Chapter 210

“Since Mira’s parents agree that she is an adult as the teacher said, I can’t just decide her fate as I please. I’ll leave it to Mira. I don’t know how long it will take, but please take good care of her during that time.”

Mira’s mother, having strained herself to rise, bent forward to bow. She was much younger than me — in fact, she looked even younger — yet she bowed without any hesitation. For her child. Meanwhile, Mira’s father, standing next to her, could only assist his wife while looking flustered.

No, more than greeting someone like me, his wife’s health was much more important. It was a natural thing. They were a family formed by choice rather than blood ties. Typically, family meant relationships built on love for each other.

I had never experienced such a thing.

“I will take my leave now.”

“Take care. I won’t see you off.”

It took quite a while to get out due to pushing the wheelchair. As I was watching her parents’ backs, I unconsciously spoke up.

“It won’t take long.”

Mira’s mother turned to look at me, and then smiled either at me or someone else. Something welled up in my chest. I wasn’t sure why.

That simple smile…

That simple smile…

That simple smile…

~

Mira returned late at night, well past dinner time. Normally, it would have already been time for dinner, but I asked just in case.

“Did you have dinner?”

“No.”

I was glad I asked. I started to reheat a kimchi fried rice that I had for dinner. It was one of the few dishes I could make since I recently started learning to cook.

“Kimchi fried rice?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you make it, by any chance?”

“I just started learning to cook recently.”

“Is that related to your change in outfit?”

“No, just no.”

Actually, it might be, but…

“Try it. I’m not confident about the taste, though.”

“It’s okay!”

“Then, that’s a relief.”

It was fine when I tasted it, but I had no way of knowing if it would taste the same for others. More importantly, Mira was capable of cooking and was certain to be better than me at it. So if she said it was fine, it was probably a good evaluation, right?

“You’ll make a good bride.”

“Don’t tease me.”

If it were Eun-a, she probably would have punched me. But since it was Mira, I let it slide. Well, I wasn’t in a position to be harsh anyway.

I couldn’t define our relationship with a hierarchical label, but if I had to say, I felt like Mira was the superior one right now. In fact, it looked like I was the one with the upper hand living off Mira’s family.

But in the end, this short cohabitation was a selfish proposal for my atonement. In such circumstances, I couldn’t assert myself against Mira.

“Thanks for the meal.”

“I’ll do the dishes, so go in and rest.”

“Alright.”

Mira knew that too. Usually, she would insist on doing the dishes, but perhaps she couldn’t do that at the moment. I knew that everything relied on Mira’s kindness.

She said she didn’t hate me, but that was hard to believe. And she probably hated herself for feeling that way. She was too kind to the point of pain.

The closed door showed no intention of opening until the next day.

The next day, Friday, was Eun-a’s arrival. So, it was the day Eun-a and Mira had their study session.

Today, Mira wouldn’t go to her part-time job either. But from the morning, she washed up and had breakfast, then immediately shut herself in her room to study. But this story had to end before Eun-a arrived.

Knock, knock. Someone knocked on my door.

Then, the door opened right away.

“Why are you knocking on my door? It’s my room!”

“I’m studying here.”

“So, what’s the matter?”

“I have something to say.”

“I thought so.”

You didn’t even guess what I was going to say, but you knew I was going to say something. Maybe I’m too easy to read.

After a moment, we sat across from each other at the dining table. It reminded me of yesterday. I took a moment to catch my breath. I knew how worthless my words were going to be, so I needed a moment to relax.

“I’ve… apologized a lot. You didn’t accept it anyway.”

“The words I want to say are not long. I’m the worst, aren’t I? When I brought up the flu that day, it was purely to relieve my guilt. I wanted to throw off a burden that was too heavy for me to carry. There was no thought for you in that.”

“…Actually, I’m originally this kind of person. You know this from what you heard, but before I changed, I was a hopeless piece of trash. Bad personality, foolish, and pathetic.”

“So, I want you to think of this proposal not as something for you, but for me. I’m an incredibly selfish person.”

“Yesterday, your parents came. You probably expected that.”

“They didn’t ask for permission, but they said they’d do it if you accepted.”

“…Mira, I want to cover all the costs for your year of studying for the re-examination.”

“You just need to say, ‘Okay.’ Then your parents won’t tell you to stop preparing for the re-examination, and you can study comfortably.”

“…Could you really say that?”

By the end, it felt almost like begging. It was absurd. Asking someone to take my money? Ha, it wasn’t a comedy! It was just pathetic. Just a pathetic story. I must have had a taste for such stories.

A brief silence fell.

Then, Mira opened her mouth, and time began to flow again.

“…Honestly, you’re so clumsy.”

“Maybe.”

“I really hated you. I couldn’t understand why you brought that up, and the truth I discovered was so cruel that I was angry. It was horrific.”

“I’m sorry.”

“But now I think I understand why. The reason you brought that up wasn’t guilt; it was responsibility.”

