A-Young kept fanning herself with her hand, her gaze still fixed on the two of us.
Under that stare, Park Eun-ji quietly shifted her seat to the side.
Eun-ji, with an awkward expression, mimicked A-young and started fanning herself too.
"…Haa, it's so hot. Isn't there a fan in the room?"
A flush spread across Park A-young's face, like a perfectly ripe peach.
Her clear, translucent skin made her cheeks stand out even more, and combined with her damp, bright-yellow hair, it created a strangely alluring vibe.
The bleach job was excessive, but the bright yellow suited A-young surprisingly well.
It was the kind of hair color that shouldn't have matched her face at all—something you'd never imagine her with.
But now, it looked as if it had always been her natural color.
Like she was wearing clothes tailored just for her.
The dissonance between the girl I once knew and the one in front of me now.
Her hair, which used to be jet black.
But… I didn't hate that dissonance.
"…W-what? Why are you staring? D-did I… get something on my face? I just washed up."
Had she noticed my lingering gaze? She touched her face self-consciously.
Her skin was flawless, clean without a speck of makeup, soft and innocent.
"Oh, hold on."
I stood up abruptly.
Just like when Eun-ji had suddenly dashed out of my room earlier, this was definitely an impulsive move.
"Huh? Wha—?"
A-young looked bewildered.
Keeping my composure as best I could, I reached out and pretended to brush something off her face.
"Here, there was… a hair stuck to you."
I made a show of flicking away nothing, then quickly dusted off my hands to destroy the "evidence."
"…Done."
"Ah, thanks."
"…What are you doing?"
"Huh?"
"I said, what the hell are you two doing?"
Eun-ji's glare was sharp as she watched us.
True to her promise to kill me if I messed with her sister, her reaction was fiery.
"I just got a hair off her face, that's all?"
"...."
She had no real comeback.
Throwing a fit over something as trivial as removing a stray hair? That'd make her a legit psycho.
"Haa…"
Eun-ji exhaled sharply and shot me a glare.
"Hah… haha…"
Who does this bitch think she is?
Far from cooling down, Eun-ji only grew more furious at my little "touch."
"Are you seriously picking a fight over nothing again?"
"…Nothing? You call that nothing?"
"Yeah. You've always been obsessed with Do-hyun, like you're dying to have him."
"…Haa, unnie. You really don't get it, do you? That little—aaah!"
She couldn't control her rising anger.
It was like watching someone with rage issues.
But once again, I just waved my phone teasingly in front of her.
Like dangling catnip in front of a pissed-off cat.
"Ha… huu… haaa…"
"…Why are you mad at Do-hyun?"
A-young's eyes were full of suspicion.
She blinked her big, round eyes, looking back and forth between me and Eun-ji.
"…Forget it. Just… don't get too close to him."
"Too close? We live right next to each other! How am I supposed to avoid him?"
Eun-ji and I weren't what you'd call childhood friends—at least, not the sweet, heart-fluttering kind.
If anything, our relationship was more like a strict hierarchy.
Others might not see it, but to me, it was definitely the latter.
Maybe that's why A-young always pitied me.
Sympathy… Pathetic as it sounds, the look she gave me was pure sympathy.
She must've thought I was miserable, because she'd gone out of her way to take care of me more than once.
And she was doing it now, too.
Glancing at me with that same sorry expression.
Her lips twitched as she looked at her sister.
"…So, where's your mom?"
"Work."
"Ah… Then why'd you call Do-hyun over?"
"…Me? Call him…?"
I played dumb.
Eun-ji glared at me like I was spouting nonsense.
"…You asked me to help with the recycling…"
"...I did?"
"Yeah, you totally did."
I made up some excuse.
It'd be weirder if I had no reason to be in their house.
"Stop bossing Do-hyun around. You're so lazy."
"…Unnie, you're not one to talk."
"Why not?"
"You're the one who made me dump the work on him because you wouldn't do it."
"Y-you could've just done it yourself! And… I'm pretty sure you said you'd handle it…?"
"Now you're gaslighting me?"
"…What? I'm serious!"
Honestly, they were both the same.
Neither had the right to criticize the other.
The only real difference was that Eun-ji resorted to violence with me.
