Chapter 10
When Heena got hurt, Yohan would pull out a first-aid kit from somewhere and expertly treat her. When she winced from the sting of the antiseptic, he would grip her wrist tightly and pull her closer.
“Stay still, I haven’t finished yet.”
When he quietly applied the medicine to the wound and gently blew on it, she sometimes felt like a child. It was as peaceful as lying down for a nap with her head on her mother’s lap.
But now, the situation was different.
Suddenly, Heena stepped back and tried to pull her finger away. However, what he said next flustered her even more.
“Wait a minute. It’s not fully stopped bleeding yet.”
She couldn’t tell if it really hadn’t stopped bleeding or if he intended to drain all the blood out. Heena not only squeezed her eyes shut but also covered her eyelids with one hand.
Then, the sounds of him sucking on her skin, chuk, chuk, became even more vivid. The sensation on her fingertip also felt more sensitive.
“Ah, no. It’s stopped bleeding. It’s completely stopped.”
This time, feeling that it was truly wrong, she pulled her finger out of his mouth with all her might.
Only then, as if he finally realized it was strange, did Seo Yohan leave Heena alone. Turning his head away awkwardly, it was clear he was quite flustered.
“Wait. I’ll get a band-aid.”
“There’s no need for…”
Before she could finish her sentence, Yohan appeared with the first-aid kit and wrapped a band-aid around her finger.
The two had to face each other and eat sujebi in this awkward atmosphere.
She had bled while cutting carrots, and he had sucked the blood away, but because of that ‘sucking away,’ Heena found it especially difficult to meet his eyes.
In the past, they had done more intimate things without hesitation, and they were just brother and sister with no lingering feelings for each other. Why should she be self-conscious just because he sucked the blood from a cut she got while chopping carrots?
Heena tried to compose herself, but past memories surfaced, making her oblivious to where the sujebi was going.
“Come up here.”
When Yohan said that, Heena would gently sit on his face. He’d suck up the endlessly flowing fluids as if inhaling them.
“Ah, uh, stop, stop it.”
Every time she uttered those insincere words, he would move his tongue more boldly, savoring the moans that escaped between her teeth.
“Kimchi sujebi tastes, cough, hack.”
Of all times, why did she have to choke now?
As Heena coughed, Yohan quickly brought her a glass of water.
“I told you to be careful because it’s hot.”
“I think you just said that for the first time?”
“I did. You probably didn’t hear me because you were lost in thought, as always.”
She gulped down the water and finally calmed her coughing.
The kimchi sujebi, which she hadn’t eaten in a while, tasted amazing. The dough, which he had thinly rolled out with clean hands and dropped into the boiling water, was cooked perfectly. The combination of the anchovy broth and the well-cooked kimchi was fantastic.
The awkward moment passed quickly, and she was engrossed in filling her stomach with sujebi, newly admiring his cooking skills, when…
“Didn’t you feel anything?”
Suddenly, Yohan asked with a serious face, looking directly into Heena’s eyes. Heena raised an eyebrow and lifted the bowl to drink the broth.
“What?”
“When I sucked on your finger.”
She barely swallowed down another cough and put the bowl down.
“Hmm…”
It was as if he had read her mind. Heena brushed back her hair and pondered how to get out of this situation.
“It’s something that can happen between close friends, right? I didn’t think anything of it.”
For some reason, she felt guilty looking into Yohan’s eyes, so she slowly lowered her gaze. That’s when she saw his large hand resting on the table.
His fingers were long and thick-boned; not delicate and pretty, but rough and worn from hard work.
She remembered Yohan at Mr. Park’s house, folding and unfolding the measuring tape as he measured everything. The hand that wrote down the necessary materials in a mature handwriting on the clipboard. The attitude that was relaxed, not at all desperate.
She had always liked those hands of Seo Yohan, and the way he never lost his composure except when they fought.
At that moment, Yohan’s hand, which had been resting quietly on the table, began to fidget and move.
His rough hand slid across the boundary and touched her fingertips. Heena blinked her large eyes, staring at the touching fingertips, and Yohan quietly looked at her face.
“Even now?”
“…Even now?”
“You don’t feel anything?”
Heena shook her head, trying to hide her nervousness.
“Not at all.”
