24. Eavesdropping

Brrring.

Brrring.

The ringtone spilled out soft and thin, and I—halfway through boiling ramen—picked the phone up with care.

The caller, checked a second time, was still Seo Woojin. Not the Seo Woojin of ordinary, nothing-happening days. The Seo Woojin who was obviously out on a date with my sister. Not the one who asked when I was getting on the game. The one who had dumped me to watch a movie with her. Not the Seo Woojin who rolled around in bed with me while I pretended to be my sister for sex practice.

…The real one.

This time, the Seo Woojin who was actually going to have sex with my real sister.

"……."

Why are you calling me all of a sudden? By the time I got home and started to—to masturbate, the movie had to have been over ages ago. So why?

"…What, is he thinking of sending me out on an umbrella errand."

I muttered it, puffed up and sour, and shot a glance at the window. No rain. Not a sound of it. What kept tapping at my eardrums instead was the blup and bubble of ramen broth at a boil, and a default ringtone with no color and no smell. That was all.

Not an umbrella errand. Surely not a call about when we were going to game. And it wouldn't be some pointless nothing of a call, either, the what-are-you-doing kind.

Then what. What is this.

"…Tried to call my sister and hit the wrong name?"

Yeah. That one at least sounded a little more possible. Once I'd grabbed a thread, I let out a lukewarm sigh and killed the burner.

Say, for instance, they lost each other for a second on the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠date, both of them looking the wrong way. Woojin goes to call my sister, and the number he hits is mine—one digit off at the end. If it isn't that, what reason does he even have to call me….

…Ah.

….

…Pfft.

No way. Even a delusion has to know its limit. Mm-hm. I'm too old to be picturing a setup that only shows up in porn where everybody's in on the script. That doesn't happen in real life, and I've already used it as a side dish—fodder, while I got myself off—dozens of times, hundreds, since around middle school. I'm sick to death of it. Tell me to masturbate to that now and I don't think I'd even get turned on.

Better a video where, right beside my sleeping sister, he covers the little sister's mouth himself. Thud. Thud. Nothing but the bed creaking. Sticky slick running in strings between her thighs. And at the end, while she locks her arms around his neck and her thighs shiver and jump, nobody says a word—just thick semen spilling out from where they're joined. That, maybe.

…And if, not long after, still without a word, he starts slamming his hips into her again—well. That might actually be decent material.

"…Hmph."

Anyway, even I know it's a ridiculous fantasy. Seo Woojin, in the middle of a date with my sister, calling me on purpose. Pfft. Please. It's not like I'm some middle-school girl or high-school girl at the peak of her sex drive. It's funny. Hilarious.

"……."

No way. Am I an idiot? Even a pervert's daydream has a limit. While he goes and treats me like a complete moron.

"……."

On the phone screen, I press the green button, soft. Well. You never know, right? Not even a speck of expectation. Just a tap.

"……."

No hello. Nothing of the sort came through. So I didn't say anything either. Not for some absurd reason like refusing to greet him first. …Because if my voice slipped out to that side, it would be bad. I could have just touched the mute icon. Stupidly. And still I kept the phone crushed to my ear while the time went by.

My sister's voice. Seo Woojin's voice. The sound of the ramen I'd just boiled going cold. And past all of that—a wet, slick sound, coming through without a break.

"Man, that movie was sooo hard to follow…."

"It was, wasn't it."

"So, um…. In the end it was a doppelganger…? Is that right?"

"Hard to say. I dozed off a little while I was watching."

"…Ahaha."

I picked the wrong movie…!

After the screening, Woojin and I stopped at a cafe, and I kept heaving sighs into my coffee. They could have at least stuck a proper spacesuit on the poster. We'd shown up at the theater with no plan and chosen ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠off the ratings alone, and I never imagined it would turn out to be the SF documentary I'd half-dreaded. Haaah…. That one thing ruined all of it.

What I'd wanted was the two of us reaching into the popcorn and knocking hands—huh?—then laughing, shy and awkward. Using the dark to lace our fingers, just a little. Catching each other's eyes. Building that slow, filthy heat, and then… smiling like I had all the time in the world. Want to rest a little with noona? And taking him there.

Instead, all I managed was nodding off against Woojin's shoulder. Whatever might happen once we were in a bed, I'd meant to lead for real this time, like a proper noona, enough to make up for how much he usually teased me…. One bad pick, and the whole thing went up in foam.

"We can skip dinner, then?"

"…Yeah. The popcorn filled me up…."

"See? That's why I told you to go easy on the popcorn before we went in."

"But…."

"If you hadn't eaten any before the movie started, maybe. But of all times, you ate more than half right then…."

"It was salty and good, what was I supposed to do."

"Last time you said you liked sweet things."

"Last time? If it tastes good, I like all of it. Nutty, sweet, salty, spicy."

"Hmm."

"……."

