DWWWB Extra 2 part 3

“If he’s not asking you to eat with him, then who is he asking?”

“Oppa.”

“What?”

I asked as if she were speaking a foreign language.

“He’s a huge fan of yours, Oppa. He said he had wanted to be a road cyclist since he was a kid. So he watched all of your races on repeat and almost memorized them. And I guess he heard that you went around wearing only a black tracksuit too. All of his clothes are black tracksuits. And did you give an interview where you said you liked fragrances? He said he bought and collected every single cologne you had. He said he wanted to shoot a pictorial for the company that you’re an ambassador for, and he’s been begging his manager to make that happen.”

If she suddenly sees that my mood instantly lifted, she’ll think it’s too ridiculous, right?

“Really?”

I didn’t care whether she found it ridiculous or not. My voice held a hint of laughter as I asked.

“Yeah. He’s asking me to let him have one meal with you. He keeps pestering me to arrange a meeting between the two of you. But you don’t like that kind of stuff, Oppa. And it doesn’t make sense for me to arrange something like this whenever someone asks me. So I kept rejecting him. But he’s quite persistent. Maybe that’s how he endured his trainee days before he became an idol.”

“For a kid who wanted to become a road cyclist, why did he become an idol?”

“He suffered a critical injury, so he can’t ride a bike anymore.”

“Kijoon? But I thought he said riding a bike was his hobby.”

At some point, I had developed friendly feelings towards this idol ‘Kijoon’. Once I learned that he wasn’t interested in Oh Milhee, I even began to see him as a good guy.

“How do you know that, Oppa? Are you also a fan of Kijoon?”

“No. Since he’s an idol who is coming on your program, I looked him up.”

I needed to tell her properly, even if my lips twisted from lying. I couldn’t tell her that I had done an extensive search of his background because I thought he was sticking to Oh Milhee too much.

She looked at me as if she were deeply moved. Then she hugged me and trembled as if she were bursting with love for me.

Ah, instead of eating ddeokbokki, should I just devour Oh Milhee right here, right now?

“He does ride bikes, but he wouldn’t be able to ride it as a pro-athlete. And then he got casted in front of his school. He thought that if he got famous as an idol, his chances of meeting Gong Mujin might increase.”

She chattered on, feeding me more information on Kijoon.

“The kid is sure a hard worker.”

“Then ask him if he wants to share a meal.”

“But I feel like he’s a bit of a stan of you, Oppa.”

“A stan?”

“I feel like he’s a guy who’s crazy about Gong Mujin.”

She frowned as if she didn’t like this idea.

“He keeps trying to compete with me, you know? He keeps saying he knows you better than I do. Does that make any sense? Who can know you better than your own wife?”

It seemed that she felt a bit competitive with this idol fan of mine. It turned out that we were in a strange situation where we had grown jealous about the same guy.

“That’s right. You’d obviously know me the best. You’re married to me.”

“He keeps insisting that your good luck charm is the first pair of gloves you ever wore. It’s not, right? Your good luck charm is a condom. But I couldn’t tell him it was a condom of all things.”

I did carry the pair of gloves I had worn in my first race in my bag like a good luck charm. But her eyes were staring up at me, asking me if my good luck charm was a condom.

“That’s right. My good luck charm is a condom.”

When I said this, she snorted and flashed a triumphant smile.

“Right? I’m sure you wouldn’t have been able to say, ‘My good luck charm is the condom I carry in my wallet.’ Right?”

Actually, carrying around a condom in a wallet as a way to hope for more money was something I did during my immature days. After I met her, I merely carried it around in case of emergencies. However, in order to be a good husband to her, the white lies left my lips rather easily.

“That’s right. How can I say that my good luck charm is a condom?”

She nodded, expressing that she had been correct again.

“And he keeps saying you don’t have a phobia. But I know that you have a fear of heights, Oppa. But I couldn’t say anything because you never made it public.”

Actually, I don’t have a phobia. I generally didn’t feel a lot of fear. Once I learned the context of a situation, I would realize that there was nothing to be afraid of. As for the fear of heights… As I stated earlier, I do not have a fear of heights.

“Really? Thanks for keeping my secret.”

She smiled prettily, satisfied with her husband’s reply.

“You’re my husband, after all. How dare he keep insisting he knows you better than I do.”

“Are you going to reject his request to eat a meal with me because he keeps pestering you?”

