Page 16

Mom was standing in the living room, having grabbed a plastic broom.

The tears that had pooled in Sohee's eyes were now overflowing, running down her cheeks, and dropping.

"Minji, if you're done eating, go to your room, close the door, and do your homework!"

Mom first sent Minji to his room.

Minji looked back at Sohee with worry as she entered her room.

"Jinwoo, just sit there!!"

Jinwoo, who seemed unable to move as he was hard, gratefully adjusted his position according to mom’s command.

"Sohee, come here!!"

Mom, with a scary voice, called Sohee in the living room.

Sohee, crying, walked up to mom.

"You haven’t been cleaning your room for days now, have you? You, a high school student, buying flashy clothes and cosmetics, laying them all out but never organizing them!!!!"

Mom glared fiercely at her and then burst out with everything she had been holding back.

Sohee, sobbing and head bowed.

"And cigarettes and a lighter!!! You think I wouldn’t know if you hide them in your bag? Just because I give you allowance, you spend it all like that!!"

-Mom seemed to have rummaged through Sohee's bag-Suddenly, when mom brought up cigarettes and a lighter, Sohee looked genuinely flustered and started to tear up more.

Then, covering her face with her hands, she began to sob pitifully.

"Hiiiiing~aaaaah~~"

"Sohee, tell me the truth, when did you start smoking?"

Regardless, mom pressed on, questioning Sohee.

"Sob..sob~ It's just that a friend asked me to hold onto them... I wasn’t the one smoking."

Even as she cried, Sohee was making up lies.

"What kind of friend leaves you with cigarettes? Are you lying to mom now?"

Mom wasn’t buying it.

"Jinwoo, did you know your sister smokes?"

Mom turned to ask Jinwoo.

The sparks suddenly flew towards Jinwoo.

Jinwoo, looking pitifully at his sister, neither confirmed nor denied.

"Jinwoo, you smoke too?"

Another question flew from mom.

Jinwoo immediately shook his head no.

"Jinwoo, tell me straight! When did you know about your sister smoking?"

Mom seemed determined to get to the bottom of it.

"A few days ago, I saw her smoking in the park"

Jinwoo glanced at Sohee as he answered.

"Alone?"

"No, with some friends of her..."

"Which friends?"

"Sinbi and three other sisters I saw for the first time"

Jinwoo thus honestly spilled everything he knew to mom.

Then, Sohee looked at him with a face full of betrayal and glared fiercely.

Thud!!

Seeing that, mom punched Sohee on the head.

"Why are you glaring at your brother?! Huh? Why are you glaring?!!! If you find fault and touch Jinwoo, just you wait?!!"

Mom was really scary as she scolded Sohee.

"Aish~ Mom is really~ Why are you snooping in other people’s bags~?"

Sohee, with both hands covering the part of her head mom had hit, tried a futile last resistance.

"How can you say that when you did something wrong? Do you want mom to really make you scream today?"

Mom mercilessly beat Sohee's thighs and legs with the broom she was holding.

Thud~! Thud~!

"Ah! It hurts!"

Thud!!

"Aack-"

Sohee screamed and clung desperately to mom.

"Mom, I did wrong! I did wrong!! I won’t do it again, sob sob sob~"

Sohee was on her knees, begging with both hands.

"Mom, I did wrong, I won’t do it again, sob sob sob"

Mom glared fiercely at her then said.

"What did you do wrong?"

"Smoking"

Sohee confessed readily.

"What else!?"

"Not cleaning my room, sob sob~"

"And!?"

"Lying"

"And what else!?"

"Uh... talking back to mom, sob"

"Anything else!?"

"Anything else? That’s... uh..."

Sohee struggled to think of another mistake.

"Clothes!!"

Mom somewhat raised her voice as she snapped at Sohee.

"Uh.. wearing sexy clothes that made Jinwoo uncomfortable, sob sob sob sob~"

After answering, Sohee lay on the floor and began to cry sorrowfully.

Jinwoo thought she looked too pitiful.

Was all this really worth such a scolding?

But he didn’t dare to intervene.

"Mom always said she hates lying, right?"

Mom continued to admonish.

"Yes..sob sob"

Sohee tearfully responded, still lying on the ground.

"Since you lied today, you're not getting any allowance for a month, you understand?"

"Yes-"

Sohee replied with a despondent tone, suggesting the length and melancholy of a tragic heroine.

"From now on, don't wear the clothes Aunt gave you, okay? Do you even think what would happen if you wear something that see-through?"

Mom looked upset as she spoke to Sohee.

Sohee suddenly started shedding tears more heavily and said, "I just wore it because Aunt picked it out and it was pretty~ I didn’t mean to make Jinwoo uncomfortable~ sob sob.. I thought mom would say it looks nice too~ it's too much~ sob sob sob~~"

Hearing this, Mom sighed with a look of compassion.

"Sohee, come here!"

Mom said this and then embraced Sohee, who came over crying, and soothed her by stroking her back.

"Yeah~ Sohee, mom is sorry for not understanding your feelings~ You didn't mean anything bad, but it hurts when mom yells, right? But you know you can’t wear those kinds of clothes, right?"

Mom’s tone had softened as she comforted Sohee.

"Sob sob sob"

Sohee continued to sob deeply in her mother's arms.

"Yeah, mom's sorry, it's mom's fault~ But I'll buy you other clothes you want to wear, okay? Stop crying now!"

Mom, seeing Sohee crying in her arms, spoke in a tone reminiscent of cajoling a small child.

"Really? Sob… will you really buy me clothes I want to wear? Sob sob..."

Sohee sniffled in response.

"Yes, but no sexy clothes, okay?"

Mom continued to soothe Sohee while stroking her back.

"Okay... I understand, mom sob sob sob"

Sohee clung to her mother, sobbing and acting a bit childishly.

"Really, all grown up and still such babies~!"

Mom said, holding Sohee for a while longer before applying some ointment to her bruises and sending her upstairs to her room.

Then she turned to Jinwoo.

"Jinwoo, shall we talk for a bit?"