TL/Editor: looloo
Status: ongoing
Illustrations: posted in discord
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"Ah, Heena is angry, what game are you talking about?"
I was confused, but I wasn't crazy enough to accept that suggestion. Despite my refusal, Heeseong hyung kept pestering me.
"Do you think you'll get an answer by worrying here? You don't even know why she's acting like that. It can't be that serious, right? If it were, you'd know as soon as the mood went south."
"But still..."
"At most, it's probably because you forgot some skinship or something at that level. It's not even an anniversary."
Anniversary? Anniversary, huh.I don't know how Heeseong hyung knew for sure that it wasn't a special day for us, but it wasn't.
In fact, I had set alarms for all our significant anniversaries. The problem was, even with alarms, we didn't really do anything special.
Heena didn't care much for anniversaries other than birthdays. The only time she made a fuss was on our second anniversary, which I still don't understand why she did. She had been very anxious then.
To Heena, what was important was being with me, not marking every little occasion.
Thanks to that, the only future anniversary worth celebrating would probably be Sarang's first birthday. Heena had already been talking excitedly about what to do that day. It was also close to both our birthdays. Now that I think about it, all three of our birthdays are pretty close.
Anyway, Heeseong hyung's persuasion was slightly tempting. It had been a long time since I'd played a game properly.
"A whole night gaming session is too much, but she's going to be like this until dinner, so how about until then?"
"Until dinner, huh..."
"Damn it, we've had that game for over a year and still haven't played it."
His words seeped into my heart like the whispers of a devil.
Even until dinner seemed too long, but maybe playing for just a bit would be okay? If I cleared my mind with a game, maybe I could think of something.
"Ha, should we play for an hour...?"
"That's it! After a game, everything will be sorted out..."
-Click
"......"
"......"
Just as Heeseong hyung excitedly raised his voice, we heard the sound of the door opening, and we both immediately went silent.
Not only that, hyung sat on the floor, hugging his knees, trying to disappear. I quietly sat on the sofa, sweating.
I was nervous, wondering if Heena had heard our conversation, and couldn't even look in her direction. But I heard her footsteps heading towards the kitchen. RÂƝȮ฿ЁṨ
Sneaking a glance, I saw Heena holding a cup and filling it with water from the dispenser. Once the cup was filled, she approached me and put the glass of water and two pills on the table in front of me, then went back to the room.
Only after the door closed again could I finally exhale. It felt like I had watched a thriller. Heeseong hyung also stood up and wiped the sweat off his face.
"Wow, that scared the crap out of me. What was that?"
"Vitamins. I take them every afternoon."
"She brought them to you?"
"Yeah."
I noticed the multivitamins that Heena's mother had bought for me to stay healthy. It was about the time I usually took them, and even though she was angry, Heena still brought them to me, which touched my heart.
Right, if Heena was angry, I should be thinking about how to make it up to her, not playing games!
Thanks to that, I could steady my wavering heart. I started pondering again, wondering what I might have forgotten.
But beside me, Heeseong hyung started coaxing me again.
"This is a sure thing. Would she take care of you if she were really pissed? She's about to calm down. Let's just play."
"No. I'll play when Heena's anger has subsided."
But my heart, fortified by Heena's vitamin delivery, was now as solid as a fortress. Unlike before, I firmly refused, and Heeseong hyung sighed.
"Ha... this is the perfect moment..."
What moment? If Heena had heard us earlier, I'd be dead for sure.
After sending hyung back to his room, I sat on the sofa for a bit longer, lost in thought, but the conclusion was always the same. The only thing I could do was face it head-on. If I'd thought this much and still couldn't find an answer, it must be something beyond my imagination.
Instead of stressing over it with futile worries, it was better to cling to Heena and ask her directly.
What's the worst Heena could do? Hit me or curse at me? She'd probably just get adorably mad like before.
Even though Heeseong hyung persistently suggested that I should try to match her anger, that method wasn't even worth considering.
If I tried to get angry, Heena would definitely throw a fit, crying and all. I could never handle seeing her like that. I'd rather grovel and beg for forgiveness.
My heart was pounding with nervousness despite my resolve.
-Knock, knock.
With trembling hands, I lightly knocked on the door. Since I'd just fed Sarang, she might be sleeping.
It was the first time I'd knocked before entering this room since we started living together. I never had to knock because, unlike others, Heena didn't mind if I came in, no matter what she was doing inside.
"Who is it?"
"It's me. I'm coming in."
"...Hmph."
Hearing her slightly weakened snort, I slowly opened the door. Unless she explicitly told me not to come in, I was going in.
Opening the door, I saw Sarang squirming on the bed on her tummy, and Heena lying with her upper body glued to the bed, looking the other way.
Ever since Sarang mastered rolling over, she'd started to crawl a bit, and Heena must have been watching her.
I approached Heena, who was deliberately not looking at me, and carefully sat next to her. Despite my presence, she stayed motionless, still glued to the bed.
Sarang seemed to be fully occupied with crawling, so I could leave her alone for a bit. I gently wrapped an arm around Heena's waist and pulled her towards me.
She made a gesture to push me away with one arm, but there was no strength behind it.
"...Go away."
"Heena, look at me, okay?"
"I don't care."
"Can you tell me what I did wrong? I promise I won't do it again."
"...Hmph."
