The Sisters
Scritch.
The sound of a chair dragging from somewhere in the distance makes my eyes flutter open. A crumpled pile of paper under my arm. A stark white desk visible above my arm. And, when I lift my head, a quiet classroom with only a few students left. ...It seems I slept soundly until dismissal time.
"Ugh..."
If they were finished, they could have at least woken me up. How cold. Maybe they didn't feel comfortable waking me since we aren't exactly close. Or maybe it was just too much trouble. "Nngh..."
I stretch lightly to loosen my stiff body and rub my eyes carefully with one hand. ...Every time my sister saw me rubbing my eyes, she’d nag me, saying, "You're going to ruin your eyesight like that." Does she plan on living her whole life without ever rubbing her eyes?
A sudden thought makes me chuckle as I continue my stretch. Of course, that doesn't mean it has no effect at all. It probably does, a little. But would my eyesight really get that bad just from this? Wouldn't playing games all night have a bigger impact on my vision? Since everyone started wearing glasses after computers came out?
"..."
But, even if I don't know the exact reason, it seems my eyesight really has gotten worse.
If I'm seeing such hallucinations as soon as I wake up, truly. 170, that I acted like a lesbian in front of Lee Hayoon? What kind of nonsense is that? No wonder Lee Hayoon seemed a bit strange this morning... that’s all just a delusion my sister made up on her own. You idiot.
I’ve thought about it over and over, but I’ve never done anything that would make my sister misunderstand. Maybe she just dozed off and had a weird dream? Le, lesbian, what on earth... Plus, there’s even incest mixed in. You perverted bastard...
As I typed out a flurry of messages without a moment’s rest, a short reply came back from Seo Woojin.
An absurd reply. On purpose? Rationally speaking, is there any reason for me to intentionally act like a lesbian to my sister? What do I gain from that? If she were going to misunderstand in the first place, wouldn't it make more sense for her to think I hate her, not that I'm a lesbian? Come to think of it, I... basically stole you from my sister, didn't I? Giving you a thigh job in secret under the guise of practice. Giving you a blowjob with care in secret. Giving you my... virginity in secret. I was the first to take your load inside, too. Then, obviously, the thought that I hate my sister is more logical than the thought that I like her.
Of course, I don't hate my sister, but... even if I have something like an inferiority complex, it's not that I hate her, it's just... I do like her. Yes. It's true that I like my sister. But not in that sense, it's... ah, damn it.
"Seo Woojin, why would you make such a misunderstanding... Haa..."
In the alleyway on the way home. Full of annoyance. Full of questions. As I pressed down on the phone screen with a bit of embarrassment, fortunately, the whole story was revealed immediately.
"..."
The process was completely wrong, but the conclusion was exactly right. A younger sister who practices sex for her sister. A younger sister who covers her mouth and cums harder than usual while on the phone with her sister. If you add these two together, an obvious answer comes out. Ah, this girl gets turned on by mating with her sister's boyfriend. Even more so if she does it while on the phone with her sister, almost getting caught. A hopeless pervert, that is. But if you pour oil on my sister's misunderstanding about me being a lesbian... even if the three of us were together, I wouldn't be able to do anything lewd with you. You idiot.
How on earth should I handle this? I just had a simple idea of getting Seo Woojin and my sister drunk, but how am I supposed to resolve this sudden, heavy misunderstanding of being a lesbian? If I just go to my sister and explain it's a misunderstanding, will she accept it and say, "Oh, is that so? I thought..."?
"...It'll be fine."
It will be fine. I haven't done anything lesbian-like for 20 years, so I'll be able to clear up the misunderstanding quickly. She must just be acting like that because one weird thing keeps bothering her. After pressing my temples in the middle of the narrow alleyway for a moment, I arrived in front of my house, sent Seo Woojin a bunch of curses, and headed up the stairs.
"..."
Usually, my sister wouldn't be home because of a part-time job or hanging out with friends, but on a day like today, she would naturally be home. Beep beep beep beep. As I pressed the door lock and opened the door, a familiar pair of sneakers caught my eye. Very, very naturally, they were my sister's sneakers.
"Haa..."
This is driving me crazy. To think the day would come when I have to clarify that I'm not a lesbian. If I could, I'd rather pretend not to know and zoom into my room. Since my room is only a second's walk from the front door, I actually could do that. ...But if I did, the misunderstanding would only deepen.
With the sound of the door lock, I entered the house and headed toward the living room. "Sister. Are you here?"
"Oh, oh..."
But the reply didn't come from my sister's room or the living room, but from my room. ...She came to have a showdown. Swallowing a sigh so it wouldn't be heard, I continued as if nothing were wrong.
"What is it? ...You're in my room? Why?"
"Well... I have something to say..."
"Ah. Something to say."
I must never laugh. I must keep a blank expression like I usually do. Because she might get the impression that I'm happy she's in my room. I must never use a sweet voice. For the same reason. Absolutely. When the topic of being a lesbian comes up, I must make an extremely disgusted face. So I can clear up the misunderstanding at once. So that this story doesn't come up again.
