SYM 134

“Ha Eun-hyeon!”

Smack!

The moment someone called my name, they struck my back.

It hurt so much that I jumped and spun around without thinking. My back throbbed as if it were on fire.

I was about to get angry, wondering who on earth had hit me so hard, when I saw the person in front of me and my mouth fell open stupidly.

“N-Noona?”

“Am I really your sister? Huh? Do I still look like your sister to you?”

The one glaring at my back with an angry expression was, unmistakably, my sister.

She was short with a youthful face, but her hands stung more than anyone’s, and she was so feisty that she never lost a fight.

My sister was right in front of my eyes.

How was she here?

As I stared at her with a bewildered face, her eyebrows shot up again. She struck my back once more.

Smack, smack.

“Agh! Ow, that hurts! Noona, I said it hurts! It really hurts!”

I hopped from foot to foot, twisting my body to avoid her hand.

“Why, why are you hitting me?”

“Why? Why? Did you just ask me why?”

At my words, my sister’s voice grew even louder.

Sensing I’d made a mistake, I subtly backed away. I had missed her terribly, but my back hurt too much.

“Are you saying you don’t know what you did wrong? Should I keep hitting you until you remember?”

“I-I was wrong!”

When she made that face, you had to apologize first and ask questions later.

Figuring out what I’d done wrong could wait.

Sure enough, as soon as I apologized, she lowered her raised hand.

But her eyebrows were still raised, so it was too early to feel relieved.

I quickly racked my brain.

My sister usually only got this angry when I’d done something seriously wrong.

What had I done wrong this time?

Strangely, my head wasn’t working properly.

I tried to recall recent events, but my mind was a blank slate.

If only I could remember something, I could apologize properly, but no matter how hard I tried, nothing came to mind.

“You were wrong? Then tell me! What did you do wrong?”

“…Huh? Well, that is.”

I was wondering what to say when the door burst open.

“Ha Eun-mi. That’s enough. I’m sure Eun-hyeon is reflecting on his actions.”

“B-Brother-in-law!”

The moment I saw my brother-in-law, I jumped with joy.

I quickly went to him and threw my arms around him in a tight hug.

His drooping eyebrows already made him look gentle, but they made him seem even more so now. Yet, he was the only person who could win against my fierce sister, Eun-mi.

“Honey! But he went on a trip without saying a word! If Eun-hyeon’s friend hadn’t told me, I would have filed a missing person report!”

Me? A trip?

Wondering what she was talking about, I looked at my sister and was startled.

Her eyes were welling up with tears.

“S-sorry, Noona! I didn’t mean to, it was just hard to get in touch.”

I spouted excuses, not even sure what I was saying.

“What kind of backwater did you travel to that you couldn’t even get a phone signal? If that’s the case, just move back in and live with me!”

…Had I moved out?

Ever since I woke up from my coma, my sister had been obsessively attached to me.

My very existence seemed to be a trauma for her.

But it wasn’t as if I couldn’t understand her.

She had lost our parents in a car accident, and then I, too, had been unconscious for a long time after a car accident. How anxious she must have been.

Because I understood how she felt, I had lived in her newlywed home without a word of complaint.

But as time went on, I started to think that this couldn’t continue.

My sister was more anxious about being separated from me than from her three-year-old, Haneul.

We were like two puppies with separation anxiety.

We needed to become independent from each other.

But when on earth did I move out?

It felt like my memory was full of gaping holes.

“Eun-mi. Stop it now. I’m not saying Eun-hyeon was right, but you’ve been reunited after so long. Are you just going to keep scolding him? I’m sure he’s gotten the message by now.”

“That’s right, Brother-in-law! Sister, it’ll never happen again. I’ll be sure to tell you before I go anywhere.”

My sister glared at me, biting her lip hard.

“You! Didn’t you say you’d keep in touch when you moved out? If you disappear without a word like this, I don’t even know if you’re dead or alive! Did you do it on purpose to make me worry?”

