Vol. 1 - Ch. 12

I was about to run out of shame, but this strange voice from behind stopped me.“This is why I never trust when you say you have seen it all.”

“…”

“This isn’t it. Rather, you said I should enjoy this bath openly. As expected, I should.”

What, what are you spouting? When did I even say all those?

‘No, maybe I did?’

I gritted my teeth as a memory from a few days back came to my mind.

Now than things had come to think, there was no room for even 10 mouths to say anything.

I was silent, and Ja-hyun didn’t stop talking to me through the bathtub, using the sound of splashing water as background.

“Where were you wandering around like this in the middle of the night?”

What? You knew I was running around? How?

I had a moment of doubt, but the cool-headed reason in my mind gave me the answer.

What? How does he know? If he is a skilled warrior, this shouldn't be so difficult. At least, detecting the presence of people shouldn’t be tough.

“From what I heard, it seemed like you were desperately looking for something.”

After hearing a sound like water being poured onto the body, I heard Ja-hyun’s voice.

“So, did you find what you were looking for?”

“…”

Right, I found it, fucker.

I almost turned around to curse at his question, which seemed intentional to provoke me.

No, no, no. It was impossible to get excited here and then place the initiative in the hands of another person again.

I forced my neck to tighten and slowly exhaled.

‘You knew it all, right?”

“What?”

“What what? What I was looking for.”

“Was it me?”

Ja-hyun, who intercepted my words, calmly added.

“I didn’t know.”

“Woah, you are something.”

What a mean thing to say. I was so shocked that I couldn’t say anything.

I was so angry. No, if one thought about it, this guy clearly knew that I was running all around with my tired body, so I could just sleep.

On that topic, he was sitting inside and enjoying the bath? What a fucking personality!

No, prior to that. How did he even find this place? How is he aware that this bathtub exists?

I leaned back against the pillar of the wooden shed and stuck my lips.

“You.” If you are going to come here, it would be good to let me know in advance. I fucked up sweating for no reason at all because of you. What is this? Aren't you feeling sorry for me?”

“Well. If you know how to use your brain, you could have told me that I was here.” Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NƟvelFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

“That is your opinion alone.”

“I guess you are just that stupid.”

Why am I unable to respond with a single word? Pathetic.

In the end, I gave up the shed after receiving the apology from Ja-hyun, which wasn’t intentional and changed the topic.

“Anyway, tell me how you found this place. Could it be that Wang Dae-geon was in the guesthouse and you didn’t ask for the big guy, right?”

“No. I came here on my own.”

Ja-hyun’s voice gradually quieted down.

Why does he stop talking? With a puzzled look, I glanced at the partition hidden by the view, and Ja-hyun spoke again.

“Your sibling is coming.”

Sibling… Eun-young?

Without realizing it, my back slightly moved.

‘You mean Eun-young?”

“Well, that was around the name.”

“How do you know her?”

Ja-hyun made this sound like it was absurd for me to ask the question.

“How do I know? You even understand words, right?”

“Ah.”

“I know you are stupid, but this is beyond stupidity. Besides, didn’t you two sisters fight on the 1^st floor stairs every morning? I thought you were telling me to listen to that.”

“…”

For the sake of my mental health, I decided to ignore him.

‘Oh fuck, he was listening to it all.’

I let out this small sigh. He didn’t know how hard it was for me when Eun-young insisted on wanting to see that pretty girl upstairs.

Suddenly the past days when I poured out all the things I couldn’t say to comfort Eun-young flashed through my mind.

‘If you were listening, you should have spoken to me in advance.’

I don’t remember saying anything particularly bad, but I felt like I was talking behind his back, so I just played with the nails on the left hand.

I didn’t want to talk to him anymore, so I pretended to focus on something else.

Then, the sound of small footsteps caught my ears.

“Unnie, Eun-ri unnie.”

I went straight, pushing away from the pillar, when the voice was looking for me.

And I shouted without even looking back.

“Wash up slowly! I will go and return swiftly!”

I didn’t get an answer. But I didn’t have the time to wait for an answer because I was busy chasing after Eun-young, who was searching for me.

I hurriedly followed Eun-young, who was heading to the backdoor of the guesthouse.

“Eun-young! Eun-young!”

Eun-young turned around with a smile on her face.

“Unnie!”

“Eun-young! Why did you come here?”

Why didn’t you sleep yet? I slowed down and walked to her.

And Eun-young stopped in her tracks and slowly shook her head.

“I slept…”

“You slept, then why?”

“It was hot while I slept.”

It was so hot that she had to wake up. Her sister wasn't there when she turned to gaze at the side.

Eun-young mumbled something like that, probably because she wasn’t fully awake.

I lowered my eyes and spoke in a low voice.

“So? I am sorry about what I did. I should have come home early.”

