Chapter 1
“Groom Lee Hyunjun. Do you swear to love the bride standing before you forever?”
Fuck.
“…Yes.”
“Bride Lee Hyuna. Do you…?”
“Yes!”
A private wedding hall with not a single guest.
Dressed in a neat tuxedo, I’m the groom, the star of this wedding.
And the bride standing before me in a pure-white dress, smiling brightly, is my older sister, who’s been given a terminal diagnosis.
***
Idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension. IPAH, for short.
That was the name of my sister’s diagnosis.
“…So?”
“Huh? What do you mean, ‘so’?”
“What are you going to do now?”
I’d known since we were kids that my sister wasn’t exactly physically robust.
I’d thought her frail constitution had simply stayed with her into adulthood, but…
For the past few months, she’d kept getting short of breath, so she went to the hospital, where they found a problem with her heart.
The problem was, they’d found it too late.
“They said it was already serious, and that next year would be the most dangerous, didn’t they?”
“Oh, it’s fine! Modern medicine has come so far.”
“The doctor said you have a year left.”
“They didn’t say I have a year left. They said that if there’s no improvement, I’m likely to die in a year!”
That’s the same thing.
Doctors don’t like making definitive statements. That’s why they left even the smallest sliver of possibility open.
“Anyway, the doctor said I should take my meds regularly. And get checkups from time to time.”
“…Do you have any real plans?”
“I’m gonna take it easy for a while! Have fun~ and do all the things I’ve wanted to do.”
“What about work?”
“I quit!”
That was the right call.
“I should do everything I wanted before I die, right?”
“Hey. Don’t put it like that.”
“Oh? You’re calling your big sis ‘hey’? Hey?”
The way she smiles and casually jokes around is exactly the sister I know.
People tend to think real siblings are worse than strangers, but we were pretty close.
We grew up looking out for each other without fighting much. That’s us.
“Anyway, I’m off!”
“Where?”
“Who knows… What should I do first? Skydiving, maybe? I’ve always wanted to ride a biiig motorcycle!”
My sister raised both arms and mimed riding a motorcycle.
She might act this childish, but she’s a lot more mature than I am.
Hearing that someone like her would die within a year… Honestly, it doesn’t feel real.
Even more so because the person in question is laughing and joking like that.
***
It’s been about a month since I heard about my sister’s illness.
I haven’t contacted her to ask where she’s been or what she’s doing, but I’m sure she’s managing fine on her own.
That’s just how siblings are.
Bzzzt—bzzzt—
Speak of the devil.
It was a call from my sister.
“What.”
‘Are you busy right now? At home? Free?’
“Yeah.”
‘Then I’m coming in!’
“Huh?”
Beep—beep, beep, beep, beep—ding-dong.
The security on my studio apartment has one fatal flaw: anyone can get in if they guess the right four-digit code.
But I never told my sister the code.
“What the hell? How’d you figure out the code?”
“I asked Mom.”
I have nothing to say to that.
Even if we’re family, is it okay to give someone my door code without even asking me?
“So, why are you here?”
As she plopped down on the sofa, I asked my sister why she’d come to my place.
If she’d gone to the trouble of coming over instead of just calling, there had to be a reason.
“You know… I spent the last month doing pretty much everything I could on my own, right?”
“But.”
“But there’s one thing I couldn’t do by myself.”
“What?”
“Get married.”
Why would she tell me that?
“I could die in a year, so when would I date someone? And when would I get married? Right, right?”
“…So?”
“You… have a girlfriend? You don’t, right? And you’re not planning on having one anytime soon, are you?”
I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t speak.
Her question carried this subtle assumption that I wasn’t dating anyone, which annoyed me a little.
But the fact that it was true pissed me off even more?
“Don’t tell me… you’re asking me to marry you, Sis? No way, right?”
“That’s right.”
“……”
“Ah, obviously I don’t mean for real! Just pretend~”
Obviously, that was ridiculous.
But sometimes, people are especially easy to sway.
One is when the other person is sick. Especially if they might die soon.
And the other is when the person is family.
And now… both apply, don’t they?
“I’ve always wanted to get married, you know… Please? Preeetty please?”
“That’s insane. How can I marry my own sister?”
“You’re so mean…! When I die, I’ll haunt you and curse you for the rest of your life… I’ll stick to you so you can never date or get married!”
“Ah, come on. Don’t say you’re going to die.”
“Then marry me!”
This is driving me crazy.
I vaguely knew that my sister had always had this dream of getting married.
But she’d been so caught up in the grind of working life that she hadn’t even dated once, let alone gotten married… and now this had happened.
“How can you get married if there’s no love?”
“You… don’t love me? Your big sis?”
“No, I mean I love you as family.”
“Then that’s enough, isn’t it?”
“No.”
She didn’t look like she had any intention of backing down.
