156 — Decoy

I had no words. None. I could only stare as Mia rose slowly to her feet, her face flushed a pretty pink, her lips swollen and slick. She pulled her leggings back up, her movements still a little shaky from her own orgasm.

She leaned in, pressing a quick, soft peck on my cheek. "Welcome home."

Then, with a wink, she turned around, cleaned her hands, and started unpacking the groceries like nothing had happened. With a huff of disbelief, I pulled my pants back up, tucking myself in.

I glanced back towards the stairs, where Eun Ha had disappeared to earlier, before returning my gaze to Mia, who was currently busy putting the food inside the fridge.

My sister had officially lost her mind. But damn, did it feel so, so good.

This was exactly what I was afraid of, not being able to control myself when around my family. But here I was, allowing Mia to blow me so casually just because the urge of getting her on her knees was so hard to ignore.

This felt way too fucking good. Too good to the point of actually being a problem. Of course, I was quite pent up—it had been a while since we fooled around, and now that the AFC was done and over with, and training for the World Cup could take a little while to get started, the urge to indulge in more than simply fooling around was definitely present.

I could already think of a lot of fun things that involved Mia's generous backside.

It didn't help that Mia was a very willing partner, and also horny enough that sex between us could happen at the drop of a hat. I had to keep an eye out, because I couldn't trust Mia to act more sensibly when we weren't alone.

I stared at the back of Mia's head as she put a carrot in its proper compartment inside the refrigerator, knowing that at any given moment, she could bend over a counter, hike her skirt or unzip her leggings, and just take me inside her, no warning, no hesitation, and nothing else.

And knowing how much of a depraved beast I had turned into, I might very well get rock solid and thrust straight into her the moment she offered herself to me.

Crazy shit.

"Noona..." I walked over and gently pushed the fridge door shut. Mia blinked, looking up at me in confusion. "We need to talk."

"Mmmm?" Mia didn't budge. "Talk about what?"

"Your—our behavior from now on." I paused, sighing. "When mom is around, we can't just start jumping on each other, Noona."

And when Su Ah's around, too.

I didn't need to add the latter; Mia was bright enough to figure it out. She seemed to consider it for a moment, shrugging and putting the rest of the vegetables on the counter. "You're right. We should be more careful."

A wave of relief washed over me, but it was short-lived.

"But you know, Jae-il, that doesn't mean I'm not gonna try my best to get a piece of you even with mom sleeping in the room next door." Mia gave me an exaggerated roll of the eyes, as if I was worrying too much. "I mean, it's not like we haven't done it before with mom around. We've pretty much gotten away with doing things all around her just like the last time. Just gotta stay a bit quieter so either of them don't catch us in the middle of doing stuff."

Except that now there was a weird look on Mia's face.

"Noona, I mean it. We've only done it once here, and that was already dangerous enough." I had no desire to play risky, knowing it was incredibly hard to control myself at some points. "Now that I'm back for longer, we shouldn't push our luck. This could blow off at any fucking given moment. Mom's in that room right now thinking about god-knows-what and if she'd walked down thirty seconds sooner, she'd have caught your pretty little lips wrapped around my cock."

"......"

That gave her pause, her playful smirk faltering for a second. She bit her lower lip.

"Su Ah Noona already knows something's up with us, but hasn't outright said it." I heaved a deep breath, flattening my palms on the counter, away from Mia. Now that the rush of the moment had passed and rational thinking returned to its rightful place on the right head, I could assess the situation.

I was back home, in the devil's den.

The snakes were slowly wrapping around me.

"Su Ah knows, huh?" Mia snorted, sorting out the rest of the groceries.

"I think so." I replied, watching her. I recalled Su Ah's face, so blank, but not empty. A growing confidence and boldness. "No, I'm sure she does know."

"You don't have to worry about her. She won't utter a peep, if that's the case." Mia scoffed, turning to face me, leaning her hip against the counter. She crossed her arms. "She wouldn't dare. Su Ah might act tough and all, but she knows what's good for her. She knows not to mess with me."

"And why's that?" I smiled wryly.

Mia smiled, shoulders lifting in a tiny shrug. "Well, it's between us girls, if you don't mind."

I raised my hands, disarmingly. "I wouldn't dream of interfering."

"Good."

"I'm more worried about mom. Did something happen with her?" I confessed. "She's been acting weird too."

Mia froze.

She turned to face me fully, leaning her back against the counter. Her expression was unreadable. "Weird how?"

"She was..." I searched for the right word. "Tense. Around me. She wouldn't look at me properly. And she was just... off. When she came in, she seemed like she was in a completely different world."

"And you think that's because of you?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking you."

Honestly, I figured it might've been about Yeong Gu. Their marriage was already hanging by a thread, and it seemed she was only staying for us.

Mia's gaze drifted away, her fingers tracing a pattern on the countertop.

I watched her, and I found a flicker of something akin to guilt in her eyes. She knew. She definitely knew what was wrong with Eun Ha.

"Noona..." I pressed gently. "What's going on? Did something happen between you two?"

