I am back – Chapter 98

“Uh, no. That’s not what we meant…”

Seeing me sulk, Dana quickly said that. And then, with a jolt, she shot a glare at Pia.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!”

Pia hurriedly responded.

“No, well, technically it’s not wrong…”

I said that, but thinking about it, maybe I looked pitiful saying it, because Arna also opened her mouth.

“Don’t worry too much. You’re the only one here who’s ever been close to dating. Honestly, whatever we say won’t really help much.”

At Arna’s words, the other three people averted their gazes slightly.

…Hmm, well, that’s true, but…

“Anyway, we’ll definitely get closer next Wednesday. I’m relieved.”

Kalia tried to console us by saying that.

That’s right. Next Wednesday, it would just be me and my older sister.

Unless something major happened, there would be no interruptions.

I couldn’t hide my smile at the thought of wandering around with my sister, and everyone finally looked less tense.

“….”

And just like that, the conversation ended, and an awkward silence fell over the living room again.

“Um. Well, since we all have schedules tomorrow, shall we just go back to our rooms for today?”

Even if we went into our rooms, I knew everyone would stay awake for a while, but still, it might be better than sitting around awkwardly in silence.

There was no need for someone to go first; we all nodded and, after a somewhat awkward farewell, headed to our rooms.

[Did you get in okay?]

And only after entering my room did I realize that I’d gotten such a text from my older sister.

I hastily checked the time on the message.

…It was immediately after I came in here.

Until now, I hadn’t received such a message from my sister… Wait, thinking about it, we almost never contacted each other outside of working hours.

When we went clothes shopping together, when I attended Older Sister Yu-ri’s wedding, and when we went volunteering.

Even then, it was mostly just to confirm the time and place, or to ask where we were.

I hurriedly typed a response.

[Yes, I got in ok.]

And then I regretted it.

In my rush, I had hit the send button reflexively without checking if the sentence was written properly.

My fingers had stumbled, and several consonants had ended up repeated multiple times.

I tried to delete it quickly, but before I could, the number next to my message disappeared.

As shame flooded to my head, I received a reply from my sister.

[Is that so?]

Luckily, she didn’t point out my typos.

Well, there wasn’t really any reason to point it out even if I made a typo. She might just find it a bit amusing.

Did she laugh?

If I think she might have laughed, then I wonder what’s the big deal about my typos.

[Are you okay?]

Not wanting to end the conversation like this, I sent that while sitting on my bed this time, double-checking to make sure there was nothing wrong with it.

[Yeah, I’m fine. I’m feeling better after resting a bit.]

My sister sent back an emoji of a white rabbit waving its hand below her message, saying “I’m okay!”

A smile spread across my face.

I lay back again, pondering what to send next.

[What are you up to now?]

Just as I was thinking of what message to send, my sister beat me to it with another message.

[I took a shower and chatted for a bit with my friends before lying down.]

[I see.]

Hmm.

Was texting really this difficult?

If I were face to face with her, I could tell what expression she was making, but through just texting, I had no idea what her expressions were like.

And it’s not like I could attach an emoji to every single message…

Before that, what emoji should I even use?

My smartphone had some basic emojis. If I needed more, I could buy them. However, it seemed that since I had just come here, I was completely out of the loop on what emojis were popular or suitable to use in different situations.

Before I came to Irrelaysia, there were famous webtoon collaborations, game or comic-related ones, and separate characters’ collaborations. Of course, there were also emojis using the messenger’s characters.

But having been away for five years, I had no idea what was currently trending or what would be appropriate to use.

I turned onto my side and stared blankly at the chat window. No additional messages came from my sister.

Did I make her unhappy? Just like back at the drinking venue, did I cross some line?

But I couldn’t just ask if she was mad. That would only make her feel worse.

“Hmm…”

After thinking for a while,

[I was wondering what you were doing.]

I sent that as a neutral message. Again, I made sure to check for typos.

Did I think too much? The intervals between the messages, which had been less than a minute, extended to three minutes.

[After you texted, I took a shower and lay down for a bit before going to bed.]

I didn’t know how long my sister took to shower since I had never seen it. While my sister was close to both my mom and me, she never would have showered at our house. That would… be crossing the line a bit. No, it’s not about just crossing the line of etiquette; it felt more like the familiarity I had with her had exceeded the bounds of an acquaintance or friend.

We’re not the same gender, nor in a relationship, after all.

Would she shower for a long time? Because she’s a woman?

Of course, I was a woman now too… then again, these are all just stereotypes. Just because someone is a woman doesn’t mean they take longer showers than men. My comrades used to wash as quickly as possible when they could. Especially when there was only one place to wash, we’d queue up and do it as fast as we could.

…No, that wasn’t it; it wasn’t about washing quickly because you’re a woman. It’s more like there just wasn’t time.

My face slowly turned red. I shouldn’t have imagined my sister in the shower.

Earlier, my sister had directly hugged me. The clothing was thick, but it was a bit thin for winter.

And even though I looked like this, I had trained for five years. It wasn’t only about building strength and stamina. I had sharpened my senses as much as possible. To survive on the battlefield, I couldn’t afford to be lacking in any of my senses.

Thanks to that, when my sister hugged me, I felt her body’s curves as they were.

That didn’t mean I could fully imagine what my sister looked like, but I could vaguely picture her body draped in a towel as seen in the comics I used to read before coming to Irrelaysia, where the heroine would shower.

Well, still, depending on the fabric of the clothing or the type of underwear, that imagined scene would change.

…Thinking about this made me really glad I wasn’t facing her directly.

[Sorry about earlier.]

Messages from my sister came in succession.

The “sorry” must be about what happened in front of her house earlier?

“…”

There was no reason for her to apologize. To be honest, I was thankful for it.

I thought that as a woman, I wouldn’t be able to approach my sister, but her taking the initiative like that meant… there was some possibility.

I recalled the hazy gaze that filled my vision when she approached me earlier.

Those half-closed eyes were so seductive.

The breath that smelled strongly of alcohol was, in other words, incredibly debauched.

[No, not at all.]

I sent that and then quickly searched for an emoji.

I had the same emoji that Dana had sent as a reply when I said I’d be a bit late going in earlier. It must’ve been a basic emoji too.

After sending the cute cat emoji doing an okay sign, I added,


[It’s okay!]

After sending that, I felt a bit of regret. Wasn’t there a more suitable emoji than that? In my search, I found the same cat character shouting “It’s okay!” emoji. I should have sent that one.

But the number next to my message disappeared again immediately.

After a brief pause, my sister sent a message.

[That’s a relief.]

Even without seeing her expression, this time I felt I understood what type of expression she had.

It was the same thoughtful look I often saw on her before.

When I tried a food for the first time and said I liked it, she would say that and let out a sigh of relief.

When I arrived a bit early to the meeting place and then told her it was fine after she arrived a bit later than me, she would say that, exhaling a sigh of relief as well.

She was probably wearing that same expression now.

I couldn’t help but smile.

Time had passed, but my sister was still the same sister I loved.

[Then, see you tomorrow.]

Saying that, I sent an emoji of “See you!”

A moment later, my sister sent the same emoji, and I chuckled softly.