The Girl Makes Her Decision

Even as Yeo Ri got home, she did not forget about the offer that Park Soo Yeon had given her.

Fortunately, Mrs. Choi did not bring up the subject anymore and allowed her some time to think about it.

She bade the two generous ladies goodbye with a polite 90-degrees bow and thanked them for their kindness.

As she stepped into her apartment and placed the shopping bags down, she sighed.

"Yeo Ri-ah?" Gun came up to her, surprised. He eyed the shopping bags curiously.

Like a gentleman, Gun helped take Yeo Ri's coat off and hung it by the door. "Did you have a good time?" he asked as he led her to sit down. "Are you tired? Did you have fun?"

"Mm," Yeo Ri nodded listlessly.

"What's wrong?" Gun frowned, feeling like something was off.

"Nothing," she sighed again.

"So what did you do at the mall? What did you buy?" he curiously asked, patiently waiting for her to talk about her day.

"I went to the mall with Da Na-unnie and Auntie, and they bought me food and clothes..." she sighed for the third time.

"Oh?" Gun raised an eyebrow. His mind worked quickly and he could somewhat deduce the reason why Yeo Ri was so down.

Both Yeo Ri and Gun did not like owing people. They may be poor, but they did not like relying on other people's charity to live. In his mind, he was already calculating on how much he should pay Da Na back.

"Did you thank them properly?"

"Mm... maybe?" Yeo Ri timidly replied. She was unsure if neither accepting nor rejecting Mrs. Choi's generous offer could be considered thanking them properly.

"What's on your mind, Yeo Ri-ah?" Gun patted her arm and brought her closer to him, letting her rest her head on his shoulder.

"Actually..." Yeo Ri looked up at him with conflicted eyes, spilling about everything that had transpired earlier to him.

Once she was finished with her story, Gun stared at the wall in front of him contemplatively. After a long silence, he said, "You can do it if you want to, don't do it if you don't want to."

Yeo Ri glared at him. That response did not answer her plight at all!

Gun noticed her discontented gaze and went on, "Why don't you try it? The audition."

"Huh?"

Her eyebrows jumped up in surprise. She hadn't expected Gun to encourage her to do it. She remembered that a long time ago, Hyuk had been very against the idea of her entering showbiz—and to be honest, she was not particularly open to it as well. It was only because it was Mrs. Choi's request that she was even considering it.

"Besides, you won't lose anything if you do decide to go—it's just an audition. Just treat it as if you're doing a part-time job," Gun said. "It'll be quite the unique experience, don't you think?"

Gun did not want his little sister to limit herself. Ever since Yeo Ri decided to stop going to school, it felt as if she was becoming even more withdrawn and introverted. She rarely ever goes out anymore unless somebody invited her; she was almost always cooped up inside the apartment. He was afraid that she might develop social anxiety if she stayed inside for too long.

As her brother, he knew all too well that Yeo Ri's self-esteem was lower than what people thought. Even though she was beautiful, Gun knew that Yeo Ri wholeheartedly believed that she wasn't—that she was not simply being humble about her beauty. It was just that she hid it well so people never really took notice.

Perhaps, with Mrs. Choi's offer, she might become more open and confident in herself. He hoped that after going through this experience, she would become happier as well.

"..." Yeo Ri kept quiet after hearing his opinion. After a long time, she inhaled deeply and exhaled her breath loudly. Gun did not say much but she felt that his words did make some sense.

"Okay. Yeah. You're right, Oppa. It's not everyday I get to join an agency and be a model," she said, sounding as if she was trying to convince herself. She hoped that she made the right choice.

"Let's do this. Lee Yeo Ri, you can do it!" She muttered, cheering herself on. With those words lingering in her head as motivation, she took out her phone and dialled Mrs. Choi's number.

At that time, neither of them knew the consequences of her decision and how much it would affect their lives in the future.