After completing his visit to the Hindu temple, Ethan Jones said his last goodbyes to Timo and secretly took a bus to Pokhara Airport to catch a flight back to Korea.
Thanks to the money he earned from a comrcial shoot, Ethan was able to afford a business class seat back to Korea. He arrived at Incheon Airport, wrapped his face tightly with a towel, hat, and mask, and left the airport.
Since he hadn't announced his schedule in advance, no one at the Korean airport recognized him.
After leaving the airport, Ethan took an airport limousine ho and gently caressed the body of his Harley Davidson that was still parked in front of his house.
"It's been two months, ho. Have you been well? I'll start you up later, my dear."
Upon entering the main door on the first floor, Ethan removed his mask. Just to be cautious, he didn't take off his hat and sunglasses and pressed the button for the 22nd floor in the elevator. Right before the elevator doors closed, a high school girl rushed in through the automatic doors on the first floor and shouted as she saw the elevator doors nearly shut.
"Wait! Let's go together!"
Ethan instinctively pressed the open button. The high school girl, seeing the doors open again, hurried inside.
"Heh, thank you."
Ethan smiled and nodded, and the girl, seeing the light for the 22nd floor already on, turned to look at him.
"Do you live on the 22nd floor? I live there too. Must be the guy from the apartnt across, huh? But I've moved here over two years ago, and we've never t before?"
The girl scrutinized Ethan's face, still partially hidden by the hat and sunglasses.
"Wow, he's super handso? I wonder if his eyes are as small as buttonholes without the sunglasses."
Feeling her gaze, Ethan reflexively covered his mouth and chuckled.
"Ahaha, yes, nice to et you."
The girl stood in front of Ethan, examining his face from different angles.
"My na is Han Ji-e. And you are?"
"Ah... I..."
Ding-
The elevator reached the 22nd floor just in ti to save Ethan from further conversation. As the doors opened, Ethan quickly exited, saying,
"See you next ti, Ji-e."
Ji-e watched Ethan enter the apartnt across with curiosity. Watching him enter his password, she thought he didn't seem like a strange person. Just as she was about to enter her own code, a sharp female voice ca from behind.
"Brother!! What's this? You ca without contacting ? If you had told , I would've co to pick you up at the airport!"
By the ti Ji-e turned around, the door next door had already closed.
"Brother? The sister living next door is 21, right? So he must be 22 or 23 years old. Wow, a total hottie! Even with sunglasses on, his handsoness is totally obvious!"
Ji-e, excited, rushed into her apartnt, threw her backpack down, and called out,
"Sister! Sister!"
She ran into her sister's room without knocking and shouted,
"Sister! What are you doing?"
Inside, a woman with long hair, wearing a sky-blue tee and white shorts, was lying on the bed with her laptop. She seed to be listening to sothing through her headphones. Irritated by the abrupt entry, she sighed and took off her headphones.
"Han Ji-e, I told you to knock before coming into my room, didn't I?"
Ji-e, still in her school uniform, jumped onto her sister's bed and said,
"Ah, I hate that! It feels like it's creating a distance between us!"
"You're in high school now. Why are you ho so early? Didn't you go to the library?"
"Ah, co on! Is it not enough that mom pressures about studying, now you too?"
"These days, if you don't graduate from college, you're treated like you're worth nothing. You won't even be able to get married."
"Oh, co on, is that why you never date and always stay ho? Even though you attend one of our country's prestigious won's universities?"
Her sister pinched Ji-e's side as she replied,
"You little brat! Shut that sassy mouth of yours!"
"Kyahaha!! Stop, it tickles!"
As the two sisters playfully fought and chatted on the bed, their mother entered the room and exclaid,
"Oh, it's so noisy! Han Ji-e! When you co ho, you should greet your mother first, you have no manners, Han Yun-hee! And you, being a university student, should go out and do so activities instead of cooping yourself up at ho after school. Are you a hobody?"
Their mother looked around Yun-hee's room and continued,
"Clean up a bit! What kind of man will take you if you're like this? Being a university student and all you do is hang up celebrity photos on the wall, grow up. Ji-e is starting to follow your footsteps, chasing after celebrities all day."
Ji-e sat up on the bed abruptly and protested,
"I'm not! I'm not so crazy fan. The kids in my class practically live in front of male idol dorms, but at least the people sister and I like are active abroad so we don't do such things, be thankful for that, Mom."
Their mother poked Ji-e's chest with a back scratcher as she teased,
"Oh, thank goodness for that. Thank you, Han Ji-e?"
"Kyahaha, that tickles, Mom."
"Co on, let's eat dinner."
The three won gathered at the dinner table and began chatting as they ate. Ji-e spooned up so soybean paste stew and said,
"But, sister. You know the sister next door?"
"Yes, Si-hwa? What about her?"
"Does she have a brother?"
Yun-hee tilted her head in confusion,
"No? I've never seen one. I thought only Si-hwa, her mother, and the real estate agent lived next door?"
