Chapter 16
My stomach was still hurting, so I was using a warm compress. Looking around the house, I couldn't help but smile a little. I was lying on the bed with the compress, unnie was refusing to leave my side and telling me to ask for anything I needed, and Mr. Minsu had just arrived home and was handing me warm honey water, telling me to drink it and regain my strength.
It looked just like a married couple doting on and worrying about their sick daughter, so I smiled without realizing it. Unnie and Mr. Minsu weren't dating, nor were they related to me... But for some reason, I felt moved, as if I had gained a new family.
"Unnie. I want to rest for just five minutes and then start cooking, but what should I make with the ingredients we bought? Something simple, like rice bowls?"
"You haven't cooked much before, so simple rice bowls would be best."
When I finished using the compress and tried to get out of bed, my legs gave out and I nearly fell, but Mr. Minsu and unnie caught me at the same time. They bumped into each other while trying to catch me and looked awkward, which was actually nice to see. I didn't have much cooking experience, so with a little help from unnie, I made rice bowls and we all ate lunch. All I had really done was buy marinated meat, grill it, make a sauce, and put everything over rice, so it felt like I hadn't put in enough effort to call it cooking...
"Perhaps it's because Ms. Jia made it, but it tastes even better."
"I know, right? Jia would be even better at it if she learned how to cook."
I had bought ingredients that made the combination as foolproof as possible, but it still felt good to be praised. From now on, I should learn how to cook from unnie and try making a wider variety of dishes. After washing the dishes, my stomach started hurting again, so I sat in front of the TV and decided to continue using the warm compress.
"Ugh... It does hurt."
"I'm worried because Jia is in pain... Will you be able to go to the hair salon later?"
"I'll go if I feel better after using the compress for a while."
"You need to get plenty of rest too, Ms. Jia, so I'll be going now."
Mr. Minsu said that and got up to prepare to leave. I suppose he felt a little uncomfortable being between two women. It couldn't be helped. He had met his ex-girlfriend, who didn't get along with him, she had mistaken me for his girlfriend and gotten irritated, and then I had collapsed while dealing with her... The timing really couldn't have been worse.
"Thank you for helping me again today. And I'm sorry I suddenly collapsed."
"Not at all. I'm just glad you're safe."
He was probably in a bad mood because he had run into his ex-girlfriend, and then I had collapsed while dealing with her too... How startled must he have been?
"By the way, Mr. Minsu... Are you all right? You must have been very shocked."
Unnie asked him with a worried expression.
"I was upset because I ended up meeting someone I didn't want to see... But I was so worried about Ms. Jia that I forgot all about it."
"Hngh...!"
I was so embarrassed. I had heard that my appearance had become young enough for me to look like a high school student, but being treated like an actual child was incredibly embarrassing... Even so, I had completed my military service and was right on the verge of graduating from university... Since I felt emotions more strongly and my body was more honest now, and my pale complexion made my blushing so obvious despite already being unable to control my expressions, I felt even more embarrassed...
"Ugh... I'm embarrassed, Mr. Minsu..."
"Our Jia is so cute!"
Unnie suddenly hugged me from behind, pushing me forward until I ended up wedged between her and Mr. Minsu, who had been standing in front of me. Unnie's breasts were pressed against my back, while my hands came into contact with Mr. Minsu's muscular upper body, which belonged to someone over ten centimeters taller than me and... very solid.
"...!!! M-Ms. Jia, th-this is..."
"...!!! Th-that, I... Hic!"
I was dizzy from being stimulated mentally and physically at the same time, and I even started hiccupping. Mr. Minsu was completely flustered when my breasts touched his body and couldn't even speak properly.
"Puhahahahaha! Why are you two so flustered? Hahahahaha!"
Jiyeon unnie must have found it funny, because she burst out laughing. She had enough tact not to say anything about us looking like a couple, but if nothing had happened today, she definitely would have said it...
-A short while later-
"Um, I'm sorry, Ms. Jia. I'll be going now..."
"Ah, n-no. I'm the one who should be sorry..."
We exchanged awkward goodbyes and only saw Mr. Minsu off as far as the front door.
*
"Are you really all right?"
