SMW 49

Just as I turned back, intending to go and pour the ribs into the pot myself since Choi Seol wouldn’t, a sudden, powerful gust of wind swept in.

“Whoa!”

The wind pressure was so strong that it physically pushed me back. Dried leaves, swept up by the gale, landed atop my disheveled hair. I stood there for a moment, unable to gather my senses, until the surroundings suddenly fell silent.

“Is it starting to look like a typhoon?”

At Choi Seol’s words, I looked back to see that even the cat’s food bowl had been knocked over. Around the scattered kibble, the cats, including Il-sun-i, were huddled far away, crouching warily as if startled by the wind.

“We should make some preparations.”

Choi Seol said as he righted the cat’s bowl. I nodded.

“Let’s start after we eat. Braised ribs…”

“They need to simmer for at least an hour, so we can’t have them for breakfast.”

Tsk, what a shame. Then again, the taste of saving them for visit our sitedinner [unauthorized copy]is a delicacy in its own right, so I figured I could bear it.

“Then dinner is braised ribs. Even if you’re the one who got them, I’m the one on duty, so I’m definitely making that.”

“Do whatever you want.”

While Choi Seol went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast, I looked up at the sky. The sky was blue, the sunlight clear, and the surroundings quiet, as if the strong wind had never happened. It felt like the calm before a storm. Since a typhoon was indeed expected to hit soon, it wasn’t a wrong comparison, but for some reason, my heart felt restless.

I thought it would be full autumn once the typhoon passed, but I had a feeling that winter was about to crash in.

“Wow. Are the rice plants already ripe?”

The moment I stepped onto the path by the rice paddies, I let out an exclamation at the golden waves unfolding before my eyes. In response to my reaction, Choi Seol, who had been walking silently beside me, tossed a comment.

“Not ‘already.’ They’ve been like that since Chuseok.”

“True, I have been cooped up in my room for too long.”

“So you do realize. It’s nice to be out, isn’t it?”

Normally, I would have glared at him for the light teasing in his voice, but since I was in a good mood, I answered him obediently.

“It is nice. But aren’t you going to run?”

Since he couldn’t exercise in the morning, he said he’d go in the evening, and I had impulsively joined him for a walk. I hadn’t yet made a firm resolution to start exercising, but I knew how beautiful the autumn paddy paths were. Above all, the sunset slowly coloring the golden fields was a special luxury that only those living in the countryside could enjoy in autumn.

“I’m just going for a walk today. It’d be a waste since I finally came out with you.”

I told him to stop hitting me with those sudden lines.

Despite telling me not to mind his confessions, Choi Seol showed no hesitation in his choice of words or in revealing his feelings. Yet, he wasn’t blatantly aggressive, making it awkward to call him out. Thanks to that, I was only getting better at the art of evasion.

“Wow, so many flowers have bloomed. Are those cosmos?”

From cosmos to nameless autumn wildflowers, they bloomed along the paddy path. Pretending to admire the flowers, I drifted slightly away from Choi Seol. I had started looking at them as an excuse, but I quickly became immersed in the flowers that harmonized with the autumn fields. Then, my gaze happened to fall upon a small, white flower.

“What was the name of this one again?”

“Buckwheat flower.”

Hearing the answer, I turned around to find that Choi Seol had already approached me.

“Buckwheat flower?”

“Probably. I looked it up before.”

“Oh, I didn’t know Choi Seol took an interest in flowers.”

“…”

“Come to think of it, flowers are something anyone can be interested in. I like flowers too. I used to look up all the flower languages and everything. Right, what was the language of the buckwheat flower?”

The gaze he held while remaining silent was unusual. Fearing he might make another sudden move, I quickly played dumb. It was just as I pulled out my phone to search for the meaning of the buckwheat flower.

“It goes well with roses.”

“Huh?”

“The buckwheat flower. It’s white, small, and cute.”

“Ah… I see.”

Fortunately, it wasn’t a line that felt like a direct attack, but for some reason, my heart fluttered. I had a lingering feeling, as if I were missing something important.

That thought didn’t last long.

“A cat.”

At Choi Seol’s low murmur, I turned my head and spotted a brown cat. It seemed to be walking toward us, but upon discovering us, it quickly ducked into the rice paddy.

“I think it’s a cat I’ve never seen before.”

Choi Seol asked as if seeking agreement. I nodded.

“I’ve never seen it either. Cats rarely leave their own territory, so it must be a guy who lives around here.”

“Then we can cross him off the list of suspects.”

“Suspect? Ah!”

The moment realization hit me, my eyes snapped toward the paddy where the cat had disappeared.

“That one, it looked like a male, right?”

“Judging by the size, it seemed so.”

Would Il-sun-i have come all the way here? I had seen her wandering near the entrance of the paddy path a few times. Then was that guy the one who got Il-sun-i pregnant? My eyes widened automatically.

“I see… I’m going to catch him right now and send him to the vet.”

Just as I rolled up my sleeves and stepped forward, Choi Seol stopped me.

“Calm down. We don’t have any tools to capture it right now anyway.”

“I can just borrow some from Noona.”

“Hae-sook-ssi?”

“Yeah. Hae-sook… Hey, I told you not to call her that.”

Knowing I felt awkward, he was determined to tease me. When I turned serious, Choi Seol smiled, clearly finding it amusing. Look at this obnoxious brat. I felt pathetic for having been so anxious because of him until a moment ago.

