54 Wait - My Little Sister Is Only Ever Cold to Me, Yet Recently She’s Been Strangely Clingy

Chapter 54: Wait The sounds of cicadas and the laughter of neighborhood children echo through the air. The house feels unusually quiet. Ren is out for club activities, and Mom is at work, leaving me alone. I methodically work through my school assignments and chores. It's just another summer vacation like any other. However, this year, there's an indescribable sense of incompleteness—like there's a gaping hole in my chest, like a draft passing through. I'm slowly realizing that there's no one else but Ren who fits perfectly into that gap. In previous summer vacations, being alone didn't feel this lonely. I wasn't this consumed by thoughts of Ren. Before the new school term started, even exchanging words with her was rare, and I was troubled by the growing distance between us. But before I knew it, we've grown closer, being together becoming the norm. Now, just a brief moment apart feels unbearable. Each time I touched Ren in that shrinking space between us—each time we traded kisses and whispered “I love you”—I felt myself slipping further out of control. Little by little, I was forgetting how to exist on my own. It was as if I were being slowly poisoned by Ren herself—an intoxicating toxin I couldn’t live without. The sweetness of her touch lingered too vividly, embedding itself in me until it became an addiction. My balance kept tipping, tilting further and further toward her. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. I’m the older sister. I shouldn’t be leaning on Ren— I should be the one protecting her. With that resolve, I start preparing dinner. Tonight's menu includes ginger pork. As I prepare the salad and miso soup, I also marinate the meat. Task after task gets done in tandem, leaving just the frying of the meat. As I wait for the oil in the pan to heat, I hear the rattling sound of the front door opening. I hear the sound of fast footsteps approaching from the hallway, and Ren pops her head into the kitchen. "Welcome back," I say, turning around to greet her. Without paying heed to my greeting, she rushes towards me and envelops me in a tight hug. "Ren, it's dangerous while I'm cooking," I say, but Ren nuzzles her face into my neck, disregarding my warning. Her tall figure envelops me, the scent of her deodorant mixing with her familiar smell tickling my nostrils. I give a wry smile at Ren's enthusiastic clinging to me, and reach behind to turn off the stove diligently, worried that the oil could splatter and burn her. I ignore my own heart, which was already ablaze. "...I missed you," Ren murmurs near my ear. "Why? Weren't you at club activities?" "But you're not in the club, Onee-chan." "What's that supposed to mean?" I laugh, feeling her presence fill the loneliness that had been gnawing at me. Knowing she felt lonely without me overwrites my own loneliness. Perhaps dissatisfied with my response, Ren hugs me tighter and whispers in my ear again. "Why don't you join the basketball club too, Onee-chan? Then we could be together more." "I'm not as athletic or tall as you, Ren," I reply. "Then maybe you could be our manager?" "That could work, I guess." Hearing my response, Ren's usually expressionless eyes seemed to shine with a hidden gleam. Captivated, I also became conscious of the closeness of our faces, my own heart pounded loudly in my chest. Suddenly, Ren seemed to rethink something, shaking her head abruptly. "No, never mind." "Why not?" Though I wasn't seriously considering joining, her quick change of heart piqued my curiosity. "Well, I don't want to see my Onee-chan handing water to other kids or talking to them. I wouldn't be able to play properly if I saw that. So, you can only join if you're my exclusive manager." Ren said something outrageous in her usual calm voice. Or rather, before I knew it, I'd already started wanting to join the basketball club. While I feel a sense of crisis that I am leaning toward Ren, I am happy to have Ren lean on me. I want it to her to rely on me even more, to the point where we can't be separated. "I can't join the basketball club, but being your exclusive manager sounds fun. Plus, it seems like you can't do it without me, Ren." I say playfully, pretending to act like the mature older sister. I might've overdone it, but Ren earnestly nods energetically, which I find irresistibly adorable. I continue to play the part of a big sister. "Dinner will be ready soon, so go get changed." "Got it. But first..." Ren says, closing her eyes. I understand her unspoken request immediately, yet deliberately choose not to comply. I draw close, feeling her breath on my skin, stopping just before our faces meet. I place my finger on Ren's lips and whisper into her ear. "You have to wait until tonight." Ren trembles at my words, looking at me with a mix of dissatisfaction and whispered softly. "You're so mean, Onee-chan." Saying so, she quickly runs off towards her room, as if to hide her flushed red cheeks. Watching her with a warm heart, I resume cooking. As I place the meat into the frying pan, the sizzling oil jumps onto my skin, as if to punish me for letting myself get carried away.