“Honestly, he’s really annoying. But he said that he has been an active member in your fan cafe for a long time, and if you’re friendly with him, I feel that your popularity will rise… I think it would be a good idea for people to get familiarized with your face if you plan on going on TV from now on.”

Her voice sounded so adorable as she tried to draw the line between my public and private life.

“So you want me to meet with him to increase my popularity, but you don’t want me to be too friendly with him?”

I must have hit the nail on the head because she gave me a satisfied smile.

“You must never tell him something you never told me! If you do, I think I’ll get really annoyed.”

“Of course I won’t.”

“Even if he asks you new questions? He memorized every single interview you gave, you know.”

“Yeah, even if he asks me new questions.”

How could she not be lovely as she tried to have her husband all for herself?

I placed a smacking kiss on her forehead.

“Hurry up and eat. Once we’re finished eating, I’m going to hug you tight and never let you go.”

When I said this in a threatening, solemn tone, she began to giggle. I was also a husband who wanted to have his wife all for himself.

* * *

I stood in front of the island counter and diligently moved the knife as per Auntie’s instructions.

“Aigoo, you don’t have to tarnish your pretty hands and help out. I can finish this in no time by myself.”

So what she was saying wasn’t a compliment. She was basically saying that I, a clumsy cook, was dragging out something that would have taken no time. However, I couldn’t back down now. I used all my strength to chop the radish.

“Jiwoo-agassi¹ said she likes beef and radish soup, right? I want to make it for her myself.”

We had only shared a meal at a restaurant once before when I had been so busy getting ready for the wedding. After the wedding, his half-sister, Jiwoo, had to return to Germany right away. Because she lived so far away, there hadn’t been many opportunities for us to grow close.

My husband was very candid and comfortable with my own older brother, and he treated my parents very well. He didn’t call my parents ‘father-in-law’ and ‘mother-in-law ‘. Instead, he called them ‘Father’ and ‘Mother’. My mother also treasured him like she did my brother and myself, and my father was happy to have gained another trustworthy son. He rode his bike by the Han River with his son-in-law once a month, and he would brag about his son-in-law to anyone he met. He seemed to be having a grand old time.

I also wanted to treat his family, Jiwoo, very well. Whenever I saw his blunt, considerate conversations with his sister through video chat, I could tell that they were very close. I had this strange desire to join them at times like that.

“Jeez, what is all this? When did you get up?”

“Huh? Oppa, you’re up?”

“Yeah. I woke up, but you weren’t there. It surprised me.”

My husband was usually the one who woke up first.

“Look at you newlyweds. Look at him being all sullen just because he didn’t see his wife for a moment.”

Auntie cackled as she teased him. The auntie next to me was not his blood-related aunt. She was the woman I had met when I first came to this house. Even after we got married, this auntie often came by and helped with the housework.

“When are you going to pick up your sister?”

“I plan on leaving in an hour. You’re not coming with me?”

“Nope. I’m going to stay here and prepare the food.”

I gestured to the ingredients that were strewn across the counter with a determined look on my face.

“Let’s just eat out.”

“It’s been a while since she’s come to Korea, so we should give her a home-cooked meal. How can we have her go out to eat?”

It seemed that he didn’t like his wife suffering, but he was thankful she was taking care of his little sister.

“Hurry up and get ready to leave. Don’t keep your sister waiting at the airport.”

My husband nodded and exited the kitchen. Auntie chuckled and spoke up.

“I never thought I’d see the day when this house felt like a home.”

“Auntie, it’s all thanks to me, right? I’m very commendable, right?”

Never one to miss an opportunity for compliments, I asked her with a voice dripping with aegyo, a characteristic of being the youngest daughter in my family.

“Of course. The mistress of the house has finally come home.”

“The mistress?”

I found Auntie’s choice of words strange.

“Milhaewon. ‘Mil’ from juniper trees. ‘Hae’ from laughter. Put them together, and you get Milhaewon. When I first met our Milhee, I knew right away. Ah, it’s this lady…”

I stopped chopping the radish and gazed at Auntie.

“There was a single framed photo next to Mujin’s bed. It was a photo of the two of you, but I couldn’t see your faces.”

The photo was by his bed before we had gotten married. It was a photo of the two of us in an embrace at the amusement park, a memory that was trapped in time.

“When I asked him about it, he said that it was a woman he had been seeing when he was in college. The face was a bit blurry, so I wasn’t sure at first. But when I heard your name, I knew right away. Do you really think this is a house where he hopes the juniper trees will laugh? It’s a house where he hoped you would laugh.”

