I must have had a bad day.
Otherwise, the whole family wouldn't be bothering me like this.
"Earth, what are you doing?"
Geum-bi looked at me, holding her mobile phone tightly.
I thought she might break the phone, and you could see the veins on the back of her hand.
"Oh, I shouldn't have done that, I was just trying to switch it off..."
"And you tripped and fell on it?"
"No, you're wrong! You know it was just an accident."
"Hmph~ An accident, huh?"
Geum-Bi pointed at me with an expressionless face.
The tip of her chin was pointing towards her waist, and there was her crotch, wrapped in Soo-jung's arms and clinging to her.
It was obvious that we were cuddling, hugging or whatever you want to call it, facing each other, nose to nose.
It looked like... well, it looked like a man and a woman were doing it.
"Sue, Sue grabbed me, I really didn't want to do that!"
I tried to defend myself.
I don't know about anyone else, but I couldn't let her get the wrong idea.
"I don't know when that mobile phone is going to fly over my head. Maybe it'll fly down instead of up....
I felt scared, so I tried to get away from her.
But in my panic, my body slipped on the sofa and I lost my balance because she was pulling me. I fell on top of her.
"Eww... Owww?!"
"Hmph, hmph."
Crystal Sister was too drunk to see what was going on.
But Geum Bi, who was now closer, saw what was happening on the bed.
"...Yang Earth."
"Ugh, yes, yes, yes... big sister."
"Are you daring to touch your sister's breasts now?"
I quickly pulled my fingertips away from Crystal's chest.
But Geumbi's eyes had gone from burning to cold, as if she was feeling a chill.
She shook her head, signalling for me to follow.
'That's not fair. That was a real fall...'
The last incident was even more annoying.
It was dark, so I couldn't see, I was on a mattress, so I was unstable, and, on top of all that, Soo-jung has a large area... Haha, excuses like that will only make me angrier.
I gave up and followed Geumbyeon with a sigh.
I thought we would go to the bedroom on the second floor, but she chose the sofa in the living room nearby.
I guess she couldn't wait to hear the story.
I hoped it wouldn't be the last one, because I didn't think she should be alone with me right now.
"Explain."
"What, what?"
"Everything. What happened in your room earlier, from start to finish, everything."
Geum-bi, who had thrown himself down on the sofa, crossed his arms.
Sitting a short distance away, I crossed my knees and looked at her.
"I told you it was all a misunderstanding. I was just trying to get up and I fell."
"And that's how you're supposed to stand, with your belly button sticking out like a sore thumb?"
"I don't have a dog in my house..."
"Are you feeling like making jokes now?"
The atmosphere was very unpleasant, so I tried to make conversation.
This made things even worse.
I don't know if she'll believe me, but I'm going to have to explain everything to her.
I gave up the tricks and told her the truth.
When I got back, I told her the truth... that she was asleep, that she was drunk and didn't wake up easily, that she had terrible sleeping behaviour and that she bumped into me often.
When I had finished, Geum Bi patted her arm and looked worried.
I was nervous because she didn't seem to be blinking and her lips and eyes looked like they weren't moving.
"Can I believe what you're saying now?"
"Of course you can. What other possibilities are there?"
"Many, if you think about it. Like, for example, that you were tricked by the sight of your drunken sister..."
"I always tell her that would never happen. Crystal and I are brother and sister, one blood, one family."
"We don't know if we're related, and to be honest, we can't be 100 per cent sure anymore."
"Well... that's one way of looking at it, but..."
It's the topic you've been avoiding.
The reason why Geum-Bi's sister was so critical of a situation that was simply a tangle of bodies.
In our family, one of us wasn't related by blood.
"When it comes to possibilities, you and Terra are the most likely suspects, and your other siblings aren't, as far as I remember."
"Crystal, yes, but me? Don't you remember what I was like as a baby?"
"Only vaguely. Besides, we may have adopted her as a newborn, we're not even sure when she became part of the family."
"What about your mum when she was pregnant? She was ten months pregnant and you don't know that?"
"Terra, when you were in the womb, I was only two years old, too old to play. You're a year older than Soo-jung, but you don't know...".
Jinbi said nothing more and kept quiet.
After all, the most reliable information at the moment was Soo-jung's opinion... but she didn't feel comfortable asking for herself.
"You must be scared and you must be sorry. If it's you, it's a shock, and if it's her... it's like touching an open wound."
She had come to this conclusion herself, hesitated, and then turned to me.
Geum Bi had guessed to a certain extent, so she didn't seem to want to probe anything further between us.
"...."
"...."
There was silence, the living room lit only by the glow of the electronic clock next to the TV.
It was still the same day, so if we went to bed now we would sleep well.
"Hi, Goldie."
