How long has it passed? Kang Mo, who had been tossing and turning his uncomfortable body, fluttered his eyes open.

He had asked to borrow her shoulder, wanting to feel connected to her even for a moment, but he only wanted to take a break from his mind. He didn’t really think he would fall asleep.

He had just closed his puffy eyes for a moment, but he must have fallen into a deep sleep without realizing it, perhaps because his fatigue had reached its peak. Fortunately, his eyelids felt much lighter. Looking at his wristwatch, more than an hour had passed.

‘What? I was like this for over an hour?’

Realizing that he had been leaning his heavy head on her delicate shoulders all this time, his expression contorted. She should have woken him up after some time had passed, but she didn’t make any movement either.

Kang Mo carefully lifted his head. Just as he suspected, Seo Hee, who had lent him her shoulder, was asleep with her head resting on the headrest.

Seo Hee, whom Kang Mo had known since childhood, was someone who had no difficulty falling asleep as soon as her head touched something, regardless of the place, and once she fell asleep, she would sleep so deeply that she wouldn’t notice even if someone carried her.

Kang Mo and his elder sister Joo Yeon were particularly envious of this point among Seo Hee’s many virtues.

Kang Mo, who was staring blankly at the sight of Seo Hee’s slightly parted lips as she breathed softly due to her head leaning back, recalled a precious memory he had tucked away in his long-ago memories and lifted the corners of his mouth.

It was around the time when Kang Mo was in the 8th grade and Seo Hee was in the 10th grade.

On a weekend when their parents were away from home, Seo Hee came to Joo Yeon and Kang Mo’s house to study, as usual.

Kang Mo vividly remembered everything about that day: the spring day when cherry blossom petals fluttered like rain, the afternoon at 3 o’clock when the sunlight poured through the living room window, the warm spring air that came in through the open window, and even the scent of spring that rode on the wind.

Joo Yeon, who had been studying with them in the living room, had gone somewhere, and Seo Hee, who was left alone in the living room, was asleep with her head on the living room table.

On days when Seo Hee came to study, Kang Mo would frequently leave his room and go back and forth between the living room and the kitchen. Thirsty, going to the bathroom, bored, getting tissues. He wandered around the living room, making all sorts of excuses.

That day too, unable to sit still in his room, he fidgeted his butt and inevitably went to the living room. He pretended to look for something on the living room table, but in reality, he was busy peeping at Seo Hee.

‘Where on earth did my sister go?’

He sat down quietly next to Seo Hee, glancing around guiltily for no reason. Only then did he notice the yellow post-it note stuck on the table.

It was his sister Joo Yeon’s handwriting. Finally able to relax, Kang Mo observed Seo Hee blatantly.

On her small, delicate face was flawless, fair skin, long eyelashes, cute nostrils, and luscious pomegranate-colored lips that protruded forward, pressed by the arm she was lying on…… She was incredibly beautiful.

Unconsciously swallowing the saliva that had gathered in his mouth, he was staring at her absentmindedly when it happened.

Seo Hee’s short hair slid down her cheek and fluttered in the inhales and exhales that escaped her lips.

He had absolutely no impure intentions. He just wanted to brush her hair aside, worried that the fluttering hair might tickle her or disturb her nap.

Carefully raising his hand to grab the hair fluttering in front of her lips, his fingertips touched her moist lips.

‘Wow, damn. What. What is this.’

A strange sensation spread through his fingertips and his heart pounded erratically on its own.

He quickly removed his hand and tried to calm his pounding heart, but his heaving chest wouldn’t settle down easily and his breathing became a tangled mess.

The fingertips that had touched Seo Hee’s lips felt strangely ticklish. Even biting down hard on them with the feeling of heat haze rising, the ticklish sensation wouldn’t easily disappear.

Without realizing it, Kang Mo was licking his own fingertips and staring intently at Seo Hee’s lips. He felt like the king of perverts among perverts. He should have gotten up and gone to his room before she woke up, but his butt stuck to the floor wouldn’t budge.

The vigorous curiosity and reckless courage of puberty boiled up in his chest, urging Kang Mo on. If just brushing against them made his fingertips tingle like this, how would it feel to touch them with his lips? Even though he knew he shouldn’t, he couldn’t suppress his childish curiosity.

One second should be enough, he compromised with his clumsy heart and quietly held his breath. Kang Mo, who had squatted down next to her at some point, got closer and closer to Seo Hee, and gently placed his dry lips on Seo Hee’s lips where steady breaths were escaping. The moment he felt the moist sensation, a lightning-like pleasure shot through his entire body.

‘Gasp.’

Startled, Kang Mo fell back on his bottom with a thud.

‘Oh, oh. You surprised me.’

His heart leaped and bounced as if it would pierce through his chest. Unlike Kang Mo, who was floundering in shock and confusion, Seo Hee was as peaceful as could be.

As if sensing the touch on her lips, or perhaps dreaming a short dream, Seo Hee, who licked her lips with her eyes closed, was surprisingly still in a state of sleep.

