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Finally, the semester ended, and vacation started.
On the first day of vacation, I was lying in bed with Doa, hugging her and lazing around.
I feel so relaxed being away from school.

To celebrate the vacation, I decided that I needed to take pictures of Doa.

I turned on the camera app on my new phone, switched to selfie mode, and then raised my hand to include Doa in the shot.

“Doa, look at the phone screen~.”

“Yes.”

I aligned our faces on the screen.

-Click-

“Doa, this time, let’s be cute.”

“Okay.”

-Click-

“Let’s be cool.”

-Click-

“Let’s be sassy.”

-Click-

When I saw the photo I couldn’t help but be amazed.

“Doa, what should we do?”

“Why?”

“Our Doa is so pretty that she shines in the photo.”

“Yes.”

Whenever I compliment Doa, she always reacts chicly as if it’s only natural.

“But do you know?”

“Huh?”

I cupped my hand on Doa’s ear and whispered.

“Doesn’t Unni shine brighter than Doa?”

“No way!”

Though she reacted chicly at first, she finally revealed her true feelings.

“Hah, what should we do~? Now Doa is the second prettiest.”

“No! Doa is prettier!”

“Hmm~ Unni is not so sure about that, are you sure about that?”

I teased her so much that Doa started crying.

“Bwaaaah.”

Her crying sounded just like mine used to, which was cute.

“Doa, stop. They say that crying will make you look less pretty.”

Hearing my words, Doa cried louder, probably because she became even more sad
and Mom, who was outside, opened the door and came in, hearing the crying.

“Lee Dohee, why are you making Doa cry again?”

“She’s crying because I just teased her that I’m prettier. Hehe”

Mom spread her arms and said to Doa,

“Ayu, my Doa is upset? Come here, Mom will scold your Unni.”

Doa, who was in my arms, thrashed to escape my arms and ran to Mom.

Like a tragic heroine, I stretched out my arms to Doa and murmured softly,

“No, Princess Doa! Please don’t leave me!”

“Unni, I hate you.”

“Haha.”

Doa’s reaction was so cute that I couldn’t help but laugh.
Now I understand why people tease when they like someone.
How could I not tease when every reaction like that is so adorable?

“Did you hear that, Dohee? Doa says she doesn’t like her Unni~ Shouldn’t Doa stay with a pretty Mom instead of her ugly sister with a distorted heart?”

“What are you talking about? Objectively, I’m prettier than Mom.”

Hearing this, Mom struck a seductive pose and said,

“Oho~ You’re still too young to match your Mom’s mature beauty.”

“Yuck. Give me five years, and I’ll be sexier. Than your flat-chested board.”

“…”

Maybe I attacked Mom’s weak point too directly.

“Sorry, Mom. But at least Dad likes you.”

“You’ll end up like me eventually.”

“I believe in my Dad’s genes.”

While Mom and I were bantering, Doa was still crying sorrowfully, I wondered why she was so sad.
Now, I needed to comfort her.
I put on a sad expression and spoke to Doa in a tearful voice.

“Doa, I’m sorry… Do you hate your Unni now…? Your Unni really likes Doa”

After hesitating, Doa eventually came to me, still crying, and hugged me.

“No, I like you, Unni. I don’t hate you.”

“Haha, I really like Doa too~”

“Yes.”

“And the truth is, Doa is prettier than sister, so let’s stop crying now. shall we?”

“Yes. Okay.”

I hope Doa stays this cute forever.
But what if she goes through puberty later and starts to hate me?
What if we run into each other on the street and Doa pretends not to know me, and then tells me to stop acting like we’re close when we get home…
Sniff, Doa, are you embarrassed by your sister?
Unni only has you.

“Doa, how could you do this to your sister?”

“…?”

Anyway, playing with Doa helped me unwind from a semester’s worth of stress, but now I have nothing to do.
Normally according to my schedule, I’d be suffering at school, but just rolling around in bed makes me feel lazy.
I really need to create some kind of schedule to establish a routine.

After wondering what to do, I decided to study a foreign language in my free time.
The reason? Because it’s cool.
Imagine me speaking a foreign language fluently in front of others.

I’d fall for myself too.
Being chic is the best; what more could I need?

I was pondering which foreign language to study,
First of all, I am already studying English regularly, and so daily conversation is not an issue.
To achieve natural, local speech, I’d need to attend an academy or study abroad somewhere later. But it’s hard to do that alone at home.

So, for a second foreign language,
The foreign languages that I’m currently drawn to are French and Japanese.

Firstly, the reason why I want to study French:
The pronunciation is sexy.
It sounds sophisticated.

Imagine this:
Going to a Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris with people.
Ordering the main dish with an elegant French accent and asking for a wine recommendation that goes well with the food.
The look of admiration from the people around you.
After, hearing the wine’s name, you simply say,
“I’ll have that one.”
Ahh…
What if the Louvre Museum wants to put me on display?