“S-sorry! I’m sorry, Sister. Okay? I didn’t do it on purpose. I’m really sorry.”

Piecing together the conversation, I thought I understood why she was angry with me.

It seemed I had gone on a trip without telling her where I was going.

The problem was, I had no memory of it at all.

No, but why would I do that? It was obvious my sister would worry, so why would I go on a trip without telling her?

“…Huuu, I’ll make you your favorite bulgogi, so just wait.”

“Bulgogi? Wow, great. Your bulgogi is the best in the world!”

It was my sister’s way of signaling a truce, at least for now.

I played along with a bit of flattery and glanced at my brother-in-law, giving him a slight nod of thanks.

If it weren’t for him, I would have been stuck in a loop of listening to her nagging and apologizing until she collapsed from exhaustion.

As my sister headed to the kitchen to cook the bulgogi, my brother-in-law and I went to the living room sofa.

“Where have you been all this time? Your hair has gotten long.”

At his words, I ran a hand through my hair. It was much longer than I remembered.

My god. How much time had passed?

“Brother-in-law, I’m sorry.”

“No, you’ve apologized enough already, so you don’t have to. I’m just curious what happened. You have no idea how much Haneul was looking for his uncle. He’s napping right now, but you’ll stay until he wakes up, right?”

“Ah, of course. I have to see Haneul before I go.”

The name Haneul brought an unconscious smile to my face.

I had done half of the work of raising Haneul.

On days when my sister and brother-in-law came home late from work, I was the one who held him, carried him on my back, and put him to sleep.

I had watched by his side as the little guy babbled his first words and took his first steps.

“We were so worried when you suddenly disappeared. We didn’t know if you’d been kidnapped, or if you’d collapsed on the street and been taken to the hospital.”

“Ah, about that… It was a sudden, unplanned trip… and once I was there, my phone broke.”

The moment I opened my mouth, lies poured out smoothly.

It was the first time I realized I was such a good liar.

My brazen lie seemed to convince my brother-in-law.

“Well, I’m sure you had your reasons. But still, please let us know when you’re going far away from now on.”

“Yes, I definitely will.”

“So, where did you go on your trip this time?”

“…China.”

“China?”

The word had slipped out before I could stop it, and I was flustered by my own answer.

Why did I say China?

“Wait, you suddenly went to China?”

“Uh, well…”

“Eun-hyeon, you were interested in China? I had no idea. So, where in China did you go?”

“Well, I went to so many places…”

I mumbled, cautiously watching his expression.

I couldn’t speak Chinese, nor did I have any particular interest in the country, so I had no idea why the word ‘China’ had suddenly popped out.

But even though I didn’t answer his question about where I’d been, names of places like Hefei, Xi’an, Beijing, and Tian Shan flashed through my mind.

What was this? How did I know these things?

And it was especially strange that the first place that came to mind wasn’t Beijing or Xi’an, but Hefei.

“What? Eun-hyeon, you went to China? Where in China did you go?”

My sister’s voice, who had been cooking, suddenly cut into our conversation.

It seemed she had been listening in while she cooked.

“Uh. Hefei and… I also went to Beijing, and Xi’an…”

“Hefei? Where’s Hefei?”

At the unfamiliar place name, my brother-in-law took out his phone and started searching for Hefei.

As the lie became more and more specific, I felt my mouth go dry.

Just then, I heard the pitter-patter of small, running feet.

“Unca!”

“Aack. Haneul!”

With the word for uncle, he threw his arms around my neck from behind and clung to me. I was being choked, letting out strangled noises, but the small hands around my neck didn’t let go.

Even while being choked, I smiled and reached my arms back to hug the small child.

“My Haneul has gotten so big!”

“Uncaaaaaa! Where did you gooo!”

Haneul had grown quite a bit in the time I hadn’t seen him and was starting to look like a little kid, but his lisp was still the same.

Finding it adorable, I hugged him and showered his cheeks with kisses, making him burst into clear laughter.