Kang Mo, who had been inhaling startled breaths, raised a hand to cover his mouth. His whole body was boiling like a blast furnace, emitting steam.

Unable to calm his constantly heaving chest, Kang Mo hurriedly got up from his spot and disappeared into his room like a shot. Soon, the door to Kang Mo’s room was locked with a click.

That day, Kang Mo couldn’t come out of his room until Seo Hee went home.

Recalling that day, the most amazing day in his 15 years of life, Kang Mo chuckled.

The temperature of his room, which was hot and humid like a midsummer day despite the clear spring day, was a memory that only he remembered.

Seo Hee-ya, you may not know, but that was our first kiss.

Kang Mo’s eyes were full of affection as he looked at the woman who had had a significant impact on all the symptoms of his puberty.

Like that day long ago, Kang Mo sat next to the sleeping Seo Hee and gazed at her for a long time. Gently brushing her long hair behind her ear.

The bright light that easily penetrated the thin curtains illuminated Seo Hee’s room brightly. Even pulling the blanket over her head was not enough to block out the brightly pouring light.

Ah…… I want to sleep just a little more.

How nice would it have been if this place was the studio apartment she used to live in independently before? Then the blackout curtains would have swallowed up all the light.

That’s right. This isn’t that place.

Although her fatigue had not yet subsided, Seo Hee couldn’t just lie comfortably in the blanket. Seo Hee, who had been rubbing her face against the blanket, let out a groan and soon pushed off the fluffy blanket.

This place was, after all, the house where Mom and Uncle lived together, which meant that it wasn’t a place where she could stay as comfortably as her own home. It had already been 6 years since the two of them started living together, but Seo Hee still found the new family awkward, uncomfortable, and sometimes burdensome.

If she had grown older, it would be nice if she could be a little more composed, but when she quietly looked into her own heart, it seemed like she was still stuck in that immature time of her childhood.

Feeling like her body would lean back into the bed if she sat still, she got up from her spot and headed to the bathroom.

She was planning to stay in this house only until today. Even so, if she was going out in the afternoon to take care of something, she only had the morning to spend time with her mother, so she hurried to take a shower.

After about 20 minutes, Seo Hee, who was coming out of the bathroom wearing a shower gown, was startled by an unexpected encounter and jumped up. It seemed like a short scream escaped her.

“Ha…… ha.”

Her startled heart rose and fell without rest. The surprise was clearly visible on her face, which always tried to maintain composure.

“Why are you so surprised? You’re making me feel bad.”

“Oh, oh brother. Did you not go home last night?”

Her uncomfortable stepbrother Tae Oh was standing in the middle of the room with his hands thrust into his suit pants, looking at Seo Hee with a nonchalant expression as always.

Seo Hee couldn’t let her guard down, feeling that his leisurely expression was also a calculated image, so she tightened the front of her thick shower gown even more firmly and braced her trembling heart.

It was already uncomfortable to suddenly encounter him early in the morning when he rarely stayed the night here, but this place was her room located on this floor. The room where he occasionally came to stay for a short while was clearly on the first floor.

What on earth was he thinking, barging into an adult woman’s room so early in the morning without permission? It was an action that she couldn’t understand with her common sense.

Moreover, isn’t it common sense to step aside first when coming out of the bathroom in this attire? Her surprise turned into rising anger, but he just calmly opened his mouth.

“Yesterday, the whole family gathered for dinner together for the first time in a long time, but the person in question was out, and even if you came back late, they said let’s at least have a drink together, so I waited…… You should have come in.”

Tae Oh’s sharp gaze didn’t leave Seo Hee’s face. Under his overly burdensome gaze, Seo Hee had to clench her teeth to suppress the urge to tell him to get out of her room right now. She didn’t want to make a fuss out of needless concern because this wasn’t the house she lived in alone.

“I’m sorry. My thinking was short-sighted. I didn’t think everyone would wait so late……”

“Well.”

Tae Oh suddenly cut her off.

“I heard you have someone you prioritize over family, so I can’t blame you for not understanding. Though it seems your mother, whom you care for so desperately, still doesn’t know.”

Hearing his words dripping with sarcasm, the blade of the emotion she had been suppressing sharpened.

“I’ll tell her soon.”

Tae Oh laughed as if it was ridiculous.

“Really? Then I’ll hear about it later.”

“……Pardon?”

“Why else would I be in this house until this hour? I’m supposed to have breakfast here before leaving. Even if it’s uncomfortable, let’s eat breakfast together. If you really think of us as family, that is.”

Seo Hee nodded briefly, enduring Tae Oh’s gaze that seemed to pierce through her.

“Yes. I’ll do that. Then, please go down first. I’ll come down as soon as I’m ready.”

He slowly nodded his head and suddenly took a step forward. At the same time, Seo Hee took a step back, returning the physical distance between them to the starting point. Tae Oh’s mouth twisted at the action that was as natural as flowing water.

“You’re always like this. When I take a step closer, you take a step back, and when I take another step closer, you take another step back. As if…… you’re facing a scoundrel. What have I ever done to you?”

Seo Hee wanted to ask if he really didn’t know the answer to that question.