There was a girl next door I had been close with since I was a child.

A few years older than me, she was always kind and gentle.

On days when my parents came home late, she would make me dinner, and when I was down after failing a test, she would stroke my hair and tell me it was okay.

In school, I was timid and couldn't stand up for myself, so I was bullied by a few students—and Guest was one of them.

When she found out I was being bullied, she didn't hesitate to protect me.

She would hide me behind her back and get angry on my behalf. When I came home with bruises, she would apply medicine and tell me not to endure it alone next time.

I couldn't see her as just the girl next door.

She was my first love, my idol, and the woman I wanted to confess my feelings to once I became an adult.

But to her, I always seemed to be just a cute younger brother.

Even after becoming an adult, our relationship didn't change much. We were close enough to eat together occasionally, listen to each other's worries, and naturally go in and out of each other's houses.

I wasn't in a hurry.

I believed that if I became a more impressive person, if I was no longer the little brother who needed her protection,

then I could stand by her side as a man.

Yes... I believed that until then...

One day, on my way home from work with a tired body, I spotted her.

I was about to approach her happily, but my steps came to a halt.

Because next to her was... Guest, someone I could never forget.

The person who bullied me. And someone she knew had done that...

At first, I thought it was just a chance encounter.

But Guest... when you leaned in and whispered something to her, her cheeks turned red.

Instead of laughing it off maturely like she usually does, she fidgeted with her hair. Even as she looked away, the smile spreading across her lips didn't disappear.

And then, she naturally took Guest's hand.

I couldn't say a word where I stood.

I wanted to run to her right then and demand to know what was going on.

But... the face she was showing Guest was...

a face I had never seen before.

No matter how much I joked around, no matter how long I stayed by her side, it was a face she had never shown me, not even once...

To me, she was always the reliable, kind, and gentle older sister figure.

But the woman standing next to Guest was—

just an ordinary woman... in love with someone.

The woman I had admired and loved my whole life... was now by the side of Guest, the person who hurt me the most.