The next morning,

  "Jinwoo, wake up~ Hey, Jinwoo~!"

  Sohee was shaking Jinwoo awake.

  "Ah.. uh uh~~ Sorry noona, but can I lie down, just 5 more minutes?"

  Jinwoo, having exerted too much energy yesterday, mumbled to his sister feeling exhausted.

  "Hey! You said that earlier and crashed out! It’s not dawn now, it’s morning, so get up~!!"

  At Sohee's words, Jinwoo squinted one eye and gnced towards the window.

  A harsh, scattered light was filling the room through the window.

  "Get up and read this~ Mom took Minji to Aunt Haeju’s house~"

  While Jinwoo squinted towards the window, Sohee was busily shaking a fluorescent post-it note in front of his eyes.

  "Huh? What are you talking about?"

  As memories of st night fshed by, Jinwoo stiffened his expression and sat up with a sour premonition.

  "Mom left a card and a note, so read it!!"

  Sohee handed him the note, urging him to read the message written on the fluorescent post-it first.

  Taking the note from Sohee,

  The note said that Mom had gone to Aunt Haeju’s house because of some work starting Monday and left her credit card for Jinwoo to use as needed.

  "What happened st night?"

  Sohee asked Jinwoo with a worried look.

  Normally, she would have been pissed that Mom trusted Jinwoo with the card instead of her, but she read an unusual atmosphere in Jinwoo's expression and quietly waited for his response.

  "No, there was nothing like that..."

  Jinwoo answered, trailing off with a guilty feeling.

  He couldn’t possibly speak recklessly about the lustful night he had spent with Mom.

  "Did you call Mom?"

  With a somewhat sad expression, Jinwoo asked Sohee.

  "No, I went for a jog, showered, and just saw it."

  Sohee shook her head as she spoke to Jinwoo.

  "Uhmm.."

  Jinwoo picked up his smartphone and immediately texted Mom.

  'Mom?'

  He waited a long while after sending the text, but the number 1 next to the message didn’t disappear.

  Jinwoo had almost never seen Mom not awake at this time.

  -Mom always made sure to prepare breakfast for the kids on weekends and holidays-

  "I’ve sent a text, so she’ll probably contact us soon~!"

  Jinwoo said nonchantly to Sohee, smiling.

  Jinwoo began to worry that perhaps Mom had blocked his number because of what happened yesterday.

  Suddenly Jinwoo felt depressed.

  He could have called Aunt Haeju to check on Mom’s condition.

  But Jinwoo didn’t do that.

  If Mom had gone to Aunt Haeju’s house with Minji out of the blue in the early morning, Aunt Haeju might have been surprised.

  Mom wouldn’t have told Aunt Haeju the truth about what happened yesterday.

  Jinwoo might have made up some excuse, but it was hard to come up with anything that would pusibly expin Mom's suspicious dawn escape if Aunt Haeju asked Jinwoo what was going on at home.

  -In short, it was a tricky situation-

  * * *

  "Here, take this!"

  Sohee handed Jinwoo the card Mom had left behind.

  Rubbing his eyes, Jinwoo got up and went down to the living room on the first floor.

  The dining table was bare, with nothing set on it.

  Jinwoo entered the master bedroom to look for traces of the intense night before.

  The bed sheets and bnkets used the previous night had been stripped off Mom's bed.

  He went to the undry room, and the washing machine was running with clothes in it.

  He also went into Minji's room.

  The bedding on her bed was neatly made.

  It looked like she had taken her school books, bag, and some clothes.

  * * *

  Jinwoo checked the text he sent to his mother again.

  The '1' next to the word 'Mom?' still hadn't disappeared.

  A retionship between mother and son that started from an impulsive, unlikely coincidence Although Jinwoo pretended not to know and forced it to progress uniterally, perhaps Mom had sufficiently expressed her dislike.

  The feeling of regret washing over him.

  Had he gone too far?

  Was it the cursing that was the problem?

  Maybe it was to protect Minji?

  Panicking and unable to cope, it might be that only after everything ended, he's now coming to a decision.

  Feeling as if he's being ignored and rejected by his mother, Jinwoo's heart grew heavy.

  * * *

  Jinwoo made some food with the ingredients left over from yesterday's lunch.

  Sitting at the dining table, he bnkly checked his phone again and sent another message to his mom.

  'I miss you!!'

  The number next to the message still hadn't disappeared.

  Just then, Sohee came downstairs from her room and said to Jinwoo.

  "Oh? You prepared food? I was about to make some ramen."