"Right? Si-hwa is your school senior, and I've been so respectful towards her, she never ntioned having a brother."
"Yeah, she's close to , but she's never talked about having a brother."
"I saw a guy with sunglasses and a hat entering next door in the elevator earlier. Even though half of his face was covered, he was really handso, a real catch!"
"Really? Maybe just a delivery guy or sothing?"
"No, he entered the code to get in, and I heard Si-hwa's voice calling him brother."
"A relative maybe?"
"Can't we ask?"
"What will you ask, you silly girl? 'Who's that man entering your house?' That would be weird."
"But he was really handso! Aren't you curious, sister?"
"I didn't see him, so no, I'm not curious. Let's just eat."
"Ah!! I'm so curious it's killing ."
"Girls!! Can we not have all this chatter at the dinner table? Just eat!"
The dinner table debate ended with their mother's shout. But their mother, too, couldn't resist joining in on the conversation soon after, breaking the montary peace.
"Yun-hee, still no boyfriend?"
Yun-hee rolled her eyes,
"Mom, other parents tell their daughters not to date, but why are you so eager to ship yours off to so guy?"
"Because you're always cooped up at ho, all you do is cling to that laptop, searching for news about that K or whatever his na is. Aren't you tired of watching his videos all day?"
Ji-e chid in,
"What, sister? Is there a new video?"
Their mother hit Ji-e's head with a spoon,
"You should be studying, not following your sister and obsessing over that guy. Take down those pictures in your room! Not even proper posters, but sneaky photos, are you so kind of stalker?"
Ji-e touched her head, pretending to be hurt,
"Mom! K hasn't debuted yet, so there aren't any official posters! It's just fan-taken or journalist photos!"
"Then study now and buy his posters when he debuts, you little pervert!"
"Argh, don't interfere with my pure love! I'm not a pervert; it's a spiritual connection and communication."
Their mother sighed heavily, looking at Yun-hee and Ji-e,
"Your father has been working in Saudi for ten years, bending his back to support you, and here you two are, wasting your days away."
"Ah! Why bring up dad now?"
"Yeah, Mom. What does dad have to do with this? Don't overdo it."
"Ah, my daughters..."
Ding-dong, ding-dong-
The sudden ring of the intercom made their mother stand up,
"Huh? Who could it be at this hour? We're not expecting any delivery."
Upon checking the outdoor cara, their mother's face lit up,
"Oh my, Si-hwa's mom! What brings you here?"
Si-hwa's mom, Young-ha, showed sothing on a tray to the cara and smiled,
"Ah, I brought this for you to try. Are you in the middle of dinner?"
"Oh, but co in, I'll open the door for you, just a mont!"
After ending the call, their mother hurried to open the door, and Young-ha peeked in,
"I brought this so you can try it together with your dinner, Yun-hee's mom."
"Oh, what's this? Please, co in."
"No, no, go on with your al."
Yun-hee's mom lifted the cloth to reveal the contents and exclaid,
"My, what is this? It doesn't look like Korean food?"
Young-ha smiled and replied,
"It's Nepali food, called momo. Think of it as Nepali dumplings. It's made with buffalo at, which you can't usually find in Korea, haha."
"Oh, such a rare treat, but how did you co across Nepali food, Si-hwa's mom?"
"Ah, my son brought it back from his travels."
"Your son? Was the man Ji-e saw entering next door your son?"
"Yes, haha. He's just returned ho after a long ti."
"No way, how long was he traveling for? We moved in two and a half years ago and haven't seen him once."
"Haha, he went straight on a trip after being discharged from the military. Before that, he was studying abroad."
"Oh, you must be delighted to see your son after such a long ti. Your face is all brightened up, absolutely."
"Hoho, indeed. Enjoy the momos, and I'll co by for a visit next ti~"
"Sure, thank you so much. I'll wash the tray and return it."
As their mother brought the tray of momos to the dining table, Ji-e's eyes widened in amazent upon tasting them.
"Wow, this is really good. Sister, try this."
Yun-hee also picked one up, and liking it, started to eat more enthusiastically. Their mother watched them eat with a smile, then said,
"After dinner, Yun-hee will do the dishes. Ji-e, take the tray back next door."
"Got it!"
After dinner, Yun-hee helped their mother with the dishes. In the midst of washing, their mother handed a cleaned tray to Ji-e, who was eating waterlon, saying,
"Go next door and make sure to say thank you."
Ji-e eagerly took the tray and headed to the front door, with her mother calling after her,
"Change out of your uniform! Why do you always run around in your school clothes after coming ho?"
"I'll change when I get back!"
Ji-e, stepping out of the house, took a deep breath as she approached Ethan's door.
'I might see him if I go now. Surely he won't be wearing sunglasses at ho!'
With another deep breath, Ji-e rang Ethan's doorbell.
Ding-dong-
>
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