Milhaewon. She never asked him about the meaning of the house’s name. But once she heard Auntie’s explanation, she could feel his heartfelt wishes, and her eyes began to sting.

“He wants you to laugh, so why are you crying?”

“My Milhee is crying? Why?”

At some point, my husband had finished getting ready and was about to leave when he suddenly barged into the kitchen in shock.

“Whatever, I don’t know.”

Auntie must have felt like she should give us some time alone because she quietly exited the kitchen.

“Why are you crying? Did something happen?”

His eyes were filled with worry as he gazed at me. He drew closer and pulled me into his embrace.

“What’s wrong? Hm?

“Oppa, the name of this house… Were you hoping I’d laugh here?”

I propped my chin on his chest and looked up at him as I asked.

“That’s all?”

He pressed a kiss onto my forehead and laughed.

“Why didn’t you tell me? The meaning of the name of this house?”

“You never asked. I thought you knew.”

“I thought it was named that way because there were a lot of juniper trees here.”

I did wonder for a moment whether the name had something to do with my own name. But I also thought that the house already had its name from the previous owner because this land had a lot of juniper trees.

“I’m the one who planted the juniper trees when I moved here.”

“Really? I thought there were a lot here before you got this place. I guess your tastes are a bit antiquated.”

I murmured as if I had just discovered his new hobby. Then he burst into laughter. His chest tickled my chin as it shook.

“What are you talking about? My only hobby is Oh Milhee. Do you really think I planted juniper trees because I like them? Or do you think I planted them because of your name?”

“But when you bought this house, we hadn’t met again.”

How could he make my heart flutter anew with every passing day? My husband’s skill was quite admirable.

“Yeah, but still…”

He drew in a deep breath and laughed.

“I like it. That Oh Milhee is here.”

“I like it too. I feel like we’ll only laugh while we’re in this house.”

Our newlywed home was a place where juniper trees laughed. The thought that his life was still filled with me even when we were apart caused my heart to throb anew. I will never let this man feel lonely ever again. I’m going to make him really happy. I pledged this to myself once again.

“Are you really staying home? I’m going to the airport alone?”

“Yeah. I’ll prepare the tasty food by the time you get back. Hurry up and go.”

After seeing my husband off, I began to help Auntie as she stepped back into the kitchen and finished cooking the food.

“Waa, this is crazy! This house got even prettier! There were only round trees in the garden before, but now you’ve planted flowers too.”

Jiwoo shouted out as she stepped through the main gate and saw the garden. Her eyes widened in surprise as she clapped her hands.

“You’re here, Agassi!”

I was mulling around the front door, waiting for the two to arrive. When I heard them enter the house, I ran to his little sister and greeted her.

“Kyaa! Unnie! Nice to see you again!”

Jiwoo, who had the complete opposite personality of her brother, hugged my neck and jumped up and down.

“We haven’t seen you since the wedding! How long has it been?”

“I think about six months have passed.”

“It feels like we’ve been family for a long time! Right?”

I was dragged further into the house by Jiwoo. The person who lived here was definitely me, but Jiwoo acted so naturally as if she were the homeowner.

“Wow! It smells delicious! Are we really eating lunch at home?”

“Of course. I heard you liked beef and radish soup. We made a lot of delicious dishes for you.”

Jiwoo looked like she was on the verge of tears, but she suddenly burst into laughter and slapped my back.

“Oh wow! Did Oppa tell you? That I liked beef and radish soup? That was so long ago. Back when I was a picky eater as a kid, my mom would often put some rice into a bowl of radish soup to make me eat! He must have remembered that!”

She must have felt quite friendly with me because her slaps on my back were quite painful. I felt a bit dazed and could only endure my new sister-in-law’s smacks.

“Hey, your slaps are painful. Don’t you dare keep hitting her.”

He grabbed Jiwoo’s wrist and glared at her.

“Ah…!”

Jiwoo looked dazed as she glanced back and forth between us. His face was twisted into a scowl as he gazed piercingly at her.

“Unnie, I’m sorry! I do hit a bit hard. I have a habit of hitting people I’m close to. I can’t seem to break this habit. But Oppa…”

After giving me a sincere apology, Jiwoo solemnly looked up at him.

“Oppa, your hands are also no joke, okay? Ah! Ah! My wrist feels like it’s going to snap off! It’s crazy! It seriously hurts!”