"Yeah."
"You're still going to work tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Do you think you'll make it to work?"
"You're amazing, how did you put up with all that rubbish right after you finished college?"
Unlike Soo-Jung, Geum-Bi needed a year to prepare for a job after college.
She thought she was in a good company and had fully developed her work skills... but the reality wasn't so easy.
"You have to get your qualifications and internship in advance. Don't be like me and struggle after graduation."
"It's a lot of responsibility for you to take on, which none of your sisters could handle."
"You'll have to deal with the mess. No, we've been relying on you lately, and I don't think you should be saying that."
"It doesn't matter."
Goldie looked at me sternly, shook her head and interrupted me.
At first, I thought she was being considerate, but I felt sorry for her.
"Honestly, my sisters are worse off than I am. You have a job, you have a family, you have headaches.
I'm stuck at home until I go back to school.
So you can count on me more..."I'm embarrassed to say it, so I move my hips closer together.
"Huh?"
"Why?"
"So, your hand... Why are you suddenly holding it?"
"But you were holding it the whole time too."
"No, I did it all... for a reason."
"Then I'll do one too."
"What's that?"
"Hang on. I'm thinking about it."
I walked off, but I still had her hand.
Hmm, but she's on the left this time, just like always.
I remembered the first time I held her hand.
She must have said something about the test, right?
"I've already decided.It's a test."
"A test...?"
"To prove that I only see you as family.You said that if we hold hands and don't feel anything, we won't feel anything."
"Mmm, yes... you remembered."
"How could I forget? I've been so close to her ever since."
I knew my sisters were in a difficult situation, but it felt good to feel the warmth of family every day for the first time in a long time.
I can still remember the warmth of her hand on mine.
"Mmm, the earth."
"Huh?"
"I said test...?"
"Yes, right?"
"But... as you said, you held your hand several times."
"Yeah, I remember."
"And then there's the vision I had in your room earlier... To remove any doubt, shouldn't we be more certain?"
I thought the incident in bed had had a happy ending.
Well, it didn't have a clear ending, and when I've finished talking, I'm going back to Crystal's side, so I'm going to check one more time.
"What do you want to do with her?"
"A hug would be nice, wouldn't it?"
"Hug?"
"Well, it's a hug. It's like a greeting... you know, just hugging each other."
Isn't that what the rest of the world calls a hug?
It's the same thing in English, so why is she so confused?
"Well, it's a different word. A hug is more of a greeting, whereas an embrace is more of a... feeling of love and affection.
It sounds like something you'd say between a lover or a couple.
Now that I think about it, I feel ashamed of myself.
"Terra, could you... come to me?"
"OK. Can you open your arms?"
"Like this?"
"Mm-hmm. OK, shall we?"
"Aaah, come slowly... Hmph!"
Geum-Bi breathed out nervously, but even though she moved as slowly as possible, the distance between us was still a circle.
My body touched hers, and I gently wrapped my arms around her back.
"..."
"...."
The silence was back in the dark living room.
I had expected this reaction from my sister, but I was surprised that I didn't say anything.
I was more excited than expected to hug her.
It felt soft, warm and smelt nice.
Unlike my tightly shut mouth, my mind was chattering.
I thought that she would be similar to Soo-jung, who I often hugged, but when I hugged her, it felt very different.
If it was Soo-jung who hugged me instead of my mum, she would hug me with the warmth of nostalgia.
Geumbi... I don't know if it's because of her usual alkaline behaviour, but I felt as if an equal was exchanging body heat with me.
"Ji, Terra."
"Mmm, sis."
"...."
"...."
What's that?
Why did she stop talking there?
I was interested by Geumbi's silence after she called out to me.
But she didn't look at me, nor did she move away or make eye contact.
She just hugged my back even tighter.
The other sister, who was also silent, pulled me closer to her body.
After a while, she called my name, as if she wanted to say something.
But the words that followed her voice were... I couldn't hear them for a long time.
We were silent and breathing on the sofa in the living room.
We could only feel each other's warmth.
If only today's story had ended with a romantic ending:
"Hmmm?"
"Mmm, no, mmm."
It was just after midnight.
My body was responding in a way it shouldn't have been.
"This is crazy, I need to calm down.
I couldn't help myself.
I tried not to think about it, but I couldn't deny the sensations I was feeling.
It was dangerous in bed.
I was trying to be calm, but it was hard.
"Zee, Terra... hey?"
"...."
I used to answer Geumbi's call immediately.
But now I was silent, biting my lip and not moving away from her.
I did this to be punished later.
Geumbi didn't move away from me either.
The seconds ticked by, and it got dark.
A few minutes later, the electronic clock made a quiet beeping sound, letting me know it was midnight.