She let out a long, slow breath, deflating like a punctured balloon. She finally looked at me, and the usual confident glint in her eyes was gone, replaced by a deep uncertainty. She slowly sat on the stool Eun Ha had been ten minutes ago. "Got news for you, Jae-il. Mom kind of suspects something between us." She looked off, a thoughtful frown on her face.

My head jerked up, my blood running cold. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, she's been acting weird. She heard me talking to you the other day on the phone, and... she kind of cornered me about it later." Mia rubbed the back of her neck, the motion almost sheepish. "She didn't come right out and say 'I know you're fucking your brother,' thank god. But she asked… questions. Like, who was I talking to so late, why did it sound so intimate, why did I get all defensive when she asked if it was a boyfriend."

"How…" I muttered, sitting down myself.

"......" Mia shrunk a little, looking away with a mortified blush. "I… might've been too loud…"

"Noona…"

"Look, I was happy, okay?!" She threw her hands up. "And it's your fault, anyway! You kept saying things that made my insides do flip-flops!"

I ran a hand over my face, exhaling slowly. This was… not good. Not good at all.

My brain started working, finally connecting the dots that seemed so sparse and far apart.

Eun Ha's strange, jittery behavior. The weirdness. The avoidance. The near-panic when I touched her, the subtle reluctance to return the hug. It all clicked into place with a sickening lurch. "And that's why she was so… distant." I said, more to myself than to her.

Mia nodded. "She confronted me, Jae-il. And I… I wasn't exactly subtle. I panicked, I got angry… I think I made it worse." She chewed on her bottom lip, her bravado completely gone. "I was a bitch to her, honestly. I told her to mind her own business, that she was imagining things."

The kitchen felt a hundred degrees hotter. I felt like I had just run a marathon, my lungs burning.

"Did she say anything else?" I asked, my own voice sounding distant even to my ears.

Mia shook her head. "Not after that. We just… stared at each other. Then I left. She didn't bring it up again after that day. I thought things were fine, or as fine as they were. I should have told you then, I know, but—"

"......"

I ran a hand down my face. Fuck.

It was like someone was gripping my lungs, twisting. Was it really that bad? Should I even be worried? Mia did tell me mom didn't flat-out ask her directly if she and I were having sex.

But that was a mere formality. A tiny consolation prize.

Eun Ha wasn't dumb. She had two functioning eyes, she could see things with her own two eyes. She'd clearly deduced that Mia and I weren't... innocent with one another. I should count myself lucky that Eun Ha didn't move out that very evening the moment that thought popped into her head.

I wanted to blame Mia for blabbing her damn mouth and not keeping things quiet, but I hadn't been the most secretive person myself. My own teammates suspected an affair of some kind with some secret Noona, or some other bullshit like that.

Clearly, we both had a degree of fault here.

"Jae-il..." Mia bit her lip, sounding genuinely apologetic. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean for things to go this way, really. I just—I just—"

"I'm going to fix this, Noona." I interrupted, straightening myself up.

Her eyes widened. "Wait, how are you—"

"Mom might be a nice, soft and tolerant person on the outside, but on the inside... Noona, she could very much kick us both out in a heartbeat if the mood was right. If she finds tangible proof we're having a sexual relationship together." I took in a deep breath, knowing what I had to do now. I exhaled, forcing myself to calm down. "I don't even want to think what'd happen if our father found out. It's gonna be bad, Noona, really, really bad. Not only for us, but for them as well. You know how dry their marriage is."

I clenched my jaw.

"Jae-il..." Mia started to say. "We need to wait, though. Maybe—I can talk to her again. Make her understand it's not a big—"

"Noona. Listen closely and listen well, okay?" My voice grew sharp as I held out a finger to stop her. "We have to convince her that we're not having any sort of sexual relationship together. She already has her suspicions. That's why she was behaving the way she did around me. We have to clear the suspicion out of her mind. Whatever the cost."

"... Fine." Mia said, gritting her teeth and turning away with an exasperated sigh. "You know, we might be thinking a bit too much about it, Jae-il. I don't see why we should panic. It's not that bad. As you said, she has no proof. We just have to be more careful next time. More discrete."

"More discrete than you giving me head as soon as we're alone?" My brow shot up. "Seriously, Noona?"

She winced, throwing her head back. "Shit. Guess you're right. I was..." She brought her hands to her face, making an odd squealing sound. "But hey!" She pointed a finger at me. "It's not like you stopped me!"

"No, I didn't. But guess who could've walked in through the door in the blink of an eye?" I massaged my temples, a throb starting somewhere deep in my skull. "Either way, this is it. We're clearing up the 'misunderstanding'." I air-quoted.

Mia crossed her arms, one leg over the other. "And how do you plan on doing that, you genius? You really think she'd believe us if we told her it's just an innocent, happy family thing?"

"....."

There was really only one thing that came to mind at this point. "I guess there is a way I could show her that everything is, indeed, totally platonic between us." I replied. "With this thing, if the subject was brought out into the open, mom's going to end up accepting my words and your words."

Her eyes narrowed into slits. "And that is?"

"Noona, forgive my audacity to ask you this..." I stood up, locking eyes with her, my posture purposely rigid. "Any chance your friend, Joo-ri, could act as my girlfriend while we stay around mom?"

"......!!"