Chapter 19
I caught a cold.
Not my sister—I did.
Getting caught in quite a bit of rain, even briefly, was what did it.
“……”
“Honey, it’s nice that you’re trying to act cool, but aren’t you a little too into it?”
“…Cough.”
There’s nothing I can say.
I’m pathetic and stupid… myself.
I should be doing things for my sister for even one more day, yet here I am lying down and being nursed.
“You’ll catch my cold.”
“You have to catch a cold for it to get better!”
“That’s all baseless nonsense—”
“Aaah~”
A kiwi held out to my mouth cuts me off.
Me lying in bed, my sister sitting beside me.
I said I’d stay in my own room instead of the room where my sister sleeps, but in the end I wound up lying here.
“Want me to change the wet towel?”
“No…”
“Then should I wipe your sweat?”
“I’m okay…”
“Then what should I do for you? Hm? Hmm?”
Besides, my sister is stuck right by my side and has no intention of leaving.
Even though my whole body is sticky with sweat and I keep coughing… she still wants to stay here beside me.
Why? Obviously, she’s trying out the role of a devoted wife, diligently nursing her sickly husband.
So I… have to lie still and let her nurse me, whether I like it or not.
“Just… stay.”
“Here? Stay by your side?”
“…Even if I tell you to leave, you’ll stay, right?”
“Of course!”
“Yeah…”
I don’t have the strength to make her leave, either.
My head is spinning, and my heart is pounding.
My sister sets down the plate of kiwis and lies down beside me; as always, she uses my arm as a pillow.
“You’re warmer than usual. I like it.”
“You like this?”
“Mm-hm.”
We’re a little closer than when we usually sit or lie together.
I don’t know why.
My head’s throbbing, so I can’t think straight.
“……”
“……”
My sister and I fall silent for a moment.
An ordinary pair of siblings with nothing special to talk about are used to this silence.
But for me, this situation is a little… hard.
I keep thinking I should do something, anything.
“Honey.”
“Hm?”
My sister is the one who speaks first.
Lying quietly beside me, she looks up at the ceiling instead of at me today as she speaks.
“Later… are you going to tell Mom and Dad?”
“Tell them what?”
“How we spent our time together.”
“…Why?”
“I was curious.”
Later. I understand right away what she means.
But tell them this?
“I don’t think it’d be easy.”
“Hehe… right?”
“Of course not.”
“But… I hope you tell them at least this much about me.”
“How much?”
“That you were the person who made me happiest.”
My vision keeps going blurry, so I simply close my eyes.
Could I hear her say I was the person who made her happiest?
I’ve been trying to become that person, and I’m prepared to keep trying, but…
Honestly, I’m not sure I can.
Especially since my sister is the first person I’m pretending to love, and my partner in married life.
“Can I… make you happy?”
“Who else could do that if not you, honey? Right?”
With a faintly sad smile, my sister turns over.
She turns toward me and inches closer, nestling against my side.
I feel a warmth that isn’t from the slight fever my cold has given me.
“I’m sorry.”
“……”
“For making you go this far because of me.”
“…It’s fine.”
“For making you do something you can’t even tell Mom and Dad…”
Don’t say it like that.
I… think this marriage is at least fun.
“I… will tell them. Mom and Dad.”
“Hm?”
“Someday. I’ll brag that I was married to you.”
“Pfft, pfft… What are you talking about?”
“I mean it.”
I turn my limp, languid body slightly.
I turn toward my sister lying beside me and lie facing her.
“That I had a wife who was… so pretty, packed me lunch, and brought me an umbrella when a sudden shower came.”
“Th-they’ll scold you so much if you tell them. Mom and Dad.”
“I’ll be the only one getting scolded. I don’t care.”
My head hurts.
The throbbing headache shows no sign of stopping.
My vision swims, and my sister’s face right in front of me is blurry, so I move a little closer.
“…What if I don’t die?”
“……”
If a miracle came along and let my sister live?
I’m not the sort of person who makes plans for some far-off future.
Still, I think I can answer.
“You… said it yourself.”
“Said what?”
“That you’d be my wife until the day you died. At the wedding.”
“…Right.”
“Then that’s settled…”
I slowly let out a long breath.
When will this cold go away?
I need to shake it off and get up soon so I can spend time with my wife.
“C-come a little closer, honey.”
“I’m already close.”
“A little more.”
I pull my heavy body toward my sister and inch closer.
In fact, we were already practically pressed together.
Getting closer means only the distance between our faces.
