TGMND 145

His eyes opened early in the morning. Though it was still early enough to go back to sleep, seeing the bright morning sun, he was wide awake. Yoon Ji-gu sat on the sofa in the living room, his legs trembling.

Perhaps because he looked noticeably anxious? The cat, who never approached first without wanting something, watched him intently before hopping onto his thigh.

Meow~ Its tail swayed gently before Yoon Ji-gu bumped his forehead against its body. The comfort from this lovely small creature was touching enough, but unfortunately, the situation couldn’t be calmed just by this.

Thanks to the cat, his legs stopped trembling, but Ji-gu was still uneasy. If his heart could be taken out and seen with the eyes, his might have shrunk to half its size. He repeatedly looked at the clock, chewed his lips in thought, then looked at the clock again, dozens of times.

“Ah, I’m going crazy!”

The time is too fast! Why is it eleven already…! Yoon Ji-gu messed up his hair roughly and leaned back fully against the sofa. Aaaaah. He expressed his frustration with his whole body, shaking his arms and legs. The cat abandoned the increasingly uncomfortable cushion and left early. The judgmental look was an added bonus.

It happened a few days ago.

‘Ji-gu-ya. Are you free Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday evening? After seven.’

‘Seven? I have swimming…’

Yoon Ji-gu watched Yeo-woon’s reaction and trailed off. What’s he going to say? A date? Is it a date?

Unlike Lee Yeo-woon who always skipped swimming with excuses about work or stamina, Yoon Ji-gu was in the master swimming class. Plus, recently Seo Ji-hyeok had said he had gained weight so he’d even managed his diet and lost some weight! So missing one day of exercise wouldn’t hurt.

‘What about school?’

‘I’m always home before four.’

This hyung is definitely doing this because he wants to date after work… Ah, damn! I love it so much. Trying not to reveal his true feelings, Ji-gu deliberately pulled down his rising mouth corners and pretended to be nonchalant.

‘Then skip swimming for one day.’

‘What… um, why?’

‘I’ll introduce you to my younger sister.’

‘Okay… what?’

He hastily answered thinking they’d obviously suggest going somewhere in the evening or watching a movie, but after saying it, he realized that wasn’t what it meant.

‘Sorry for bringing this up suddenly. It’s burdensome, isn’t it?’

Wait, your younger sister…? Anyway, are you suddenly introducing that person? The one I saw before? But does she know about us? What would I say when we meet? And what would we do when we meet?

Oh. But if I formally meet his family… this is…

‘Isn’t this… a formal family meeting?’

Yeo-woon laughed at his inadvertent mumble.

‘Want me to call everyone and arrange a proper family meeting?’

‘Wh-wh-what are you.’

‘Just kidding. Your face turned pale.’

‘…’

‘I’ve exchanged contact information with your family members, but Ji-gu, you haven’t with mine. I thought you might feel anxious… So I wanted to introduce you to Seol first.’

Yoon Ji-gu knew well how Yeo-woon felt about his younger sister. Although they rarely contacted each other in daily life and only showed up unexpectedly when something came up, Yeo-woon cared deeply for his younger sister. They were close siblings.

Yoon Ji-gu made a big decision.

‘I… I’m okay with that.’

‘Are you really okay with it?’

Yoon Ji-gu nodded. For some reason, his heart felt touched. There seemed to be great significance in Yeo-woon introducing his family to him.

A real family meeting…! Such a serious relationship!

Regardless of what Lee Yeo-woon’s true intentions were, that’s how Ji-gu would think of it.

‘If Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday all work, is Wednesday okay?’

‘No, no! Friday!’

Still, he pushed the time back as much as possible. He needed time to prepare mentally. So if asked whether he was mentally prepared from Sunday until today, Friday…

“I think I’ll throw up…”

Absolutely not.

As Friday drew closer, just thinking about the meeting made him breathless, gave him a slight headache, and made him dizzy.  It’s not that he disliked the meeting itself. Why am I so nervous?

Did hyung feel like this too? What if he felt burdened whenever he met my family members who were scattered all around the neighborhood, and that’s why he became distant from me…? Such belated thoughts began to overwhelm Yoon Ji-gu.

Feeling this wouldn’t do, Yoon Ji-gu jumped up and cleared his thoughts by doing waterfall training under running water. After showering, he worried about what clothes to wear, then realizing it was weird to just stand there naked, he put on his pajamas first.

He planned to style his roughly dried hair before going out later. Fortunately, he didn’t have classes today. He couldn’t meet hyung’s younger sister looking disheveled after coming from school.

