Unexpected
"You're here."
"Yeah. Sleep well?"
"Mm. Looking at you, seems like you slept just fine. Shall we start running?"
"Sure."
Our conversation had grown familiar by now.
After a light greeting with her, we launched straight into our run. The usual morning run woke me up and soon left me feeling refreshed. Matching her pace was no longer difficult. In fact, thanks to the height difference, there were times I'd snap out of it and realize I was slightly ahead of her in speed.
Of course, in terms of stamina, I still fell short in the end. Naturally, my challenge wouldn't stop until I finished the full course and earned that meeting with the girls from the track team.
But now I had the leeway to take in the scenery around us. People passing by, or others out for a morning run or bike ride, all came into view. With that natural ease came more time to talk with Seo Da-eun beside me.
"Did you hear about the field trip next month?"
"Field trip? Our school?"
"Would it be the school?"
Well, if it were school, they'd call it a school trip or field study rather than a picnic. Ever since learning that her little sister and my brother attended the same kindergarten, we'd started talking more about family.
"Ah. I think I saw something about it. In Min-hyun's notice book."
"What should I pack for her? I'm already fretting over it. Think gimbap would be okay?"
"Probably? What weird stuff are the other kids bringing?"
"No idea. I'm not great at talking with the moms."
"Yeah, same. The age gap doesn't help."
Hard to get the latest info, you could say. The mothers at the kindergarten formed their own community. But for people like me and Seo Da-eun, who were looking after the kids in place of parents, it was tough to fit in. Ages and interests didn't match, for one. Mostly aunties over thirty, so I didn't have the courage to force my way in either.
She spoke honestly while running, eyes forward.
"So other than you, there's no one I can talk about this stuff with."
"Lucky you've got me at least. Before this, I couldn't talk to anyone either."
At best, maybe the homeroom teacher. Aside from getting kid info from Min-hyun, I still didn't really know what was popular with kids these days or how to handle them. Maybe that was why. Lately, I found myself feeling closer to her. As fellow guardians, we could vent a bit, and there were things we both related to.
"Oh, right. More importantly."
"Hm?"
"Ji-ah wants to play with Min-hyun this weekend."
"Really? Nice. Min-hyun's been dying of boredom every day. Tell him to stop harassing me already."
Seemed like she related to that. She chuckled and continued.
"So about that. You know the big park near the kindergarten?"
"Ah. The one with the big playground?"
"Yeah. Thinking of having them play there. What do you think?"
"Sounds good. It's quiet and great for kids to play."
"Okay. Then let's meet there on Saturday."
"You're coming too?"
"Can't just leave the kids alone. They're still little."
"True enough."
Even if it was near home and a park, leaving kids who weren't even elementary school age alone felt a bit uneasy. So I'd be seeing her again on a weekend afternoon, huh. I thought that as I steadied my breathing.
"Oh, right. You have to come too."
"Me? Why me?"
"Because it's not just Min-hyun that Ji-ah wants to see."
What was that supposed to mean. Did that little kid want to see me too?
"Ji-ah wants to see me too?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"There's a reason. Anyway, so you have to come with us, okay?"
"...Well, fine. Got it."
Seo Da-eun never did explain the reason, but I just nodded. It wasn't hard, and besides, there was no one else to take Min-hyun out anyway. Just like that, without much thought, I made weekend plans with her.
The weather was drawing closer to summer, and the daytime temperatures were warm. I held Min-hyun's hand and headed for the playground.
When I checked her texts and looked around, two girls approached from a distance—one little lady and one real lady. I gave her a light wave.
"Hey."
"Mm. You found the place without getting lost. Good job."
"What am I, a kid? Getting lost at this age."
That absurd, kid-handling sort of praise made me snort out a laugh. More than that, my eyes drifted to her outfit without meaning to. In a way, this was the first time I was seeing her in casual clothes.
Of course we'd run together that morning too, so I'd seen her clothes, but those were pretty much the same athletic wear every day. The only other outfits I ever saw her in were the school uniform.
This is so Seo Da-eun.
There was nothing special about her clothes. No sense of putting in real effort like Nam Yu-ri or Han Si-ah. Just a loose T-shirt, shorts, and a cap on her head. The T-shirt with English lettering across the middle looked easy to move in.
Typical athlete, I guess—comfort over looking pretty. Even without dressing up, Seo Da-eun was pretty anyway. A well-toned body, a small face that could pass for a sports model, cool cat-like features. Looking like that, she was bound to look good in anything.
"Didn't put much effort into dressing up today, huh?"