Yohan’s fingertips pressed down on her nails, and his thumb stroked between her fingers. Very gently and ticklishly. At the same time, his voice dropped lower.
“Even now?”
Her lips trembled. Just the touch of his hand made her face flush and her vision spin.
Soon, his hand covered her entire hand.
“Even now?”
Unable to bear it any longer, Heena shook off his hand and glared at him.
“I don’t want to sleep with you!”
“…”
Yohan burst out laughing, dumbfounded by her overreaction.
“I… never said anything about sleeping together?”
…Just how far did you go on your own, Jeong Heena?
“You always tried to solve things with sex. That’s why I reacted that way unconsciously.”
She blurted out whatever came to mind, trying to gloss over it.
Narrowing his eyes, Yohan responded calmly, as if asking if there had ever been anything between them.
“We’re not even dating anymore.”
“…”
That’s right. They were over. She felt embarrassed by her reaction, as if she had expected something.
“Then call me ‘Noona’ properly from now on.”
“What?”
“We’re not dating. So why do you keep calling me ‘ya’ and ‘you’?”
“Are you going to be childish about this?”
“It’s not childish, it’s common sense. Huh? I told you clearly. Call me Noona.”
As Heena stammered, speechless, Yohan opened his mouth again.
“You’re really going on about ‘Noona’. Did you not hear ‘Noona’ enough growing up from Jeong Heetae?”
She wondered how many times the word “Noona” had come out of his mouth just now. It was enough to give her a “Noona” Gestaltzerfall.
Who is Noona and who is calling who Noona? I am Noona and Noona is me.
After much thought, Noona licked her trembling lips and snapped, “Fine! Just call me Noona. How rude, honestly. Huh?”
“Noona.”
“…”
Suddenly, Yohan called her “Noona” in a low, gentle voice with innocent eyes. Heena felt the storm raging inside her subside. Was it because it was so sudden and bewildering?
“Noona. Heena Noona.”
This wasn’t what she had expected. In the early days of their relationship, when excitement was overflowing like a fountain, Yohan had called her “Noona” out of childhood habit. Perhaps that’s why the term felt unfamiliar and strangely alluring.
“Noona. Is it good?”
When Heena just rolled her eyes, Yohan asked with a long, curved smile.
They say it’s the calm before the storm. The waves within her, which had momentarily subsided, began to surge again, more powerfully than before.
“Thanks for enjoying it, Noona.”
“…Stop it.”
Now she could see him suppressing a laugh. He was definitely chuckling and mocking her. Heena pouted.
“I’m not teasing you, Noona.”
“Overcharge me for the repairs, Noona.”
“I said stop it.”
“You can come beg for food tomorrow, too, Noo…”
“Stop, stop, stop! Don’t call me Noona. Noona is forbidden!”
She couldn’t understand why the word “Noona” made her heart pound.
Yohan burst out laughing, clutching his stomach. Heena was startled by his hearty laughter. Every time he laughed, the Adam’s apple in his long, white neck bobbed up and down sharply.
The fact that she was swallowing hard at that sight meant she wasn’t normal…
While she was so conscious of him, he was teasing her and laughing as if nothing was wrong. Maybe Yohan really had moved on.
Heena bit her lip and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
✦⋆🍒.₊ ⊹
“Heena, Jeong Heena!”
The next morning, Heena was awakened by a loud shout calling her name. She thought it was Seo Yohan again, but the voice was different.
She sluggishly put on her fleece jacket over her pajamas and went out to the yard. The bean sprout lady was knocking on the gate with a pottery jar in her hand.
“Ahjumma! What brings you here so early in the morning?”
As Heena opened the gate with a click, the bean sprout lady grinned and held out the jar.
“Aren’t you going beekeeping?”
“Beekeeping? Catching bees and raiding honey pots…?”
The unexpected words jolted her awake.
“That’s right. You have to check on them at least once a week. See if the bees are gathering honey well, if our queen is laying eggs properly, if any bees are sick. Mr. Jeong cherished those bees so much!”
This was the first time she had heard of this. Why beekeeping all of a sudden?
“But I don’t have any equipment.”
“Oh, it’s all in the elder’s room. Look for it.”
“Grandfather’s… room?”
Heena glanced back at the door to her grandfather’s room, which she still hadn’t opened.
It was her grandfather’s room, which she hadn’t yet had the courage to look inside.
