My Feisty Sisters Are Coming After Me

Chapter 47

—–CROW—– 

My blood ran cold.

I thought the second floor was quiet the night I talked with the noonas… was Hwa-yeon awake?

“What’s wrong, why aren’t you saying anything? Oppa, is it really true?”

“True? What is?”

“Does Geum-bi unnie really like you? Not as family, but romantically?”

“Wh-what are you talking about out of the blue… *sip*.”

I avoided her gaze and took a sip of the latte I had made for practice.

Ugh, I failed to adjust the ratio. It’s too bitter.

‘Haa, calm down, Yang Ji-gu. Judging by what she’s saying, she doesn’t seem to know the details, so don’t panic and give yourself away.’

I swallowed my saliva along with the latte, but didn’t back down any further.

If Hwa-yeon had heard everything from the beginning, it wouldn’t be strange if she slapped me right now.

The fact that she was testing the waters like this meant that she had only overheard the end of the conversation.

‘The end… must have been when Geum-bi noona was making a fuss about liking me or not. Okay, that much is fine.’

It’s no big deal.

I could just make an excuse about talking about liking and loving each other within the family.

I put down the mug and turned to Hwa-yeon with a gentle smile.

“I think you’re misunderstanding something, nothing happened with Geum-bi noona.”

“Liar.”

“Huh?! Wh-why do you think I’m lying?”

“Because your expression is super disgusting. It’s creepy, stop making that weird smile. I feel like hitting you.”

“Th-this…!”

I tried to calmly clear up Hwa-yeon’s misunderstanding, but I tripped over my words from the start.

Right, I forgot. Unlike the noonas, logic doesn’t work on her.

“Your expression makes it even more obvious. You have a guilty conscience, don’t you? Right?”

“…It’s just a baseless assumption. My expression is like this because you’re saying such strange things, Hwa-yeon.”

“See, your replies are getting slower too. What is it? Did Geum-bi unnie seriously confess to you or something?”

“What nonsense are you talking about since earlier? What serious confession between family members? Even if she did, it would just be talk of familial affection.”

“Hmm~ So, you’re admitting that Geum-bi unnie confessed, right?”

“How did you even reach that conclusion?”

“Since unnie said she loves you, you’re probably trying to make an excuse. Otherwise, you would have just dismissed it by saying you never heard anything like that from the beginning.”

Sharp, this girl.

Is this analytical ability a family trait? She takes after the noonas in all the wrong ways.

‘Right. I should have ignored her completely. I fell into her pace from the moment I responded instead of focusing on coffee practice.’

When I showed signs of distress, Hwa-yeon closed in as if she had caught my tail.

It was too close a distance for ordinary employees, and I could hear some customers whispering from afar.

But Hwa-yeon, a veteran part-timer, didn’t care about her job and continued to poke my chest.

“Come on, tell me honestly. What did unnie say? That she couldn’t hide her feelings anymore? That she wants to… date you or something? Kyaa~!”

“Are you a teenage girl in puberty? This isn’t a TV drama, you’re writing a whole novel here.”

“The trend these days isn’t dramas, it’s variety shows. You see that kind of thing a lot in dating shows, don’t you know?”

“That kind of thing? What kind of thing?”

“A woman who can’t hide her feelings and aggressively pursues someone. That’s totally Geum-bi unnie’s image, isn’t it?”

“That’s true… No, it’s not! Whatever unnie’s dating style is, why would it be directed at me? That’s the biggest problem!”

“Why are you asking something so obvious? Oppa, do you really think I don’t know anything?”

“Know… what…?”

“Hmm~ Wow, this hurts my pride. How could you think I’m such a clueless idiot?”

What’s with this attitude?

Is there something else I don’t know?

‘Could it be that Hwa-yeon… realized that one of us three is adopted?’

I was hiding it from my younger siblings, but in retrospect, it wasn’t a difficult deduction.

Since they were out of the age range for adoption. It was a natural line of thought, ugh?

“Hey, Yang Hwa-yeon? Even if that’s the case, this is too close… H-huh?!”

“Heup, look at you making weird noises. Funny.”

“Are you, are you crazy? Where did your hand just…!”

“Hey, touch? I just grazed you slightly. Why are you so surprised by this?”

“I-I can’t help but be surprised?! Your hand just rubbed my ass…!”

Mid-sentence, I lowered my voice, conscious of the surrounding gazes.

Hwa-yeon, on the other hand, just wiggled her hand under the counter and smirked as if nothing had happened.

“Hee, oppa patted my ass a lot when I was little, didn’t you? Why are you making a fuss?”

“What?! Hey, when did I!”

“You used to do it often until I was in kindergarten? Imitating the unnies.”

“That was when you were a baby! I haven’t touched you since you started elementary school!”

“Anyway. I was just getting back at you for what you did back then. Don’t get so worked up.”

“How can I not get worked up?! And I patted you because you were cute back then, you openly… groped me!”

“Ah, I just grazed you a little. Just a little touch, a little bump, okay?”

“Ha, this is unfair. Is there no CCTV here? Let’s analyze the footage.”

“Don’t worry. I already checked, they don’t film under the counter.”

“…What are you doing during work that you’ve even checked the CCTV angles?”

Hwa-yeon whistled at the unfavorable question and glossed over it.

Her reaction was absurd, but I was curious as to why she groped me, and the frustration in my chest only grew.

