The cat next door

Ep.03

※ The season in this work is winter.

문별이

"Hmm······."

I opened my eyes to the soft light coming through the curtains and saw that the digital clock on the drawer read 9:37.

문별이

"I have to get up······."

Suddenly-

문별이

"······."

As I trudged out of the living room, I suddenly glanced at the veranda. I don't think I had any thoughts. I just glanced in case something happened, but all I could see was the empty veranda, so I turned my head and went back into the bathroom.

Today was the day when Byeol-man was at the counter, so only Byeol-man and the part-time workers were inside the cafe.

As time passed, more and more customers came in.

Ding~

문별이

"Welcome,"

김용선

"uh?"

Here we meet. That guy.

문별이

"······ hello."

김용선

"hello."

김용선

"Please give me one of those small iced chocolates."

You have a cold face that looks like you'd only drink iced Americano, but you're drinking iced chocolate. You look like you like coffee.

문별이

"Yes, would you like whipped cream on your iced chocolate?"

김용선

"Oh, just a moment."

Yongseon was momentarily flustered and picked up his phone, while Byeol-i just stood there quietly staring at Yongseon.

The mechanical sound coming from Yongseon's phone cut off abruptly, and then a familiar voice came through. It sounded like "Hello," and I was startled by Yongseon's next words.

김용선

"Hey, Wheein."

Wheein? Is that the Wheein I know? Oh, then this iced chocolate must belong to her. Just as I was starting to feel embarrassed by my thoughts, Yongseon, who had just finished a few words on the phone, spoke again.

김용선

"Please put whipped cream on the iced chocolate and make it a large one, please."

Yongseon held out his card, flashing the same smile he'd shown me yesterday. He had to get to work, so he took the card, recited the menu again, and swiped it.

문별이

"Yes, here it is."

As soon as he finished speaking, Yongseon, who had accepted the card with a quick thank you, sat down on a nearby sofa. Yongseon seemed to be passing a message around, and I assumed the other person was Wheein.

문별이

'······What bad luck.'

I suppressed the words I had been holding in my heart and told the part-timer to order iced chocolate.

Clank-

김용선

"Wheein-."

정휘인

"Did you buy it?"

김용선

"Yeah, okay-."

He smiled at Wheein, who was sitting on the sofa playing on her phone, and handed her the cold iced chocolate he was holding. Wheein, who received the iced chocolate, smiled brightly, sat up straight, and drank it down.

김용선

"What about Como?"

정휘인

"I don't know, it's quiet, so I guess he's sleeping in his room."

김용선

"okay?"

정휘인

"Oh, but since I blocked the veranda, every time Komo went out onto the veranda, he came back with a really disappointed expression on his face."

김용선

"······Do you see that?"

정휘인

"Yeah! Oh, where did you get this iced chocolate?"

김용선

"why?"

정휘인

"It's so delicious!"

Wheein looked at the cup holder while speaking, and Yongseon covered the cup holder with his hand.

김용선

"Don't go here."

정휘인

"why?"

김용선

"······I don't like it."

Yongseon spoke, pulling out the cup holder and throwing it in the trash. Wheein kept asking what was wrong, but Yongseon simply kept his mouth shut and straightened Wheein's messy hair.

안혜진

"Do you like that person by any chance?"

I kept repeating to myself, "Why did I say that?" I exhaled a puff of cigarette smoke, disguised as a sigh, and replied that I still didn't know.

안혜진

"After hearing your story, I do have some feelings for you."

문별이

"I don't know, it's been a long time since I liked someone."

안혜진

"Well, the last time was when I was a freshman in high school, right?"

문별이

"I think it was my second year. We dated for a year and broke up because of the college entrance exam."

안혜진

"That's right. Oh, when I was a student, I swept up both boys and girls."

문별이

"what-."

When Byeol-i burst into laughter, Hye-jin also laughed along, then threw away the cigarette she had smoked, even the filter, and walked away first.

안혜진

"Let's go, are you done smoking?"

문별이

"huh."

Byul took one last drag of his cigarette, then snapped his fingers and tossed it into the metal trash can.

문별이

"This is me-."

안혜진

"You're lucky."

문별이

"It's not luck, it's skill."

안혜진

"Damn it, come quickly."

문별이

"Yeah yeah~"

문별이

"Ah- I'm tired."

안혜진

"Huh? There's a tattoo shop here."

문별이

"Oh, I see. I guess the beauty salon here went out of business."

안혜진

"Want to go there sometime?"

문별이

"You want to get another tattoo?"

안혜진

"You only did it on your calf and left arm."

문별이

"Only in times like this do you call me sister."

안혜진

"Oh, I want to do this once."

문별이

"Who are you trying to impress?"

