176 — Everything Happens for a Reason IV (Conclusion)

Eun Ha's POV:

The only reason the three of them were gathered together and acting like a family again was because of him.

That didn't change the fact that Jae-il was their brother and the three were still siblings.

And yet...

Eun Ha couldn't help but wonder if they felt a tiny bit of that tension as well.

Mia and Su Ah crowded around Jae-il and the laptop; Mia had, apparently, thought it'd be funny to show him some of the more viral edits of him, and placed the device right on his lap for everyone's viewing pleasure, and to his dismay.

Their bodies and faces were so close that their elbows and shoulders brushed one another every once in a while, not that her two daughters or Jae-il had seemingly noticed or felt awkward about it, but they acted so comfortably near him.

"Oh! Look at the angle of that shot, oi!"

"......"

"Oh, for fuck's sake. Not again." Jae-il muttered as his face filled the laptop screen.

A zoom-in on his face and wide shoulders in the last interview, just as his lips were lifting in a dramatic slow-mo. Then a quick transition when the EDM music intensified in the background. Flare lens and motion blur with each transition, the beat dropping at just the right moments, then a slow-motion shot of him scoring the last goal from the Asian Games, the camera zoomed in on the bulging of his quad, then another one of him taking off the soaked shirt, droplets of sweat clinging to his torso.

Then, the music abruptly ended with a final, final shot of Jae-il's face from the same interview, but this one was heavily edited to have a dreamy quality, with his purple eyes sparkling like some cartoon princess.

Eun Ha couldn't help but snort at the cringe factor.

"Okay, that's enough." Jae-il tried to grab the laptop, but Mia moved it out of reach with a laugh, shifting to place it on Su Ah's lap.

"Oh, c'mon, Jae-il! We're just admiring your popularity!" Mia giggled, turning to Su Ah with conspiratorial glee. "Right, Su Ah? He's like a real-life anime protagonist."

"......" Su Ah was frozen, her gaze fixed on the screen. She swallowed, her cheeks turning a delicate shade of pink. "It's... quite artistic." She managed to say, her voice a little high. "The editing is surprisingly well-done."

Jae-il buried his face in his hands with a long-suffering groan. "I'm going to change my name and move to a remote mountain."

"Don't be so dramatic. You're a national treasure." Mia declared, ruffling his hair affectionately. He tried to swat her hand away, but a small, reluctant smile played on his lips.

Eun Ha watched them, the juice forgotten in her hand.

There was a certain ease between them. It was the picture of a happy, modern family. A picture that was, for her, slightly out of focus.

She saw Mia's fingers linger a fraction too long on Jae-il's shoulder, saw the way Su Ah's eyes, when she finally tore them from the laptop, found Jae-il's profile with an intensity that was both disconcerting and captivating.

"Stop pretending you hate the attention, Jae-il!" Mia said in her typical impetuous tone. "Just look at this!" She picked another video clip, snatching the laptop off her sister and pressing play.

Jae-il somehow managed to wrestle the laptop from Mia's clutches and put an end to the madness. "Noona, I swear to God—"

Mia's lips curved upward when he teased her, and her eyes laughed despite her silence and flat expression. That forced scowl, that couldn't hold the coldness for more than a few seconds before cracking up.

Eun Ha's eyes turned a little weird.

It was in the way she nudged Jae-il's legs whenever they doomscrolled through another one of the ridiculous edits. Her elbow and shoulder brushed against him.

It didn't even seem like there was anything malicious or ulterior behind her actions, just pure and genuine affection.

However, it didn't sit quite right with Eun Ha.

Su Ah was on Jae-il's other side, brushing a bang of hair away from her face as she gazed at the screen, looking like she was ready to just plop her head on her younger brother's shoulder.

Of course, from a blessed ignorant's point of view, it didn't even seem like anything obviously worrisome or out of the norm was happening. After all, the sisters were practically the embodiment of what a regular, modern, sibling-bonding ought to be like: playful banter, casual body contact, jokes and teasing and lots of laughter, but now that she knew caught a glimpse of the truth, Eun Ha could now read beneath all of it.

They'd always acted like this.

However, if she paid any closer attention and analyzed all their interactions closely, she'd see those moments where their movements and looks shifted, not quite into something illicit, but borderline suspicious.

