Episode 34: Chicken Is Delicious
"I'm back."
"You're back?"
"You're back."
I stepped inside, greeted by the two girls, who were oddly brimming with energy.
"What the...?"
Just as I was about to leave my room, a sudden unease crept over me. I found the source of that anxiety the moment I grabbed my clothes and went into the bathroom.
"I'll tell you everything after I wash up, so wait a bit."
"O-okay."
The two girls stared at me intently, though they were pretending not to. It was both adorable and terrifying.
"They don't even bother pretending at a time like this..."
They were clearly expecting me to figure it out myself. Since I'd learned from my talk with Park Haru today that I could be pretty clueless, the girls were practically spelling it out for me.
"Haa..."
"Urghk."
I mindlessly turned on the shower, and the water, still ice-cold and nowhere near warm, soaked my body.
I dried off and wanted to soak in a warm bath to loosen up, but the two girls out there would probably haul me out by force, so I reluctantly just stood under the showerhead and got it over with.
I dried my hair and sat down on the sofa. As if they had been waiting, the two girls plopped down on either side of me and stared.
"How was it?"
"How was what?"
"The date!"
"What, haven't you ever been on a date with me before?"
I could have just told them nicely, but dragging it out a bit seemed more fun. And honestly, they were kind of annoying me, so I didn't feel like making it easy for them.
Sieun didn't say anything, but her eyes were full of curiosity, while Eunhwi was actively interrogating me.
"So, so?"
"So what? We went to a movie theater, so we watched a movie."
"Really? You held hands and just watched a movie?"
"Yeah, really, we held hands and just watched a movie. It was more interesting than I expected, so Haru and I both got really into it, you know?"
"Hold on."
"Huh?"
Sieun, who had been quietly listening, finally opened her mouth.
"Haru?"
"Yeah, Haru."
"Ha-ru-u?"
"..."
I swallowed, realizing I had just handed her a perfect opening, and waited for her next words.
"Hehehehe. Hey, Choi Sijun, what's with the tense face? Am I gonna eat you or something? If I was gonna nag you about it, I wouldn't have told you to meet her in the first place."
Sieun laughed loudly, leaned back on the sofa, and then lay down using my thigh as a pillow.
Honestly, I didn't want to talk about what happened next, so I suggested we hit the gym.
"Let's go. Gym."
"Are you insane?"
Eunhwi was rarely this dead-serious, and her words came out harsh.
When Eunhwi was in that state, she was absolutely terrifying. Even Sieun wouldn't mess with her when she was like that.
"Sit."
"Yes, ma'am."
I quietly sat down at Eunhwi's command.
"There we go, good boy, right? Now, shall we talk some more, our little Sijun?"
"Oh, for real..."
It was an act. She knew herself far too well, so now she'd even turned that into an act.
"Nuna, that's seriously terrifying, so please don't even do that as an act."
"Really? I practiced this so much~"
"Don't! Practice that! Do something else! Something else! You have so many scripts coming in!"
"Eunhwi, your acting has really improved. I thought it was real too, wow."
Amidst all this, Sieun was complimenting her acting skills.
"Right? Lately, I feel like I've broken through a wall."
"Broken through another wall? How many walls do you have?"
I grumbled and scolded them for no reason, but the two actresses' conversation about acting didn't end.
"Right there, if you put a little more into your gaze...."
"Ah, that's good."
Then, the topic suddenly turned sharply back to me.
"So? Did you just watch the movie and that was it?"
It was embarrassing to say, but I resolved to just get it over with as quickly and cleanly as possible.
"I kissed her."
"Kyaaaaaaa!"
"Oh my god, Mom, Dad, our Sijun has become a man!"
The two girls' over-the-top reactions made my head throb. Their screaming hurt my ears, too.
"So, did you take the lead?"
"O-of course!"
Whatever else might be true, I was the one who led the actual kiss. I was also the one who pulled us from just a peck into a deeper kiss.
As I talked, my self-esteem somehow grew, and my speech became clearer.
"Choi Sijun, you really became a man. Now I can die without regrets."
"What do you mean die? You have to stay alive and play with me."
Tap!
Sieun was talking like she had achieved the greatest feat of her life, dramatically pressing the back of her hand to her forehead, so I brushed her hand away and lightly tapped her on the forehead.
"And you should talk straight. What do you mean you raised me?"
"Well, who raised you then?"
Come to think of it, they really did raise me.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"But Haru-ssam is cute, too. She's so full of boldness in her words."
"Right, I should meet her properly sometime."
"She's seriously cute."
"Is she?"
Leaving me out, the two girls launched into a lively conversation about Haru again.
"Really cute."
Sieun was admiring a photo, and something in me twisted awkwardly.
"Nuna was really cute at first too~"
"W-what?"
Nuna and I almost did it for the first time on January 2nd of the year I became an adult.
But nuna suddenly got scared and backed out, so our big event was postponed. For the next two months, we couldn't even kiss properly and only exchanged pecks. It wasn't until half a year later that we finally shared a deep conversation of tongues.
