Chapter 214: Secret Love (6)

Kang Ra-Hyuk answered as he scratched his head in embarrassment, “I told her that I can’t give her a proper answer yet.”

In other words...

“You put it off?” Kang Ra-Eun asked.

“Yeah, basically.”

Ra-Eun gave her older brother a glare and expressed, “That’s the worst choice you could’ve made.”

Whether it be acceptance or refusal, Ra-Eun was a firm believer of making clear-cut decisions. However, Ra-Hyuk had not been able to do that.

“What don’t you like about Yi-Seo?”

“I don’t dislike her. Rather, she’s so amazing that she’d be wasted on me.”

“Then why did you give her a half-assed answer like that?”

“Well...”

Ra-Eun couldn’t understand why Ra-Hyuk did not accept Seo Yi-Seo’s confession despite having such a positive opinion of her. If she had been in Ra-Hyuk’s shoes, she would have said yes in a heartbeat; that was how great of a friend and girlfriend material Yi-Seo was. Hence, Ra-Eun was severely disappointed in Ra-Hyuk.

Ra-Hyuk smiled lifelessly. “Because I don’t think it was the right time to give her my answer. I’ll tell you why I gave her such an answer when the time comes.”

He had put off yet another answer. Ra-Eun sighed massively.

***

Yi-Seo smiled at Ra-Eun as soon as Ra-Eun came home. Despite not getting the answer that she had wanted, her expression was so bright that her past gloomy expression was nowhere in sight.

“Thanks, Ra-Eun. I was able to find out how Ra-Hyuk oppa truly felt thanks to you.”

There was something that Ra-Eun was dying to ask Yi-Seo.

“What did that guy say to you? He didn’t refuse or accept your confession, right?”

“Yeah. We talked a lot, so it’s a bit difficult to summarize in just a few sentences.”

“That’s okay. I have all the time in the world today.”

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Seo Yi-Jun prepared to take a seat because he also wanted to know what was going on, but Yi-Seo stopped him before he could.

“You go somewhere else.”

“Me? Why? Can’t I listen too?”

“I’ll tell you next time, so go to your room.”

Yi-Jun tried to resist to the bitter end despite his older sister’s refusal, but...

“Do as Yi-Seo says,” Ra-Eun ordered.

Yi-Jun had no choice but to leave as Yi-Seo said with just a word from Ra-Eun. Ra-Eun kept silent until Yi-Jun went into his room.

“Does it have something to do with Yi-Jun?” she asked.

“To be exact, it has more to do with you than him,” Yi-Seo replied.

“Me?”

Ra-Eun was surprised to hear that she herself was deeply rooted in the relationship between Yi-Seo and Ra-Hyuk. Although she was the one who had created the chance for the confession, she had been involved in their decision far more than she had expected.

***

Turning back time to when Ra-Hyuk and Yi-Seo were alone together, Ra-Hyuk was shocked at first to hear Yi-Seo’s surprise confession.

“How long have you harbored such feelings for me?”

He was curious about the time period. Yi-Seo’s face turned as red as a tomato.

“When I first saw you... I did think that you were handsome, but I only began to see you as a man once I became an adult.”

Not only was Ra-Hyuk handsome, but he also had a great personality. As Yi-Seo discovered more and more about what kind of person Ra-Hyuk was, she began to see him as something more than just a ‘handsome oppa’. And then, it did not take her long to realize that this feeling was ‘love’.

Ra-Hyuk softly sighed and immediately said, “I didn’t realize at all. I’m sorry I put you through so much pain.”

He had a pretty rough idea of how hard unrequited love was for the person involved.

“N-No! I was the one who one-sidedly fell in love with you...”

Yi-Seo did not want Ra-Hyuk to feel sorry. She then smiled bitterly.

“I’ve actually wanted to confess to you for a while now, but I’ve been keeping my feelings secret because I knew you would turn me down.”

“You thought I would turn you down?” Ra-Hyuk asked.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Just... A hunch.”

Yi-Seo also possessed the extremely sharp feminine intuition that his little sister displayed from time to time. However, she had not been able to completely foresee how Ra-Hyuk would have answered.

“I wouldn’t have turned you down. Then and now, there aren’t many women as amazing as you around me,” Ra-Hyuk said. He then quenched his thirst with the beverage that Yi-Seo had given him and asked, “Do you know what my standards for women are?”

“I’m... not sure.”

Come to think of it, Yi-Seo had never heard about Ra-Hyuk’s preferences for women.

“I like women that my little sister has taken a liking to,” he answered.

In terms of that, there was no woman better for him than Yi-Seo. However, despite all that...

“I can’t really give you a proper answer right now.”

“Do you have a reason why?” Yi-Seo asked.

“I do,” Ra-Hyuk answered as he pointed at a certain room. It was the one that Yi-Jun was temporarily using. “You know that Yi-Jun has feelings for Ra-Eun, right?”

“Yes.”

There was no way that she wouldn’t know. Considering even Ra-Hyuk had noticed, it was impossible for Yi-Seo not to have noticed.

