My Friend’s Little Sister is Special

After receiving a fierce message from my one and only sister.

After eating dinner alone sadly, I was checking my phone when I heard the beeping sound of someone entering the door code, and Ye-rin came in.

“I’m home…”

“You’re back?”

I wasn’t sure whether to be happy or sad that my sister, who never needed a curfew, was coming home late.

Thinking that this would happen more and more often in the future made me feel a little, just a little bit melancholic.

While I was lost in these unnecessary thoughts and emotions, Ye-rin went to her room briefly and then approached me.

“Oppa.”

“Yeah? What is it? Didn’t you say you ate already?”

“No, I did say I ate already…”

But the reason you usually call me at this time is mostly because of dinner.

Since my sister was catastrophically bad at cooking despite being surprisingly good at everything else.

I had answered out of habit, but my response seemed to have upset her.

“Then what is it?”

“Well…”

…Does she need money?

Since Ye-rin was usually very firm with me, I wondered why she was hesitating so much.

As I was waiting for her answer while thinking of a few possibilities, I noticed her eyes turning blue.

It must be about Han Woo-jin.

What on earth has that Han Woo-jin done to someone else’s sister?

My sister’s eyes, which hardly ever changed color at home, had started sparkling like a rainbow whenever anything related to that guy came up since she met him, and I felt a little, just a little bit jealous.

“Oppa, why did you tell Woo-jin oppa about me?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“About my eyes. Oppa, you never used to talk about me…”

Ah, that’s right.

I remembered that they were able to recognize each other when they first met because of what I had said.

Ha, where should I begin?

It wasn’t difficult to explain, but.

If I did, what little dignity I had left as her brother would come crashing down.

But if I didn’t, I didn’t want to be seen as a brother who carelessly spread his sister’s secret around.

Sigh. I took a deep breath before revealing the secret.

“…Ye-rin.”

“Yeees…?”

“Do you know how many friends I have?”

“…? How would I know…?”

My sister answered obediently, though puzzled by my sudden question.

Gulp.

I swallowed hard.

“The correct answer is…none, actually…”

“……?”

……………Ah, I feel like I’m going to die of embarrassment.

This is why I didn’t want to say it.

Looking at my sister’s innocent eyes that seemed to ask what I meant, my heart felt like it was being torn apart.

“But, didn’t you have friends, oppa…? I see you talking to people when you play games…”

“Those are just people I’ve met while gaming. I’ve never seen them in person…”

There are people inside the monitor…

Making this friendless confession in front of my sister was more painful than I expected, and I wanted to die.

I couldn’t even raise my head from the embarrassment.

“O-oppa, I’ve seen you go to friends’ houses a few times…”

“…There were a few at the beginning of the semester or right after we moved. They just disappeared soon after.”

…We were actually a pair of friendless siblings.

My sister closed her mouth with a shocked expression, as if she had never imagined that her older brother could be friendless too.

After a moment of suffocating silence between us.

Soon, Ye-rin broke the silence.

“Why…?”

That single word contained numerous questions.

“W-was it because of me…?”

“Wait, wait. Calm down. That’s absolutely not the case.”

Wondering if she had concluded that I didn’t have friends because of her, Ye-rin’s eyes rapidly turned gray.

“Really. It’s not like that. It’s just… well… it’s a bit awkward to say this myself, but I’m quite popular, you know?”

“Mmhmm, I thought so.”

Ye-rin nodded as if something had occurred to her.

“What do you mean ‘I thought so’…? Anyway, as you know well, being popular isn’t always a good thing.”

“…Yes.”

Others might call it a privileged complaint, but it was a misfortune for us siblings at least.

“Boys aren’t any different. Of course, at first there were a few who approached me, but… a girl who a friend liked, a girl someone was dating, girls from my class. After receiving confessions from them one after another, I found myself with no one around me.”

My sister nodded as if she understood.

We’re siblings, after all.

“I guess it’s a blessing that I wasn’t bullied or anything. Right?”

I tried to speak lightheartedly in a funny way, but.

It was already too late for my kindhearted sister.

My heart ached seeing her hang her head as if upset.

“After receiving so much attention, at some point I could tell just by looking at people’s eyes.”

Ah, this person likes me.

They dislike me.

They’re jealous of me.

They envy me.

Of course, Ye-rin’s influence also played a big role in my ability to read people’s gazes, but I kept that buried deep in my heart.

There was no need to make my sister, who was already sad for me, even sadder.

“So when I entered middle school and went into the classroom, it was the same all over again. No, maybe it was even worse? I was thinking that middle school life wouldn’t be easy either, but then.”

