Side Story 2: We're Not Sisters, and I'm Definitely Not Her Little Sister

Taking Seo-hyeon's hand, I step outside.

Maybe because it isn't even lunchtime yet, the sunlight is beating down rather fiercely.

It's not as hot as it was in summer, but the glare is blinding.

This is a street I've often walked down hand in hand with Hyunwoo.

Walking down it now while holding the hand of my daughter, who's grown almost as big as I am, feels incredibly strange.

A warm feeling wells up in my chest, filling me with happiness.

At the same time, the passage of time feels cruel, leaving me lonely—but then my child's warmth reaches me again, and I smile.

"Mom! I've always wanted to go out holding hands with you like this! Hehe."

Seo-hyeon beams at me with a smile brighter than anything else.

When I quietly brush her hair back, she makes an ambiguous face, as if it tickles...