He's Handsome, Though
"Unnieee."
"Hmm? What is it, Ji-ah?"
She answered her little sister in a gentle voice from beside me.
It was completely different from the coaching register she used on runs — this warm, domestic tone was hard to get used to.
…Right. Her character setting was that she doted on her siblings. Probably.
Whatever else she was, she loved her family. And her little sisters especially so. She struggled because of them, but she cared for them and loved them just as much — that was Seo Da-eun.
"Hyung. Your face looks awful. Does it hurt?"
"What are you talking about. It's nothing like that."
I shut down Min-hyun's comment from beside me. It was absolutely not because I'd just gotten a look at my friend's private side or anything. Nope.
Well. Maybe this was her true self after all.
I snuck a glance her way, and Seo Da-eun — who'd been smiling so tenderly at her sister — turned her head toward me.
"What."
"Nothing at all."
Why does she turn into such a fierce person the second she looks at me.
If she gave me even half of what she gives her sister, would it kill her.
But she had her reasons for acting that way. Even now her ears were faintly red — she was probably embarrassed to let me see this side of her.
"So why'd she end up at this kindergarten? Did you guys move?"
I asked her, fishing for information on something I hadn't known. The novel never went into detail about her sister switching kindergartens or anything like that. Or maybe this whole thing was already a future altered by the butterfly effect. Who knew.
"Ah. That? It went under."
"Went under?"
"The kindergarten Ji-ah used to go to. It was a pretty small place. Close to home, which was nice."
"Ah…"
"It closed down a little while ago, so we had no choice but to transfer her here. This is the biggest one in Yeongseong City, after all."
A setting that felt all too real for the low-birthrate era, I supposed. Kindergarten and daycare closures were a common occurrence in this neighborhood.
That was exactly why I walked dozens of minutes just to come to a big kindergarten myself. My parents had been worried it might shut down too, so they'd sent Min-hyun to a large one from the start.
"Honestly, I was a little worried. I was afraid she wouldn't adjust if she switched classes mid-year."
"…"
"Thankfully, it looks like she adjusted well thanks to your little brother. I'm grateful."
Looking at the two of them — who'd already run ahead and were chattering away about something — a smile came naturally. She watched them as well and spoke to me with a note of concern.
"Ji-ah's a bit shy, you know."
"Huh? Really? She doesn't seem that way."
"She's fine when I'm with her. But she gets scared when she's alone somewhere unfamiliar."
So that was it. From the way she talked, she'd seemed like a pretty lively kid. I'd found it odd when she said she was shy. Kids who only brightened up in front of their parents were a common enough thing.
"More importantly, if you're out at this hour, what about track and field?"
"I leave practice a little early. I have to pick up Ji-ah. I make up for it on weekends, or do some solo training at night."
This hadn't changed much from the novel. The coaches probably all knew about Seo Da-eun's situation and let her go early. This was also why she was always falling asleep at school.
Seo Da-eun might call it night training, but after taking care of her siblings she was essentially doing personal training until dawn. Then she'd wake up half-asleep, go for her morning run, and show up at school — falling asleep was more inevitable than not.
As I was talking with her, the two little ones walking ahead suddenly stopped. Then Ji-ah turned her head, stared straight at us, and asked:
"…But what are Unnie and Oppa to each other?"
"Yeah. I'm curious about that too."
They must have been talking about us at some point. Min-hyun chimed in agreement, and two pairs of sparkling eyes looked at us with an uncomfortably expectant weight.
…The atmosphere really demanded that we be something. Completely.
If I just said we were classmates, they'd be disappointed. I was still fretting over what kind of relationship I should claim when—
"We're just classmates."
Hey.
You're really just going to say it like that.
Seo Da-eun, extreme T-type, delivering only the facts with zero regard for the children's pure little hearts. The kids' faces flooded with disappointment.
"And we do a bit of running together in the mornings, that's about it."
"Running?"
"Unnie goes running every morning, right? At Yeongseong Stream. She runs with this oppa then."
At the mention of running mates, Ji-ah's eyes started to sparkle. As if she'd figured something out, she nodded to herself.
"So that's why Unnie's been getting pretty before she leaves in the mornings lately?"
"What?! W-what are you talking about, Seo Ji-ah. I've never done that!"
Seo Da-eun shot forward like she was exploding off a starting block and clamped a hand over Ji-ah's mouth. Ji-ah thrashed her head side to side, struggling in her sister's iron grip.
Intrigued by this interesting development, I looked at Ji-ah and asked:
"Ji-ah. That sounds interesting. Want to tell Oppa all about it in detail?"
As I sidled closer, she shook her head with a flushed face.
"It's not like that."
"…Mmff. Phaah. For something that's not like that, Unnie spends like five minutes in front of the hallway mirro—"
"Seo Ji-ah!"
Escaping the clamped hand just long enough to leak good intel to me to the very end — Seo Ji-ah.
Oho. Is that so?
Only after completely sealing her thrashing sister's mouth did Seo Da-eun turn to explain herself to me.
"What's with that look."
"What look. Heh heh."
Ah. This damn popularity of mine.