I sipped my coffee and looked at the Woojin in front of me, and there it was—a smile I couldn't quite read. How to put it…. Not the look you give a cool hero of an older sister. Closer to the look you still give a cute little sister.

E-even if, when we have sex, I match your tastes to some degree, the rest of the time you ought to treat me unmistakably like a noona, shouldn't you…. And earlier, too—seriously? Telling me to call him oppa on a street full of people. Save a request like that for when it's just the two of us. …If I'm in a good mood, I'll ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠play along a few times. As a service.

"Don't look at me like that. For crying out loud…."

"Like what?"

"You're looking at me with that aww, good girl face!"

"…Ah. It was a little like that, yes."

"You know that, so why are you asking…!"

"Because you're cute when you're angry?"

"I am not cute…! I am not cuuute…! Stop gaslighting me into being cute!"

"Gaslighting doesn't end at this level."

"What, you say that like you've actually done it?"

"I haven't…. I've just picked a few things up online. The word got pretty famous."

I knocked his shin with the toe of my shoe, tap tap, and all that came back was that same soft smile. I stared at it, clicked my tongue, and drank the coffee down in long pulls.

God. How am I supposed to break out of this. How, exactly, do I get Woojin to treat me as a noona and not a little sister. Use ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠something a little preachy, a little old-mannish? No, no. He'd probably be put off. And showing him some cool criminal-catching isn't something I can do on command, either.

…So it's that, after all. Charm as a noona. In other words, charm as an adult woman.

"……."

I glanced around the cafe, made sure no one's eyes were on us, then slipped my coat off and folded it neatly to the side. What remained was a fleece with the zipper halfway down, and the academy uniform fitted close enough to my body. Which meant the thing the fleece couldn't help but frame and shove forward—soft, giving, the sw—

….

My breasts.

A tiny bit smaller than Jiyun's. Only because she's on the large side. It's still a part I'm fairly confident in. With these…. M-maternal appeal, or something? Anyway, one way or another….

"……."

"What are you doing. Again."

"J-just…. Look…."

"Did you spill coffee on your clothes?"

"Ugh…. You'd know if you looked…!"

I'd even straightened my posture so he'd look properly, and what I got back was did you spill coffee. The flustered shame didn't last. I deliberately toyed with the tie lying across my chest and set my back straight again.

L-look. Old men with years on them, classmates, snot-nosed little kids from the neighborhood—men passing by are always busy sneaking glances at my chest. …You shouldn't be any different. Not about this.

"……."

"……."

Maybe he caught on this time. I fiddled with the limp tail of the uniform tie and tapped the button strained tight over my chest, and at last Seo Woojin's eyes came this way. My face. My chest. And my face. As if he found it faintly ridiculous, slowly, up and then down. Ten seconds. Thirty, just like that. Only the cafe's mild white noise lodged in my ears, and I was the one who lost—shriveled, unable to outlast the shame, reaching for my coat in surrender.

That was when he stood.

"……. …."

"H-huh?"

Seo Woojin's voice came over in a whisper, his waist bent just a little. Past it, faint and bright, the girl working the counter was smiling, telling us to leave the trash, that a customer didn't have to clear the table. …While I locked up, stammering, Woojin—who'd been snickering—drew me along, gentle. I ended up toddling after him without quite meaning to, and I had no room to care that toddling was not very noona of me.

"……? …?"

Go home, all of a sudden…? That isn't him saying we should just end the date like this—

My sister's room. On my sister's bed. …Not the place where I'd just been masturbating my brains out—my own room, the one where I'd had so much sex with Seo Woojin behind her back. I kill the mic and crank the volume to a hundred.

Do I really need to work out what the wet sound is? A call comes in out of nowhere from Seo Woojin. From the other end, no hello, nothing of the sort. Some whispering kind of talk, and then this. The wet sound starts. It's obvious what it is.

…Kissing. My sister and my sister's boyfriend, kissing. A completely natural sound.

I listened to that natural sound and drove two fingers in—index and middle, curled just a little—deep into my hole, again and again. …Because like this, they reach a really good place. Next to sex with Seo Woojin it's a miserable sensation. Still. Better than nothing.

Woojin probably called so I'd check whether he was doing it right, the way he'd been taught. Whatever that idiot was thinking when he dialed, it's obvious. …But what am I supposed to do. I'm masturbating. I can't hear a single thing…. Since it's come to this, a video call would—

…Heheh. Kidding. I'm kidding. This has a flavor of its own.

What position is he fucking my sister in right now. …Ah. I've already had a cock stuffed in me like that, slick and squelching. That's the flavor. Imagining it. Right now she's probably… lying on the bed, or sitting up, kissing Woojin. But too bad.

"……. Nngh, hhnn………."

I've done that so much more than she has…. She fell a step behind.

Sorry.

…No. Actually, I'm not particularly sorry.

Mm…. Ah, right.

Thank you?

Unnie.

I ate well.