When we returned to the lodge, the children were already asleep in the car.
Having played in the sea for hours, they must have been exhausted.
However, I was still awake.

Haaaam...
Correction. I was struggling to keep my eyes open. I was so tired.

I watched as the adults carried the children one by one into the room.

"Isn't your son going to sleep too? He looks like he's about to fall asleep."
Dad asked as he carried Ha-Yoon into the room.

I too wanted to lie down right away, but...
"No, I have to eat dinner first. If I eat late at night, I'll probably feel sick in the morning."

Unfortunately, my body this life was weak. Unlike in my past life, where I could eat junk food at all hours.

"Hmm, I guess there's no helping it. Just wait a little, okay? I'll grill the meat nicely."
"Okay."

Dad said that, then went to join the adults to grill the meat.
We're having samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly) for dinner, apparently. I wanted to eat and go to bed quickly.

By the way, we had all changed out of our swimsuits. It's not good to move around in them since we could catch a cold. The kids had changed too.

As I looked at the orange sky, Mom came up behind me and grabbed my shoulder.
Her smile looked joyful.

"Son! Why are you sitting all alone looking so pitiful?"
"I'm just waiting for the food. Once it's ready, I'll take the plates."

"No, no, what do you mean by that..."
Mom frowned for a moment, then picked me up and sat me on her lap. I was getting a bit heavy by now.

"Well, I don't like it when you're alone. Ah, how should I explain this..."
I kind of understood what she meant, but...

"Someone else is over there drinking."
The people I was closest to and found interesting were drinking with the adults. What’s Auntie doing over there?

Even though the meat wasn’t ready yet, she opened a bag of chips and started drinking beer.
On either side of Auntie were Lee Do-Yoon and Baek Yoo-Seol’s mothers.

"Hahaha... You should have called me over, son."
Mom had come to check on us after Dad put Ha-Yoon to sleep. She must have been worried that one of us might be sick.

"It’s okay. I wasn’t being pitiful, I was just zoning out."
Mom looked at me with a strange expression, then puffed up her cheeks and rubbed them against my face.

...What is she doing?

"What’s this?"
My cheeks were squished, and my words got muffled. Mom’s light brown hair tickled my nose.

"I don't know. I must have said something silly because I was so surprised."
I understood why she was acting like this. After all, she almost lost both me and Ha-Yoon today.

I tapped her head, which was resting on my shoulder with my right arm.
It was a sign that I wasn’t really worried. Anyway, we both survived, right? That’s all that matters.

"I just want Ha-Eun and Ha-Yoon to be happy."
...I feel the same way, Mom.

"Don’t worry about us and worry about yourself. You’re not in the best of health either."
"Eh? Even if I say something touching like that..."

She placed her chin on top of my head and pressed down. Ouch.
But I didn’t really mind. This life, I want to be happy. For that, my family’s well-being is the most important thing.

"Our son~. Do you love me?"
"I do."

With that, the conversation stopped.
For a while, I just sat there with Mom, watching the adults grill the meat.

When would we be able to eat?

I rubbed my hungry stomach when Dad called out to us.
"Hey, honey! Son! Come eat the meat!"

Perfect timing. As I was about to get up...
"No, I’ll carry you inside."

...Why does she hold onto me longer than usual today? If it were Ha-Yoon, she’d immediately let go if I asked her to.
Why me...?

Mom hugged me like a teddy bear and moved me to a seat.
Dinner was served outside the lodge, in the backyard.

I was still sitting on Mom's lap.
"Here, eat this too."

Dad kept piling the meat onto my plate.
As I ate the meat, I felt like having a drink. But I couldn’t just ask for one.
Sighing, I drank some zero cola. The carbonation helped soothe my throat, and I put more meat in my mouth.

I was starting to get full now.
I decided to stop eating, and just as I was about to say it, Mom picked me up and took me inside.

We sat down on the sofa in the living room.
"You shouldn’t lie down right after eating, so let’s just sit here for a bit."

She said that and started looking at her phone. What am I supposed to do?
Thankfully, she moved the screen toward me so I could see too.

It’s fine to watch YouTube, but could you lower it a bit? Isn’t my leg getting numb?

Mom didn’t seem to understand how I felt and rested her chin on my head.
After a while, she spoke up.

"Well then, should we go to bed now, son?"
Yawn. "Mm, okay."

After another deep yawn, Mom held up her phone to show me something.
Aren’t we going to bed?

"What’s this?"
"Just taking a picture."

We had already taken a lot of photos, so why did we need another one? A photo of just the two of us?

"Now that I think about it, I’ve taken so many playful pictures with Ha-Yoon, but not many with you."
Why do we need to take it now? Can’t we do it tomorrow?

