Don’t you think we are going too fast? chapter 20

Even without certainty, the difference between feeling pressured to do something and accepting it and trying was subtle but significant.

Feeling lighter in mind and heart, I rolled around in bed before picking up my phone.

When I turned on the screen to check the time, I saw a reminder for an event saved in my phone calendar.

“Mom’s birthday!”

The phone screen was filled with the reminder: “Mom’s Birthday!!” The time was 8:43 AM.

It was already too late to wake up and wish Mom a happy birthday in person.

“Are you awake?”

“I’m leaving!”

“Already?”

“I’m dead!”

I jumped out of the guest room bed, hurriedly putting on my coat. I informed Yoon Yijun, who was drinking water from the fridge, about the urgency and rushed out.

Our family always gathered for lunch on Mom’s birthday.

To make it in time, I had to hurry and urged the driver.

I had also ordered a birthday gift for Mom to be delivered via quick service and had asked Auntie An to bring it to my room, which I had completely forgotten about.

First, I needed to go home, shower, check the birthday gift, change clothes, and write a card.

Counting on my fingers the things I needed to do, I arrived home.

Sneaking in was the priority since staying out overnight on Mom’s birthday could get me in big trouble.

Like a spy in a movie, I cautiously entered the house, checking my surroundings from the front gate.

I quietly entered through the front door, tiptoed through the empty living room, and silently ran upstairs.

I encountered Auntie An coming out of the kitchen, made a shushing gesture, and quickly went up the stairs.

Safely in my room, I showered and changed into comfortable clothes.

I laid out the clothes I would wear for the meal later and checked the birthday gift I had ordered.

I unwrapped the outer packaging and ensured the gift wrapping was done well, checking the card that came with it, which said, “Happy Birthday,” in elegant handwriting.

I added the usual messages like “I love you, Mom,” and “Happy Birthday.”

If I had been any lazier and woken up later, I could have become the worst unfilial child.

Especially since Moon Jinwoo would likely bring it up for years, just thinking about it made me shudder.

I rested in my room, waiting for the right time to change clothes and go outside.

“Moon Sunwoo, did you just wake up?”

“Youngest, it’s been a while.”

“Hi. Is Geonwoo hyung not here yet?”

When I went to the living room, my second and fourth brothers were sitting there. I waved back to my fourth brother, who greeted me warmly, and looked for my third brother.

“He’ll be here soon. By the way, did you go into my room?”

“Huh?”

“Someone touched my meditation space.”

“Oh, that was me.”

“Why suddenly?”

“I just needed something from your room, but it looked so empty. I thought I’d leave something for company.”

I made a vague excuse while sitting diagonally across from my fourth brother.

Moon Jinwoo, who had been listening, looked at me strangely.

When I pouted and asked, “What?” he shook his head.

“I can’t believe you’re twenty.”

“Why? He is cute. It’s good to have some childlike innocence left.”

“Hmph.”

Moon Jinwoo sighed, taking off his glasses and pressing his eyes, while my fourth brother sided with me.

I snorted at my second brother and checked the time on my phone. It was almost time to eat, but neither the main guests, Mom and Dad, were in sight.

They had planned a quiet dinner date after the family lunch, so they must have been whispering together somewhere.

With filial suspicion, I glanced towards my parents’ room, then spoke loudly when I heard the doorbell and checked the intercom.

“I’ll get it!”

Huh? An unexpected person appeared on the screen.

“Taeshin?”

“Oh, no.”

It was Taeshin on the intercom, holding a bouquet and shopping bag.

Clenching my fists, I resolved myself and opened the gate.

Let’s just act like everything’s fine.

During the brief moment Taeshin walked from the gate to the house, I mentally prepared myself.

Even if I slipped and showed I remembered, Taeshin wouldn’t say anything.

If Taeshin also accidentally showed he remembered, I wouldn’t criticize him either, so he probably felt the same.

I waited at the entrance and opened the door when I heard him outside.

“Welcome.”

“Hi, Sunwoo. Your outfit is cute today.”

“These clothes? Where are they from?”

Feeling a bit nervous, I greeted Taeshin as soon as I opened the door, and he responded with a bright smile.

