About to open the driver’s seat door, Ha Joon turned his body slightly toward Ji An.

“Why are you sorry? The meal was good.”
Ha Joon lifted one side of his lips and smiled bitterly.

He used to say the same thing every time Ji An’s family returned from overseas performances.

Why do you hate your own family? Your hatred sounds like the capricious tantrum of a full stomach. What you are doing is common jealousy between sisters. Don’t be sensitive and come home.

All the decorum of the world, she would babble as if she were the only person living up to it.

While brushing Ji An’s hair, Ha Joon spoke softly.

“Our Ji An has grown up well, without a single crease. Wait here.”

Ha Joon clenched his fist, tapped Ji An’s arm, and got out of the car.

Ji An got out of the car and blankly watched the commercial building where Ha Joon had disappeared.

Being treated as a jealous younger sibling would have been better.

To put it mildly, she felt embarrassed; seriously speaking, she was deeply hurt and ashamed to look at Ha Joon.

Her image floundering within her family…

She felt like she had become a person who couldn’t even do the basics.

As she got on a bus that had just stopped, she looked back and saw Ha Joon coming out of the pharmacy.

Ji An was unable to cope with her surging emotions. Facing her mother’s cold gaze and sharp words made her unbearably miserable.

As tears welled up, she wiped them with the back of her hand, trying to console her uncomfortably sullen self.

“I just thought being alone would help improve this terrible mood.”
It might be hypocrisy, but to strangers’ eyes, she’d just be a regular person.

Ding.

Just then, a text message arrived on Ji An’s phone. It was a message stating that she had passed the interview and was accepted into the customer support department of Play Round.

There was no law saying people should die. Even in the middle of this, she was receiving a message notifying her of acceptance.

Ha Joon paused as he was about to get in the car. Looking at the empty passenger seat, he straightened up.

He surveyed the path he had come from over the car, but Ji An was nowhere to be found.

Seeing that her bag was gone, he looked down at his phone, which was diverting to voicemail, with a pained expression.

Ding.

The name Ji An appeared clearly on the phone screen alerting a new text message.

[Thank you, Ha Joon. Today is that day for me. The day I want to be among strangers. Don’t wait in front of my house, just go straight home.] Reading the message, Ha Joon murmured to himself.

“What are you thankful for? Why do you try to be alone on such days?”

He quickly pressed the keypad and sent a message.

[Where are you. I’ll be with you.] Knowing that he wouldn’t receive a reply, he still sent the message.

The word ‘thank you’ felt so distant. He didn’t want to hear ‘thank you’ from Ji An again.

The subtly twisting and misaligned events were grating on his nerves, and he felt impatient towards Ji An, who was always running as far as he tried to approach.

Although he got into the driver’s seat, Ha Joon couldn’t start the car for a long time.

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