I was too lazy to speak and just gave her a look.
"Just 10 seconds, okay? Hmm?"
"Okay."

Well, since we’re taking it, might as well smile for it.
Click!

That’s how a smiling photo of me and Mom was saved on her phone.
Then she took me back to my room and laid me down.

"Good night, son."
"Sleep well~."

I waved my hand tiredly as I felt another yawn coming.
Mom closed the door and left. In the room, there were only me and the other kids.

I moved over to lie next to Ha-Yoon. I adjusted the blanket and covered her.
For a moment, I stared at Ha-Yoon with sleepy eyes before closing mine.

The moment I closed my eyes, I fell asleep almost instantly.

***

"Ugh. Ptoo. What are you doing..."

I slightly opened my eyes at the strange feeling in my mouth.

"Good morning."

Ha-Soo-Yul greeted me cheerfully, though in a strange way.

"...Why are your fingers in my mouth?"

"You were sleeping with your mouth open."

I must have been really tired. Sleeping with my mouth open like that...

"Right... by the way, what time is it?"

Instead of answering, Ha-Soo-Yul pointed at the clock on the wall with her finger.

I followed her finger with my eyes.
It was about 11 AM.

"Wow, I slept for a long time."

I remembered falling asleep about an hour after dinner yesterday, so around 8 PM.
That means I slept for about 15 hours straight since then.

Strangely, my body didn’t feel stiff or anything. In fact, I felt quite refreshed.

I sat up and scratched my messy hair.
Looking around the room, it seemed the other kids were already gone. And Ha-Soo-Yul was...

"Mom asked me to wake you up. It’s time for lunch."

"Oh, right."

I was feeling a bit hungry.

Ha-Soo-Yul then stared at me quietly.

"...What are you looking at?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Then, without saying where she got it from, she started brushing my hair with a comb.

"You could just wash it."

"It’s not that bad."

Ha-Soo-Yul firmly replied. But why is she sniffing my hair?

After brushing my hair, we went out and found the adults in the living room.
Dad and Mom were sitting on the couch, drinking coffee and watching TV.
A typical sight. I went over to join them.

"Where are the kids?"

The other three kids weren’t around.

Dad raised his arm and pointed with his fingers.

"They’re eating the meat outside."
I guess they hadn’t had dinner yesterday.

The adults were with them, grilling meat and making sure the kids didn’t get too close to the grill.
Yeah, at least two adults are needed to keep an eye on them.

But what about Ha-Soo-Yul?
"Are you not eating?"

"It’s fine. Mom ordered chicken and pizza for us."

She seemed to have read my mind and cleared up my doubt.
Auntie had ordered delivery and was waiting for it.

"Are you sure you don’t want samgyeopsal?"

"I’ll eat it with Ha-Eun."

She just gave up the samgyeopsal because she preferred to be with me.

I noticed the other women around us giggling. Ha-Soo-Yul, why are you saying such cringey things?

"By the way, our son really slept a lot, huh?"

Dad said as he hugged me from behind.
Caught off guard, I nodded as I was placed down.

"Yeah, I guess I was really tired."

Mom agreed with a nod from the side.

It was true, I did sleep a lot. 15 hours.

I went straight to the bathroom as soon as I woke up. After that, I opened the fridge and drank some water.
And here I am now.

"Well, it’s understandable. You were trying to protect your younger sister."

Auntie, who was listening to the conversation, chimed in.

"That’s all in the past now. They’re both fine, so it’s okay."

Trying to avoid the topic, Auntie raised her eyebrows at me.

"Don’t you realize how big of a deal that was? You saved not only Ha-Yoon but also your mom and dad’s lives."

"...Yeah, I know."

I do know. That’s why I don’t want to think about it too much.

"Aish..."

Auntie sighed deeply and hugged Ha-Soo-Yul.

"Our daughter. I think we should reconsider her as a daughter-in-law."

Ha-Soo-Yul shook her head at those words, her eyes shifting from a cat-like look to that of a leopard.

Seeing that, Auntie said,
"Aish, you’re already flirting with me like that, huh?"

Dad and Mom laughed. Dad’s hug around me tightened.

"Even though we’re close, our son isn’t something we can just give away easily, sister."

"Huh? I won’t be giving my daughter away easily either. What are you imagining?"

I felt dizzy. The conversation level was so high, I couldn’t keep up.

Ding-dong!
Nice timing, the delivery person.

Auntie shot Dad a brief glare, then stood up to get the delivery.
Dad got up to help. Mom, however, asked me,

"Are you okay with this, son?"

...Okay with what?