A-young didn't.
That was the stark contrast.
"Ugh, whatever… I'm too hot. I'm getting the fan."
Thud, thud—
She still seemed overheated.
Watching A-young like this kept putting indecent thoughts in my head.
...If this were the past, I'd never have thought this way… But her flushed face kept triggering dirty ideas.
"H-hey! Why are you going there?!"
Eun-ji's room.
A-young headed straight for it, and Eun-ji quickly blocked her path.
"…What? I just want to use the fan."
"But the living room AC is fine! Why do you need the fan all of a sudden…?"
"An AC and a fan aren't the same. They serve different purposes."
A-young lifted a damp strand of her hair.
"Ugh, fine. You have a hairdryer in your room, right?"
"…Why are you being like this? Ow—don't grab me so hard!"
Eun-ji's reaction was suspicious as hell.
She was really against letting A-young into her room.
And that weird resistance just made me more curious.
I had no idea why she was acting like this, but her reluctance made me want to push even harder.
"Noona."
"Huh? Wh-what?"
I went for it—boldly grabbing A-young's wrist.
This was the first time I'd ever touched her like this, skin-to-skin.
It might've been an overreaction to assign meaning to it, but firsts always stick in your memory.
And I could swear her cheeks turned even redder.
That made it worth it.
Eun-ji's eyes nearly bulged out of her skull.
"…What the hell are you doing?"
"What?"
"…Why are you holding unnie's hand?"
Her reaction was even more extreme than I'd expected.
She was scowling like crazy, as if she'd forgotten A-young was even there.
I'd wanted to provoke her, but not this much.
"Her hair's still wet. She'll catch a cold."
At the mention of her being "wet," her eyebrow twitched.
"…Since when do you care if unnie gets sick?"
"Why are you being so mean…?"
A-young's quiet complaint slipped out between us.
I tugged her wrist slightly closer to me.
"…Let go. Unless you wanna die."
"Eun-ji! Seriously, what's your problem…? My wrist hurts!"
"Ah…"
Yank— Eun-ji pulled A-young toward herself.
But A-young resisted, pushing her away.
"Ah, ssigh… Did you not hear me say it hurts?"
Eun-ji looked shocked.
Probably because A-young was now standing right next to me.
"…You two are acting weird… Are you filming some prank show or something…?"
A-young glanced between us, suspicious.
I awkwardly smiled and took her wrist again, leading her away.
"H-hey, where are you going?"
"To dry your hair."
"Hmm…"
"Hey, you—! Ugh, seriously…!"
Ignoring Eun-ji's annoyed voice, I slowly walked toward her room.
"…She's acting even weirder than usual today. She wasn't this bad before."
"You think?"
"Yeah. She's always been prickly, but not like this…"
A-young really didn't know her sister at all.
I smirked internally.
Despite Eun-ji's protests, I finally stepped into the room.
"The fan's over there."
Next to the vanity.
A-young immediately sat on the vanity stool and turned the fan toward her face.
"Hmm… So nice."
"Ugh, god… Take it outside! Why are you two acting up in my room?!"
Eun-ji, who'd followed us in, still looked pissed.
The sweet scent of shampoo wafted through the fan's breeze, tickling my nose.
"…Sniff, sniff."
A fresh, fruity fragrance.
A mix of different fruits—hard to pin down exactly what.
But there was something else mixed in.
"…Do you smell something in here?"
A faint scent.
Easy to miss if you weren't paying attention.
But to me, it was… familiar.
Every time A-young glanced around, Eun-ji's face burned even redder.
"W-what smell?!"
"I don't… It's just, I've never smelled it before… Sniff, sniff."
"S-stop that! Why are you sniffing around in my room?!"
Eun-ji panicked, but A-young just smirked, amused.
"Oh, I know what this is."
"Stop!"
"You know?"
There was no way I wouldn't recognize it.
The heat from that day hadn't faded at all.
And traces of it were still lingering in Eun-ji's room.
Memories of what happened flashed through my mind.
"What is it? I feel like I should know, but…"
A scent only virgins and the inexperienced wouldn't recognize.
Eun-ji's room was still filled with evidence of what we'd done.