Chapter 9: Inside the Packed Gift

When I heard her speak, not knowing what to say, I remained quiet. As Kim Hye-jin put down the food tray on the table and sat down opposite me, she spoke once more with a big smile on her face.

As I saw her joyful expression, I realized she was truly happy to see me. My guilt for not appreciating her kindness and for hating her in the past intensified. Standing up and looking down, I said,

"I am sorry, Kim Hye-jin. I am truly sorry I was not able to see your kindness early on, and thank you for everything you have done for me until now. I am truly thankful."

As Kim Hye-jin heard that, tears were forming in her eyes, threatening to fall. She thought, It's not your fault. After all, if someone else gets the love that I deserve, I would hate her too. Heck, I wouldn't even have the heart to see them in front of my eyes. I don't know what sister has done in the past that our parents treat her so horribly, but whatever she has done, she has suffered enough. She doesn't deserve to be treated so horribly by our parents. After all, sister is also their daughter. I will definitely make our parents apologize to you, sister.

Kim Hye-jin, wiping her own tears, stood up speaking while extending her hand.

"Let's forget the past and start anew. What do you say? Umm, first, let's be friends, sister."

Seeing the smile on Kim Hye-jin's face and grabbing her hand, as Kim Soo-jin thought:

How can I forget the past? Yesterday, after knowing how delusional I was to think that my parents would forgive me for the sin that I have not committed, after giving up hope, I realized how horribly they have treated me up until now. How can I forget that? How can I forget the past?

Sighing in my mind, I thought, After all, she is just a kid; I cannot say this to her. So, shaking her hand, I said,

"Yes, let's be friends from now on, Kim Hye-jin."

As we both sat down, I saw the things she had brought to eat. It was sandwiches.

"There was no need to bring this."

"Come on, sister, you have come to see me for the first time at the university. How can we not celebrate that?"

I also brought out the cold drinks that I had bought from the station's vending machine. After giving one to her, she gave me one sandwich, and we started eating.

"Soo-jin..."

When I heard Kim Hye-jin's voice, I looked towards her as she said,

"Now that we have become friends, you should stop calling me formally all the time and call me Hye-jin. All my friends call me that, and after all, you are my sister, not an outsider."

After hearing her, I was happy that someone in that house considers me as family. Smiling i replied.

"Ok, Hye-jin."

After eating, I nearly forgot what my objective was for coming here. Tapping my forehead, I thought, How forgetful of me, and then I gave her the bag which contained the last gift my parents gave to me—paintbrushes—and said,

"Hye-jin, take this. This is a little gift from me. There are paintbrushes inside. I once heard you loved painting too, so take these, these will be helpful."

Taking the bag, she took out the packed gift and, looking at it, she said,

"Oh, thank you, sister! What a coincidence—I was going to buy paintbrushes today. Now I don't need to buy them. These will be really helpful. Thank you, sister."

Looking at that treasured gift of mine, which I was letting go of, I told her,

"You know, these paintbrushes were given to me as a gift, but at that time, I lost interest in painting, so I never opened them."

When I was going to tell her to take care of it, I stopped, as I didn't want her to know these were the last birthday gift from my parents, my most cherished possessions. While I was sifting through the happy memories of my childhood, I was going to leave my past behind today. Looking at her, I said without regret,

"Anyway, it's been a long time since I left painting. These paintbrushes will be more useful in your hands."

"Yes, thank you, sister. I will use them well."

Seeing the smile on her face, I was happy. Looking at the time on my mobile phone, I started preparing to leave. With no regrets, letting go of the past, I said with a smile on my face too,

"It's getting late. I've wasted enough of your time. See you at home. Bye, Kim Hye-jin—oh sorry, I mean Hye-jin."

After Soo-jin said that, Hye-jin also stood up and said goodbye. After Soo-jin left, Hye-jin got back to her studies and started preparing for the competition.

As Hye-jin came home before dinner time, finishing her studies at the university, she ate dinner and went to her room.

