She didn't talk to me like she did yesterday, and she didn't lean on my shoulder to catch her breath.
She just got into bed and closed her eyes straight away.
"Are you going to sleep like that tonight?"
"Uh... no?"
"No. I don't think so."
Soo-jung's small hand moved and grabbed my sleeve.
Unlike Geum-Bi's hand, which was forcibly dragging me along, Soo-Sung's hand was unsteady, as if it would fall off at the slightest movement.
So I took his hand and put it round my waist.
Soo-jung's closed eyes widened in surprise, but I didn't let that stop me from turning round and patting her.
It was like she was a child in my arms.
She seemed a bit uncomfortable at first, but her shoulders relaxed after a while.
"What's wrong, little sister? You scare people."
"You scared the hell out of me too."
"When did I scare you?"
"Well, when you jumped into bed with me in the middle of the night, I was a bit surprised, to say the least."
"It's just a normal act of love between us..."
Soo-Jung repeated what I had said during the day, puffing out his cheeks as if to say that he wouldn't take no for an answer.
It was silly of me to do it as a cheeky hand gesture, and it was a normal touch when she did it, but I decided to play along for now.
"So, did anything happen between you and Goldie during the day?"
"Nothing. We didn't really talk about anything."
"Really?"
"Why do you ask? What happened between you and Geo?"
"She just asked me a lot of questions, so I answered correctly. I thought you were scared to death of keeping a secret."
"I see... Well done, thanks."
I told him everything was fine, but he didn't seem convinced.
If he was fine, he wouldn't have run into my room and he wouldn't have ignored the counselling.
"Maybe it was too bad to talk about," I thought, "because Geum-Bi came to see me, saying he couldn't ask Crystal anymore.
I didn't hear any fighting, so I wonder if they were just getting more disappointed and frustrated.
It's hard. I can't wait for Mum to come home so we can sort this out.
"Sister."
"Yes?"
"Has your mum said anything about when she's coming back?"
"Not really... I'm sorry. I should have asked."
"No, it's only been a day."
"But it's good to know when you'll be back, so... I'll call her tomorrow."
"Thanks, sister."
"You're welcome, hehe."
I waited for someone else who could help, rather than cause a problem between them.
In the end, I hadn't done anything in particular, and as if that wasn't enough, SooJung put his arm around my waist.
"Ugh. Sister, you're making me roll like this..."
"You can roll, right?"
"Then it'll stick to you."
"It will, won't it?"
"Whatever happens, isn't that a bit embarrassing?"
"You slept very well last night, didn't you?"
"Well, you were tired from crying and I fell asleep after trying to close my eyes for a while, but now things are different."
"Different in what way?"
"Because we're both... so upset."
"What's wrong with that?"
I tried to move away from her, but she held on to me.
I tried to reason with her, but her voice got lower and lower as she continued to argue.
"Hmmm, maybe I'm being too sensitive, but I've also heard things from Geum-Bi's sister....
I decided to be careful until I knew the truth.
I was about to tell Suzu again when I decided to be strong.
"Terra, you're my sister, right?"
"Huh?"
"You were, are and always will be my sister, right?"
"That's right... of course I am."
"Then it's okay, there's no problem, so don't try to distance yourself from it."
"Well, you know what, sister, don't you?"
"Or are you going to treat me differently if I'm not your biological sister?"
SooJung, who had her eyes closed the whole time, looked up.
I couldn't see because she had her head down, but there were traces of tears in her eyes.
"You said we'd always been a family... that would never change, didn't you?"
Soo-Jung repeated my words.
I had no choice but to give up my argument and give him a big hug.
"Of course I did. Whether you're my biological sister or not, you're still my sister."
"She's not...? Hehe, I see, hehe."
I stroked her head to show I agreed, and she rubbed her face against my chest as if she was happy.
Although she was acting more like a younger sister than an older one, I didn't say anything and quietly pulled back the covers.
"I locked the door, but... I wouldn't want anyone to see us.
There weren't any cameras, so we got away.
I didn't think my sister was anything nasty, it was just my instinct for safety.