"Yes. I feel better after using the compress the whole time."
I put both hands on my waist, straightened my shoulders, and struck a pose to show that I was fine. Afterward, we went to the hair salon unnie had booked, where I got a haircut and various treatments... They only trimmed my bangs a little, but they cut about three centimeters off the back. I didn't know how expensive the products used for hair treatments were, but beauty treatments cost an astonishing amount of money.
"Oh my, our Jia looks even prettier now!"
"R-Really?"
It took longer and was more tiring than getting my hair cut when I was a man, but my hair felt incredibly fresh and glossy, which put me in a good mood. Seeing unnie give me such a bright smile made me think that, if I told myself I was paying for the privilege of seeing her smile, it might not be so bad.
"But unnie, won't you be even busier tomorrow because of me? You left work early today to look after me..."
"It's fine~ I'm pretty good at my job, so I've already finished everything I needed to do. I can't help it if an emergency patient comes in, but the emergency room isn't my department anyway. And more than anything, you're the only emergency patient I have, Jia."
"Is that so...? Then that's a relief."
Just then, Mr. Minsu called me.
[Ms. Jia? Is now a good time to talk?]
"Yes, it's fine. I just came out of the hair salon."
[It's about... the woman we met today.]
"Did something happen?"
[She said that if she could meet Ms. Jia and have a conversation with her, she would never come looking for me again.]
"She's persistent... Put another way, that's practically a threat that she'll keep harassing you if I don't meet her..."
[I know.]
"I'll talk to her so she won't cause you any more trouble, Mr. Minsu."
[Thank you.]
The call ended, and unnie seemed a little worried as she asked, "Are you really all right with meeting her?" I was a little nervous too, but I nodded, thinking that nothing could really happen.
*
"Haa... What the hell is with that woman?"
Sua was irritated. The ex-boyfriend she had met again after a long time was with a woman so young and beautiful that she could have believed the woman was twenty and had just graduated from high school.
"How did he even meet a woman like that? When I first saw her, I thought there was no way she could be real, but no matter how I looked at her, she seemed completely natural..."
The woman's figure was astonishing enough on its own, but with the woman shorter than me standing beside Minsu, who was 181 centimeters tall, the two of them somehow looked like they belonged together.
"Ugh... She's small and cute, and considering the height difference between her and Minsu, she's exactly the kind of person he'd want to protect..."
"How pretty could she possibly be?"
Minji asked curiously.
"She suddenly collapsed while we were talking, so I couldn't take a picture. But Minsu wouldn't have let me take one anyway."
"If Mr. Minsu takes care of her that much, aren't they really dating? There are plenty of couples like that."
"Exactly! That woman has fucking huge breasts, and her figure made it obvious that her hips were much bigger than mine. She even looked younger than me!"
"Right, right. But you said you broke up with your boyfriend because you missed Mr. Minsu, didn't you?"
Sua vented to her friend Minji, but Minji looked unconvinced because she hadn't met the woman herself. Since Minji refused to believe her, Sua texted Minsu to ask whether she could bring a friend on Friday, saying the four of them could meet. He replied, 'I'm going too anyway. You shouldn't pressure her too much, Kang Sua.'
*
This is bad... Jia can't even get up. I've been applying a warm compress, but she can't even fall asleep, perhaps because the pain is getting worse.
"This won't do, Jia. Let's go to the emergency room, okay?"
"Haa... I'm... fi-fine..."
"What do you mean, you're fine, Jia? You look like you're in terrible pain... Sob... This won't do. I'll call Mr. Minsu now, so put this on."
Patient clothes...? What unnie took out were hospital clothes. Ah... Right, the doctor had told me that if the pain became unbearable, I should put on hospital clothes and come straight to the emergency room... I had to meet that woman tomorrow and settle things with her, and I also had to undergo a thorough examination... 'I was supposed to get examined on Friday...' Thinking that, I nodded at unnie's words and decided to go to the hospital.
Mr. Minsu must have been waiting nearby, because he came running in five minutes, carried me bridal-style, put me in the back seat with unnie, and set off for the hospital. Under ordinary circumstances, I would have been embarrassed and protested, but I felt so awful that I couldn't even think about it.
