemed particularly knowledgeable about marine life, so whenever an unfamiliar creature appeared, we read the information plaque in front of it.
"Brother, look over there! It's so cute!"
Aria, who had gone ahead, pointed beyond the crowd and said.
People were gathered in a group looking at one tank. Fortunately, the crowd wasn't that large, so it wasn't hard to pass through it.
When I stood beside Aria and looked at the same spot, what was there was a pair of sea otters sleeping while holding each other's hands.
"It's amazing. Do you think they're a married couple?"
"Maybe they're parent and child. Looking at this, it says they hold hands while sleeping so they don't drift apart."
I pointed at the information plaque. Aria scanned the plaque, then carefully clasped my hand tightly.
"We shouldn't drift apart in the crowd either, so we'd better hold on tight."
Instead of answering, I gripped Aria's hand a little more firmly.
* * *
After wandering around the aquarium, the last stop on our route was a tank full of jellyfish.
Jellyfish generally had negative associations, but the ones here were beautiful enough to wash all of that away.
The atmosphere was darker than anywhere else, and the contrasting blue lighting softly illuminated the jellyfish.
"It's truly beautiful..."
I looked at Aria, who let out an exclamation of admiration while holding my hand.
Silver hair glowing softly in the blue light, and eyes made even more captivating by it.
"Yeah. It's pretty. Like a fairy."
I let out that answer without thinking, while looking at Aria.
Aria noticed that my gaze was directed at her, blushed, and averted her eyes.
"You're, you're talking about the jellyfish, right?"
"No."
I answered immediately.
Then I lifted Aria up with one arm.
"Of course I'm talking about my little sister, the prettiest, cutest, most lovable girl in the world."
"B-Brother?!"
When I delivered that embarrassing line and lifted Aria, she nearly panicked.
"Isn't it obvious? To me—no, even objectively, comparing you to those jellyfish is an insult. You're far prettier."
Still, I meant it. I wasn't shameless enough to put on a straight face and say something this embarrassing as a lie.
"I've thought that ever since I first saw you. Honestly, even now I can't believe we share the same father."
Honestly, I still think it's absurd.
She clearly had East Asian ancestry, but Aria had silver hair, fair skin without a single blemish, and beautiful blue eyes.
No, maybe she only inherited the good parts of Asian genes?
People often said Westerners aged quickly, but even though Aria was an adult, she still had a girlish appearance.
She didn't have strong body odor either. Even as I held Aria up with one arm, all I could smell was a faint floral scent.
Back when I was grilling my father about his affair, if I hadn't checked everything like the family registry and DNA test results, wouldn't I still be suspecting that Aria wasn't my half-sister but an unrelated stepsister?
"Aria. Can I put off answering your proposal just a little longer?"
"That's fine. I'd intended to wait until your heart was settled from the beginning, Brother."
When I asked in a serious tone, Aria answered while burying her face in my arms.
"Sorry. I'm a bad brother."
"I've never once thought of you as a bad brother. But, if it's all right, could I at least hear the reason? Is it because I'm your sister after all?"
"It's not that there's none of that. It's not simply a matter of psychological resistance. Even if Linnea gives her permission, I'd have to persuade Father too. And..."
After hesitating a moment, even though it might make me look pathetic, I revealed my true feelings.
"I felt like I wasn't ready to go to Sweden. I don't speak Swedish, I haven't even gotten my diploma, and I don't have the kind of credentials and career that would be viable in Sweden."
"If that's what it is, it's fine. I, I haven't spent a single cent of the money I've saved up, and just performing at a concert now and then earns me a hundred thousand dollars each time. Plus there are music copyright royalties coming in under my name. You can use all of it however you like, Brother. That's what I earned it for."
"I know. But that's not what I'm talking about. I just don't want to live as a kept man. It's only natural for a brother to want to look good in front of his little sister, right?"
When I grinned, Aria smiled along with me.
"That's cheating. If you only show me such cool sides of yourself, I can't help but fall even more in love with you, Brother."
"If a little sister like Aria loves me even more, I'm happy."
"I, I might become so jealous and obsessive that I can't give you up, you know?"
"Don't worry. I'll accept all the obsession you want. Jealousy... there's no one to be jealous of in the first place, is there? Other than Aria, there's no woman I feel any romantic attraction to."
"...That's unfair, Brother. If you make a person's heart flutter this much, it gets harder and harder to remain just your little sister."
Aria puffed out her cheeks adorably.
I poked Aria's cheek with my index finger and answered.
"Sorry about that. Still, I'll do my best not to make you wait too long."
"It's a promise, Brother."
We hooked our pinkies together.
* * *
On the way out of the aquarium, Aria and I were holding hands again and heading down to the lower floors.
Aria opened her mouth as if something had just occurred to her.
"Now that I think about it, there is one person. Someone I could be jealous of."
"Who?"
"Seo-yeon."
"Why her?"
I couldn't imagine any reason for Aria to be jealous of Seo-yeon.
From what happened last time, I did know that Seo-yeon had some kind of hurt feelings toward me, but that was all.
Aria answered calmly.
"Because the position of your full biological sister is one I can never occupy in my lifetime."
"I've never thought of her as a sister. She's closer to a stranger I just happen to share blood with. My little sister is you and only you. Of course, I can't say there's absolutely no bond between blood relatives, but..."
I couldn't deny that fact either.
By common sense, if there weren't even a bond between blood relatives, she'd just be a rude college junior.
Even I, if a complete stranger acted that way, would have gotten angry, blocked their number, and refused to have anything to do with them.
And on top of that, no matter what else happened, when it came to our mother, the two of us couldn't help but soften toward each other. Because neither she nor I wanted our mother, who had already suffered because of our father's infidelity, to suffer again because of us.
Aria answered right away.
"Wouldn't it be fair to say that bond is precisely the bond toward a sister?"
"Hmm."
It was hard to deny outright.
Because in the first place, I couldn't properly explain even to myself what difference there was between the bond of blood and the bond toward a sister.
"Even if that were true, is there any reason to be jealous of the fact that she's my full sister? It's precisely because you're my half-sister that we could at least get married in Sweden. If you were my full sister, it'd be an undeniable incestuous relationship, and we couldn't get married in any country."
"That doesn't matter. Of course, if I could marry you, Brother, I'd be happy, but even if I can't, if you love me, that alone is enough. Marriage is just one of the fruits of that."
Aria said that and hugged my arm.
"To me, the fact that we're in a mutually loving relationship is more important than anything. Even if I had been born as your full sister, I'm certain I would have fallen in love with you, Brother."
"Still, I don't think there's any reason to envy the position of full sister. No matter what, if I'd been confessed to by my full sister, I think I would have hesitated even more."
Aria had said that in Sweden, siblings could marry with the state government's permission, and so she'd asked me to forget public opinion and ethical issues and tell her my pure feelings.
Would that really be possible even if we were full siblings?
At least, I was skeptical. I didn't have the confidence to persuade my biological parents, the courage for the two of us to elope, or the resolve to bear the suffering a child would go through if we had one.
But when Aria heard that, she spoke to me with an odd expression.
"Brother. If Seo-yeon said she liked you, would you be able to believe it?"
"Come on, no way. Other people, maybe, but she'd never do that. Absolutely never. Even when we meet normally, she glares at me like she wants to kill me."
"I wonder."
Aria looked out the window and made a pointed remark.
"I can tell because I'm a woman too. That gaze isn't one that can come from truly hating someone."