Phew-
The weather was horrific. Would the popsicle in her hands even last until she arrived home? The sun had already set, but it was still so hot.
Bada clicked her tongue. Why was it that she was sweating even more than when she was performing?
She quickly made her way home. She missed the air conditioner more than ever. She went up the stairs and stood in front of the front door. She typed in the pin code and opened the door. The cool breeze from the air conditioner enveloped her.
It was only for a moment that she was smiling. Something was off. Her mother and father were supposed to be on Jeju island right now, so who turned on the air conditioner? Did she actually just leave it on when she left in the morning?
She took her shoes off and went inside to see a pair of shoes she had not seen before. It was a pair of trainers that she was seeing for the first time.
As she was tilting her head, she heard water being flushed down the toilet.
“You’re back?”
“What, it was you?” Bada said as she looked at Maru who came out of the bathroom.
“What brings you here all of a sudden?”
“Mother said I should take some side dishes home.”
“Where’s unni?”
“Working.”
“That’s a good life you have there. What are you doing when she’s working?”
“Coming here to pick up side dishes, of course.”
Bada shook her head and opened the freezer. She put the popsicle she bought inside and went into the bathroom with the clothes she was going to get changed to.
She washed her sweaty body with some cold water before leaving.
“What are you doing?”
Her brother was eating a popsicle on the sofa. It was her favorite milk-flavored one.
“What do you mean? Eating a popsicle of course.”
“You know I like that one, right?”
“I do.”
“And you’re eating that one? Han Maru, you’ve become audacious.”
“I can’t eat it?”
“Obviously!”
She was slightly angry, but she felt better when the breeze from the air conditioner hit her neck.
The people of this country put him on a pedestal saying that he was a good actor, but to her, he was still the mischievous elder brother.
“I’ll be nice and hold back.”
If she had known this, she would’ve bought two. She opened the refrigerator and took out some sikhye. She poured a cup and took a sip. Sikhye wasn’t so bad either.
“Aren’t you going to eat popsicle?”
Bada glared at her brother while holding the cup. She saw him holding the popsicle that had almost turned sharp after he licked it so much. He was telling her to eat that?
“You can eat it all you want.”
She walked over to the sofa with the cup. She tapped on her brother’s legs to make s.p.a.ce. Her brother went down to the floor and turned on the TV.
“You said you were here to take side dishes home. Why aren’t you going already?”
“I was going to eat dinner here.”
“Eat? Are you treating me out?”
“There are plenty of things to eat at home, so why bother?”
“You earn a lot of money, so treat me out for once. Can’t you do that for your only sister?”
“You only look for your brother when you need something.”
“That’s just how siblings are designed.”
She s.n.a.t.c.hed the remote control away from him and switched the channel. A drama that just started yesterday was on replay.
The main actor was Hong Geunsoo. In the drama, he was a single father, and the airheaded father image suited the actor a lot.
She even talked about it with the theater troupe members during break time.
“Oppa.”
“What?”
“Actor Hong Geunsoo. How’s he in real life?”
“Which part of him specifically?”
“Just various things. ”
“He actually has a similar character to the one he’s playing in the drama. He smiles a lot, listens to others, and eats a lot.”
“Eats a lot?”
“Yep. He eats a surprising amount. Then he works out like crazy to get rid of those calories.”
“That’s unexpected. I thought he wouldn’t like eating that much.”
She sipped on the sikhye and watched the drama. Then she glanced at her brother. She still couldn’t believe that this man managed to appear in the same movie as senior Hong Geunsoo.
Objectively speaking, her brother was gaining career experience at a speed that could be called unprecedented. His name would often come up on the list of actors she and other members of the troupe ‘respected’ and not ‘liked,’ so there was that.
“This is pretty good.”
Her brother licked the remaining part of the popsicle on the stick. That was an actor with ten million views? That was an actor who got a prize at a global film festival? That?
“Maybe something’s wrong with everyone’s eyes.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just talking to myself.”
She focused on the drama again. There was a funny scene that made her laugh. She looked at the clock. It was 7 in the evening.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” her brother asked.
She looked at the wooden stick in her brother’s hand. That was supposed to be her dinner today.
“Go and make some,” she said while tapping on him with her foot.
If it was before, he would’ve sworn at her, but he just went to the kitchen obediently. He still pulled pranks like usual, but the brother that made her mad and annoyed all the time had disappeared.
Having become an actor, her brother seemed to have changed into a different person. She got used to him now, but she sometimes found him unfamiliar. ‘Unfamiliar,’ she might say, but she didn’t hate him. In fact, she was afraid that he would revert to before.
She didn’t even think about talking about her brother to her friends before, but she sometimes brought it up these days. After all, after all that’s said and done, it was true that he was an incredible person.
“Since you’re here, you should sign some autographs before you go. There are a couple friends of mine who are fans of yours. Oh, and sign some for the members of the troupe as well.”
“Did you go around boasting to others that I’m your brother?”
“Are you crazy? Why would I do that? My friends found out through coincidence, while the people at the troupe don’t know about it. I’m just going to tell them that I got it through coincidence.”
She heard something being stir-fried in the pan. He prepared dinner the last time he came here as well, and his cooking skills were pretty decent. Maybe he had learned cooking in the time he was living by himself.
“Fully cooked? Or soft-boiled?”
“Soft-boiled.”
She watched the TV for a while before going to the kitchen. When she did, she found that the food actually looked quite decent. He seemed to have made food that their mother had prepared.
