“See, the needle is stuck into your veins so that your blood can be taken out without you getting wounded. But the new nurse stuck the needle into the muscle,” I demonstrated with my fingers acting like a syringe, “and pulled, as if she could get anything in there.”

Sunmi hugged herself with a scared look on her face. “That hurts. Don’t ever let her check up on me, please. Or else, I’ll take my blood myself.”

“Ya, you punk, don’t tell her lies.” Jihyuk entered the room slowly and sat by her sister’s side. Turning to Sunmi, she said, “This ‘nurse’ he was talking about is himself and he’s making up stories to cover up his medical malpractices.”

My eyes widened. “Ya, for your information, I passed the board exam so I know what I’m doing!” My outburst caused the siblings to laugh by themselves. “See, even my handwriting looks very professional.”

“Yeah right, very professional and very illegible,” Sunmi said, fixing the pillow under her head to lie more comfortably. “You grownups shush now and leave because I need to rest.”

Without question, Jihyuk pulled the covers up to her sister’s chin and tucked her carefully while I walk towards the small living room. Jihyuk sat and looked at me, her eyes narrowing.

:”What?” I asked consciously.

She snorted. “As if you don’t know…”

“What are you talking about?”

Jihyuk rested her elbow on her lap and watched me intently. I felt like a witness on cross-examination. “You bought me out of my contract,” she finally stated.

 “What contract?” I asked, keeping a straight face.

“You’re lying to me.”

I sighed. “Alright, fine. I did, just a few days ago. Don’t you like that? Don’t you like to be free? Don’t you like to teach and be with children again? Don’t you? Because I do.”

“What do you want in return?” Jihyuk stood up and approached me.

“I don’t want anything back,” I defended. “Why do you think of me that way? Like everything I do has a price.”

“Jinjja? Are you sure?” She was getting closer and I instantly realized this was going somewhere.

I nodded. “Sure.”

“Really sure?” She clasped her hands behind her and inched towards my face.

“Really sure.”

She was staring at my lips. “Are you sure you don’t want anything in return?”

And I felt my resistance wearing away. “Kiss me.”

Jihyuk spun and headed to the door. “Ani, you said you were really sure,” she said, laughing.

Even before she could reach for the door knob, I caught up with her and embraced her from behind. “I missed just holding you like this,” I muttered, resting my chin on her shoulder. And I will seize this moment, no matter how short or long, no matter how right or wrong, to be with her. “I was wrong. I wanted something in return,” I said, holding both her hands as we were standing by the door. “I want you to be with me again. Live with me. Let’s be together again. Please.”

“I owe you a lot and that’s the only thing you want in return?”

I held her tighter, burying my face on her hair and nodding.

“Get back together and live with you?”

“Don’t you want to?”

She was silent for a while, and I was afraid she would say no. “I would love that,” she said finally. I almost jumped for joy. “What about Sunmi?” she asked suddenly, turning to me.

“No, don’t worry about me,” Sunmi said all of a sudden from her bed. Jihyuk and I exchanged shocked glances. Had she heard everything? “No, wait, I’m sleeping. Right, I’m sleeping. Don’t mind me,” Sunmi added, and then she was silent again.

Jihyuk’s shoulders trembled as she laughed. I reached up to cover . “Sshh, she’ll hear us,” I whispered. “I’ll find a place for her after she gets well. Maybe she can live next door.”

“You’ll kick Hyukjae out?”

“I can’t do that,” I said. “No matter how much I want to, I can’t. That guy’s like a brother to me. I’ve been living with him for years and we found the place together, remember.”

Jihyuk’s grip on my hands loosened. “You bastard, tell me the truth, okay. What do you write on the space where they ask for your gender in application forms?”

“So you think I’m gay,” I stated. Jihyuk was giggling. “You honestly think I have the hots for that guy? Trust me, I know all his habits – good or bad – and so I know better than to be gay for him.”

“Ani, you’re gay,” Jihyuk teased.

“If I was gay, would I do this?” I asked, tilting her chin to face me before kissing her. She was quite taken by surprise, but then eased into it after and kissed me back.

She pulled back all of a sudden. “Someone might walk in on us.”

“Then let them walk in. Baby, I just want to kiss you some more because I missed you so much,” I whispered and captured her lips once more. Before my self control could slip away, I pulled back and held her tighter instead.

 Once we start living together, I would have more time to be with her. Her right hand was holding my hand and her left was caressing my face from behind her. We were swaying side by side in a steady rhythm, like a dance with no music and no particular choreography.

“Baby?” I whispered.

“Hmm?”

“When will you live with me?”

“When do you want me to?”

“Can you move in tonight? Is that too soon?”

She shrugged. “That’s fine with me.” And then we were back to swaying, shifting our weight from one foot to another without stepping.

“Jihyuk?” I called out again.

“What?” She leaned back to rest her head on my shoulder.

I bit my lip and hesitated, but then decided to get on with it. “Will you call me ‘oppa’?”

She chuckled. “No.”

“Jagiya?”

“No.”

“Baby?”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Yeobo?”

“Not a chance.”

“Honey?”

She smacked my arm. “Not even close.”

I sighed sadly. “A bastard?”

“You bet.” Jihyuk looked up and kissed me briefly. “Don’t you have work to do?”

“My next patient is scheduled 20 minutes from now, so I still have plenty of time,” I said with a shrug. I embraced her tighter, catching up on all the touches I missed when she was away. “Baby?”

She gently squeezed my hand. “What is it again?”

“I love you so much you couldn’t even imagine how hard it had been for me when you left. But now you’re back to me, so I’m very happy again. You said all you wanted was for me to be happy, right? All you had to do is be with me and I’ll be happy just like that.”

Jihyuk didn’t say anything, and I didn’t expect her to, nor did I force her to speak.

“Baby?”

“What?” she whined.

“You’re not irritated at me, right? Even if I call you for ten times, you will listen to me, won’t you?”

“Just don’t talk and remain silent for a while,” she said sounding angry, but there was a hint of smile in her voice.

“One last thing…” I said.

She rubbed her eyes sleepily, perhaps tired from work before she finally left.

“Why are we standing by and staring at the door for a long time already?”

Jihyuk froze and checked. She was surprised we have been by the door all along. “How did we get here again?” she asked. I shrugged and watched as she went to her sister’s bed and lied down next to Sunmi. She was lying still, her hands calmly on top of each other on her stomach as I watched her. She watched me back.

I walked towards her, each step rushed as my feet defied friction. “I’ll come back for you.” Then I leaned in and kissed her forehead, letting my lips stay there for a while. “Wait for me right here, okay?”