When he complimented my outfit as cute, I paused for a moment, looked down at my clothes, and tilted my head in confusion.

I couldn’t show up in shabby clothes for my mom’s birthday, so I had put on a shirt and pants.

It wasn’t anything fancy, and I couldn’t figure out which part he found cute, so I kept examining my outfit until Taeshin took off his shoes and came inside.

“Hello.”

“It’s been a while.”

“Why do you keep coming to other people’s parents’ birthdays?”

Taeshin greeted my brothers who were sitting in the living room.

The fourth brother waved in greeting, but the second brother, as expected, scolded him. Trying to kick out a guest who came to celebrate our mom’s birthday.

If Moon Jinwoo spoke nicely, it would be the end of the world.

“Are you enjoying your last vacation?”

“Last vacation?”

As we waited for our slightly late parents in the living room, the fourth brother asked.

Wondering what he meant by last vacation when we had just escaped high school, I looked at him, and he gave me and Taeshin a sympathetic look.

“Once you’re in college, there’s no time to rest because of studying. You have to fill up your credits, get certifications, and other qualifications.”

“Don’t think about playing around; study.”

“The first semester of the first year might be a bit loose, but from the second semester, it’ll hit hard. You’ll be busy catching up on studies even during vacations, and you might have to take seasonal classes too.”

“Don’t lie. I know other college students have a relaxed time while studying.”

Moon Jinwoo, who always told me to study and date, now said it in a tone suggesting studying all the time, and the fourth brother joined in.

I argued back, saying I knew how the world worked despite their emphasis on constant studying, but the fourth brother shook his finger.

“It’s true. Why else would they say the weight gained in high school is lost while studying in college? Do you remember how I was a few years ago?”

At his words, I recalled how he was during his college days. I remembered him hunched over his computer, typing in English that didn’t even look like English, wearing a tacky hoodie.

“They said you could study and have fun in college.”

“Who?”

“I did. Don’t lie to the youngest.”

Shocked by this confusing truth that no one had told me, the third brother, who had just shown up, smacked the fourth brother on the back of his head.

“Ow!”

“Have you been well, youngest?”

“What? It was a lie?”

“Oh, but I did struggle in college.”

Waving at the third brother in greeting, I glared at the fourth brother who had been tricking me. Rubbing the back of his head where he’d been hit, the fourth brother looked aggrieved.

“Since you’re majoring in business, you can have fun and still manage your grades during your first and second years.”

“Right?”

“Later, when you’re in your third and fourth years and preparing for a job or studying abroad, you’ll suffer, so don’t worry.”

“…”

Basically, it was a warning to study hard now to avoid suffering later. They said just getting into college was enough!

I thought I could fool around and just get a diploma, but now I had to study hard here too!?

“If you stick close to Taeshin and study well, you’ll get good grades.”

“If your grades drop, you’ll be dead. Taeshin, make sure he doesn’t slack off.”

“Yes.”

The promise that I could do everything I wanted in high school once I got into college was all a lie.

The fourth brother spoke, and the second brother ordered Taeshin.

Even though I knew I had no choice, I felt a bit betrayed by Taeshin’s obedient response and looked at the third brother, hoping he’d say something for me. He smiled.

“There are also fifth-year students.”

“You want to die? Is that even human?”

“Fifth-year students are people too.”

What’s a fifth-year student?

Someone who spends five years in college?

As I looked at Moon Jinwoo, who seemed about to blow up, and the fourth brother who was trying to explain something to him, Taeshin, sitting next to me, leaned in and whispered.

“It’s someone who hasn’t earned enough credits and has to stay longer.”

“Ah~.”

While watching the fourth brother defend fifth-year students, my mom and dad finally appeared.

“Oh my, Taeshin gets more handsome every time I see him.”

“Thank you. Happy birthday.”

My mom smiled warmly and accepted the bouquet Taeshin handed her.

It was a paper flower bouquet and gift that suited her taste, and Taeshin smiled kindly with his eyes.

They looked so close that anyone would mistake them for mother and son.

“He’s someone else’s son, mom.”

The fourth brother pouted. I nodded in agreement.