Had it been about six hours since Heena holed up in the room? Staying apart while being at home must have been more grueling for Heena than for me.
At home, her default stance was always hugging Sarang and leaning against me.
As a result, Heena's struggle was completely devoid of energy, as if she wanted me to hold her tighter.
I moved behind Heena and hugged her from behind, placing my lips on the nape of her neck.
-Smooch!
Her body flinched, but I ignored it and kept kissing the area.
Heena flailed her arm behind her like before, but I grabbed it with one hand and kissed her fingers.
The hand on her waist moved gently upwards, starting a subtle touch, while I continued kissing each of her fingers.
"It was all my fault. I love you."
"...You don't even know what you did..."
"I'm sorry for not knowing. Please forgive me this once."
"Mmmph..."
As my hands and kisses continued, sweet moans began to escape Heena. Hearing them, I pulled her body off the bed towards me.
Supporting her limp body with one arm, I gently cupped her face with my other hand.
Then I leaned my body to the left and placed my lips on Heena's left cheek and the corner of her mouth.
-Smooch, smooch!
I whispered constantly in her ear.
"You know I can't do anything when you're this angry, right? I couldn't move a single step from the living room because I missed you."
"......"
"Yeah. Not being able to talk to you or hold you drained all my energy."
"...Really?"
Seeing her respond, even if briefly, made me think she was ready to talk. So, I released the arm I was holding and moved to sit beside Heena.
Her face, which began to appear, looked very sullen, and there were faint tears in her eyes.
After making sure Sarang was in a safe spot, I gently embraced Heena.
"Can you tell me what I did wrong?"
"......"
"Please."
"...You... last night..."
Finally!
Of course, it was a relief that Heena's anger was starting to fade, but I was dying to know what had upset her so much.
What had I done wrong?!
If I could just hear this, I'd be able to sleep soundly tonight, free from this frustration.
After hesitating for a moment, Heena slowly began to speak.
"Before bed..."
"Yeah. What did I do before bed?"
"...You didn't..."
"Didn't what?"
"Kiss..."
"...??"
Finally hearing the reason for her anger, my brain short-circuited.
A kiss? Was she really mad because I didn't give her a goodnight kiss? Seriously? The first time she'd been this angry in 3 or 4 years was because I didn't give her a goodnight kiss? Is this real?
Holy shit.
"That's... that's all...?"
Honestly, I was dumbfounded. Normally, I'd have said, "Yeah, I messed up. I'm really sorry. It won't happen again." But this was something else entirely.
Heena seemed to sense my thoughts from the nuance of my words and started hitting my chest, expressing her anger.
"That's all?! I've been taking good care of Sarang! Studying hard! Practicing cooking!!"
"Yeah, you're doing great. I'll give you credit for that."
"So even though I'm tired every day, I keep going because I wait for your goodnight kiss!!"
"To that extent?"
My goodnight kiss was enough to help her forget the day's exhaustion?
"This morning too! You didn't even kiss me when you woke up!!"
"Oh, so that's why you asked me about it this morning."
You asked if I had forgotten the goodnight kiss and good morning kiss.
"I know you're busy and tired these days! But that's the most important thing for me in the whole day!"
"Oh, I see? I'm sorry. I was wrong."
"You promised! You said you'd kiss me when we wake up, before bed, and when we leave and come home!"
Now that I think about it, I did make that promise.
"You forgot all our promises!"
"No, I didn't forget."
"You did! You had that clueless look when I asked!"
"Hmm..."
I got a rough idea of why Heena was upset.
Not only because I didn't kiss her in the morning and at night, but she thought I'd forgotten the promise itself, which made her very upset.
She had emphasized it a lot before, but I didn't realize she put such a huge significance on it. I thought she just liked a lot of physical affection.
Yeah.
Honestly, I had completely forgotten about the promise.
"I'm really sorry. But it wasn't that I forgot..."
"...Then?"
"It became so natural to kiss you that I did it unconsciously. Recently, I've been really tired because of my backlog of assignments... and I was really sleepy last night."
"......"
"So, when I woke up this morning, my head was still foggy. That's why I didn't think about it."
In the end, it circled back to me forgetting, but I tried my best to explain.
"Still, I shouldn't have forgotten to kiss you... please forgive me, okay?"
"...You had a headache? Are you okay now?"
"After drinking the water you brought me, I felt fine. Thank you. And thanks for the vitamins too."
"No... yeah, I understand. You were tired... I'm sorry too... for being so irritable..."
"It was my fault. I'm sorry."
Phew, it's over.
If Heena said 'I'm sorry too,' the situation was resolved.
"Still... kissing me is very important, so you can't forget, even if you're tired. Got it?"
"Yes, I won't forget. Should I print out a checklist?"
"That sounds good. Let's print it out and put it up so you won't forget."
"...Alright. I'll print it out later and even laminate it."
"Okay!"
I just said that to make Heena feel better, but I didn't think she'd actually want to do it.
Anyway, it was a relief to know that Heena's anger stemmed from something so trivial.
It might have been important to Heena, but from my perspective, it felt a bit ridiculous.
Still, it was much healthier than getting angry or upset over weird or bad things you might see on the internet.
In a way, it was my fault. I had promised, after all.
"Uwaa!"
I hope Sarang doesn't get upset if I don't kiss her before bed in the future.
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