안혜진

"No. I just do it because I want to."

문별이

"Then that won't work. Come quickly."

Hyejin grumbled as I spoke firmly with my hands in my coat pockets, but when I told her I would leave her behind, she ran over and headed home with me.

Ding-

As the elevator door opened, Hyejin quickly jumped out and urged me to open the door quickly.

문별이

"Are you cold?"

안혜진

"If you enter my house now, there will be no Antarctica."

문별이

"It's annoying that you come to my house every day."

Clank-

정휘인

"uh?"

문별이

"uh-."

The corners of Wheein's mouth slowly rose as she looked surprised for a moment at the door next door that suddenly opened.

Wheein was wearing a thick scarf covering her lower body, a beanie on her head, and a long padded jacket that covered her ankles. It was a sight that was truly laughable.

정휘인

"Huh, hello!"

Wheein, who barely managed to take her mouth out from under her scarf and greet him, smiled again and greeted him.

문별이

"hello-."

However, Wheein's long padded jacket was completely unzipped. Inside, she could see shorts and a long-sleeved, yet thin-looking t-shirt. If she went out like that, she'd probably freeze to death.

문별이

"Aren't you going to zip it up?"

정휘인

"yes?"

문별이

"It's a zipper."

When I pointed to the zipper with the tip of my index finger, which had both ends separated, Wheein smiled awkwardly.

정휘인

"Oh, this long padding is long, so when I try to put it on, the zipper won't go up."

문별이

"Then, are you going to go out?"

정휘인

"It's okay, I'll go to the convenience store right in front!"

I'm not okay. I finally took my hands out of my pockets, approached Wheein, bent down, and grabbed the zipper.

정휘인

"Yeah, uh, I'm fine,"

문별이

"No, it's really cold outside right now."

Jiik- I smiled at the zipper that went up so smoothly and continued to pull it up. When it reached my chest,

Ding-

At that moment, the elevator door opened, and at the sound of the door opening, Wheein instinctively looked towards the elevator.

정휘인

"Huh? Sister?"

Sister? As she turned her head at the sound of "Sister," a figure suddenly appeared and grabbed Byul's wrist, which was holding the zipper.

문별이

"······ ah-."

문별이

"We meet again."

김용선

"······ That's right."

I frowned slightly in pain as the hand grabbed my wrist a little too tightly.

정휘인

"Sister, what brings you here?"

The two were about to start a subtle fight, but Hwiin's words broke the silence, causing Yongseon to momentarily loosen his grip.

김용선

"Why did you come out?"

정휘인

"I want to eat ramen, so I'm at the convenience store in front of my house."

김용선

"My sister said she'd be done with work soon."

정휘인

"······You always say you'll be done soon, but you're always late."

Byeol-i smiled as if she found Yong-seon's embarrassed expression amusing, and Yong-seon saw that and grabbed her wrist tightly again.

문별이

"Oh, please put this down."

김용선

"······."

문별이

“Did I grab Wheein by the collar?”

김용선

"Then don't bother me for nothing."

Yongseon let go of Byeol-i's hand and took Hwiin into Hwiin's house.

bang!

문별이

"Ha- Really."

I laughed, dumbfounded by my still-numb wrist. What did it matter if I were to meddle?

안혜진

"Oh, that was good-."

문별이

"What's good? My wrist still hurts."

안혜진

“You were holding my hand until it turned white earlier?”

문별이

"It doesn't matter. It's cold, so let's go in quickly."

정휘인

"I'm hungry······."

김용선

"I'll make you dinner early tomorrow. It's late today, so let's just go to sleep."

정휘인

"······But, sister."

김용선

"huh?"

정휘인

"Why did you do that earlier?"

김용선

"······."

정휘인

"You're not going to say anything?"

김용선

"I just don't like that guy."

정휘인

"Why do you think so?"

김용선

"You told me. You smoke, and you used to have tattoos."

정휘인

"He might be a good person."

김용선

"I just don't feel good about it. Don't get too close."

정휘인

"No, sis!"

김용선

"Listen to me, sister."

정휘인

"······."

Wheein, who had been standing there for a while looking at the dragon boat, picked up Komo, who was walking to the dragon boat, and went out to the living room.

Suddenly-

bang!

김용선

"······ under-."

At the sight of Wheein like that, Yongseon just sighed and put his hand on his head.

Yongseon, who had been sitting on the bed for a while, took his hand away and looked at the picture frame next to him.

The frame contained a younger Wheein holding the hand of a young Yongseon. Yongseon looked tense, while Wheein smiled at him. Yongseon ran his hand over Wheein's face, then glanced at the wheelchair behind the young Yongseon in the frame and placed it back on the table.