Should I just kick him in the shin? As I pondered, the autumn background of the sunset suddenly made Choi Seol look incredibly beautiful. I’ll let it slide because he’s handsome.

“I just sent a text. Noona will contact me when she gets off work.”

“Why?”

“Huh? Because of her job, she doesn’t know what I’m doing during work hours, so it’s a bit much to just call out of the blue.”

“No, wouldn’t explaining it via text be Read on Read BL NovelsRead on Read BL Novelsenough? There’s no need to stolen contentcontact her again.”

“Well, because we have to meet.”

“Do you really need to meet separately?”

I was slightly flustered by his prickly reaction.

“If you ask ‘really,’ I don’t have much to say, but I don’t like writing long texts, and since she’s right next door, it’s faster to explain in person. And while we’re at it, we can have a smoke.”

“Smoking?”

Choi Seol’s eyebrows, which were already furrowed, now shot up. Come to think of it, on the first day, he absolutely hated it when I tried to smoke. Since then, I had never smoked in front of Choi Seol once. Perhaps as a rebellion against that, I always made sure to take a cigarette with me whenever I went to meet Noona.

“Did you always meet this often to smoke together?”

Often? Is meeting once or twice a week considered often? Thinking back, it used to be once every few weeks, almost once a month. In that sense, it was true that I saw her more often than before, but that was because I was consulting her about Choi Seol’s issues. Everything we talked about was about Choi Seol anyway.

Even so, there was nothing to be ashamed of. It wasn’t like I smoked in secret, and since I smelled like cigarettes when I came back, I assumed he knew. Why was he being so sensitive, and why was I feeling so intimidated?

“I guess so. Noona is the only person in this neighborhood I can smoke with.”

“Why is she the only one?”

“Then who else is there? The grandmas and grandpas?”

Choi Seol was silent. Well, I had just thrown that out there, but the thought of smoking with the elderly made me feel like I’d choke on the smoke. It would be much better to smoke with someone my own age whom I’d just met…

Wait a minute. Same age?

Could it be that the ‘someone’ Choi Seol was talking about…

I looked at Choi Seol. His gaze, which had been fixed on me with tightly closed lips, was now finally showing a hint of resentment. It was a look that made it impossible not to know the answer.

“You don’t… No, that can’t be it.”

“Why not?”

Oh my god. It really is.

“You’re a minor right now.”

At that moment, Choi Seol’s expression hardened in disbelief.

“Did I find out that [stolen content]I [visit our site]Read on Read BL Novelsdon’t have amnesia, but instead have a disease where I age backward?”

“That’s not it, you said with your own mouth that you’re seventeen right now.”

“That was because that’s the point my memories returned to. Even if my memories are like that, it doesn’t mean my body is seventeen, does it?”

That’s true. A seventeen-year-old couldn’t possibly have such a magnificent body. I was almost swayed by the overwhelming persuasiveness of that argument.

“Still, no. In the first place, how can I offer a cigarette when I don’t even know if you’re a smoker or a non-smoker?”

“I’ll know once I try it.”

“You’re actually going to smoke?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“You said it. That the only person to smoke with is that police officer.”

In the end, he was saying he hated that I met Noona.

“You’re jealous of Noona right now, aren’t you?”

“I like you, so isn’t it natural?”

Please, at least use a turn signal before diving in.

Maybe it’s because I think of him as seventeen, but while I felt he was truly mature when we were the same age, now he felt like a child being honest with his emotions. Rather than feeling burdened by that fact, I found it cute, and without realizing it, I reached out.

“You rascal, do you like your big brother that much?”

As I lightly stroked his hair, Choi Seol looked flustered.

“What kind of cosplay is this now?”

“What do you mean? It’s just that a seventeen-year-old’s jealousy is too cute.”

“What? Ah, stop it.”

Had I suddenly fallen for him? Whether it was because of the word ‘cute’ or because he disliked having his hair touched, the way he frowned was adorable. Yet, seeing him hesitate, unable to firmly reject my touch, gave me a subtle sense of pleasure, and I became even more immersed in the roleplay.

“I told you to stop.”

“Aww, is that so? Was it too embarrassing to get head-pats from your big brother?”

“Han Yeo-reum.”

“Uh-uh, you should call me ‘brother.’ There’s a ten-year difference, after all.”

Choi Seol let out a hollow laugh. Seeing that he couldn’t refute it, it seemed he had been defeated by my eloquence. For the first time, I sensed victory. Recalling the years I had been pushed around by this guy, both mentally and physically, brought a fresh wave of emotion.

“I told you to stop.”

“Hey, don’t be so shy.”

“Don’t regret this.”

“Ooh, now he’s even threatening his big brother… Ack, hey!”

Suddenly, my body floated into the air. Choi Seol had grabbed me by the waist and lifted me up, causing my upper body to tilt forward. In a hurry, I braced myself against whatever was there, and it happened to be Choi Seol’s broad and firm shoulder. As I looked up in bewilderment, I saw the winner’s smile I had been wearing just a moment ago.

“Choi Seol, put me down right now!”

“I clearly told you not to regret this.”

“What does that have to do with this?”

“Why? Does it hurt your pride to be carried by a kid?”

“You’re really…”

It was then. The sound of a car could be heard from a distance.