“You’re strange.”

Jae Ho suppressed his wildly beating heart and replied casually.

In fact, he wasn’t calm at all. His reddened neck was about to burst and the corners of his mouth kept involuntarily rising as if dancing.

“I guess so. Is it my time to die?”

Woo Jung made a silly joke. At the end of the joke, he blew his nose again. Then he finally got up from his seat, grumbling that his nose would be all raw.

“I should check on the chocolates I bought for Da Jung. If the kids ate them, I’m really going to kill them.”

“They’re in the fridge. I’ve been keeping an eye on them.”

“Of course you have. They’re for Yoon Da Jung.”

Woo Jung replied slyly as if Jae Ho and Da Jung were dating. Feeling a tingling sensation somewhere in his abdomen, Jae Ho pointlessly turned his gaze to the book.

He felt like he was going crazy.

Da Jung likes me. He couldn’t control his smile at all. Woo Jung shook his head as if he couldn’t stop Jae Ho, who was covering his mouth and quietly swallowing his laughter.

Everything was peaceful until the fire broke out five hours later.

**

Da Jung, who had left work with Kyung Mi, headed to the agreed meeting place. A few days ago, Kyung Jun had suddenly called Da Jung and requested a ‘farewell party’. The two opened the door of the Korean beef restaurant and entered.

“It looks expensive just at a glance. He must be crazy. Lee Kyung Jun. Why are we at a place like this?”

Kyung Mi looked around.

“Welcome. Do you have a reservation?”

“Ah. Yes. Under Lee Kyung Jun.”

“Just a moment.”

Following the staff’s guidance, they entered a private room where Kyung Jun had already arrived. Dressed in a neat suit, Kyung Jun looked a bit more stylish than usual. Come to think of it, it had been a while since she’d seen him in his work clothes. Maybe it was because he wasn’t wearing sweatpants with worn-out knees. She suddenly thought that he had quite a handsome face.

“You’re here?”

“Hey. Are you crazy? Why did you call us to a place like this?”

Kyung Mi scolded him instead of greeting him. Kyung Jun ignored his elder sister’s nagging and spoke to Da Jung.

“Why did you come with her when I told you to leave her behind?”

“Hey! Is that how you talk? I was already beside her when she checked that message!”

“Ah. It’s an expensive place. There’s one more mouth to feed.”

“Do you want to get hit?”

Just as the sibling fight was about to start in earnest, the staff came in and began setting the pre-ordered menu. The two were forced to shut their mouths. Da Jung smiled slightly, realizing that their bickering was only when they were alone, and they were actually quite close siblings in public.

A set of assorted Korean beef, a bottle of soju, and two bottles of beer were laid out on the table. Kyung Mi picked up a beer and glared at Kyung Jun.

“You brat.”

“I’m getting transferred. Elder sister. I wanted to buy you two something delicious before that.”

The bickering was just playful after all, and of course it was a promise that Kyung Mi and the three of them had agreed to meet. Naturally extending his glass, Kyung Jun said,

“Our elder sister will be bored now with no one to fight with.”

“Bored? I’m so relieved.”

Kyung Jun and Kyung Mi skillfully made soju bombs and downed a glass each. Da Jung didn’t really want to drink, so she just lightly touched it with her lips.

“Our company is really absurd. How can they suddenly send you to Jeju Island overnight?”

“What? Jeju Island?? All of a sudden? Is that even possible?”

Da Jung widened her eyes in slight surprise. She didn’t know he was going that far away.

“I know, right? They can’t make decisions like that so easily. It’s strange.”

Kyung Mi also raised a question.

“Hey. Isn’t this a demotion for you?”

“No, that’s not it.”

Kyung Jun smiled awkwardly.

“Actually, I applied for it.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well. A position suddenly opened up at the Jeju branch. They said if you apply to go far away, you get a special promotion. The bonus is huge too. The team leader said if he was single, he would go right away, talking about a man’s ambition and encouraging me, so I quickly applied. Ah, but I didn’t know it would happen this fast.”

“Still. Jeju Island…”

Kyung Jun sensitively picked up on Da Jung’s small voice.

“Why? Are you sad? Because you won’t be able to see me often?”

“Well. You two haven’t been apart for long, have you?”

Kyung Mi said while diligently flipping the meat on the grill. Then Kyung Jun replied nonchalantly,

“Yoon Da Jung went to Taean for a month. We couldn’t see each other for a long time then too.”

And he couldn’t help but add one more thing.

“Well. It seems like Yoon Da Jung wasn’t very sad then. She had such a good time in Taean.”

…Having a dreamy romance and all.

Da Jung glanced at Kyung Mi, but Kyung Mi didn’t pay much attention. As always, she thought Kyung Jun was just picking a pointless fight. Placing the well-cooked meat in front of Da Jung, she picked up her beer glass again.

“Let’s ditch Lee Kyung Jun and live together, just the two of us, Da Jung.”

“Why? Are you going to remove me from the family registry altogether?”

“Oh. That’s a good idea too.”

The three, who laughed silently, focused on eating for a while.

“Still, Da Jung. It’ll be a bit lonely when your childhood friend goes far away. It’s longer than you think.”

“Yeah.”

“Especially since Kyung Jun took care of every little thing for you. Habits like that…”

Kyung Mi gulped down the alcohol as if swallowing a bitter life.

Then a sudden confession came out.

“After Woo Jung left, I did that.”

A name that always floats around but has never been spoken.

Woo Jung.

Kyung Mi broke the taboo that had been firmly maintained for well over a decade.