"Haa... haa... Un...nie..."
"Yes, Jia. I'm listening."
"My head... hurts..."
"Oh my, you have a fever again. Let's try taking one fever-reducing pill for now."
I couldn't even lift my head properly, so unnie put the medicine in my mouth and gave me water. I had already caused them enough trouble, and now my worsening condition was making me rely on them even more. I felt terribly sorry. When we arrived at the hospital, the doctor must have prepared in advance, because they immediately started an IV and prescribed painkillers. The gynecologist also said that she would come in early tomorrow morning to examine me.
"They said that if you sleep tonight and feel better when you wake up, you can get examined and then be discharged."
"Yes... Um, but I need to use the bathroom..."
I held unnie's hand, nodded, and dragged the IV pole into the bathroom. I was told that, since my condition was still unstable, they had set aside the private room where I had stayed before exclusively for me. I didn't remember it very well, but they said I could only feel reassured once my first period had ended and my body was still doing well...
"Jia, say ahh."
"Ah..."
Although it was a little late, unnie fed me hospital food because she said that enduring it without eating would only make things worse. They said the IV attached to me contained medicine to stabilize my hormones and painkillers, rather than nutrients. It was such a shame to end up hospitalized right after going to the hair salon.
*
The next day, I woke up feeling better and went to the gynecology department for an examination. Compared with the previous day, my condition had stabilized considerably, and they said it would be fine for me to be discharged, but that I absolutely had to come back if anything felt wrong.
"Jia, are you feeling all right?"
"Yes, hehe. I feel much better after getting plenty of sleep."
Afterward, Mr. Minsu brought hospital food, and the three of us ate breakfast in the hospital room.
"It's nice that I'm feeling better and we can all eat together."
"Really? That's a relief. You have no idea how worried I was, Jia..."
"You look much better too. I'm glad you're feeling all right, Ms. Jia."
After visiting the gynecology department and getting examined, I received a prescription along with permission to be discharged since my condition was stable. I was told to take the medicine whenever my head hurt so badly that it made me dizzy. Then I packed my things, got into Mr. Minsu's car, and the three of us returned home.
"Jia, are you really all right with meeting that woman?"
"Yes. We're meeting at a café after one o'clock. Mr. Minsu will be with me too, so don't worry."
Since we had arranged to meet at a café after one, we decided to eat lunch together first. Fortunately, there was nothing wrong with my digestive system, so I could eat as I had before and didn't need to be especially careful about anything. I still couldn't eat anything too spicy or irritating, though... 'Well, I can't eat spicy food anymore anyway, and irritating food doesn't agree with my body, so even one bite is difficult. There shouldn't be anything special to worry about.'
We went out for a simple Korean set meal for lunch, ate mild, non-spicy food, and enjoyed a pleasant time chatting about trivial things.
"I'll wait at Ms. Jia's home, then come at around the time you're finished. We should gradually start preparing to move Ms. Jia's belongings too."
"Yes, thank you. We'll be back!"
Mr. Minsu had originally intended to accompany me, but when Jiyeon unnie said she would go instead, he immediately agreed, saying, "It would be better for Ms. Jiyeon to go than me." He must have found it difficult to withstand the battle of wills Kang Sua kept forcing on him... But I found it difficult to withstand too...
*
"It looks like we got here first."
"I know. Let's order first and wait."
It seemed we had arrived first, but Sua and her friend showed up five minutes later.
"Hello."
"Ah, yes. Hello..."
Perhaps because I was with Jiyeon unnie, Ms. Sua bowed her head as she greeted us. It felt awkward not to return the greeting, so I bowed too, but...
"Wow, it's really true?"
"I told you she was real!"
The friend who had come with Ms. Sua seemed shocked when she saw me. Then the drinks we had ordered and the cake Sua had ordered arrived. 'Cake...? I don't think I can eat that.'
"Um, could you tell me why you wanted to meet me...?"
"How are you so beautiful?"
"Excuse me? What did you say?"
"I mean, look at you. Now that I'm seeing you up close, even your skin is incredible... What do you use?"
