Are You Dating My Brother?
"Are you dating my brother by any chance?"
"Oppa brought his girlfriend!" "Sung-hoon has a girlfriend?!"
It was a sudden encounter. The two chose silence.
"......"
"......"
In reality, it was just a reconnaissance skirmish. The two girls eyed each other, sizing up their opponent.
Da-eun thought quietly to herself. She's pretty...!
The Seol-ah she saw was beautiful. She could describe it other ways, but that was the first thought that hit her.
Sparkling eyes. Delicate features that could fit in one hand. A voluptuous figure that wouldn't pale even compared to an adult. The ideal schoolgirl straight out of an anime.
That was Lee Da-eun's impression, a decade-long otaku.
But—
Oppa... couldn't possibly have a girlfriend.
So Da-eun concluded: The current oppa could never have a girlfriend.
With that, Da-eun's worries deepened.
W-whoa. Is this the drama my friends were talking about?
Seol-ah had her own troubles. Of all things, the drama she'd heard about at school was about a cohabiting couple.
Sung-hoon is a total grown-up?!
She was shocked. Separately from that, curiosity bubbled up.
Da-eun was pretty, too. So why was a beauty like her living with Sung-hoon?
It was already amazing that she knew the door lock password.
And then—
Thud.
Something sank inside her. An amorphous weight in her chest dropped softly downward.
".....?"
Instinctively, Seol-ah glanced down at her chest. Not satisfied, she even placed a hand on it to figure out what was wrong.
"????"
In the end, she remained clueless.
And so, their silence—
"Oh, you're back?"
—ended when Sung-hoon emerged from his room. He was holding a change of clothes and looking at Da-eun as he spoke.
But the two said nothing.
Seeing the mood, Sung-hoon nodded in understanding.
"Da-eun-ah, I borrowed some of your clothes."
It was a total swing and a miss.
But the name "Da-eun" rang clear in Seol-ah's ears.
"...You're Sung-hoon's little sister..?"
"Yeah? Why do you ask all of a sudden..?"
Da-eun tilted her head at the question.
Seol-ah glanced back and forth between Sung-hoon and Da-eun, then dropped to her knees with a thud.
"Sorry! I totally misunderstood!"
She bowed her head to the floor.
And just like that, Seol-ah's misunderstanding was cleared up.
"...So you thought I was living with her?"
Sung-hoon's face twisted in a satisfying grimace.
It was a new reaction, so Seol-ah bowed her head again.
"Sorry! That... must've felt bad, right?"
"Well, maybe a little?"
Sung-hoon trailed off ambiguously.
It made sense—he was still wearing his damp clothes from earlier.
"Hmm-hmm~!"
Da-eun had just entered the bathroom. She'd completely cut in line, as they say.
She was humming a tune, fully immersed in her own world.
—Oppa can shower later!
—I got here first, why?
—You take forever!
With that, she'd dashed into the bathroom.
A brilliant tactic. She'd executed a perfect hit-and-run.
Seol-ah looked at Sung-hoon. His face fell squarely into the "extremely handsome" category, which only made her tilt her head more.
They don't look like siblings...?
No matter how she thought about it, they were different. If she saw their parents, maybe, but right now, she couldn't find a single similar feature.
As Seol-ah glanced again at the bathroom door Da-eun had entered—
"You think she and I look different?"
Sung-hoon struck at the core again. It was a total blindside, so Seol-ah unwittingly let out a "Ugh," caught red-handed.
Sung-hoon couldn't hold back his laugh at the sight.
"Pfft...! I didn't expect you to show it so obviously."
"Don't laugh! That's seriously not cool!"
Seol-ah raised her voice instead. Getting poked like this over and over felt like it would expose her every inner thought.
She vowed never to fall for it again.
Just as she steeled herself to keep a poker face, Da-eun emerged from the bathroom.
"Go ahead and shower now."
"Thanks. Entertain Seol-ah for me in the meantime."
"...You're joking, right?"
"Dead serious. This is her punishment for leaving me in this state."
With that, he grabbed his clothes and headed in.
Suddenly left in charge of Seol-ah, Da-eun sat awkwardly in Sung-hoon's spot, hesitating for a moment.
"...By any chance. Are you dating my brother?"
She dropped another bomb.
Seol-ah's misunderstanding was resolved, but Da-eun's was far from it.
For Seol-ah, the painful second round began.
"...Huh?"
Seol-ah was instantly stunned. The straight fastball to her core nearly made her lose her mind.
Da-eun approached the frozen Seol-ah a bit more.
"I've never heard him mention having a girlfriend."
Do people even tell their families that?
Seol-ah thought, but shook her head. If it were her, she'd never say. Who knows what that bitch at home might do.
So... normal students tell their families? Is that standard?
Seol-ah's brain overloaded. Information flooded in, blue-screen imminent.
"Hmm... maybe not?"
Da-eun muttered softly. Her voice carried an inexplicable certainty.
Thankfully, Seol-ah recovered before shutdown—until Da-eun smiled and continued.
"Then, do you like my brother?"
"Wha?! S-suddenly..?"
"I dunno, woman's intuition?"
Da-eun murmured, staring at the ceiling.