Anyway,

Why I want to study Japanese:
Japanese has the same grammatical structure arrangement as Korean.
There are many words with similar pronunciation and meaning.
So, it would be easier to learn.

Eh, I guess I should just stick to studying Japanese since it’s more practical.
How often will I even go to France?

Once I made up my mind, I went to the kitchen to tell Mom.

“Mom, I want to study Japanese.”

“Suddenly?”

“Now that I have free time instead of school, I have nothing to do. It feels weird to just stay still after doing something all the time.”

“Dohee, if you study too much now, you might get too tired to study later on and won’t be able to do it. You know that playing is important too, right?”

“That’s why I’m doing everything now, so I can enjoy myself fully when I’m an adult.”

“If that’s the case, Mom doesn’t mind, but don’t force yourself to do something difficult for no reason.”

“Yes, don’t worry. I’ll just quit right away if it’s not damn fun.”

“Stop using bad words. Doa sees and learns from you.”

“Oops. Okay~”

“So, are you going to attend a Japanese language academy?”

“No, I’ll just teach myself. I think it’ll be annoying if I have to force myself to go to an academy.”

“Should I ask Oppa[1] to buy you some Japanese textbooks on his way home?”

“Ok. Get me one for beginners.”

After talking to Mom, I went into my room and lay on the bed.

Even without textbooks, I should at least watch some lectures on YouTube.
I searched for beginner Japanese lessons in the search bar.

YouTube is really convenient.
I can listen to quality lectures for free while lying in bed.
The world has really improved.
If I had this in my past life when I was young, I could have gone to Seoul National University.
Or maybe not.

Anyway, I opened my notebook and listened to the lecture while lying in bed, and to my surprise, the Japanese lecture was more interesting than I thought.

I thought learning a foreign language would be as arduous as when I first learned English.
But learning a language voluntarily is not like studying, it feels more like getting to know a culture.

It’s amazing that by just writing, pronouncing, and memorizing the basic Japanese characters, Hiragana, I can read Japanese immediately.
Of course, reading words means you can naturally speak the language, but I didn’t feel this way when I was learning English because I was so busy memorizing English words.
Maybe it’s fun because I’m still a beginner.
I’ll need to learn Katakana to read foreign words in Japanese, which might be harder.
But if it gets too tough, I can always quit then.

Should I consider becoming an interpreter or diplomat later?
Next time, I’ll have to study French as well.

.

.

.

A week into the vacation,
I’m no longer bored anymore.
I feel at ease because I have a daily routine that I have to follow.

Oh, by the way, there’s vacation homework.
Should I do it?

“Mom~”

“What? Mom is busy right now.”

“Doing what?”

“SNS.”

Lately, since I told her not to post my photos, Mom has been posting pictures of Doa. She’s a total social media addict.
I feel weird because it seems that my fandom is shifting to Doa.
Maybe I am just an attention seeker?

“Stop posting pictures of Doa.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“She’s cute.”

“That’s true.”

Maybe I should join SNS and post pictures of Doa too.

“Anyway, I have vacation homework.”

“Uh huh?”

“I have to write a book report and do a diary with one drawing per week.”

“Okay? Work hard~”

Mom, engrossed in SNS, shows no interest in me.
I inserted my face between Mom and her phone, stared at her, and said.

“Can’t I just not do the vacation homework? You know I’m not an ordinary kid.”

“Just do it. It’s not like it’ll take that long.”

“Can Mom tell the teacher something, so I don’t have to do it.”

Mom pushed my head away that was blocking the phone screen with her hand and said.

“You won’t get another chance to do this. Now is the best time.”

“Sigh…”

Fine, I’ll finish it today since it has been brought up.

First, starting with the drawing diary.
Inspiration strikes.

I roughly draw a heart.
And a caption below it.
“Doa is lovable.”

Huh? Is this modern art?

Next, the sun.
The day is hot.
Mom won’t turn on the air conditioner.

Good.

Now this time, an egg.
I ate eggs.

Is it too insincere?

I enjoyed the delicious eggs. Fried.

What else should I draw?
Maybe the YouTube logo.
I watched YouTube.

Four entries done in a flash.
Am I a genius?

Now for the book report.
Classic literature is the best for book reports.

Snow White.
My skin is whiter.

Cinderella.
If you run in glass slippers, the glass might shatter and shards will get stuck in your feet.
Since it doesn’t break, it must be tempered glass.

The Little Mermaid.
The Little Mermaid is half human, half fish.
If she’s only underwater, the human upper part of her body looks like it would swell and rot, but maybe she has waterproof skin?

Rapunzel.
One wash would use up a whole bottle of shampoo.
Wouldn’t her head be heavy? Her trapezius muscles must be sore.

I finished my summer vacation homework but less than ten minutes have passed.
This
Am I?
Terrifyingly
Talented.

Now I can enjoy the rest of my vacation leisurely without worrying about homework.
Nice, nice.

.

.

.

I’m sure I spent it leisurely, but why is it already the last day of vacation?

What should I do…