"Hey, Romero! Let's go."
"Huh? Me?"
"Yeah. Interview."
"I-interview...! Finally! At last!"
After the match.
At the coach's words, Romero let out a bizarre shriek and hopped in place like a cartoon character.
"Yahoo!" ...What the hell.
Since when could he jump that high?
"Hehehe!"
Romero, who had been jumping up and down in joy, suddenly pointed at me and said,
"Sorry! A showdown between two genius rivals! I think today's victory is mine!" ...What is he talking about.
When I stared at him blankly as if he were absurd, Romero flinched and then scratched his head.
"Hey, don't get all serious! Fine... let's call it a draw..."
He was really putting on a one-man show.
Romero headed off the field with the coach, and I wiped the sweat away with my shirt and let out a sigh.
"Phew."
What a relief.
Thanks to Romero scoring a hat trick, I wouldn't be dragged in front of the cameras today.
Truthfully, I couldn't say I hadn't somewhat aimed for that, feeding him passes.
Well, it was usually like that anyway, but especially today, I hadn't wanted to do an interview.
If you ask why I didn't want to... well.
For one, "keep your distance from the media" had basically become my motto.
And today, I was particularly uneasy.
Because I felt like they would definitely ask.
About that celebration I directed at the camera after scoring.
Well, it was obvious, wasn't it?
What that hand gesture meant.
If it was a secret message for someone.
They would've grilled me persistently over something so trivial.
What, huh?
It's not because I was embarrassed to answer it.
If it's a post-match interview, you should obviously only talk about today's match. I just hate how they always ask useless questions.
Really.
I hate that my every word gets more attention than our team's victory.
I feel sorry to the manager and seniors, and it's just... like that.
Anyway... it was fortunate that I wouldn't be doing that interview today.
If I had stood in front of the cameras and a reporter asked about the meaning of the celebration... what would I have had to answer?
Hmm.
Honestly, I don't really know either.
Why that memory suddenly surfaced there.
It just... really came to me out of nowhere.
Actually, I'd worried a lot, but even while standing at the touchline waiting to be substituted, nothing in particular had come to mind.
After entering the field, I obviously had no leisure to think about celebrations.
And then, after scoring.
I saw a camera near the goalpost and just walked over to it... and at that moment, an elementary school memory suddenly flashed by.
I don't really know why that memory had surfaced so out of the blue.
In that moment, the memory of that day rose up like opening a dust-covered photo album.
Jieut and Nieun.
The sight of Jiu telling me to remember that our names shared the same initial consonant.
So, I did that celebration.
Hmm.
But I don't really know.
Whether Jiu recognized it.
The truth is, it only came to me suddenly too—something that normally didn't even remain in my head.
It's doubtful whether Jiu remembers that time.
She probably doesn't remember it at all.
It would be strange if she did in the first place.
That was already years ago. Hasn't it been more than four years? We really were young.
"..."
Thinking of those days, a smile formed on my face without my realizing it.
Am I getting old now too?
I keep reminiscing about childhood memories. ...By the way, for some reason, I wish Jiu remembered too.
I just... wish she did.
Because... it would be too embarrassing for me to explain the meaning of this celebration with my own mouth.
Right.
So for that reason... I hoped Jiu was recalling the same moment as I was right now.
...
"So now I'm really your noona?"
"..."
"For the next three months, you have to call me noona."
"I don't want to."
"Huh? Look at this, look at this disrespect. Daring to talk like that to your noona who's a whole year older."
"I'm sticking with 'you'."
"Wow, unbelievable. You're sixteen, and I'm seventeen."
Good grief.
If anyone's dumbfounded right now, it's me.
I ignored Jiu's constant demands to call her noona, picking at the panna cotta (Italian pudding) with a tiny spoon.
After returning home, we were spending an early evening at a dessert shop situated beside the Arno River (Fiume Arno).
The modest birthday party, consisting of just a meal and blowing out candles on a cake, had been held at home with Dad, and since Dad told me to go out and spend some time with Jiu, that's what we were doing.