Of course, it wasn’t that I couldn’t understand her at all.
She wanted to get married. Sure. But was there some guy who’d meet her and marry her right away? Come on.
She’s terminally ill, with a year to live. But for me to marry her… that’s kind of… weird.
We’re siblings.
“…You really won’t do it?”
My sister’s voice, which had been demanding it moments ago, softened a little.
Was she disappointed? Had she come here thinking I’d obviously say yes?
“No, I mean… sigh.”
Seriously, if I hadn’t heard she was going to die within a year.
No… if she hadn’t gotten sick in the first place.
“First, this has to be an absolute secret from everyone else. No matter what. Especially Mom and Dad.”
“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm!”
“And if you, um… end up not dying, then we’re done.”
“Ooh… So you’ll be my husband until I die?”
“…Forget it. I’m not doing it, not doing it.”
“A-ah! Okay! I won’t tease you!”
Marriage definitely isn’t something you just decide on a whim like this.
But if I didn’t do it, who would?
Who’d marry someone who might not even make it to next year?
“Wait… Sis, you said you wanted to get married. You want me to be your husband, right?”
“Yeah!”
“Then what exactly do you want? From a husband?”
It wasn’t like she just wanted to pretend to have a husband on paper.
I needed to know what kind of husband she wanted so I could play the part.
“Umm… Well, first, we have to have a wedding…”
“What?”
“Huh? Of course we do! A wedding! Don’t worry, all you have to do is show up.”
“…Anything else?”
“And, um… go on dates sometimes when we’re free…”
“Why would we go on dates? Am I your boyfriend?”
“What are you talking about! Married couples go on dates too, you know?”
That’s because they were a couple to begin with… Whatever.
It seemed she hadn’t actually wanted to get married so much as she’d dreamed about all the things you get to do once you’re married.
Was there really a difference?
“I’ll think about the rest as we go! We have lots of time~”
“……”
Lots of time, my ass.
I almost said it out loud without thinking, but swallowed it.
My sister was the one who knew that best.
“Anyway, we’re doing this, okay? You’re marrying your big sis, right?”
“I said I’d do it. I’ll do it…”
It wasn’t a real marriage, and surely I could play the part of a husband and humor her.
Even I thought it was ridiculous, but what could I do?
“All right! Let’s pack your things. I’ll help!”
“…?”
“Huh? Why are you just standing there?”
“Why pack?”
“We’re married, so of course we have to live together. Oh, don’t worry! You know my place is spacious.”
Ah, I see. Not just a sham marriage, she wants to live together too?
“…Just go home for now. You can come back and get your stuff later.”
“Mmkay!”
Mmkay, my ass… I shouldn’t say something so mean.
I was pretty flustered too, having agreed to marriage and living together in the span of barely ten minutes.
I had no idea what was going on or what would happen from here.
I pushed aside the thoughts whirling chaotically through my complicated mind and was just about to head to my sister’s place when—
My sister, who’d been heading toward the shoe cabinet, suddenly stopped in her tracks.
“Oh, right… I almost forgot.”
“Why? What now?”
Please, let it be anything but marriage, living together, or anything beyond that.
My sister rummaged through the handbag slung over her shoulder, took something out, and held it out to me.
“Here!”
In my sister’s hand was a small black box.
I couldn’t guess what was inside, so I took it and opened it.
“…No.”
Inside the box were two silver rings, neatly nestled side by side.
“Ah, aah! Wait! L-listen to the end!”
“What?”
“Since we’re getting married… um, you can at least propose, right? Right?”
“Haaaa…”
It’s incredibly hard to turn down a request from someone who might die soon.
Even more so if that person is family.
“Here?”
“A proposal in your studio apartment has its own kind of romance, right? Oh, I even have a script! Here.”
A white slip of paper emerged from my sister’s pocket.
She sure was prepared. I couldn’t even find anything to say anymore.
I took the note and unfolded it. A long proposal script came into view, but the first line was already a problem.
‘Oh, you, more radiant than the stars and brighter than the sun-‘
There was no need to read the rest. I crumpled the note right up.
“Hey… why does this sound like something from a cheap Chinese drama?”
“I-is it that bad? S-sorry. You know your sister studied science… Ahem.”
My sister awkwardly chuckled and scratched her head.
I’d just… wrap this up quickly myself.
I knelt on one knee on the floor of my studio apartment, looked at my sister, and held up the ring box.
…Just look at her face. She looks like she’s about to die of happiness.
“Lee Hyuna.”
“O-oh my… Oh my, oh my. I’m going crazy…”
“…Marry me.”
Fuck.
“He… Hehe, yes!”
Unable to contain her bubbling laughter, my sister picked up one of the rings.
Then she slipped it onto the ring finger of her left hand.
And that was how I married my older sister.