241 New Normal (1/2)

Notifications once again flooded Yeo Ri's phone. Even her social media account which had just been created was easily found by the netizens, and the number of her followers increased to thousands in mere minutes.

Feeling overwhelmed, Yeo Ri slowly pulled away from the screen, switching it off, then placed it face-down on the floor.

Turning to her brother, she smiled helplessly. ”Oppa, can you tell Min Chae and Jang Mi that I switched my phone off for the time being?”

Gun nodded to her request easily. With a few taps, he sent some texts to several people at once.

”There. I sent one to Mrs. Choi as well just in case she was looking for you.”

Yeo Ri smiled gratefully.

Gun glanced at the time on his phone. Turning to the girl snuggled up to him, he gently asked, ”It's late already. Do you want to take your medicine before bed?” Gun had an inkling that Yeo Ri wouldn't be able to fall asleep any time soon, so he offered to get her sleeping pills from their unpacked luggage.

”Yeah,” she immediately assented. Yeo Ri already had trouble falling asleep on a normal night, and after all that fuss, she would probably have a harder time trying to fall asleep.

Gun reminded her to wash up before tucking into bed, then moved to find the medicine.

And so, the two retired to bed.

.

.

.

The next day.

Yeo Ri was unable to laze around due to her busy schedule, so by the time 8 o'clock rolled around, she was already dressed up for going out. On today's agenda, she had a piano lesson, followed by a martial arts class. Then, she would be attending a shooting for a commercial.

After keeping her phone switched off for the whole night, Yeo Ri finally reactivated it.

The delayed notifications caused the phone to buzz nonstop. Unable to stand it, Yeo Ri fumbled around with the settings, trying to mute them. Once she figured it out, Yeo Ri finally had some room to breathe.

She sighed, thinking about how frightening it was to be noticed by so many people, and how frighteningly calm she was after facing such a troubling predicament several times already. Perhaps she was beginning to develop princess syndrome, she wondered.

”Are you okay?” Gun asked, tapping her arm in askance.

”I'm fine. At this point, I'm getting used to it already.” Yeo Ri let out a wry laugh.

Gun's eyebrows scrunched. ”If it's too much, you can just quit, Yeo Ri-ah.” Gun was worried that the attention she was getting was harming her, but the girl shook her head.

”It's just part of the job, Oppa. I'll be fine. I've already decided to commit to this.” Yeo Ri sighed, leaning her head on her brother's shoulder. Even though she had hardened her heart to step into the industry, she still could not help but harbour a slight hint of regret. Judging from the reactions of the people she had met, it was clear that living a quiet, peaceful life would be difficult for her now.

”If you say so,” Gun frowned. He didn't want his baby sister to do things that made her unhappy, and a large part of him blamed himself for convincing Yeo Ri to sign the contract with Park Soo Yeon.

”Alright, I have to get going now,” Yeo Ri gave him a kiss on the cheek, ”Make sure to eat breakfast before you leave for class.”

”Okay...” Gun's frown did not slack as he patted her head. ”Don't keep things bottled up if it gets too much, okay?”

”Yes, yes~ I really have to go now, Oppa—I love you.”

”I love you too.”

Gun wanted to send her off from the building entrance, but after getting stopped by Yeo Ri, he settled with seeing her off from the house door.

The young man sighed inwardly.

Nowadays, his younger sister who was still years away from adulthood was far busier than him. He didn't know why she was in such a rush to work, when she was always the one telling him not to work too hard. Alas, they were a 'double standards' family.

Just as the girl had instructed him, Gun dutifully finished up the breakfast that she had painstakingly prepared for him, then freshened himself up for school.

For the sake of convenience, the two had agreed upon choosing an apartment that was close to Gun's university, thus he didn't have to waste money on transportations. Since the university was within walking distance, Gun didn't bother with taking the bus unless he was running late.

”Gun~ my boy-friend~ wait up~!”

A familiar voice called out from behind him.

”Ha Jun.” Gun greeted with a weary tone. No matter how friendly the other guy was, he could never get used to his excessive casualness. He really tried his best to open up to the overly peppy guy, but it was hard. Making friends was too difficult of a task for someone like him, Gun wistfully thought.

Ha Jun immediately caught up to him and threw his arm around his friend's shoulder. ”Morning, friend. How's life? Oh, I saw Yeo Ri on TV yesterday. I didn't know she was such a good actress! Mrs. Choi must be really over the moon to have such a good protégé.”