And then, it wasn't until winter came around again that we shared each other's first time.
"What? Choi Sieun?"
"H-huh?"
"You told me it was late because Sijun was scared, and you had to soothe him through it?"
"Uh..."
I felt like I had just opened Pandora's box.
"If I'd known that, I would have taken Sijun's first... Haa..."
"I thought it was because you were busy and Sijun was too scared. But to think you deceived me, that's too mean."
I tried to stand up carefully, but Sieun grabbed my hand.
"Where do you think you're going, our little brother?"
"Hup...."
"You son of a bitch!!!!!"
"Whoa!! Nuna, that thing's really dangerous!"
As if she saw nothing else, Sieun grabbed the massage stick on the table and swung it.
"Nuna!"
When I yelled one more time, she put the massage stick back down and grabbed a cushion.
"Huu... huff!"
I let out a sigh of relief for a moment, but Sieun didn't stop and started hitting me with the cushion.
"You bastard! Let's just die together!"
"How can an actress be calling someone a bastard!"
Even as I ran away, I kept gently prodding at nuna's temper. If I did this any other time, I'd have to pay for it in installments.
While dodging nuna as she swung the cushion, I found myself in the bedroom.
"Haa... haa... haa... come here."
"Haa... if I do, you'll hit me."
We faced off with the bed between us. When we had both caught our breath, I sensed something strange, and we walked out to the living room together.
"Where did Eunhwi-nuna go?"
"Ji Eunhwi, where did you go?"
She wasn't in the bathroom or any of the rooms. Just as I was picking up my phone to call her, I saw that Eunhwi-nuna had sent me a message.
- I'll rest at my own place for the first time in a while~ You comfort Sieunnie well~
- After comforting Sieunnie well, come over to nuna's place. Nuna can comfort you without chickening out like some people~
- Ah! If you come to me, will my 'cute' Sieunnie get upset?
Following those were a string of infuriating emojis.
The tone was nice, but the content was not nice at all. It was what you'd commonly call a 'poke-the-bear' type of message.
"Nuna?"
I tried to show my phone to nuna, but she was already looking at her own phone and grinding her teeth.
I had a hunch that Eunhwi had sent her messages that were far more infuriating than the ones she sent me.
"That damn (omitted) (omitted) (omitted)..."
Sieun-nuna let loose a refreshing round of curses.
"Ji Eunhwi, that bitch!!!"
Still not satisfied, she screamed, grabbed a cushion, and headed straight out the front door.
"Nuna! Nuna!"
"What?"
As I urgently called out to her, nuna answered with the coldest voice in the world.
"Leave that cushion..."
I gently grabbed nuna's hand and took the cushion away.
We were in the same apartment building and only on the 1st floor, so no one would likely see, but just in case, on the off-chance someone did, it would look weird. It was an action to at least protect nuna's dignity.
"Thanks. Wait here."
"Yeah."
They say the sister-in-law who stops a fight is scarier than the mother-in-law who starts it, but even though I was the cause of the problem, I actually received a thank-you.
"Thanks, Eunhwi-nuna."
After expressing my gratitude and praying for Eunhwi-nuna's soul, I slowly tidied up the messy house.
I cleaned up the house and was lying on the sofa resting, when I heard the sound of the door lock.
I got up and went out to the front door, and the two girls walked in, laughing.
"What? I thought one of you would have to die for this to end."
"What are we, kids?"
Sieun said that, and I wanted to say, 'You are kids,' but I didn't feel like running away again.
And honestly, thinking like that probably made me a kid, too.
"Chicken and beer today?"
"Sounds good."
"Then, how about a Honey Combo..."
"Draft beer?"
"Honey Combo..."
The two sat side by side on the sofa, picking the menu. I stood nearby, repeating the chicken I wanted, but neither of them listened.
The chicken arrived, and I brought it in. As expected, it was roasted chicken.
The fact that it was roasted wasn't the shock, but something else hit me hard.
"What's wrong? Why aren't you coming in?"
As I stood frozen in shock at the front door, Sieun came out and called me.
"Why is there only one chicken?"
"Huh?"
"Why only one... there's three of us..."
No matter how little the girls ate, and no matter that I was also on a diet, shouldn't we have at least ordered one and a half chickens?
"You're hurt over that?"
Sieun looked at me with a 'you've got to be kidding me' look.
"We have coleslaw and tons of other food at home, that's why."
"Haa... that's not it."
"You eat a lot, and if it's not enough, we can just order more. Why are you being like that~"
Sieun was right. She wasn't wrong. But I couldn't help feeling this petty hurt.
And that petty hurt didn't go away even while we were eating the chicken.
"No pickled radish and sauce for you."
"!!!!"
"It's already salty enough."
They were cruel enough to actually clear away the chicken radish and sauce in front of me, and I ate the chicken gloomily.
And yet, the sad thing was, the chicken was so damn delicious.