He didn’t want to appear too young. What if she thought he was just a kid and opposed this marriage? Well, it’s not marriage, but still. Why did Lee Yeo-woon have to be born so early and make him worry about things like this?

Yoon Ji-gu bit his lip hard while thinking about situations that would never happen. It would be weird to dress up too much when they were meeting at a meat restaurant.

“Ji-gu hyung, what are you doing right now?”

It was the morning part-timer from the cafe. Such an urgent voice right after answering the phone in this situation. Yoon Ji-gu guessed the situation and said,

“I’m super busy today, can’t come.”

“Ah… okay. The delivery orders are backed up, and I’m going to die from stress making these with Seoyun…”

“Yeah, go ahead and die.”

“Ah, hyuuung…!”

He hung up before they could finish speaking and tossed his phone roughly onto the bed. Just because he lived nearby, they often called him to the cafe even when it wasn’t his shift. Without even paying him. Usually, he would have gone down briefly to help, but today he really couldn’t spare the time.

And don’t think that acting cute and trying to evoke sympathy will work on him. It just makes him want to throw up. Why are you dragging out your words when you’re not Lee Yeo-woon?

Yoon Ji-gu pulled out a black shirt hanging neatly in the closet. It was a gift from Lee Yeo-woon, saying they had matching clothes. He treasured it so much that he didn’t dare wear it to school, and had barely taken it out to look at it a few times.

“Hmm.”

Looking in the mirror and holding the hanger under his face, Yoon Ji-gu was reasonably satisfied. As expected, Lee Yeo-woon had good taste.

This seemed like it would strike the right balance – not looking like he tried too hard, but also not appearing completely casual.

Seol was waiting at the entrance of the alley in front of Yeo-woon’s company, playing a mobile game. Even though Yeo-woon was right in front of her, he quietly waited for his younger sister to finish intensely tapping rhythm game notes, then spoke as soon as the song ended.

“You’re still playing this game?”

“Ah, shit! You scared me!”

Seol dropped his phone in surprise. Yeo-woon quickly caught the falling phone. Seol let out a sigh of relief.

“You startled me. Make some noise when you arrive!”

“But you always complain when I interrupt your game.”

“…That’s why you should just make your presence known moderately. But what should I talk about when I meet him?”

She came out because she was told to, but worried about it the whole way here. Seol had never introduced her boyfriend to Yeo-woon, nor had Yeo-woon introduced a lover to her. Moreover, that the partner was that thuggish guy they ran into last time.

“Ah, I’m nervous.”

Seol muttered while wiping their sweaty palms on their pants. Yeo-woon quietly laughed at his sister. He suddenly remembered how Yoon Ji-gu had been visibly tensing up and trembling since the other day whenever today’s meeting was mentioned.

Ji-gu: Hyung

Ji-gu: When r u coming

Ji-gu: Im almost thereㅜㅜ but

Ji-gu: Feel like im gonna faint tremble

Yeo-woon burst out laughing at the typo-filled messages from Yoon Ji-gu. He could picture how nervous he must be right now.

Yeo-woon hyung: About 10 minutes away

Ji-gu: Plz come as slow as possibleim doing deep breathing rn

Yeo-woon hyung: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Seol watched Yeo-woon laughing while sending his reply and muttered with a disgruntled face.

“You’re loving this…”

“That’s why I’m introducing him to you too.”

“Are you getting married?”

“How could we get married?”

Yeo-woon laughed off Seol’s words as a joke. But Seol couldn’t laugh along.

Seol had watched Yeo-woon grow up all these years. Thanks to his smooth personality, Lee Yeo-woon always had people around him. Whether friends or those who lingered because they liked him.

And she knew more about Yeo-woon’s relationships than he thought. Living in the same neighborhood all this time, there were always stories that reached her through friends, even when they didn’t attend the same school.

Lee Yeo-woon was the type whose dating status was clearly visible. Setting aside how sickeningly sweet he was normally when he was dating someone, there was an indescribable subtle atmosphere. Even when she noticed something different about Yeo-woon after not seeing him for a while, she just thought, “Ah, he’s got another lover. They’ll probably break up over something trivial again.” But…

“I’m here but where are you? Yeah, she’s here with me.”

“…”

It felt strange. She really didn’t care who Lee Yeo-woon dated. So whether it was a man or an alien, it really wasn’t her business, but why was he introducing his boyfriend to her this time? Why do something he’d never done before? What if they break up like all his previous relationships? Besides, since he’s a man, isn’t this a relationship that can’t lead to marriage?

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have come out. Should I turn around and bolt now?’

Seol hesitated and looked around cautiously. But if she was going to run away, she should have done it earlier.

