.  ‘Oh, my god! This is making me so uncomfortable!’ Pulling the giant teddy bear into my arms, I hid my face more onto Yeo Dan oppa’s back. Other people showed a weird expression on their faces.

  I was almost about to cry. A couple wandering around the town on a weekend evening, especially the girl hugging a teddy bear in her arms… I also knew how this would look like in others’ eyes.

  The boys were the first to burst into a loud cheer. Swarming into Yeo Dan oppa, they asked, “Dude, what’s going on? We heard that Kim Sun Woo let you go join the group hangout on behalf of him.”


  One of the boys suddenly raised his hand to cover his mouth with tears in his eye. ‘Oh,’ I murmured, ‘I know that behavior pattern…’


  Everyone then began to perform a soap opera again while holding the wall or prostrating themselves near the couch.

  “Yeo Dan, mommy can… now die in peace!”


  “Hey, get out of my face! Why are we a couple?”


  “You all shut up. Honestly, I’m the one who raised Ban Yeo Dan since he was a baby.”


  Listening to their craps, I wondered, ‘How did Yeo Dan oppa befriend these people?’ I had been thinking about a theory that Yeo Dan oppa’s friends acted frivolously in order to balance out the average temperature between them and Yeo Dan oppa, who was too calm. Was that theory happening to fit the fact?

  If that also wasn’t… perhaps, wouldn’t this be the perfectly born Yeo Dan oppa’s only karma? Considering that Yeo Dan oppa’s life would run just so smoothly, God might have sprinkled some seasoning for him, which would be those friends.

  Rambling such rude thoughts about the strangers, I looked back when someone suddenly tapped my shoulders. Two girls, who each had yellow and red hair shining under the karaoke light, were looking at me.

  ‘Who… Who are they??’ I tried to step back with a flinch. Before I was about to take that action, the two girls raised their hands and slowly brought them close to my cheek.

  Having been through a similar experience, I came up with a bad thought instinctively. ‘Cheek? Are they trying to slap me in the face?’ I glanced at Yeo Dan oppa, but his friends were holding him with no way out, so he couldn’t look in my direction at all.

  ‘What should I do?’ That was when I closed my eyes tightly.

  “Oh, my god, look how soft her cheeks are!”


  One of the girls dropped that remark with no tension, which loosened up the strained atmosphere around my shoulders like a collapsing sandcastle. Feeling her finger poke me in my cheek, I opened my eyes with a blink.

  Poking my cheek gently, the two girls, who wore student uniforms that belonged to a neighborhood high school, were looking captivated as if they were kids who saw a doll for the first time in their life. They exchanged words while touching my cheek.

  “She’s such a baby.”


  “We would have been like her during freshmen, right?”


  “Nah, we didn’t, even in freshmen.”


  What the heck was going on…? I squinted my eyes while looking at the two girls, who were perhaps the same age as Yeo Dan oppa and those whom I had never seen before. Why were they treating me so friendly?

  This was, for real, a strange situation since most of the girls, who were close to Yeo Dan oppa, couldn’t avoid other girls feeling jealous of them. Even Ban Yeo Ryung, his sibling, had to be at the receiving end of the hate from envious people. I mean, what was the matter with brothers and sisters staying close?

  As from having that long history, I was really prepared for being slapped in the face just now. However, I couldn’t get these people. They were fond of me as if I were a puppy or a kitten, instead of a human being. Receiving their love for a while, I was soon dragged to the middle of the couch.

  This time, they made me sit down and handed me some snacks and juice on the table. It felt like I suddenly changed from a dog or cat into a Casanova, who had a group of women beside him.

  “Try this. It’s good.”


  “No, it isn’t. Can’t you see the leftovers? Have this one instead of that.”


  “What beverage do you like? If you don’t have anything from here, I’ll get you one on my way to the bathroom.”


  I couldn’t respond since I had to chew five different kinds of snacks that came into my mouth at once. Barely swallowing the lump, I detached my lips, at last.

  “Uh… e… excuse… me…”


  A moment of silence returned. Those who fought over feeding me first while holding some snacks in their hands turned to look at me altogether.

  “Yeah, what’s up?”


  “I… I am not… Yeo Dan oppa’s sister.”


  That was what I barely brought out since I couldn’t ask them, ‘Why were you being so kind?’


  This was the only reason I could come up with my head upon the amicable reaction they were taking to me. Yeo Ryung didn’t just receive hate from envious people. Some girls tried hard to impress Yeo Ryung, so that they could approach Yeo Dan oppa with less difficulty.

  Thus, weren’t these unnies also treating me this way for the same reason? The assumption sounded very reasonable to me, who was deeply rooted in distrust while living as a next-door neighbor to the Bans for almost four years.

  The girls, however, replied while opening their eyes wide at the same time, “I know. You don’t look like him at all.”


  “And we all know how Ban Yeo Dan’s sister looks like.”


  “How can someone forget her appearance?”


  I emitted a whoop in my thought when someone dropped those words. Oh, that was so true. It really made sense. Whether it was Ban Yeo Ryung or Ban Yeo Dan, no one could forget their appearances regardless of their likes or dislikes and having good memories or not.

  Furrowing my brows, I let out a long wonder, “Um…” but only added inwardly, ‘Then why…?’


  From my attitude, they seemed to grasp why I was being hesitant. Exchanging eye contact for a second, they asked me with a faint smile.

  “Why aren’t we jealous of you, who’s close to Ban Yeo Dan?”


  “Ah… that’s…”


  While I couldn’t nod or shake my head and was even reacting too honest that it might look somehow rude, the girls began to giggle while covering their mouths with their hands. My mind was, once again, facing an unsolved mystery. ‘Eh? What on earth is going on?’


  Yeo Dan oppa had become their topic, but why were they reacting this way? Did something happen that caused a sudden fall in Yeo Dan oppa’s popularity before I had even realized?

  However, I gaped at their response.

  “Do you think Ban Yeo Dan is a man to us? He’s just… an ambassador of his sister.”


  “Excuse me?”


  Someone beside them intervened while nodding her head, “He should be defined as non-binary.”


  “Looking forward to taking his partner position… at least, someone who knew him even a little bit wouldn’t do such a thing.”


  “Exactly, why would someone do that? You would only hear him talking about his sister 24/7.”


  “That’s very true.”


  Listening to their pouring comments, the siren inside me rang intensely.

  ‘Wise man! The wise man has appeared!’ A strong impact struck my head as it did when I first met the Kim twins once I had entered high school.

  While I was being deeply impressed, they gave me a bottle of juice.

  “You must have suffered from staying with him. Take a sip and cheer up.”


  “Why don’t you try this one too?”


  Frozen on the spot for a while, I barely moved my chin to chew and swallow all the different snacks bursting their flavors in my mouth. Watching my reaction, the girls complimented me again while saying, ‘She’s so cute!’


  Receiving a bottle of juice that someone just handed me, I nodded my head politely. I was getting thirsty just in time.

  “Thank you.”


  “Oh, my god! So adorable!!”


  Um, wasn’t it rare for a person to say ‘cute’ when he or she was only a year older? Although I didn’t understand this situation, where I became the number one cutie pie instead of Yeo Dan oppa, I decided to just enjoy the moment since it was such a rare thing to happen. With that thought in mind, I took a big sip of juice.