"...You wanna die?"
Remembering Ji-ah's stories, I teased her for no real reason. Seo Da-eun clenched her fist and smiled sweetly. Yeah, getting hit by that would probably put me down for good.
I flinched, thinking it would hurt way more than a regular guy's punch. Ji-ah looked like she wanted to say something but kept quiet. Probably got threatened by Seo Da-eun not to mention anything about dressing up.
Instead, Ji-ah brightly looked back and forth between our outfits.
"Huh?"
"What is it, Ji-ah?"
"Oppa and Unnie are wearing couple clothes!"
She grinned like she'd discovered something amazing. Without thinking, I checked my own clothes at her words. Come to think of it, I'd come out in comfortable clothes too.
I'd only ever shown Seo Da-eun my running gear, so there was nothing to feel self-conscious about, and taking kids out meant dressing up was pointless anyway. So I'd thrown on black shorts and a black T-shirt—and by chance, it matched hers.
"You're right! You two match!"
"Right? Hehehe. Couple~ Couple~"
Min-hyun chimed in excitedly. Little kids pure-heartedly loved teasing people. Especially with couple items like this, since kids their age would get embarrassed—it was a common thing. But I was an adult in spirit, and Seo Da-eun was a high schooler. Something this small wouldn't make us flustered or anything—
"...Why'd you wear the exact same thing as me. Seriously. You copied me, didn't you?"
"Copy what. How would I know what you were wearing."
"...I don't care. Go change into something else right now."
There wasn't supposed to be any of that. I couldn't understand why she was actually embarrassed. Over one overlapping outfit. Moments like this made Seo Da-eun look almost pure.
"Huh? Unnie's face is red."
"It is not. Seo Ji-ah. Don't tease your unnie."
The close sisters bantered back and forth. After calming the kids, who were getting hyped over our embarrassment, we spoke.
"Alright. Play here, and call Unnie or Oppa if you need anything."
"Okay! Min-hyun, let's go!"
"Let's gooo!"
We dropped them off at the playground and sat on the nearby bench. How did little kids have so much energy? They sparkled at the sight of a big playground you rarely saw around here and dashed off. After finally dumping them at the playground, Seo Da-eun sank onto the bench with a sigh of relief.
"Already drained. Haa."
"You too?"
Yeah. Me too. We both slumped on the bench and naturally started talking while blankly watching them. We had to let the kids play until they wore themselves out for at least a few hours, after all.
"What about your training?"
"I'll watch Ji-ah for a bit and head over around evening. Leave her with our parents."
"They work weekends too?"
"Yeah. Both of them work places with really irregular schedules. Still, they get home earlier on weekends than weekdays, so that's something."
From what I knew, the two of them had met working in the same field and gotten married. So late nights and weekend shifts were pretty much a given. Even without that, Seo Da-eun's family situation wasn't exactly comfortable. So it was inevitable that the eldest daughter, Seo Da-eun, ended up shouldering that load.
"Seon Woo-hyun. What about you?"
"We're similar. Both of them travel a lot for work."
"Ah. That must be tough."
"Yeah. Sometimes they don't come home for weeks."
When Seon Woo-hyun was little, his mother had handled childcare full-time at home. But once the kids got bigger, she had to go back to work to feed three of them. She nodded like she understood. Pity? Sympathy? A faint sense of kinship showed in her eyes.
"I figured from seeing you pick them up every day... You're a lot like me."
"Well, it just kind of happened?"
I shrugged at her words, and she fell quiet for a moment. What was she thinking? As I glanced at her, she asked calmly.
"Do you ever not want to do it? Getting dragged out like this even on weekends."
"..."
"I do sometimes. My little sister's cute, but it gets hard."
"Yeah, I do."
Even so, it wasn't that hard for me. If anything had been hard, it was my previous life. Those days when I'd poured everything into making money. Compared to that, this was nothing. Honestly, looking after my siblings and studying was easier than working part-time from after school until dawn.
"Even if I do, our parents have it harder than me. They must want to see the kids' faces more than anyone, working so much they can't even come home."
"..."
"So I want to make sure they don't have to worry. At least when they're home, I want them to feel at ease knowing I'm there."
Having earned money out in the world myself, I knew how hard that was. So I just figured I should take even better care of my siblings. So our parents wouldn't have to worry about household stuff, at least.
At my answer, Seo Da-eun stared at me for a moment. Then she looked surprised and said,
"...You're surprisingly thoughtful. A bit unexpected."
Excuse me.
What exactly did you think of me on a regular basis?