I still vividly remember. In that unfamiliar scenery, only.

That guy was different.

“Just one person. One among them looked at me normally. Just indifferently. Even for a professional loner like me, I didn’t want to spend middle school alone from the start. Thinking I had nothing to lose, I approached him.”

And the result was.

“It was amazing. As you might have guessed, that was Han Woo-jin.”

I took a sip of water as the story was getting longer than expected.

“It’s not like I wanted it to be this way, but. He never once resented me or showed jealousy, even though he constantly saw me receiving confessions and random girls going to him asking to introduce them to me.”

Of course, he would grumble and complain each time, but the fact that he only showed that much and let it go was no different from being a great person.

If it were just one or two knocks, maybe it would be understandable.

But as they piled up, even a shallowly built friendship would normally collapse.

“Then one day, as usual, I received a confession from a girl whose name I didn’t know, but it turned out she was someone an iljin liked. So I got called out, you know.”

Since this wasn’t the first time and I was somewhat confident in my fighting ability, I went boldly.

“But as soon as I saw him, I thought ‘I can’t win against this guy.’ So I decided to just take one hit quickly and be done with it, but.”

Remembering that time, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Suddenly Han Woo-jin appeared and blocked the guy, asking what he was doing. You know what? Han Woo-jin is really good at fighting. I found out later that he had followed me because he was worried.”

“…Did Woo-jin oppa get hurt then?”

“I was the one who almost got hurt. Woo-jin played the role of getting hurt.”

“So Woo-jin oppa did get hurt?”

“This is really sad…”

They say raising a sister is useless.

I felt like shedding a tear seeing her worry about someone else’s brother without any concern for her own.

“Anyway, how could we not become friends after that? I thought he might be able to get along well with us siblings, so I told him about you. I thought it would be nice if you could hang out with us someday. …Though I never imagined you two would meet before that.”

After finishing the long story, my throat was dry, so I took another sip of water.

The beginning of the story was somewhat tragic, but.

Now, both I and Ye-rin were beginning to feel happiness, so wasn’t that good?

I just hoped the ending would be a comedy.

“…Thank you, oppa.”

“Huh?”

“Because thanks to you, I was able to meet Woo-jin oppa…”

Looking at Ye-rin, who was smiling warmly at me with orange eyes as if she was truly grateful, I thought:

Well. Is that really the case?

In the past, I would have scoffed at the idea of fate or destiny, but.

Seeing how quickly they had been drawn to each other and become entangled from just one small thread I had thrown out.

I wondered if there might be such a thing as destiny after all.

I just accelerated the timing a bit.

Those two would have met and fallen for each other somehow, wouldn’t they?

Or maybe I was just wishing for it while watching my sister, who was happy in front of me.

That these two precious people to me were destined for each other.

“By the way, oppa.”

“Yes?”

“Have you ever thought about having a girlfriend?”

“……Suddenly?”

As I asked, puzzled by Ye-rin’s random question, what followed was an equally random announcement.

“You should probably think about it…?”

…What on earth does that mean?

**

First, let me clarify that I am absolutely not a pervert.

I have no interest in strange sexual preferences…

Well, maybe a little interest, but I could proudly say I have a very normal sexual orientation.

The reason I’m making this disclaimer late at night is.

—Sigh.

As I carefully lay down on the bed, I seemed to smell a sweet strawberry scent instead of the usual mint.

It’s because of this(?).

No, this is unavoidable.

Thanks to Ye-rin, who for some reason had rolled around on my bed earlier today.

My bed and blanket were fully permeated with Ye-rin’s scent.

This is nice………um, nice…..

I’m definitely not a pervert….. This is just, yes, that kind of thing….

For some reason, not just the bed and blanket, but even the pillow seemed to have Ye-rin’s scent, but that was fine.

Feeling an indescribable comfort, I threw myself completely onto the bed and hugged the blanket, which gave me the feeling as if Ye-rin was in my arms.

As if Ye-rin was beside me.

Just as my eyes were starting to close, intoxicated by Ye-rin’s scent, my phone, placed next to the pillow, buzzed.

Damn, it was nice.

“Who is it?” I irritably opened my phone, and my half-closed eyes flew wide open.

[Seo Ye-rin]

-Oppa, are you free on Saturday…?

I felt two emotions simultaneously.

The joy of receiving a message from Ye-rin first, and.

Why? WHY now of all times?

I have plans on Saturday…

……Is it a girl?

As soon as I read the message, a call came in.

[Seo Ye-rin]

Come on, Ye-rin. You should at least give me time to answer….

I felt like Ye-rin was beside me again, but in a different sense from before….