Chapter 1 Part 11 "There's nothing wrong with your body." Yeo Saebyeok said that while sitting in the chair beside the bed.
He was acting completely like a guardian. It was insane after all.
"So I got hit by a car and wound up inside my twenty-nine-year-old body?"
"...What is this, a comic? They say it's retrograde memory loss."
"Memory loss? A movie?"
"I'd rather it were a movie too. Me too." Yeo Saebyeok let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead.
My head hurt too. What on earth was all this?
"Giha. There's something I need to tell you." Yeo Saebyeok called me in a heavy voice.
Why was he suddenly putting on weight like that? No matter what it was, it probably wouldn't be more shocking than hearing that Yeo Saebyeok and I were dating.
"Oh, good. Nice timing." Before I could even respond, the hospital room door opened abruptly.
"Noona?"
Gi Saetbyeol came into the hospital room with the same carefree stride as always.
The moment my older sister spotted me, she checked me over, then waved at Saebyeok.
"Hey, Giha, are you really okay? That's a relief. Oh, hi, Saebyeok."
Hearing my older sister call that guy Saebyeok with her own mouth made me feel sick to my stomach.
"What's with your expression? Why are you acting like you're so disgusted with Saebyeok?"
"Why is that bastard attached to me?" When I answered stiffly, my older sister rolled her eyes.
"Wow. I heard about it from Saebyeok, but it's really true." As if she had finally understood, my older sister sat down in front of me and waved her hand. "You really don't remember?"
"...It's not that I don't remember. I really am eighteen."
"Right. I wish I were eighteen too."
"You're not even two years older than me... Noona, why have you aged so much?"
"Do you want to die?"
"How did this happen, Noona? You were a college student."
"Your mind is still a student even now. Stop talking nonsense and get a grip, Giha."
I had been about to ask whether she really was my older sister, but I didn't even need to. Even without checking, every little way she spoke was exactly like my older sister. Even the way she dressed was the same as before. Though for a college student, she had gotten a lot sloppier.
Was this scruffy woman really my older sister right now? Gi Saetbyeol, thirty-one years old? The things I didn't want to believe were gradually approaching reality.
Then I had to confirm one more thing. "There's something I need to check with you. Tell me honestly."
"I think I already know what it is. Ask quickly." My older sister bent her head sharply toward me.
That expression, that way of speaking. The story my older sister told me about why I had decided to cut ties with Saebyeok flashed through my mind.
Since it was an important question, I took one breath first.
"Is that person really Yeo Saebyeok?"
"It's kind of amazing that you think a face like that could exist in pairs."
"...Wasn't that guy more handsome than Saebyeok?"
"I like older Saebyeok better too, but aren't you embarrassed?"
I wondered what there was to be embarrassed about, but once I thought about the fact that he really was Yeo Saebyeok, I did feel mortified. What had I even said to Yeo Saebyeok—about how he was way more handsome than Yeo Saebyeok, or whatever. My face burned.
Yeo Saebyeok's absurd reaction felt different now too. I felt dizzy. After swallowing hard and bracing myself, I started asking again.
"Really, Yeo Saebyeok and I..."
"You're dating."
"I haven't asked yet. I wasn't ready, so don't say it first!"
"What do you mean, not ready? You were going to ask whether you two were dating anyway. You are dating. For real. Very, very much."
All the strength drained out of my body.
What did very, very much mean? I did not even have the energy to snap back. My older sister did not miss the chance to make fun of the me who had lost his memory.
"Do you know how all over each other you and Saebyeok were?"
"I don't want to know."
"For seven years, the two of you bit and sucked at each other—"
"Stop."
How passionately Yeo Saebyeok and I had dated was exactly the information I least wanted to know right now. I did not want to bite Yeo Saebyeok. I wanted to suck even less.
"Are you seriously saying Yeo Saebyeok and I really did that, seriously, for real? Weren't we just pretending to date or something?"
"How do you pretend-date for seven years? Is love a joke to you? Hey, honey, you say something."
"What honey? Ah, stop it!"
Seeing me in agony, my older sister cackled. Her personality had not changed much from her college days. That devil. Suddenly it did not feel like time had passed at all.