No matter how much I think about it, I think Soo-jung and Geum-bi are related.
You two think alike.
If you say they're not sisters, that's even more suspicious.
Of course, there are differences in the details.
If Goldie was testing my reaction to being a man, Crystal was checking whether I considered her family.
I'm never going to tell them, because if I do, they'll all get really worried and bother me.
I promised myself and played with her hair until she calmed down.
I even messed up her hair on purpose, but it wouldn't fall out.
Even so, she didn't leave my arms all night.
In the end, we ended up in the same bed as yesterday.
I got back in at dawn, closer than yesterday.
* * *
I opened my eyes as the morning dawned.
Soo-jung had been sleeping more lately and, after yesterday, I thought she would wake up later than me today.
I guess it doesn't matter. Let's just cover our heads with the duvet so we won't be seen when we go out.
We don't want to be seen if someone comes in like yesterday.
I started to get up, thinking I should wash first, but then I felt something downstairs that shouldn't have been there.
"What? What is that, a palm...?"
I was relieved to see that my hands were still on her back and on the duvet.
But her hands were on my hips.
"It must have fallen out in your sleep. We should take it off, shouldn't we?"
"Mmm."
I touched the back of Soo-jung's hand, and he squeezed my cheek.
I shuddered and struggled to pull away, wondering if I was dreaming and eating bread or pizza.
"Ha, ha, hoo... You're not awake, are you, sister?"
I got down to the foot of the bed and looked at Soo-jung, who was curled up in the duvet.
Her lips moved slightly, but her eyelids were still.
"It's a bit... I think your hands are moving a lot, but that's okay".
I thought to myself, "I have a habit of sleeping badly," and left the room.
I wanted to have a drink of water before I did the washing up, but I found Geumbi in the kitchen.
"What's wrong, sis, are you awake already?"
"You of all people. You're up early, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I went to bed early again yesterday."
"Hmph~ I see. You did."
Geumbi poured the water first, so I had to wait for her to finish.
After we said good morning, there was a strange feeling between us, and I couldn't stop scratching the tips of my fingers.
"Would you like some water? Here, have a glass."
"Unfortunately, thank you, sister."
"If you want cold water, change the setting. I just drank it warm."
"OK, I'll remember."
"But you know what? It's a globe."
"What? Why indeed?"
"Soo-jung, you weren't in your room again today."
"Whew!"
I drank a glass of water to stop thinking about it, but Geumbyeon said something else.
Luckily, it was clean water, so it didn't matter to me, as I was about to take a shower.
"Do you have anything to point to, or do you want me to take a look?"
"No, it's my sister... ...."
I turned my head slowly and there she was, looking at me with her arms crossed, and it was clear that I was in trouble.
I tried to think of an excuse, but my brain felt muddled.
"Terra, we're in trouble... What is it, Goldie?"
Soo-jung walked out of the direction of my room.
When she turned around, her eyes were as sharp as a hawk's.
"Sister, why did you come out again?"
"Oh, it's just that... the Earth has some business to attend to."
"Is Terra here?"
"Yes, he's waiting in his room."
"Really? You haven't been there since last night?"
"Well, isn't that possible? Hehe."
Soo-jung's awkward laugh only made Geum-bi more suspicious.
I looked for the right moment to laugh, wondering if the same thing would happen again.
But Soo-jung's next words put an end to that.
"Well, it's worse than that. I just got off the phone with my mum and..."
"Oh!""
We both cringed at the same time.
Yesterday, Soo-jung said she'd get in touch with her mum, but we didn't expect an answer so soon.
"It must be the time difference," I thought, "because a message sent early in the morning here is received in the middle of the night there.
We looked at the mobile phone Soo-Jung was waving in the air.
She swallowed hard and opened her mouth slowly so we wouldn't mishear.
"Mum, she had a car accident at the scene, she's not badly hurt, but she'll be in hospital for at least a month..."
"What?!"
Soo-jung said directly, but we immediately asked back.
What they threw on the fire to put out the embers seemed to be a bigger fire, not a fire extinguishing agent.