Inside, she started to open up the gift that Soo-jin had given her at the university. Opening the wrapping, she noticed it was finely wrapped, but it looked slightly worn out, as if the shine on the wrapping was fading away.

As I opened the packed gift, there was a wooden box inside. Opening that box, I found different sizes of paintbrushes, but what caught my eye was a nearly framed photo.

In that photo, there were four people. Seeing that photo, tears were pouring down from my eyes unknowingly as I grabbed the card and looked at the words. They read:

*Happy Birthday, Soo-jin, from your loving parents.*

Looking at this card, my tears wouldn't stop. My head was repeating only one sentence: Why? Why did she give me this? And looking at the photo, I realized I had an older brother.

Remembering the words when Sister said, "These paintbrushes were given to me as a gift," now I realize this gift was given by none other than our parents.

While looking at the framed photo and greeting card, my tears wouldn't stop falling.

---

As Joon-ho left limping from the film club room, he took the same bus and arrived home. Attending to his gardening duties, same as always, after everything was over, he had his dinner and slept soundly.

Waking up early and arriving on time for class, the lectures went smoothly. After class, as I arrived at the film club room,

Opening the door, I saw an incomparably beautiful girl sitting near the table, playing with her mobile phone. She looked immersed in the game as she didn't even notice that the door had been opened. It was none other than Soo-jin. looking stunning as always.

Looking at her, I was mesmerized, thinking she looked different today. I muttered, "I want to keep on looking at her like this for the rest of my life. Heck, heck, heck," shaking my head, thinking, "What the heck? What the heck was I thinking? Looking at her for the rest of my life—so embarrassing."

Looking here and there, when I saw no one was around, I sighed in relief, for it seemed no one heard my embarrassing thoughts.

As I walked in, adjusting my expression, I knocked on the table and called her name.

Knock! Knock!

"Hey, Soo-jin, are you listening?"

Hearing the knocking, she was startled and looked up, seeing me as I put down my bag and jokingly said,

"Finally, you looked at me. Do you forget everything after you start playing a game or what?"

"Yeah, after I start playing this game, I forget time. So sorry about that, I really have a bad habit and really love this game. You should play it too, it's called Genshin Impact."

Hearing that, I thought she is a hardcore gamer if she forgets everything after starting to play. It's good if she enjoys it, as I replied,

"I have heard about this game a lot. Anyway, how did you arrive so early?"

When I asked this, she pouted and said,

"It's been an hour since I started waiting for you. You know, for the past few days, it seems like you are the only one who is making me wait for a long time. You shouldn't make a girl wait for you, you know? If you keep doing that, you won't be able to make any girlfriends."

Hearing the word "girlfriend," I thought, "I don't even have any male friends, not to mention how am I supposed to make a girlfriend?" Feeling sorry for making her wait all the time, I apologized,

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you wait, but today I rushed as soon as lectures ended."

"My last lecture got canceled, that's why I was the first to come here."

"If I had known you were going to wait for me for one hour, I would have zoomed over right away so as not to make you wait."

Talking with her and making light conversation, I changed the topic and asked the main question.

"That aside, what about the short film story? I think we should go with your story. What do you think?"

After hearing me, she had a happy expression and a beaming smile on her face.

"Yes, yes, let's do that! I did read your story, but after the part of the haunted house came up, I closed it and stopped reading. As I told you earlier, I am afraid of ghosts, so I was unable to read it. Sorry for that, Joon-ho."

"It's fine, don't worry about it. Now, let's edit your story and start writing the script."

As we started editing her story, new twists and turns were added, and plot holes were removed. Even just doing this took us two hours to complete, but the step of story writing was finished, and from tomorrow onwards, we can start writing the script.

After finishing the story editing, as I was going to leave the club room, she grabbed my bag, stopping me, and started searching inside her bag as she spoke,

"Hey, wait, Joon-ho. Here, take this."

In her hands, there was a plastic box. As I questioningly looked at her, she replied,

"These are homemade cookies I made yesterday. Let me know how they taste."

After she finished speaking, she opened my bag from behind my back, shoved the plastic box inside, and pushed me out, closing the door.