“How’s working at the theater troupe? Isn’t it difficult?” he asked as he picked up a spoon.
“It is hard. I have to run around all day in a mascot costume.”
“That’s a hard job you’re doing in this weather.”
“Right. I didn’t even imagine I would have to wear a huge costume when I first joined the city theater troupe.”
She was an actress who was being paid by the city. She was in a better environment than most other theater troupes who had to work other jobs to make their living because they couldn’t get a single dime from their troupes.
However, recently, the city theater troupe went to various children’s centers and held their performances there, but it wasn’t that easy. Dancing according to a preset ch.o.r.eography in a mascot costume was no ordinary work.
“But still… it’s enjoyable.”
Bada thought about what happened during the day. It was as she was saying goodbye to the children after finis.h.i.+ng her performance on the makes.h.i.+ft stage.
A child about five years old cut a popsicle in half and gave it to her. She found that so grateful and cute.
She thought about the child’s clear eyes before her brother eating the popsicle came to her mind. She glared at him.
“What now?”
“You’re worse than a kid.”
“Tell me something I can understand, will you? Don’t you think I should know why you’re doing this to me?”
“It’s a bigger problem that you don’t know.”
Bada collected the empty plates and went to the sink. Her brother made the food, so she had to do the dishes. She spoke as she started was.h.i.+ng them,
“The food was good.”
“Who do you think made it? Of course it’s good.”
Her brother opened the fridge. She could see him take out some side dish containers.
“You’re going now?”
“I should. A certain someone wouldn’t want me here any longer.”
“You have the wits to notice that, huh?”
She poured some sikhye for her brother.
“Mom made it. It’s a little plain, but it’s pretty decent.”
“Our missus is good at everything, but her sikhye leaves room to be desired.”
Her brother took a sip before speaking,
“But it should be perfect for that person.”
“That person?”
“Your new unni.”
“What the heck is that? You should call her name sweetly like ‘Haneul~’. What the heck is ‘that person’? You’re like dad.”
“It just gets embarra.s.sing over time.”
“What? What’s there to be embarra.s.sed about? Isn’t it the hottest period right now? You should call each other ‘dear Maru’ and ‘dear Haneul’ and sound all cheesy.”
“You can be cheesy to your boyfriend.”
Her brother piled the side dish containers inside a reusable bag. Meanwhile, she poured some sikhye into an empty plastic bottle.
“Give some to unni.”
“She’ll like it, saying that sister-in-law is the best.”
“Would she call me sister-in-law once you get married? She won’t, right? I would really hate it if she does.”
“She’ll call you Bada, don’t worry.”
“If she calls me sister-in-law, I’m going to run away.”
“If you do that, that person will call you sister-in-law just to make fun of you, you know?”
“You’re calling her like that again. You should use her name. Don’t tell me you don’t use her name when you are with her and call her something like ‘hun’, do you? You haven’t even gotten married yet.”
Her brother’s eyes skimmed along the ceiling. Maru really didn’t get embarra.s.sed a lot, but he was embarra.s.sed about stuff like this. She really couldn’t bring herself to understand him.
“Did you set the date for the wedding?” she asked her brother who put on his shoes.
“Not yet. There are a few things we have left to do, so we’re going to decide on a date after that.”
“I still can’t believe that Han Maru is getting married.”
Her brother opened the door. A wave of heat a.s.saulted the interior.
“Watch out on your way home. Tell unni I gave her the sikhye.”
“Okay.”
Right before he left, he stopped before closing the door and told her,
“If you want to eat popsicles, you should. There are some underneath the ice container.”
Ice container? When she stared at him in wonder, he closed the door with a smile.
She tilted her head and opened the door to the freezer. The black plastic bag she brought from the convenience store entered her eyes first. She then lowered her level of sight and spotted a white plastic bottle.
She first had a look at the black one. The milk popsicle she bought from the convenience store was still there, untouched.
What the heck?: she checked the white plastic bag as well. There was an a.s.sortment of popsicles that she enjoyed.
“He didn’t eat the one I bought but…”
She chuckled powerlessly. He should’ve told her about it if that was the case… no, he did tell her multiple times to eat the popsicle. He should have noticed that she was misunderstanding him, but from how he shamelessly didn’t tell her anything, he was clearly teasing her.
She almost felt sorry for grumbling at him but decided to think that he brought it on himself since it was him who pulled one over her first.
She went to her room with the milk popsicle. She pulled out the chair at her desk when she found a box that she hadn’t seen before. There was a logo of a trainer brand on it.
-Congratulations on your first anniversary of entering the troupe.
It had been a year since she had entered the city theater troupe. She opened the box. There was a pair of trainers. She was just thinking that the trainers she was wearing were starting to wear out and that she should buy a new one…
“He’s pretty sensible.”
She wondered what Haneul-unni found good in him, but maybe it was this side. She put on the trainers happily.
“Dammit.”
It didn’t fit. She couldn’t even fit the soles of her feet in, much less her ankle. Just then, she heard a ring from her phone in the living room. She went to the living room and checked.
-I was thinking about what size to buy and just ended up going with her size, but now that I think about it, it might not fit you. You have pretty big feet. I’ve put the receipt in there as well, so you should go get them changed. Bye.
“If he was gonna do it, he might as well have gone the extra step, couldn’t he?”
Bada smiled and looked at the message. Then she moved her fingers to type.
-Thaaaanks. I’ll wear it well.
She took a photo of the shoes that she squeezed on before sending it to her brother and Haneul-unni.