“Haa, hey. Tell me honestly. If you don’t explain yourself properly, I’m really going to get angry.”

“Hey~ can’t this happen between family? You’re being too sensitive, it’s even more suspicious.”

“Suspicious or not, this is something to be upset about.”

“Because oppa isn’t our family?”

“That’s not the issue…… huh? What?”

“Ah, sorry. I misspoke. Of course, oppa is our family too, yeah.”

“Yeah, that’s right. What are you saying that’s so obvious…”

“It’s just that you’re not related by blood to us sisters. Right?”

“…Huh?”

Hwa-yeon had said countless absurd things so far.

But this line was by far the most shocking.

The sentence itself didn’t register in my mind, so I blinked and focused on interpreting it.

Meanwhile, Hwa-yeon smiled proudly as if she was even more certain.

“Actually~ I figured it out a long time ago. Seeing Su-jeong unnie always counseling oppa in his room, and even Geum-bi unnie, who wasn’t like that before, taking care of oppa and meeting him often, anyone who didn’t know would be an idiot, right?”

“No, wait. Then Hwa-yeon, are you saying that I…”

“Yes, everything makes sense if oppa is adopted! No wonder you’ve been too close to the unnies lately… hehe. I’ll understand if that’s the case. How distressed you must have been~ oppa.”

Hwa-yeon closed her eyes, nodded, and twirled her hair.

It looked like she understood my feelings, but also seemed proud of herself for noticing.

I was so dumbfounded that I was speechless.

“But, that was a bit unexpected.”

“…What? What else is there?”

“What we were talking about earlier. Haa, even though you were always close, I never thought things would turn out like that.”

“Huh?”

“Geum-bi unnie fell in love with oppa, right? And seriously, too.”

“……”

“She must have gradually developed feelings while listening to distressed oppa’s stories. Geum-bi unnie, even though she doesn’t seem like it, is surprisingly simple, heh.”

“……”

“Ah, so what does oppa think? This is the most important part, I forgot about it until now, hehe.”

Hwa-yeon then looked at me with sparkling eyes.

Her face looked exactly like when she was engrossed in the TV in the living room, and I was still speechless.

‘How can she be so simple… no, open-minded? Is this the younger generation? What were the noonas and I even worried about…’

Every day was complicated just because one of us wasn’t a blood relative.

Hwa-yeon reacted as if she was watching a TV show. It wasn’t even about someone else living far away.

‘Is it because she’s not directly involved? She’s treating me so warmly, it’s actually quite impressive…’

It was a misconception, but she thought I wasn’t her biological brother.

She treated me comfortably without any awkwardness.

“Huh? Wait, then Hwa-yeon, you touching my ass earlier…?”

“Ah, right. Since we’re not blood-related, oppa reacted so sensitively, right? Hehe, seeing it with my own eyes, I understood for sure. Actually, I was a little worried if my guess was right~”

“…You were convinced that we weren’t blood-related because I freaked out?”

“Oh, and keep this a secret from Geum-bi unnie, okay? I still only see oppa as family… it would be troublesome if there were unnecessary misunderstandings between us sisters, hehe.”

After a long period of confusion, I asked, retracing my most recent actions.

Hwa-yeon clasped her hands together and begged me to keep it a secret from Geum-bi noona.

Her mindset of not wanting to fight over a guy with her sister was admirable.

“Huh? What, oppa? Why are you suddenly coming closer… huh? Augh, oppa?!”

But everything else about her thinking was wrong, so I clenched my fists and pressed them against Hwa-yeon’s temples.

While expressing the feelings I’d been holding back.

“Even blood siblings would be shocked if you suddenly grabbed their ass?! Are you kidding me right now?!”

“Augh, it hurts, oppa! It really hurts, don’t twist my head.”

“You deserve to be hurt. Let’s see what’s inside that head of yours today, huh?!”

“Ouch, ouch, why, why are you doing this, uwaa~!”

While correcting the very flawed family values of this girl.

Imagining what her reaction would have been if I had groped *her* ass made me even angrier, so I didn’t stop.

“Hey, then what would you do if I touched your ass? Would you just calmly say, ‘It’s okay because we’re family~’?”

“Are you crazy? I’d immediately tell the unnies, and sue you or get a settlement… no, get more allowance, ouch!”

“You deserve to be punished a little more. You said the CCTV doesn’t film under the counter, right? Would you like to sit down for a bit, my dear sister?”

“N-no… what are you going to do? No, don’t do this, oppa. We’re siblings, we can’t do this… aack!”

“Are you going to keep talking nonsense?! Fine, let’s see one of us die today!”

It was a cafe as hot as the inside of an espresso machine, but I was a merciful older brother, so I didn’t torment her for too long.

I only punished her for about 7 minutes and 30 seconds… until a new customer entered the cafe.

‘My head is already complicated… and she made it even worse. Tsk.’

Hwa-yeon had given me quite a scare in many ways.

But there was one thing she said that wasn’t 100% wrong.

‘I… need to talk properly with Geum-bi noona about what happened last time.’

I had glossed over it because I was flustered then.

But I couldn’t leave things like this forever.

I thought I would contact noona after work and meet her separately.

…If I hadn’t received a call from *another* noona.

[Ji-gu. I heard Geum-bi is working late today, can you meet me for a bit before she comes back?]

I had a feeling that the misunderstandings weren’t just with Hwa-yeon.

—–CROW—–