Yeo Saebyeok, who had been standing quietly after giving up the chair to my older sister, was dragged in front of me by my older sister's hand.
"Look. You're dating someone this pretty, and you're still not happy? Where are you ever going to meet a man like this?"
"I'm not happy. I don't even want to meet him anywhere. Get him out of my sight."
"You're acting bold just because you forgot. You'll regret treating Saebyeok carelessly, Giha."
What regret? The only thing I regretted right now was going to meet Yeo Saebyeok because I weakened when he said it was a request.
"Noona's saying the right things, and you're not even listening." Yeo Saebyeok was pleased with himself.
"Shut up before I show you what it means to treat someone carelessly."
"Can you really talk down to an old man like that?"
"You can talk down to me."
I still did not believe I was twenty-nine years old. But using honorifics with Yeo Saebyeok was even worse.
"So you want me to keep calling you old man?"
"What about the 'hyung' you said earlier?"
"Forget it. Just 'hyung' doesn't feel right."
In all of this, I wanted to run away, so I clutched my head. I wanted to escape into pitch-black darkness just like this.
"Ah, Jiyeong—?" Then it occurred to me: if Yeo Saebyeok and I were dating, what in the world had happened with Jiyeong?
At that, Yeo Saebyeok's brow twitched.
"Team Leader Seong? She's doing well." My older sister answered first instead of Yeo Saebyeok.
Team leader? Before I could even ask further, my older sister continued. "Are you even in your right mind, still looking for Jiyeong right now? You really are acting like you're eighteen."
"Because I really am eighteen."
"Look in the mirror, Giha. You're exactly twenty-nine right now too."
"I'm twenty-nine..." Even mumbling it, it still didn't feel real.
Was there no way to go back? Maybe if I got into an accident like in a movie, I would wake up eighteen again.
But I wasn't insane enough to throw myself in front of a car. First, I had to calm down and think. I had to do what I could right now.
When I lifted my head again, Yeo Saebyeok was quietly watching me. So was my older sister, who had been busy teasing me right up until a moment ago.
"They said there's nothing wrong with my body, so I can be discharged soon, right?"
I decided to focus on that first. I didn't know whether I was eighteen or twenty-nine, and thinking too much about the whole dating Yeo Saebyeok thing only made my head hurt.
For now, I'd just pretend I didn't know. Twenty-nine-year-old Giha was the one dating Yeo Saebyeok, not me, right?
Still, now that my older sister had come, I should be able to go home with her. First I'd go home and think things through... Though honestly, I had no idea how I was supposed to sort out my thoughts.
"Yeah. We decided you'd talk with the doctor tomorrow and get discharged then." Yeo Saebyeok said it.
"That's a huge relief, at least, since they said you're not hurt anywhere. I hate rehabilitation for injuries the most." I answered whatever came to mind, and the air in the room turned strange.
It was obvious enough that I could immediately tell both Yeo Saebyeok's and my older sister's expressions had hardened. Had I said something weird again?
"Haneul, about your exercise..." My older sister spoke carefully to me. She was trying not to show it, but suddenly there was weight in her tone.
"I'll explain, Noona." Yeo Saebyeok stopped my older sister.
"Are you okay with that? I think you're being really hated right now."
At my older sister's words, Yeo Saebyeok gave a bitter smile. "I was hated plenty in the past too, so it's fine. I think I should be the one to tell him. There's a lot I need to explain."
It was clearly about me, yet listening to them talk while leaving out the person involved—me—felt strange.
"What is it, then? What explanation?"
"I'll tell you later."
Even when I asked, that was all Yeo Saebyeok said.
When silence fell again, my older sister pushed back her chair and stood. "Anyway, now that I've seen you're okay, I should get going. I need to go check on the shop. Mom's working, so she'll come in the evening."
"Wait. Don't leave me here alone with him." I scrambled to grab my older sister's arm, but she stepped back like an arrow. She really was fast at times like this.
"Have a happy time together, you two. See you tomorrow."
"Noona! Are you really still my older sister?" Ignoring my desperate cry, my older sister waved cheerfully and left the hospital room.
It was Yeo Saebyeok and me again, just the two of us.
Yeo Saebyeok was no longer smiling.
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