“He says he’s already inside. Let’s go in, Seol.”

“…”

Coming this early… Seems it’s already too late.

Lee Seol already disliked this person she barely knew by face. The first impression was really terrible. Looking like a jerk, glaring like a dog when someone was just trying to say hello.

‘…Well, it won’t change anything even if I dislike them.’

Thinking this, Seol opened the door to the meat restaurant and followed Yeo-woon, who was looking around while on the phone. As they went deeper inside, they saw a man raising his hand at a table in the back. He stood up abruptly.

Even then, his face was… well, quite handsome. Just had no manners is all.

But that wasn’t the issue. The man’s face, which had looked tense, suddenly turned pale, and then he looked at Lee Yeo-woon and his own clothes alternately, and his neck turned bright red in an instant. He was a person with dramatic changes in expression.

“…Hmm?”

Seol finally realized why he was doing that and burst into laughter. Now she saw that Lee Yeo-woon and his boyfriend were wearing the same shirt.

But well, such shirts are common. Besides, even though they were the same clothes, they fit quite differently, and if he hadn’t reacted so extremely, she probably wouldn’t have noticed for a few minutes.

Anyway, seeing him react so excessively made her tension dissipate. It felt almost silly now that he’d worried all day about what to talk about.

“What’s this? Did you two coordinate your outfits?”

“…”

“…”

It was funny how they both froze at that joke. Seol passed by Lee Yeo-woon and sat down first in the empty seat. Yeo-woon was the first to regain his composure. He burst out laughing as he turned to look at Yoon Ji-gu.

Watching him still flustered even as Yeo-woon gestured for him to sit down, Seol felt her first impression of him as scary and unpleasant instantly transform into something amusing.

“I, I’ve heard a lot about you.”

He mumbled with a face so red it looked like it might burst if poked. Instead of giving a typical response, Seol felt the urge to pick at his words.

“Does Lee Yeo-woon talk about me to you? What did he say?”

“…”

He looked it up and they said to start with this line. Yoon Ji-gu’s mind went blank and after his lips quivered, he made something up.

“That… you were very popular…”

“Yeo-woon was more popular than me though.”

“…”

Yoon Ji-gu wasn’t immediately able to process the shock of those words. He was just feeling proud of coming up with a good response when it hit him, and his eyes went wide. Shock. Betrayal. Indignation. Seeing his expression freeze with emotions fitting those feelings, Seol burst out laughing again.

“What’s your name?”

“Y-Yoon Ji-gu.”

“Yoon Ji-gu-ssi. Is this the military? Why are you dating my oppa?”

It was an interrogating tone.

“Hey. Lee Seol…”

Yeo-woon had told her to watch her words on the way here. When Yeo-woon glared at his sister, Seol shrugged and closed her mouth. She had meant no harm – it was just funny seeing him try so hard while sitting stiffly with his hands neatly placed on his knees.

“I’m Lee Seol. You’re younger than me, so call me noona.”

“What?”

“You’re four years apart from Yeo-woon, right? I’m two years apart. Want to speak casually?”

“…You’re already doing it.”

Yoon Ji-gu grumbled discontentedly. Though meant as a mutter, it was clearly audible. Then belatedly, he glanced around worried if his words might have been rude.

His expressions are so transparent, Seol thought. It was really funny how he kept checking Yeo-woon’s reactions or looking back at him whenever things got slightly awkward, completely mismatched with his large frame. His personality was totally different from his prickly appearance.

“Lee Yeo-woon, why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Huh?”

“He keeps sending you SOS signals.”

Seol’s finger was pointing at Yoon Ji-gu.

“When did I? Ever.”

Yoon Ji-gu muttered in an aggrieved tone while frowning. The siblings exchanged glances. They looked at each other and smiled simultaneously.

“Seol. Don’t talk while grilling meat.”

“…”

I’ll just watch for now, so you two talk amongst yourselves. Understanding the meaning behind that look immediately, Seol turned his head toward today’s target. Yoon Ji-gu gulped at the sudden sense of crisis. It felt like Yeo-woon had thrown him into unfamiliar territory and abandoned him.

“I heard you have a cat.”

“He even told you that?”

“I asked before when I saw fur on his clothes.”

Yoon Ji-gu stayed quiet for a moment before asking “Do you like cats?” while fidgeting with his phone. Well, a little. When Seol showed a somewhat agreeable response, he gathered courage and even showed photos. Seol countered by showing pictures of their hamster Thunder.

It was a bit funny that two grown adults were seriously putting their heads together just to show off their pets. Yeo-woon bit his lips tightly and moved appropriately sized pieces of meat to their plates.