As his sister began to make a fuss, he scolded her and told her to stop joking around. It was quite an unfamiliar sight, watching him get bulldozed by his little sister who was several years younger than him.

“Aigoo, I was wondering why it was so loud in here. Looks like Jiwoo’s here.”

Auntie, who had gone to the bathroom, appeared as she spoke up in a joyful voice.

“Auntie! Guess what Oppa did. He grabbed my wrist and shook it like this. Even though he’s seeing his little sister for the first time in six months, he’s threatening me for slapping Unnie’s back, you know?”

So this was my sister-in-law who I’ve heard much about?

I was the one who was slapped, but I couldn’t even cry or laugh. All I could do was stand awkwardly at the side.

“Aigoo, your hands do hurt a bit, Jiwoo. Our Milhee is so small. Where could you have hit her? You should fix that habit of hitting people as you laugh.”

“My Marcus says it doesn’t hurt at all. He always says it feels ticklish.”

“How can you compare that bear of a man to my Milhee?”

He intervened. I was told that Marcus was Jiwoo’s live-in boyfriend. Even though Miss Jiwoo was younger than me, I wanted to call her ‘unnie’. To think that she was living with a foreign man! It was a lifestyle I could never imagine for myself.

And he had open-mindedly accepted all of it. If I were to go off to a foreign country and start living with a foreign man, Mr. Oh Hyunho might drop everything and run over to snap my ankles.

“Anyways, it’s been a really long time since I’ve had a home-cooked meal in Korea.”

“What are you talking about? I made it for you quite often.”

Auntie glared at her as if she were hurt.

“I’m talking about food that my family prepared.”

Jiwoo answered honestly as always.

“Aigoo, there was no point in me feeding and raising that child.”

Even as she complained, Auntie’s eyes were turning red with tears. Jiwoo’s eyes were also filled with tears.

“We could have just eaten out… Thank you, Unnie. Can I just call you ‘Unnie’ instead of ‘Sister-in-law?”

My eyes were filled with tears, and I couldn’t say anything, so I just nodded.

“Why are you making my Milhee cry? Hurry up and go wash your hands.”

“Wow, your personality never changes, Oppa! You’re always ruining the mood!”

Jiwoo grumbled and walked towards the bathroom.

“Ruining the mood?”

I raised my brows and looked up at him.

“It’s a joke.”

Jiwoo returned after having washed her hands and answered for him.

“Oppa can’t stand deeply moving moments. It’s like he’s allergic to them.”

“Really? I don’t think that’s true, though.”

“Maybe it doesn’t apply to you, Unnie. Or maybe it only applies to me, his little sister.”

I was already aware of the strange circumstances surrounding this pair of siblings. I nodded my head to indicate that I understood.

With Auntie included, the four of us sat at the dining table. Even though she had eaten all her meals on the plane, she claimed the food was so good that it kept entering her mouth. She quickly cleaned out two bowls of rice.

After organizing all the gifts Jiwoo had brought inside her suitcase for a whole afternoon, we began to chatter on endlessly. As we were eating dessert, Jiwoo cautiously stopped laughing and asked me a question.

“Unnie, can I sleep with you tonight?”

“What kind of bullshit² are you saying?”

“Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof-woof.”

She childishly barked like a puppy.

“I want to sleep with Unnie. Just for tonight. Hm?”

I heard that it was quite rare for them to meet each other in Korea. He was always traveling the world due to his competitions, and even after he bought a house in Korea, this place was basically like a dorm to him.

“Alright. You can sleep with me tonight.”

I grabbed my husband’s hand as he was about to protest and gave him a look. Within Jiwoo, I could feel the loneliness he used to carry in the past. It looked like this pair of siblings carried the same loneliness in their hearts.

“Alright. Just for tonight.”

“Nice! Unnie, shall we go to bed now? I’m so tired from the plane ride. You’re tired too since you were up early cooking, right?”

I was a bit tired, but it was only 8 PM.

“I think it’s too early to go to bed.”

He intervened in a sullen voice.

“You said Unnie was up since dawn preparing all the food. How can you be like that, Oppa? You should let her rest as soon as possible. Right, Unnie?”

He scoffed.

“Is that something you can say? You’re the one who’s splitting apart a newlywed couple who has only been married for six months.”

Suddenly, Jiwoo covered her mouth with both hands and cried out.

“This is crazy! Oppa is saying such cheesy words!”