“Responsibility…?”

“Because of you, I wrecked my college entrance exam. You only felt responsible for that fact. There might be guilt, but people don’t act out of guilt.”

“…But I was the worst.”

“I think so too. But ultimately, it was to keep me from giving up on my re-examination, right?”

Mira was smiling. With tears gathering in her eyes, she smiled. I was grateful for those words; I had no words left. I couldn’t belittle myself.

“So this time, I’ll forgive you.”

“‘Okay.’”

I really felt foolish. How could I only say thank you to Mira? I knew how much she had suffered. So when I realized that all that pain stemmed from me, I couldn’t just stand still. I had to take action.

Choosing the worst way wasn’t due to a lack of options but perhaps to give myself penance. But Mira was such a kind girl that she ended up forgiving me. And I, presumptuously, accepted that forgiveness.

It might be an absurd happy ending. But sometimes, that kind of ending might be nice.

The world isn’t a fairytale, so it’s good to have a fairy-tale-like conclusion sometimes.

~

As time passed, as soon as Eun-a arrived, she asked in a flustered tone.

“…What are you two doing?”

“Help me out, Eun-a.”

“Next time, wear this, okay? And get a new hairstyle too.”

Today, I opened my third fashion show of my life. Or was it the fourth? Anyway.

“What the heck is going on here?”

“Playing doll?”

I was fired up by Mira’s answer but couldn’t get angry. Because I had told Mira earlier that I would agree to anything for the day. Of course, I had said that without thinking. I just thought I’d buy anything she wanted, cook, do the dishes, and laundry; that would be about it…

“Shall we try changing the outfits a bit?”

Mira said we should change clothes and forget about everything else, even study.

So now I was in a situation trying all sorts of outfits, including the ones I had bought earlier and those given to me by Eun-a. Even my hairstyle was being messed with by Mira.

“How can you…?”

Yeah, how can you do such a cruel thing, Mira? Even Eun-a was shocked by this disaster (the pile of clothes beside us was enormous).

“Are you having all the fun by yourself?! Call me over quickly!”

But I couldn’t say that, could I?

I had never expected anything in the first place. The other party was Seo Eun-a, the person who loved this kind of thing the most among my acquaintances.

So I was trapped by Mira and Eun-a, trying on outfits all day, and trying every hairstyle. The problem was that it had been a while since I went to the hair salon, and my hair was long. The longer the hair, the more variations there were, after all.

“It’s a shame I don’t have a curling iron. Things like curly hairstyles could look pretty.”

I was glad there was no equipment, though.

In the end, my hair settled into what is called pigtails. The difference from twin tails was that I had tied it lower. At least it didn’t look too childish compared to twin tails.

By the way, the final outfit ended up being a white shirt with a navy suspender skirt, which honestly looked very much like a school uniform. To be precise, it resembled a private elementary school uniform.

How do I know that?

…Eun-a searched it and showed me.

Damn.

~

At least this time, they didn’t send me on an errand somewhere. Thanks to that, I could slack off comfortably at home. No matter how embarrassing the clothes, it didn’t matter inside the house. Even though I was exhausted from changing clothes for hours.

“But weren’t you both here to study today?”

“We can study anytime, but we can only play dolls today.”

“I’m relieved to hear it’s only today.”

Anyway, it wasn’t bad. A ridiculous, silly, and pathetic day with a foolish yet delightful ending.

It was a story that even fairytales would smile at, too hasty and enjoyable.

That was entertaining in its own way.

And then, suddenly, the doorbell rang.

“Seo-ra~ are you there?”

“That sounds like Han-bom!”

Who else could call me like that besides Han-bom? By the way, Eun-a is really sticking to calling her ‘unni.’ I thought she would start saying ‘aunt’ again soon.

“I’m coming out~”

When I opened the door, there stood Han-bom, who still had a huge, imposing chest. And as soon as she saw me, she squealed and rushed towards me.

“Ahhh! What is this?! So cute! What were you doing dressed up so pretty? You should have called me!!”

…Before Eun-a, there was Han-bom. Han-bom came in while hugging me tightly and started to scrutinize me. Meanwhile, Mira looked wide-eyed at Han-bom’s chest. It seemed like it was the first time for Mira to see something like that.

“Stop it.”

“I couldn’t help it because you look so cute.”

“Oh dear. So what brings you here?”

“Oh, a letter came… It seems to be for Seol but ended up at our house by mistake.”

“Oh, thank you.”

The letter I received from Han-bom didn’t seem to be a tax notice or anything. To be honest, it seemed suspiciously like someone just hastily wrote the address on it. It wouldn’t be a letter that Seo Jae-ah left behind, would it?

When I opened the letter, there was a short message inside. The moment I read that brief note, my whole body froze as if it were solidified.

[

Aren’t you curious about your mother?

Han Su-young

]

This woman… was really too clever.