Kyung Jun coughed slightly and glared at Kyung Mi, but Kyung Mi said indifferently,

“What, man? Isn’t it about time we talk about it naturally? Why? Da Jung. Are you uncomfortable?”

“…No. Unnie. I’m glad.”

Da Jung was grateful that Kyung Mi broke the taboo. It always bothered her that Woo Jung had become someone who couldn’t be spoken of and lingered around. Da Jung hoped that now she could call Woo Jung’s name with a more comfortable heart.

Little by little, she hoped it would become more comfortable for everyone. That’s probably why time has passed.

The meat was appetizingly cooking on the appropriately glowing charcoal. Looking down at the grill, she thought of the sea. Grilling meat on charcoal, overcoming fear by burning firewood.

The man who told her about the trapped fire.

She was thinking about oppa, but somehow her train of thought led to that man again. What kind of thought transition is this? Da Jung suppressed her emotions.

“Wait. I’m getting a call. From the hospital.”

When her cell phone rang, Kyung Mi checked the screen, put down her chopsticks, and stood up. Kyung Mi put the tongs next to Da Jung and left, so Da Jung reached out her hand for the tongs.

But what Da Jung grabbed was not the tongs, but Kyung Jun’s hand.

Kyung Jun, who had picked up the tongs a step ahead of Da Jung, stared down at Da Jung’s hand resting on top of his and swallowed hard. Da Jung withdrew her hand, hiding her embarrassment.

“I’ll do it.”

Kyung Jun said, taking the tongs.

“Okay.”

“You’re afraid of fire.”

“I’m fine now.”

“I always did it.”

The Korean beef had to be eaten right away, so he only put two or three pieces at a time, and there wasn’t much flipping to do anyway. Kyung Jun urged Da Jung to eat quickly. Saying she knows how expensive it is.

“I’ll do it from now on. You eat too.”

Da Jung reached out her hand, but.

“I did it originally and I’ll keep doing it from now on.”

Kyung Jun refused.

“…I’ve overcome my fear of fire a lot more than you think. I can even endure a bonfire now.”

Kyung Jun’s eyebrows rose.

“That person… told me. That trapped fire is okay.”

“…”

“I also practiced overcoming my fear of fire. That person helped me. So…”

Kyung Jun’s eyes trembled slightly.

Something between you and me is crumbling.

That person.

She called Lee Jae Ho ‘that person’.

The changed way of referring to him seemed to reveal a deep story, making his mouth bitter. He could no longer scold her, telling her to stop following celebrities around, asking if Lee Jae Ho would ever become her lover. Because damn it, that man really did become Yoon Da Jung’s lover.

Lee Jae Ho, who was Da Jung’s hope, really entered Da Jung’s life, left a big mark, and left. And even though he left, he still remained in some way.

Kyung Jun said in a low voice, trying to ignore Lee Jae Ho’s shadow lingering by Da Jung’s side.

“You broke up.”

“Huh? Yeah. That’s right.”

“Then why do you keep bringing him up?”

Da Jung replied in embarrassment.

“No, I was just saying that I’m okay with fire now…”

“Da Jung. I deliberately chose Jeju Island.”

“…”

“To try being apart from you like this by force, and if it still doesn’t work.”

If you go back to the oldest memory in life, at the very beginning, there is Yoon Da Jung.

There’s also me, who tightly hugged you when you fell while riding the slide and cried, helping you up.

“I’m going to confess. To you.”

“!”

“That I love you a lot. That I’ve always dreamed of a future with you. Marry me.”

And so, you became my life for a very long time.

“Lee Kyung Jun. What kind of nonsense are you saying?”

“Not yet.”

Kyung Jun cut off Da Jung’s words.

“I said I’ll try to endure being apart first. To struggle like crazy for once.”

Then Da Jung ended up closing her mouth that she was about to say something with. What could she be thinking? Kyung Jun quietly lowered his gaze to Da Jung’s fluttering eyelashes for a long time.

Hoping that the childhood friend’s bombshell remark would take more hold than the man she gave her heart to for just a month.

Do that for me. Da Jung.

“I pretended to be friends for too long. In fact, you were never a friend to me.”

Kyung Mi came back. Da Jung, who was about to reply something, bit her lip and turned her head. Kyung Mi touched Da Jung’s reddened cheek.

“Are you getting drunk? Yoon Da Jung, your alcohol tolerance has decreased a lot.”

“No, no.”

“Hey, but what were you doing not eating! Let’s eat quickly.”

“Lee Kyung Jun was saying weird things…”

“This guy always says weird things. Let’s eat. Let’s eat.”

**

After the get-together ended, Da Jung couldn’t stop Kyung Jun from seeing her off as if it was natural. The two walked quietly along the walking path inside the complex. The trees standing at the entrance of winter shook their desolate branches and trembled.

“Wear thicker clothes, why. That beige coat is pretty.”

“Yeah. I should do that from now on.”

She could have treated it as a light joke, given him a light smack, and ended it. If Da Jung had pushed through with that to the end, Kyung Jun would have had no choice but to cooperate with that absurd play-acting. Then she could have just asked jokingly.

But Da Jung couldn’t do that.

…Can I really say that I didn’t know Kyung Jun’s feelings?

Even in the midst of surprise, she thought that she knew a day like this would come someday. His kindness had already crossed the line of childhood friends quite a while ago. At some point, Kyung Jun was standing on an ambiguous boundary that was neither a friend nor family.

He had been ready to be called a lover at any time.

Da Jung had never given him any leeway, but she thought that every moment could have been a leeway for him. Because all the time they spent together under the name of friendship would have been hope for him.

It was time to sort out the relationship.

“Do you still have nightmares these days?”

Kyung Jun asked casually.