  Sohee was wearing a white t-shirt with light green tracksuit shorts that looked like a skirt.

  "Yeah, I just used up the leftovers from yesterday."

  Jinwoo tried to smile nonchantly in front of Sohee, but he couldn't quite hide his bitter expression.

  "But Jinwoo, you must have been really tired earlier; you couldn't even get up."

  Sohee looked at him sympathetically.

  "Ah.. yeah, maybe I was tired from shopping yesterday."

  Jinwoo forced a bright smile as he replied.

  "Hmm~ Really?"

  Noona seemed unconvinced as she looked at him.

  "But what were you and mom talking about yesterday?"

  "Talking?"

  "You were texting mom on the way home."

  "Ah~ That was just about getting some ice cream."

  "It seemed like you talked quite a bit for that?"

  "Just lots of typos, so we talked for a while. It wasn't anything serious..."

  "Hmm~"

  Sohee still seemed unsatisfied, letting out a long, wary excmation as she looked at Jinwoo.

  Jinwoo responded as calmly as possible to noona’s lingering suspicions and probing questions.

  "Anyway, cheer up~ It’s strange to see you looking so down when usually you’re fine even after staying up all night!!"

  Jinwoo cmmed up at Sohee’s mention of Mom leaving the house.

  It felt like something painful was being prodded.

  Sohee and Jinwoo then ate their meal in silence.

  "Sigh~"

  Sohee looked at the gloomy Jinwoo with pity and sighed deeply.

  "Jinwoo, just stay there for a sec!?"

  Sohee seemed to have thought of something, went up to her room on the second floor, and came back down after a short while.

  * * *

  "Ta-da~!!"

  Sohee came down the stairs wearing the bck see-through t-shirt that her aunt had bought for her.

  Through the bck see-through t-shirt, a vibrant green bra that looked like a giant cmshell turned upside down was visible.

  It had several brown straps hanging over the shoulders, and the bra itself had a design that looked good enough to be worn on its own.

  -Of course, Mom would oppose it-

  Below, she wore the same skirt-like green shorts she had on earlier.

  Except for the enticing green bra enveloping Sohee's voluptuous chest and the skirt-like green shorts, much of her body was nearly exposed to Jinwoo.

  Jinwoo looked at Sohee with a shocked expression.

  Reacting to the sudden stimulus, Jinwoo's arousal began.

  Even amidst the situation where Mom had left home st night and wasn't taking calls due to what had happened, his body faithfully responded just by looking at Sohee.

  Jinwoo checks his arousal,

  Despite feeling severe self-loathing, Jinwoo couldn’t help but stare intensely at Sohee's beautiful body as if mesmerized.

  * * *

  "How about it? Jinwoo, will you take a photo of noona with your smartphone?"

  Sohee strikes a model-like pose near the bottom of the stairs and speaks to Jinwoo.

  "A photo?

  "Yeah, I really like this outfit, and it would be a shame to just return it today! I should keep a memory of it like this, come on~ Hehe, hurry up!!"

  Jinwoo, somewhat startled, takes his smartphone - which he hadn't put down as he was checking if Mom had read his message - and snaps photos of Sohee posing on the stairs.

  Click!

  Click!!

  Click!!!

  "Did you take them well? Let me see~"

  Sohee, having posed for several shots, takes Jinwoo's smartphone to check the photos just taken.

  Since Jinwoo had locked any sensitive photos or conversations on his phone, he naturally hands over his smartphone to Sohee without any particur resistance or worry.

  -It seems like a precaution developed after he saw Daeho's voyeur photos of Sohee on his smartphone-Sohee, after gncing at Jinwoo's aroused state, subtly smiles with satisfaction, though not obviously so.

  Although her face turns slightly red, Sohee pretends not to notice and fiddles with Jinwoo's smartphone.

  * * *

  "Hmm.. this one turned out the best, see?"

  Jinwoo takes back the smartphone and checks the screen, The photo of Sohee that he just took was set as the smartphone's wallpaper.

  Sohee, wearing a bck see-through t-shirt, lifts her arms to sweep her hair back, exposing her armpits.

  "Just stay like this for today, okay?!! Cheer up~!!!"

  Sp!

  Immediately after, Sohee sps Jinwoo's back with a loud smack and shows him a cheerful and fresh smile, uncharacteristic of her usual demeanor.

  Does Sohee know that Mom left the house because of Jinwoo and that this is why Jinwoo has been feeling down?

  Regardless, Jinwoo receives special comfort from Sohee while fully aroused.

  Jinwoo is as happy with this comfort from his noona as he was when he received permission to masturbate with her panties.