“……”
“…Why?”
I’m the one with the cold, but my sister’s face is a little red.
The flush blooming on her cheeks is just about to spread to her ears.
“Honey, have you ever… k-kissed anyone?”
“No.”
“…I think I… want to try it… a kiss.”
I’ve already resolved to do the things my sister wants to do.
There must’ve been countless thoughts that came to me after hearing her confession,
but in my cold-fogged head, only one concern is clear.
“You’ll catch my cold.”
“…It’s okay.”
I reach out, place my hand on my sister’s waist, and pull her closer.
Then I move my hand upward. Along her waist, past her shoulder, and around her head.
I tilt my head and lean forward.
I can see my sister.
“……”
“Close your eyes.”
“I-I don’t want to…”
“……”
In the first moment our lips met, I tasted a faint hint of kiwi,
our gazes locked together and wouldn’t break,
kissing left me frustrated because I didn’t know how to breathe,
neither of us could bring ourselves to end it first, and it went on and on,
and it felt good.
Our tongues met between our lips, and we both froze in surprise,
forgetting all about the cold as we exchanged saliva,
even when it was getting hard to breathe, we couldn’t pull our lips apart,
and it was a shame when the long, long kiss finally ended,
and it felt good.
“Hah, haa… h, haa…”
“…How was it?”
“Y-you can’t ask… something like that.”
My sister, her face bright red, buries it in my chest and hides.
As for me… aside from a vague feeling that it was good, it’s hard to describe.
It’s true that I’m not good at expressing myself.
…One thing’s certain: no matter how much time passes, it’s not something I can brag about.
***
The good news is that by evening, my cold had vanished without a trace.
And the bad news is that I passed all of it on to my sister.
“A- a, achoo-!”
“Here. Wipe your nose.”
“Th-thanks… honey.”
“I told you you’d catch my cold.”
My sister is sitting on the sofa wrapped in a blanket.
I told her to stay in bed, but she insisted on coming out to the living room because she had to watch the baseball game.
I learned for the first time today that my sister was interested in baseball.
Still, thankfully, she seems a little better than I was earlier, when I couldn’t even get out of bed.
“What do you want for dinner?”
“Uuh… something wa, warm.”
“Something warm… seolleongtang? When we caught colds as kids, Mom used to buy us seolleongtang.”
“A- achoo! I-I think that sounds… okay…”
“Okay, then. Let’s order delivery.”
There’s no need to go out and leave a sick person alone.
Instead, let’s plan together what we’ll do tomorrow, over the weekend, and next week.
Just then, the kettle I’d put on to boil water beeps to let me know it’s done.
I pour water into a cup, take the citron preserve from the cupboard, add a spoonful to the hot water, and… stir, stir, stir.
“You took your medicine earlier, right? Drink this.”
“Th-thanks… honey.”
Sniffling, my sister accepts the cup and sips her citron tea.
I sit beside her to watch the baseball game on TV… as if.
My thoughts are a complete mess.
Did I kiss my sister? Lee Hyunjun, are you crazy?
We’re siblings.
Even if we’re pretending to be married, we’re family, siblings…!
And yet… a k-kiss?
Do I think I’m actually her husband? Get a grip… please, get a grip.
‘A drive to left! Deep to left! Over the left-field wall!!’
“……”
“……”
The silence is at odds with the caster’s passionate commentary.
There’s not a word between my sister and me as we sit on the sofa.
Could my sister be thinking something similar to me?
What if… she thinks it was a mistake and regrets it?
“A- a, ah… I was about to sneeze, but it went away…”
“It’s hot, so drink it slowly.”
“Honey, h-hand.”
Right… let’s just hold hands. I’m used to holding hands by now.
I take my sister’s small hand, still warm from holding the cup.
Interlacing our fingers doesn’t feel awkward, either.
“…H-holding hands makes me want to hug you.”
“Want me to hug you?”
“Mm…”
This time, I choose to hug her instead of giving her my arm as a pillow.
I set the cup my sister is holding down on the table in front of the sofa, then open my arms and give her a gentle hug.
I feel a little ticklish as my sister wiggles into my arms, searching for warmth.
“After dinner… take some cold medicine before bed, too. Got it?”
“Mm, mmm… honey.”
“Yeah?”
“…Want your cold back?”
This kind of thing isn’t good.
I know. I know… I know that too.
“…Close your eyes.”
“I-I don’t want to.”
Was it me who was supposed to take cold medicine before bed?