Sure. A guy and a girl running together every morning — of course feelings might start to sprout. I get it. I've almost fallen for you a few times myself.
"You're not getting some weird idea, are you?"
"Weird idea?"
"Like, for example, that I have feelings for you. Something like that."
Even while embarrassed, she forced the words out. Just how much did she hate being misunderstood.
"It wasn't?"
"Of course not! It's just that I used to run alone, so I didn't put as much effort into it."
"…"
"But now that I'm running with someone, I just pay a little more attention. There's no other meaning to it."
"Yes, yes. Of course there isn't."
"I'm telling you it's really not! Haa. Seo Ji-ah, you and your weird comments. Ugh."
Whether my teasing was getting to her or not, she tickle-tortured the source of the problem — Seo Ji-ah — in the side. Ji-ah squealed and actually seemed to enjoy it.
Truth was, I already knew. Seo Da-eun didn't like me. She'd never once given any sign of that while we ran together. And why would the track team's ace beauty have any reason to like me, of all people.
If anything, I should be the one liking her for it to make sense. I'd never shown her anything worth liking. I hadn't particularly helped her with anything either.
As I'd said before, Yoon Tae-jun's heroines were ultra high-spec. She had the kind of looks that wouldn't look out of place as a sports magazine model right this second. Seon Woo-hyun wasn't bad-looking, but I wasn't enough of an idiot to delude myself into thinking that alone had made her fall for me.
Girls checking the mirror a bit before meeting people was a common enough thing. I was just having fun teasing Seo Da-eun, that was all.
The tickle torture must have ended — Ji-ah ran off into the distance. Before we knew it, we were standing at a major fork in the road.
"So which way are you guys headed?"
"We're going this way."
"Ah. Then I guess this is where we part."
"Yeah. Ji-ah, go say goodbye to Min-hyun."
They finished saying goodbye and that they'd see each other tomorrow. Watching the pure innocence of children was somehow healing.
"You should say bye to Oppa too. Bye, Oppa~"
"Oppa, bye-bye~"
"Yeah. Bye-bye. Min-hyun, you too. Say 'Goodbye, Noona~.'"
"Goodbyee~"
With a slightly slurred pronunciation, he bowed a full ninety degrees — and Seo Da-eun burst out laughing.
"Yeah. You be careful getting home too, Min-hyun."
After the kids finished their goodbyes, the two of us exchanged a final farewell as well.
"Well, go on then."
"Yeah. Looks like we'll be seeing each other a lot more, whether we meant to or not."
"True. See you tomorrow morning."
"Yeah. Bye."
Watching her wave and disappear, I thought:
…But if things go like this, doesn't that mean I'm seeing her morning, noon, and night?
I had to wonder how on earth my daily route had ended up overlapping with Seo Da-eun's this much.
…Ugh. Because of that Seo Ji-ah.
Seo Da-eun walked along holding Ji-ah's hand, still trying to cool her burning face. She'd almost given Seon Woo-hyun the wrong idea.
Of course, it was true that she'd started putting a little more care into her appearance since meeting Seon Woo-hyun. She'd put on just a touch of makeup — light enough that you couldn't really tell. And she'd avoided clothes that looked too much like pure sportswear.
But that didn't mean she was particularly conscious of him or anything. Sure, on a human level she found him likable. Didn't people usually put in a little effort even when meeting friends? Right now, it was only about that much.
So he has a little brother too.
Maybe they were in similar situations. Watching him pick his sibling up from kindergarten, it didn't seem all that different. Or maybe he'd just been asked to do it for today. Either way.
…Enough. Stop thinking about Seon Woo-hyun.
If she kept going, her head would fill up with nothing but thoughts of him. She turned her gaze to Ji-ah beside her.
"Ji-ah. Did you have fun today? Was kindergarten okay?"
"Yeah! It was fun! Min-hyun played with me a lot."
"Really? How'd you get close with Min-hyun?"
"Min-hyun talked to me first. Min-hyun's really nice~ He even gave me yummy snacks."
"I see."
That tracked. Bright-eyed and gentle-looking — he resembled Seon Woo-hyun. A family trait, maybe. Given how diligent and kind Seon Woo-hyun was, she'd figured his little brother would be the same.
As Seo Da-eun nodded along, Seo Ji-ah carefully asked:
"Unnie."
"Hmm?"
"Can you be friends with that oppa?"
What on earth was this all of a sudden. Startled by her little sister's unexpected request, Seo Da-eun was taken aback. What was this. Had she taken a liking to Min-hyun? Ji-ah had never been this proactive about wanting to be friends with anyone before.
Curious about the reason, Seo Da-eun asked her:
"Why? Do you want to get closer with Min-hyun?"
"Mm. That too, but…"
"Then?"
At her sister's question, Ji-ah turned her head and looked up at her with sparkling eyes.
"That oppa is handsome, though."
She said it just like that.
Looking at those shining eyes — the kind little girls get when they see boy idols — a sigh slipped out.
"Haa… Ji-ah… You can't start that already."
She'd admit Seon Woo-hyun was handsome. But if this kid was already picking based on looks at this age, what was she going to do later.
She was starting to seriously worry about her little sister's future.