“uh…”

When I kneeled down to make eye contact, Eun-young naturally wrapped her arms around my neck, and I just hugged her.

‘Oh my, she is heavy.’

If this continues, my back will hurt. When did she get this big?

This tingling heat came over the soft body in the arms. It didn’t seem like she was in pain, and she was sleeping without a blanket wrapped around her.

While supporting her body with one hand, I raised my other hand and stroked her forehead, and the palms turned sweaty.

“Woah, you sweat so much.”

As I mumbled that, Eun-young, who was on my shoulders, quickly opened her mouth like she was waiting for it.

“Unnie, I am hot. I want to take a shower.”

The unexpected words came out in a shaky voice without me even realizing it.

“You want to bathe tonight?”

“Yes, I sweat so much.”

However, I experienced the same thing.

My body was as wet as Eun-young since I had to work out in the middle of the night because of someone.

After thinking for a moment, I nodded and thought I wouldn’t be able to feel alright returning home in this sweaty state.

When I looked into the water tank in front of the shed, I saw that there was quite a bit of water left after filling one bathtub.

I headed home, holding Eun-young in my arms. It was to bring in a change of clothes.

We took a short walk to get to the house, and when I got there, I just took Eun-young's and my clothes.

‘Should Ja-hyun be done with his bath by now?’

I was walking slowly on purpose, but since it was the first time for him to bathe after so long, I thought he would want to take a bath longer.

“But, Eun-young.”

“What?”

“The oppa, who is on the 2^nd floor, is currently washing himself in the wooden shed.”

“Really?”

“Really. So let us wait for a whole and then bathe. You can handle that, right?”

“Yes!”

The voice was courageous, as it said. Now it was hard to find any sense of sleep.

Eun-young hadn’t forgotten about this guy, despite not seeing him even once.

I looked at the child, who couldn’t hide her happy look as she waved our clasped hands and laughed. Anyway, the kids are the ones who show their faces the most.

A few more words later, we were almost at the wooden shed.

Even though I knew it wasn’t needed, I was conscious of Eun-young’s eyes and tried to let Ja-hyun, who was inside, know that we had arrived.

But before I could even open my mouth, I saw a boy wearing loose clothes, walking out from inside.

It was obvious who it was. So, while I was trying to pretend that I didn’t know, I opened my mouth without realizing.

‘Woah…’

The boy under the moonlight had a dream-like appearance.

The face beneath that jet black hair was extremely handsome, like carved by a craftsman; the eyes were black as ink, and well-shaped lips under the high and straight bridge of the nose had this eerie red tint.

The brightly curved eyes and small dots at the end of them emphasized the strange color that lingered on the flawless and smooth face.

The only flaw was that he was young, and if he grew up like that, it wouldn’t be wrong to call him the best man in the world, the most handsome man.

Even I, who saw his face every day, was fascinated with him.

Even with the usual scruffy look, his off-white color didn’t fade, but when I saw him freshly bathed, the impact was surprising.

Fortunately, because I came to my senses in time, I wasn’t able to experience the confusion that Eun-young, who was clinging to my waist, might consider this fairy-like.

I cleared my throat loudly to get his attention. I get Ja-hyun’s eyes on me.

He was now wearing new clothes, which I bought him a while back. Although they were luxurious, they were of decent quality, and the blue color of the background suited him greatly.

“Are you done washing?”

In response to my question, Ja-hyun made eye contact with me like he could tell.

“The clothes fit well. I knew it. After all, the clothes are nice.”

The praise has the strength to make a whale dance, and I was about to let him know about the hard work in paying extra money to get decent clothes for him since I couldn’t find clothes that fit his body for me. Ja-hyun looked away from me and looked at the shed.

‘Stop playing around with that mouth and get in.’

“Uh? You heard that too. Wait, where are you going? Back to your room now?”

“That is none of your business.”

At some point, Ja-hyun and I were in close range.

As soon as a shadow appeared in front of Eun-young, she quickly got down and put her head behind my waist.

As that sight was distracting, Ja-hyun stopped.

“Why is she doing that?”

“Ah, that….”

Although he said nothing, the face looking down at the child’s head said, ‘Whenever you make a fuss every morning, saying you want to see me,’ despite him not saying it out loud.

‘Are you paying attention to her because she is a child?’

Well. I wasn't sure of that. I answered gently, stroking Eun-young on her head.

“It is because she is flustered. If she keeps watching you, she will be fine.”

“…”

“Ah, you wonder why she is flustered? Right, Ja-hyun is so han…!”

Woah, I gulped back a curse inside as the hand gently grabbed onto the thigh.

Euk, Eun-young. Unnie is hurting, okay! Fine. I won't say anything.

While I was being pinched by my sister on the thigh. Ja-hyun looked at us like he was watching the strangest thing and passed by, walking away.