Chapter 15: Date (Siblings Part)

At lunch, as I was accompanying my father for the meal, I carried the tableware towards the dining room. In the dining room, my brother was eating leisurely, even though he was supposed to be at the office.

"Eh? Oppa, you were here?"

"What's with the rude attitude all of a sudden? Can't I be here?"

"But it's rare for you to be at home at this time."

"I have a break today. Let me eat leisurelyat lunch, at least."

"So you have a break. Could this be the first break you've had since you've come back?"

"It's not like it's the first time. I went with you to visit my mother's grave and to Oregon, right?"

"Ah! That's right!"

"Well, it's the first time I've got a break when I haven't had anything in particular to do."

"Even though you finally have a break, are you not going to do anything?"

"Don't treat me like a person with a lot of free time. Even I know at least how to spend a break..."

"At least how to spend a break?"

"Otoke...?"

"So you really don't have anything to do?"

"Shut up! I'm thinking about it now."

"Hmm...How about a movie?"

"That's what I thought of at first, but there's no movie I really want to watch."

"Then, why not sports or something?"

"It's my long-awaited break, you know? Why would I want to tire myself out?"

"Then, how about a stroll in the park?"

"I'm not an old man. I'm not going to waste my time on something like that."

"Jeez! You were the same before! You just dismiss all my suggestions!"

"That's because you don't have any good suggestions. If this was a job, you wouldn't be called to the next meeting."

"Even though you're the one who always becomes indecisive for anything besides work!"

"W...who'd you say is indecisive?"

"Oh, the siblings are getting along well."

"O...omma..."

"Tch..."

"What's happened? You're quarrelling."

"Nothing to do with you..."

"Oppa says he doesn't know how to spend his day off."

"Don't say anything unnecessary!"

"How pitiable..."

"You...You've got no right to be sympathetic!"

"He said that movies, sports and strolls are no good...Is there something else he could do?"

"So Hyun ah, you're missing something too."

"W...what is it?"

"There's shopping, isn't there?"

"Ah..."

"N...now that you say it...Why didn't I think of something so simple..."

"So Hyun ah, do you have any plans today?"

"No, not really, but..."

"Then, the two of you should go shopping together. Isn't it somehoow wonderful for siblings to shop together happily?"

"Um...oppa, what do you think?"

"Somehow that's a bit irritating, but I don't have any other plans, so whatever..." Like that, it was decided that my brother would spend his day off shopping, and that I would go with him.

We first went to the town, and there, we discussed which shop to go to.

"Where should we go?"

"Eh? You haven't decided?"

"You're the one going shopping, right?"

"There's no reason I would decide."

"..."

"W...what is it?"

"I understand why the option of shopping didn't come up to me."

"Eh?"

"I have no material desires. In the first place, there's nothing I want."

"T...that won't do. As a person or as a businessman."

"Ne..."

"Anyway, let's do something about your clothes."

"Clothes? Are these no good?"

"Well, if we're just going shopping, a suit is a bit weird."

"I...is that so...?"

"Jeez! Even though you went to New York, you haven't become any more fashionable!"

"That's because in the first place I didn't really enjoy myself..."

"Then, it's decided. We're going to buy some casual wear for you."

"Ne. I'll leave it to you."

"Um, if we're buying menswear around here..." I decided to bring my brother to a store that I had looked at clothes with appa at many times before.

"Welcome. Thank you for your continued patronage." When we went inside, an employee who had previously attended on me gretted us with a smile.

"What 'continued' supposed to mean? Don't tell me you come here with that idiot..."

"Aniya! I buy appa's socks and shirts here. What's with those eyes? I'm telling the truth." While warding off my brother's doubtful gaze, I looked around inside the store.

"Oh, this is cute!"

"I don't want something cute. Get me something cool juseyo."

"Cute =cool, you know."

"That's just strange. In the first place, cute is a word that describes something that's pretty or childish..."

"This shirt is cute! Oh, maybe it'd go well with this?"

"Are you listening?" 

Once I got into the store, I was completely focused on shopping. I paid no attention to my brother standing there and selected products one by one.

"Yah."

"To match with this polo shirt, as I thought, these shorts would be..."

"Yah, Lee So Hyun."

"Ah, but the shoes have to match too. Sneakers that are a little flashy and..."

"So Hyun!"

"Wha! M...mwoh? What is it?"

"Aren't you buying a bit too much?"

"A...am I?"

"Plus, let me throw in my opinion too."

"You said you'd leave it to me."

"Am I supposed to wear those clothes that look like something a high school student would choose?"

"It's because you think like that people think you're unfashionable!"

"W...what do you mean, unfashionable? This suit is from a high-class brand, you know?"

"It's because you think that anything with a brand is fine that you're unfashionable!"

"It's the era of individuality now, you see."

"Even if you say 'you see', shorts are a no-go!"

"Hehehe." I heard laughter and turned around, surprised. When I did, I saw the employee, stifling a smile as she looked at us.

"Ah.."

"It's because you were being noisy that we were laughed at..."

"Joesonghaeyo, it's just that you get along so well."

"Ahaha, though that isn't true..."

"You must've been dating for a while already, right?"

"Eh...?"

We're siblings."

"Ah, that's what it was! Excuse me juseyo. You really match each other, so I just..."

*I see...So when we're like this, people might look at us and think we're dating...*

To smooth over slightly odd atmosphere, my brother cleared his throat once.

"Um, then, I'd like to purchase these."

"Eh? You're not going to try them on?"

"Gwaenchana. Since you're the one who choose them for me."

In the end, oppa bought all the clothes that I chose. Thanks to that, both of us ended uo having to lug paper bags in both hands.

"Might have bought too much...I didn't think about having to carry them back."

"I understand well that you're not used to shopping..."

"I couldn't relax and try on clothes there."

"Why not? That employee thought we were dating, right? It'd have been difficult to stick around longer..."

"T...that's true..."

*I wonder if oppa hated being seen that way...*

"Anyway, we've got those bags in the car. Next is shopping for you."

"Eh? For me?"

"There's no way we'd just buy clothes for me, right? Don't hold back."

"Eh, you're going to buy them for me?"

"Obviously. What do you want?"

"Hmm...What to do...?"

"Is it really something that troubling?"

"As I thought, we don't need to go shopping for me."

"Yah, what is it? So Hyun ah?"

"Since we're not going shopping, I want to go drinking with you."

"W...what is this all of a sudden?"

"Because I haven't gone drinking even once before."

"Well, that might be true, but..."

"I also want to see what you're like when you're drunk."

"I'm not boasting, but I'm pretty strong, you know?"

"Yah, I can drink pretty well too."

"Oh? Then I look forward to it. Okay, then let's go drinking together after we eat."

"Eh? Will you bring me with you?"

"Ne."

"Yay!"

"Haha, don't get so fired up."

We walked shoulder-to-shoulder as the sun set on the town. I wonder if the people we passed by thought we were dating, like that employee. When I thought that, I couldn't help being happy.

Preview

"You look the same sleeping now as you did before."

"S...stop  it. It's embarrassing, isn't it...?"

"Ne...I thought the same thing about having my sleeping face being seen. When we were sleeping in separate rooms in Oregon, I was actually awake."

*T...that's a lie...*

"Y...you can't...If you do that, you won't be my oppa anymore!"

"I've always wanted to do this."

Finally, the couple's forbidden relationship...

Author's notes

OMG OMG OMG~~~!!! IGE MOSUN IRIYA??? What'll happen between them??? Let's check it out in the upcoming chapter!!! :D

I'm gonna ready for MCD and MuBank again afterwards, and of course my $$$ (class fund). I may see you soon!!! :)