Yet Jiu was still fixated on being called noona.
"Try calling me noona."
"...I've been wondering this for a while."
"Hm? What?"
"Do you really want to hear your friend call you noona? If a friend called me oppa, I think I'd feel weird."
When I asked because I couldn't understand, Jiu clicked her tongue.
"It's not that I want to hear the word noona. It's that since I am your noona, you should call me noona. Right?"
"Wrong."
"What's wrong about it."
"...I don't know."
Well, she wasn't exactly wrong.
Here, age is counted by birthdays.
Jiu had clearly turned seventeen, while I was still sixteen.
Still, I couldn't call her noona.
"Try saying noona."
"No."
"Noo~na."
"No~pe."
"This won't do. I'm telling Mom. That a kid younger than me keeps calling me 'you'."
In the middle of this ridiculous scuffle, Jiu said that and suddenly took out her phone.
And she called someone...... "Hello? Mom!" ...It seemed she had really called her mom.
Thanks to that, I unconsciously stood at attention, and while continuing the call, Jiu kept her gaze on me with a strangely raised corner of her mouth.
"Uh, uh. But Mom. Hold on. Let me call you back on video. Yeah, yeah."
Then she hung up and called again.
In that gap, I grew anxious for no reason and spoke urgently.
"W-why a video call all of a sudden..."
"What. Can't I video call my mom?"
"No... it's probably dawn in Korea right now."
"My mom always stays up late. Ah, connected. Mom!"
The call finally connected, and Jiu smiled brightly into her phone and waved her hand.
Even though she'd just been talking... did seeing her face make it feel new again?
Jiu went back to the beginning, exchanging greetings, talking about how her makeup was today or how she thought she'd gained a little weight, letting out a childlike laugh.
Just moments ago she'd been pretending to be a noona all by herself.
But in front of her mom, Jiu looked like she was seven, not seventeen.
In the midst of that, each time Jiu said "Mom, Mom," it stabbed into my chest.
Um... "Ah, Mom. It's nothing, but you know. I'm with Jian right now? Want to see his face?"
At Jiu looking at me with a "You're in for it now" gaze, I shrank my shoulders and waved my hands.
But from beyond the phone, I heard Jiu's mother's voice saying she wanted to see me so badly.
Jiu nodded and turned the screen toward me, and I bowed my head more awkwardly than ever before.
Into the phone, that is.
"Ah, h-hello."
-Oh my, who is this. Our son! It's really been a while, hasn't it? Do you remember me?
"O-of course I remember."
-Really? Oh my, oh my, what a relief. I was worried our Jian had completely forgotten about this auntie!
A beauty who looked exactly like Jiu laughed with her hand covering her mouth inside the screen.
At the words "our son" that I hadn't heard in so long, the awkwardness disappeared as if I'd returned to the old days, and a natural smile settled on my lips.
"There's no way I'd forget."
-What a relief!
How could I forget?
I see Jiu, who looks exactly like her mother, every day.
Their voices and speech patterns are practically identical too.
The way Jiu says "our Jian, our Jian" was the same thing her mother always said when I went over to their house as a child.
-Oh dear, I'm always so grateful to our Jian. Thank you for always looking after our Jiu. This auntie always prays for Jian and is so grateful.
"Th-thank you. I don't really look after her that well. Haha..."
-Hey, do you know what this girl always says? Today I went somewhere fun with Jian, today Jian bought me something, today-
While her mother's words continued, Jiu snatched the phone away and snapped.
"Ah, Mom! Instead of useless talk, please scold him! He's a whole year younger but he won't call me noona and keeps calling me 'you'."
Then she turned the screen back toward me, but inside the screen, her mother only clicked her tongue and laughed.
-What do you mean, noona. Kim Jiu is funny, isn't she?
"Yes."
-We should welcome you as our son-in-law, and even that wouldn't do you justice, yet she's talking about being a noona. Isn't that right?
"...Huh?"
At the unexpected word, my eyes went round, and the mother laughed just like Jiu.