"What do you have to say?"
"That is... um..."
As I entered the room, letting my bag strap hang, I saw my sister sitting on the edge of the bed, still wearing her school uniform. Unlike me, who was trying to act as comfortable as possible and not show any awkwardness, she looked so nervous that even I felt tense. ...No, she really believes I'm a lesbian. Since I was young, and now that I'm all grown up, I've never once done anything that would invite such a strange misunderstanding... I swear.
"I have to play games with Woojin, so can you tell me quickly?"
"...W-wait a second. Let me prepare my heart..."
"...What a fuss."
"Phew..."
I threw my bag next to the dresser and hung the coat Seo Woojin bought me on the wall hanger. Then, I mentioned his name in front of my sister for no reason to satisfy my dark desires even a little. ...Sister. You haven't done it without a condom with your boyfriend yet, right? One of my lifelong wishes is to whisper something meaningful like that, but given the situation... and we aren't that close. Truly darkly. So my sister wouldn't understand at all. Just, satisfyingly for me. I only mention Seo Woojin's name.
"Ji, Jiyoon."
"Yeah."
"I'm asking just in case, but, uh..."
"What are you curious about? ...I told you to tell me quickly because I have things to do."
Lee Hayoon muttered, fidgeting with the zipper of the fleece she wore over her uniform. As I flopped into the computer chair opposite her, "...Do you like me?"
"..."
My sister, who had only been moving her fingers like a squirrel, finally started to speak. As if she hadn't considered speaking indirectly, she blurted out a very direct question.
"...Did you have a dream? A dream where I confessed to you?"
"No, it's not that... It's just that your behavior lately has been very suspicious..."
"Suspicious. What is."
"For starters... why have you been cleaning so hard lately? You even do the laundry yourself..."
"Because I thought you'd be tired. Is that explanation enough?"
This much is easy. In reality, I did it to wash my sister's clothes, which were covered in semen. To wash the blankets that got wet while I was having sex with Seo Woojin behind her back. To wash the blankets that got soaked past the towel I laid down while masturbating to the sound of sex over the phone. But if I just say I did it because I grew up, she would never notice. While I'm at it... the misunderstanding about being a lesbian would be cleared up, too.
"...Why did you suddenly clean my room the other day..."
"Because it was dirty. The dolls you won from the claw machine were rolling around on the floor... anyway, it was messy, so I did it for you."
To air out the smell of semen that filled my sister's room. To clean up any of Seo Woojin's hair that might be there. ...Instead of such an honest answer, "Because it was dirty."
"Then that..."
"I explained everything. Is there anything strange left?"
"...Just one more thing."
"Ha... I still don't really know why you misunderstood, but anyway, I'm not a lesbian or anything. So..."
"Jiyoon, you suddenly getting very close to Woojin is also... ...a little strange."
"..."
Instead of an honest answer like, "Because he's my sister's boyfriend," two safe and concise excuses popped into my head: "Because he treated my headache," and "We play games together a lot." ...But my mouth said something a little different.
"What's strange about that?"
"You've had a lot of boys who were nice to you until now."
"...I did have some. So why."
I didn't. They were all men who were just 'pretending' to be nice because they couldn't control their sexual desires. Seo Woojin is the only one who didn't 'pretend.' He didn't do anything lewd from the moment I first met him in the infirmary, did he? ...He treated my headache without a second thought when I said it hurt. When I said it started hurting again, he even came to the cafe where I worked part-time to treat it. Even then, he only thought about my sister, asking for help practicing for his date with Lee Hayoon, and didn't cast any disgusting looks at me.
"Among them, there must have been many who liked games."
"...There must have been."
There weren't. Among the men who conveyed their confessions by saying, "I want to have sex with you so bad," none of the kids in my class talked about games. They all liked soccer, basketball, or bullying weak kids. Game talk was... at most, occasionally. Just that much. Seo Woojin, whose hobby games happened to overlap with mine, is much better than the idiots who tried to pretend they knew the games I played or tried to show interest just to strike up a conversation.
"But getting close to Woojin in an instant, now that I think about it, I don't really understand."
"..."
"I was thinking, maybe you were doing it on purpose to reduce the time I spend with Woojin..."
"...You're writing a novel. A novel."
"..."
"It's not like that, just..."
So much I want to say. So much I can't say. Out of all of them, I chose one and blurted it out.
"...He's handsome. Seo Woojin. That's why I got close to him."
"Huh?"
"Ah, this clears up the misunderstanding about being a lesbian, right? Isn't that right?"
"That... is true, but..."
"If it's resolved, get out. Quickly. ...I have to play games."
"Umm...?"
After finishing my answer, I forced my sister, who was busy trying to understand my words, out of the room and slammed the door shut.
"Haa... Haa..."
So that the sound of my heart, which started thumping as soon as I spoke, would be buried. Loudly.