“My little sister seems to have taken quite a liking to him as well. But of course, I’m not sure if those feelings of hers stem from affection for him as a man, or simply just as a younger guy who’s nice to have around.”

Whichever it was, and however the probability for each of them were, it honestly did not matter to Ra-Hyuk.

“If you and I end up dating, their relationship will get complicated. That’s why I want to confirm the nature of their relationship first.”

Hence, Ra-Hyuk had decided to put off his answer.

“I’m sorry, Yi-Seo.”

“No, it’s okay. Finding out that you see me in such a good light is more than enough for me.”

Like she had just said, her expression had become miles brighter than earlier.

“Whatever answer you come to, I will always like you, oppa.”

“What’s so good about someone like me?”

“You’re a truly good person, oppa. I feel it every time I see the way you look at Ra-Eun.”

Once his little sister was mentioned, Ra-Hyuk briefly brought up a past story while fiddling with his empty cup.

“You don’t know why I go so far for Ra-Eun, do you?”

“No, since Ra-Eun almost never talks about herself.”

But in truth, Ra-Eun was not able to talk about her past because she had no memory of it.

Ra-Hyuk smiled bitterly and mentioned, “You know that our mother passed away when Ra-Eun was super young, right?”

Yi-Seo silently nodded.

“This was back when Ra-Eun was still in elementary school. Braids were all the rage among her classmates at the time, but children at that age can’t help but be bad at braiding, right?”

“Yes, I was too at that age. That’s why I had my mom teach me several ti—”

Yi-Seo couldn’t finish her sentence. Meanwhile, Ra-Hyuk smiled in sorrow as he observed her response.

“Our dad and I had no idea how to braid hair. That’s just how men are, you know? So, Ra-Eun would spend hours in front of a mirror, trying to do it on her own.”

Seeing his little sister doing that, Ra-Hyuk felt as if his heart was being torn apart. He couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with sorrow as his little sister was struggling by herself, while all her friends were having their hair braided by their mothers.

“That’s why I asked the girls in my class at the time to teach me, albeit badly, to do it for Ra-Eun.”

And then, Ra-Hyuk had sat little Ra-Eun in front of him and clumsily but diligently, braided her hair from behind her.

“You have no idea how much I cried back then. In any case, I decided from that day onwards that if it’s for that girl... If it’s for my little sister, I would do anything.”

After that day, Ra-Hyuk’s life had begun to revolve around his little sister Kang Ra-Eun. Embarrassment belatedly swept over him, and he began to fiddle around with his empty cup even more.

“Don’t tell Ra-Eun about this, okay?”

“Okay, oppa.”

After hearing that, Yi-Seo once again realized why she had fallen in love with Ra-Hyuk.

***

Yi-Seo felt bad for Ra-Hyuk, but she told Ra-Eun exactly what she had heard from him. She wanted to let Ra-Eun know how much her older brother cared for her, no matter what.

Ra-Eun fell into deep thought as she was told of an untold episode of Kang Ra-Eun’s past.

“For God’s sake, that guy... He should focus on taking care of himself.”

Ra-Eun sounded harsh, but her expression was one that did not hate it. She also knew that Ra-Hyuk’s love for his little sister was well above those of other families, but she had never expected his love to be this strong. Their mother’s death had strengthened their bond even more.

“Then I just have to reveal how I feel about Yi-Jun, and problem solved, right?” Ra-Eun mentioned.

“Do you know why your oppa asked me not to tell you about what we talked about?” Yi-Seo asked.

“Because he was embarrassed?”

“Because he knew you would force yourself to make a hasty decision like this if I did. That’s why we decided to take enough time for you to come to a decision on your own.”

At this moment, Ra-Eun had no intention of dating a man, since she had been a man herself once. However, Ra-Hyuk and Yi-Seo had no idea about this. Hence, they had decided to take enough time for her to organize her feelings.

“You don’t have to force a decision for my sake. Oppa and I decided not to be swayed by other women or men while we wait.”

There existed many different forms of relationships between men and women. Although Ra-Hyuk and Yi-Seo’s relationship had not blossomed into what she had wanted it to, it was something for the two people involved to decide; she was in no place to meddle with it. The best she could do was to honor their decision.

Ra-Eun shifted her gaze to Yi-Jun’s room. There were many men in her life, not just Yi-Jun. Ji Han-Seok, Je-Woon, Min Se-Min, Choi Sang-Woon, and et cetera.

‘What a pain.’

It was a situation that any woman would be envious of, but Ra-Eun was not happy in the slightest. Relationships between those of the opposite sex were extremely complex. This did not apply only to the relationship between Ra-Hyuk and Yi-Seo; technically speaking, Ra-Eun’s situation was far more complex. She was tangled in all sorts of relationships, but one thing that was for sure was that the feelings of every man around her were heading toward her as the last stop.

‘It’s not like I went around tempting them on purpose.’

Ra-Eun unconsciously clicked her tongue. She was not wrong, but there was one thing that she wasn’t aware of; there existed many different kinds of temptations in this world, and exuding her charms here and there was also a form of temptation.