-Please understand, our Jian. She's the youngest in a house with only three daughters. Ever since she was little, she made such a fuss wanting a younger brother. Seems she still hasn't kicked the habit.
"Ah, haha..."
-What would a little one know about being a noona. Right?
"Right."
While our banter fell into perfect sync, Jiu looked away while holding the phone, pouting her lips.
-Anyway, shameless as it is, please continue to look after our Jiu. Well, even without asking, I'm sure our Jian will do well on his own! I heard you even sent her a birthday gift this time?
"Huh? Ah, that's..."
-She bragged so much, so much. She said it was the happiest birthday present she'd ever received since she was born-
"Ah, Mom! Come on!"
Before her mother could finish speaking, Jiu snatched the phone away again.
Then she threw a tantrum, yelling at her to stop with the useless talk.
There was nothing she wouldn't dare say to her mother.
Anyway, at Jiu's threat to hang up now, I heard a request to see my face one last time.
Jiu stuck the screen back toward me.
Inside the screen, her mother was pouting her lips with the exact same expression as Jiu.
-Anyway, that girl and her temper, tsk. You must have a hard time, Jian.
"Yeah, I suppose so."
-Still, please look after her. Our Jian knows better than anyone how hard it is to settle down and live in a foreign land at a young age, right? Jiu at least has Jian, but our Jian must have had such a hard time.
"...Yes."
At her mother's words, as if struck in a vital spot, I spaced out for a moment, then nodded and answered.
In a completely unexpected situation, hearing unexpected words from an unexpected person, somehow a corner of my heart stung.
It was the first time I realized how comforting it was for someone to acknowledge that the hardships I'd gone through were indeed hard.
-So please keep hanging out with Jiu in the future. Of course, our Jian must be busy without a moment to spare, but that girl studied abroad in Italy because of Jian too-
-Fwip!
The third time.
Jiu snatched the phone away for the third time, muttered something, then waved her hand irritably and hung up with a snap.
"Why did you hang up. I couldn't even say goodbye."
"She talks too much useless stuff. Anyway, my mom talks too much. She's annoying."
"What do you mean you're annoyed at your mom."
"Tch, this is how we play."
Seeing Jiu pouting her lips and grumbling, I burst out laughing.
Her face, her personality, her way of talking.
Getting annoyed at a mother she took after in every way was like spitting into the wind.
"Hey, I'm going to the bathroom."
"Yeah."
Anyway, Jiu kept sniffling and headed to the bathroom, and I leaned back in my chair for a moment, looking at the scenery outside the terrace.
Sunset settled over the gently flowing Arno River, and a soft breeze blew in.
It was a scenery that put the mind at ease.
"..."
Hmm.
But what had her mother been trying to say at the end?
And before that.
She had definitely said... the happiest birthday present since she was born.
"..."
As the corners of my mouth twitched without my realizing it, I dry-washed my face.
While I was doing that, Jiu returned from the bathroom, and a golden sunset glow shone on her face.
"What are you looking at."
"...Your face."
"Why, is it too pretty? Can't take your eyes off it?"
"...What are you saying."
"Hey, but Mom and I look totally alike, right?"
I nodded at Jiu's question.
Then Jiu asked again with a dangerous smile.
"So then. How's my mom? Pretty, or not pretty?"
"..."
The moment I heard that question, I felt like I was surrounded by three defenders at the corner flag.
There was no escape.
If I said she wasn't pretty, I'd be insulting my friend's mother, but to say she was pretty...
"Ooh, you're thinking hard about it? Should I tell Mom? That Jian said she's ugly."
At Jiu's prodding, I let out a sigh and looked at the sunset again.
My face was probably already dyed red because of the sunset.
"She's pretty."
"That means I'm pretty too since I look like Mom. Okay, confirmed. The end. Don't talk anymore. Shh."
When I looked at Jiu with dumbfounded eyes, she giggled.
It seemed girls couldn't feel satisfied unless they got confirmation for something they already knew.