Does this family just toy with people's hearts like pros? Seol-ah wondered quietly.
But she couldn't just take it lying down. Seol-ah mustered her remaining energy for a counterattack.
"Or... maybe the opposite?"
"Opposite?"
"Your brother likes me, that's why he brought me home."
She flipped the premise. Seol-ah's counter, fueled by desperate power.
Of course, she was too focused on that line to think ahead.
Sung-hoon likes me. He brought me home because of that. Then... the me who came knowing that...?
Thankfully, Seol-ah's thought circuit didn't reach that point. It surely would've blue-screened for real.
But Da-eun dismissed Seol-ah's counter.
"Huh? No, that's impossible."
She brushed it off like it held zero value.
Seeing that reaction, Seol-ah got annoyed without thinking. Wasn't that basically saying she wasn't good enough for Sung-hoon?
She wasn't as pretty as Ha-yoon. Even so, she had her own appeal as a girl.
Yeah, I even got confessed to last week!
Total bullshit, of course. Proposing on a first meeting was too much.
As Seol-ah mentally declared victory, Da-eun waved her hands, correcting herself in a fluster.
"N-no, not you, sis... I meant my brother!"
Her eyes spun in embarrassment.
More importantly, hearing it was about Sung-hoon made Seol-ah's eyes light up.
"Sung-hoon thinks I'm not good enough for him?"
"No, that's not... how do I put this..?"
Da-eun's words trailed off. Seol-ah just watched as she agonized over whether to say it.
Everyone has secrets they guard. For Seol-ah, it was her family situation; Da-eun probably had something similar.
Seol-ah thought that and was about to say it was fine—but
"Because of me... oppa went through something bad.."
Da-eun beat her to it.
While Seol-ah panicked, Da-eun unleashed a machine-gun barrage.
"At school... and stuff from when we were little... a bunch of things piled up."
She spat it out in a flurry. It sounded like something, but Seol-ah couldn't quite grasp it.
Even Da-eun, talking about her brother oppa for the first time, didn't fully know herself.
"Anyway, that's how it happened."
Da-eun twirled her hair shyly. Then, with a slightly apologetic look, she changed the subject.
"More importantly, sis. Does the outfit fit okay?"
"Huh? It's super comfy, but a little tight in one spot.."
Seol-ah said, glancing at her chest. The t-shirt did seem a bit small for her bust.
Seeing that, Da-eun murmured quietly.
"Hmm, this might be dangerous?"
"Dangerous? Like it'll stretch out?"
"No, something way more important."
Da-eun lowered her voice. Seol-ah leaned in seriously too.
And Da-eun said gravely:
"It'd be huge stimulation for a pubescent guy!"
She spouted nonsense.
Of course, the listening Seol-ah took it differently.
Wait... I was dressed like this talking to Sung-hoon until just now..?
Late realization. Memories surfaced.
Heat rose from deep inside her body.
Pffft! Steam burst from her head.
Da-eun, seeing it, handed over her smartphone.
"Quick, let's escape to my friend's place!"
Lee Da-eun's eyes sparkled as she said it.
A little later.
Sung-hoon emerged from the bathroom. He looked at Da-eun, sitting alone.
"She left?"
"Yeah, just a bit ago."
"Good. I was a little worried."
Sung-hoon headed to the kitchen as he spoke. He pulled milk from the fridge, took a swig, and was about to put it back when—
"Oppa. What's that sister's name?"
"Huh? You didn't even introduce yourselves?"
"How could we in that situation?! I couldn't!"
Da-eun suddenly flopped down dramatically.
Sung-hoon considered just tossing her into her room but answered.
"Lee Seol-ah. Same last name as you."
"Lee Seol-ah... Seol-ah... Seol-ah unnie..?"
Da-eun seemed to like the sound of it. After repeating it a few times, she looked at Sung-hoon.
"Hey, I told her about you."
"Yeah?"
"That's all you wanna know?"
"You probably beat around the bush anyway."
Sung-hoon said casually.
Da-eun... found that Sung-hoon a bit scary. Casually nailing people's inner thoughts.
She'd pointed it out a few times, but it was innate, so she gave up quickly.
And—thanks to that talent, she'd been helped before.
Thinking of that, maybe such a skill had its uses.
"Hehe!"
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, oppa."
But today was different. There was something off in what Sung-hoon had casually said.
—Sis. Mind if I say something nosy?
—Huh? Of course not!
—Just hypothetically. If you liked my brother...
Seol-ah's face naturally resurfaced. The next words followed automatically.
"...Express your true feelings straight on. As powerfully as possible."
Sung-hoon was somewhat broken. That was the little sister's inner truth about her big brother.
No so-called push-pull games would make his heart race even a little.
So.
"I hope it works out."
As his sister, that was all she could wish for.
Wishing he'd return to how he was before.
That's the only atonement I can offer.
Da-eun thought quietly.
Before Sung-hoon could instinctively read her mind, she moved.
A sensation now fully honed.
She pointed instinctively at the textbook under a cover.
"Why's this here?"
"Note quiz next Monday."
Sung-hoon grabbed the textbook as he said it.
Prepared in advance, no fear of failing.
So he thought.
......
Until the next day, before Park Ha-yoon knelt and begged.