When I couldn't answer Ms. Sua's barrage of questions, unnie sighed and spoke up.
"Our Jia hasn't been doing anything special. She has always looked like this. I'm helping her take care of herself a little now, though."
"Wow, seriously... Is that all natural? You're basically using cheat codes."
The person who had come with Ms. Sua introduced herself as Minji and asked me all sorts of questions. When she asked, 'What cosmetics do you use? What about shampoo? Conditioner? Where do you buy your clothes?' I was so flustered that I had nothing to say except, "I don't really know..."
"But, Ms. Sua, why did you want to meet me?"
"We were so busy that day, and you collapsed while we were talking. So I wanted to see you with my own eyes again. You look completely natural, but I thought there had to be some special way you took care of yourself..."
"I-Is that so...? I don't really have any special method."
"What made you collapse that day?"
I couldn't answer that either...? Only Jiyeon unnie, Mr. Minsu, Dr. Seo at the hospital, and one gynecologist knew that my body was like this... A few nurses knew too, but they had all signed confidentiality agreements.
"Jia has had a weak constitution since birth. In particular, when the pain is as severe as it was that day, she sometimes faints."
Perhaps she had roughly figured out the other woman's personality, because unnie mixed in an appropriate lie and managed to convince Ms. Sua.
"Wow... A perfect beauty who's sickly by nature too...? She's really perfect... No wonder Mr. Minsu fell for her at first sight."
"I understand why you might think that, but Mr. Minsu and Jia really aren't in that kind of relationship."
"I'm jealous. You two are pretty great too, but where does Minsu find women like you?"
"You mainly use cosmetics from OO, right?"
"Wow, you can tell? I switched recently."
Jiyeon unnie must have been trying to put the other woman in a good mood and send her away peacefully, because she showered her with all kinds of compliments. Then again, if I had made an effort to dress up and someone noticed everything, I would probably be grateful too. Minji also said I was fascinating and asked if she could shake my hand once, but she wouldn't let go even after remarking that my hand was incredibly soft. She only released it after receiving a sharp glare from unnie, and then they left.
*
When I heard a car horn and turned around, Mr. Minsu's car was there. Unnie sat in the front and I sat in the back, where there were some boxes. A note on one of them said Han Jia. When I opened it, I found some of my belongings from when I had been a man. He must have packed separately the things that would be... awkward to show other people, like my military uniform.
"Thank you, Ms. Jia and Ms. Jiyeon. Thanks to you, I was able to put an end to a bad relationship from my past."
"Oh, it was nothing. We only gave rough answers to all her questions."
"Many of the questions were difficult for Jia to answer, so I answered most of them. She probably won't suspect that we were lying."
"Thank you very much. If you don't mind, let me treat you to dinner tonight. It is Friday, after all..."
"Oh my, really? Then somewhere a little upscale... Hehe."
Unnie had worked hard too... She must have been craving something nice. Jiyeon unnie seemed fairly well-off, judging by her home, so while I had no experience with upscale restaurants or expensive hotels either, I supposed I would have to learn about them one by one if I went.
...But why was it already three o'clock? We had definitely met at around 1:10. When four men met, I used to feel that even talking for an hour was difficult... But with three women gathered together, the chatting had gone on for an incredibly long time. It was a little frightening that it had lasted so long even though we weren't close.
'It looks like it would take me a long time to get used to that... I'm a woman too, but mentally I'm still not quite a... woman yet.'
The three of us arrived at unnie's house, and before going out for dinner, we lightly washed our faces and fixed our hair together. When unnie did my hair a little, it turned out noticeably different from when I did it myself. Was it the difference in brushing technique?
"Jia, do you want to brush unnie's hair?"
"Is it really all right if I do it?"
"Just start brushing from the nape of my neck downward without letting the brush touch my scalp. Above the nape, brush upward gently from underneath."
"Yes, I'll give it a try."
As I gently brushed unnie's hair, she closed her eyes tightly and wore a relaxed expression, as if she was enjoying it. Mr. Minsu stepped outside, saying he would make a quick phone call, and I gradually grew sleepy. After finishing brushing unnie's hair, I leaned against her shoulder as she watched TV and fell asleep.