She was right. The most disgusting thing a family member could witness was seeing another family member acting lovey-dovey with their partner. That is what Teacher Oh Hyunho had told me.

“Oppa, just for today. Hm? I’m also tired, so I want to go to bed a bit early.”

I was the only one who could put an end to this awkward situation.

“Okay. Just for today.”

As soon as he said this, Jiwoo fell back onto the floor and began to roll around as she laughed.

“Wow, Oppa’s so obedient. This is crazy! People will think you’re a gentle guy! But he’s actually a complete jerk!”

“Hey, I’m going to kick you out if you keep this up!”

As soon as he roared out the threat, Jiwoo got up and waved her hands.

“Oppa, good night! See you tomorrow!”

I stopped to comfort him and followed Jiwoo. If the siblings continued to bicker like this, I was going to grow exhausted.

After washing up, we changed into our pajamas and got into the large bed in the guest bedroom. Although we were now considered family, we did not share a single drop of blood, so I couldn’t feel completely comfortable with her. However, Jiwoo hugged my arm to her chest and did not hesitate to show affection.

“When I was young, I really liked sleeping with my mom. When my dad went on business trips from time to time, I’d sleep with her. I usually slept alone, but I would always think about those times.”

“How old were you?”

“Probably four? Five?”

I slept in my mother’s arms until I was twelve. When I heard that she had only been four or five when she began to sleep alone, my heart ached.

“My dad’s jealousy was quite severe. He must have been nervous about me sleeping with her, his own daughter. You know about that, right? That my dad was a really bad person.”

I gently patted the back of Jiwoo’s hand that was on my arm.

“But I sometimes missed my dad anyway. And I sometimes wondered how my oldest brother was doing.”

“Are you still curious now?”

Jiwoo spoke in the past tense.

“Not at all. I just wondered about them in passing. If I contacted them and they started asking questions… I was worried that they might find Oppa and harass him.”

As expected. I felt like she was hiding something. I didn’t say a word and stayed silent.

“You can already tell that I’m really bad at lying, right?”

“It does seem that way.”

Jiwoo sighed and continued speaking.

“Back when I came to Korea for your wedding, I actually ran into my oldest brother. He said that Dad had passed away. He quite liked his liquor, and it seems that he passed away due to liver disease.”

My heart ached. I’m sure he was a hateful person in her life, but he was still Jiwoo’s biological father.

“Thankfully, it seems that my oldest brother has matured a lot. He apologized to me. He thought that it would be shameless of him to contact me when Dad passed away, so he wasn’t able to. My oldest brother was really wicked back then, but he’s suddenly changed. Isn’t that funny?”

Jiwoo recalled the past and drew in a shaky breath.

“He said he was married. He even has two kids. I heard that some people can change once they get married, and I guess that’s true. Seeing as how my oldest brother and Mujin-oppa have changed…”

“Has Mujin-ssi really changed that much?”

When she heard my question, Jiwoo began to laugh in a tone that was different from the ones I’ve heard before. Judging from how it sounded more lighthearted, it seemed that she was feeling a little better now.

“Mujin-oppa lived a really boring life, you see. Biking, home, biking, home. Other than this, he didn’t do much else. He never met women or dated, so I was really worried. And do you know what he said when I told him I was going to live with my boyfriend?”

“What did he say?”

“That this was why it was no use to raise a black-haired beast.”

Jiwoo snickered as she claimed that it was such an old-fashioned saying.

“But now Oppa seems more like his age. No, he also seems a bit immature. Think about what just happened outside. How he got angry that I was snatching Unnie away even though you were newlyweds.”

“Oppa isn’t immature. He has such a deep heart.”

I defended my husband.

“I know. That’s why I’m thankful for you, Unnie.”

Jiwoo leaned her forehead against my arm as she spoke.

“I feel like I finally have a place I can come home to in Korea. I can call this place home, right?”

The tears returned. My throat closed up at the thought that Jiwoo didn’t have a person she could trust except for her brother.

“I can’t?”

“You can. You can always call this place your home. If someone is mean to you, come and tell me all about it, Agassi. I’ll punish them myself.”

“Can’t you just call me ‘Jiwoo’? And you can speak casually to me. It’s not like I’m a noblewoman or anything like that. It feels weird being called ‘Agassi³’.”

I tightened my hand around Jiwoo’s and laughed.

“Okay, Jiwoo.”

I swept Jiwoo’s bobbed hair behind her ear and giggled. The night was warm and filled with love.