Eun Ha cleared her throat, and Jae-il's playful eyes—previously on Mia—now lifted to meet hers. His smile didn't exactly fade away, but the edges dimmed somewhat. "Mom?" Then they lit up a little. "I hope you're not about to make fun of me too."

"N-No, I was just thinking—" Eun Ha stammered, looking down at her hands. "—well, it's nice seeing you all getting along."

The words came out flatter than she intended, a simple observation stripped of emotion, but Jae-il seemed to accept them. He gave a small, almost imperceptible nod before turning back to Mia, who was trying to get the laptop again.

"Actually..." Eun Ha continued, trying to steady her fluttering emotions. "Umh... I don't know if the girls mentioned it, but... I've kind of, I mean, we've kind of been thinking of taking a trip… together. Just the four of us. To the beach, maybe? Or the mountains. Somewhere nice. Before the season really kicks in for you, Jae-il."

A sudden silence fell over the room.

Mia and Su Ah froze. They exchanged a quick, unreadable glance before both looking at Jae-il.

He, in turn, simply stared at her, his expression thoughtful as he leaned back.

Eun Ha's heart hammered against her ribcage. She felt like she had just blurted out a confession. Jesus. Had she really fallen that low?

It was a silly, motherly suggestion. The kind of thing a normal mom would suggest. So why did it feel so monumental?

"A trip...?"

Eun Ha nodded, an uncharacteristic blush on her face.

"I think it's a great idea, Mom." Mia said, a little too quickly, her voice bright with an artificial enthusiasm. "We should totally do it. Right, Jae-il?"

"......" Su Ah said nothing. She just turned her head to look at Jae-il, her dark blue eyes wide and expectant.

"It... could be fun, I guess." Jae-il said slowly, his gaze still on Eun Ha. "When were you thinking?"

Eun Ha let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. "Soon. This weekend, maybe. If you're free, of course."

"Not this weekend." Su Ah interjected gently. "The comet, remember?" She looked at Jae-il as if sharing a secret. "We were thinking of going to the mountains to see it better."

"Oh. The comet." Eun Ha's smile faltered slightly. "Right. I heard about that on the news." Her eyes shifted from Su Ah to Jae-il, searching for confirmation, for anything that would tell her more.

"A comet indeed." Jae-il repeated, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Eun Ha chuckled weakly.

"Can I come?" Mia suddenly leaned in, her expression shifting from enthusiastic to pleading. "I want to see the comet too!"

"You can't come." Su Ah shot back, her tone a little sharper than usual. "We're going up a mountain, can your delicate, city-girl legs handle that?"

"Delicate?! I'll have you know I can hike for days without breaking a sweat, you cynical bookworm!"

"Okay, okay." Jae-il raised a placating hand, a small, almost wry smile on his lips as he watched them bicker. "Mia Noona, we can do something else after we're done with the comet, so don't worry."

Mia huffed, but seemed to accept the compromise, crossing her arms and sinking back into the couch with a pout.

Eun Ha watched the exchange with a strange sense of detachment. A comet. A trip to the mountains, just the two of them. Su Ah and Jae-il. Well, that didn't necessarily mean anything. Right? Perhaps Su Ah didn't want to go alone; the mountains weren't the safest place to hike alone, regardless. So she asked her brother along as a companion. That was possible. And understandable, even.

"Then, how about next weekend?"

"......" Mia and Su Ah silently mulled over it before eventually agreeing.

"As long as you're not going to keel over from your cold..." Jae-il mused, a smile lingering on his lips.

Eun Ha chuckled and rolled her eyes. "I'm not that fragile, and it wasn't that bad anyway." She said, waving a dismissive hand. "I'll be fine by then."

"Alright." Jae-il finally agreed with a firm nod. "It's a date."

He'd said it so casually, probably didn't mean anything by it, but the word "date" still sent Eun Ha's pulse jumping as if she were fifteen again. As if she were back in school, with that one captivating senior she'd always admired from afar.

"......"

A date... no, not quite a date. It was... like a trip, a road trip... yeah. It tasted better.

Yes, no. A family trip, for sure. Definitely not a date.

She quickly looked down at her hands, her cheeks feeling annoyingly warm.