Chapter 10

***

Among the three children, Joshua was the easiest to tease, and it was obvious why.

He showed the best reactions, after all.

"Lili is teasing me again!"

After being teased by me a couple of times, Joshua shouted out, unable to take it anymore.

‘But I didn’t even tie his hair up, I was trying to restrain myself in my own way...’

I shook my head with a sullen look on my face.

"Lili, you said that you’d play nice with Joshua."

However, it seemed that this damned world was on Joshua’s side instead of mine.

I pouted as I heard Julianne scold me. No, I really hadn’t done anything. I was being framed!

"You don’t trust me, Lia...?"

‘How could you not trust your only sister?’

When I looked as sad as I could as I looked up at her, Julianne narrowed her eyes in pain.

‘Looks like there's an internal conflict going on. In times like this, you just have to surrender to your emotions, Lia. You don’t know how comfortable and nice it is. Life has become quite easier for me now when I just surrendered to my instincts.’

"My adorable Lili…"

Soon, Julianne bent over and gently hugged me.

‘Good, looks like she finally fell for my cuteness. That’s a good attitude…’

"I want you to get along well with your friends, Lili."

‘But I want you to only get along well with me...’

I buried my face in her shoulder and swallowed my words.

Either way, I hadn’t even teased Joshua that much. At least, not as much as I really wanted to…

"Is that too hard for you, Lili?"

"No..."

I couldn’t say anything when she put it like that, so I just hugged her neck tightly and nodded.

I thought I’d done my best to tease him out of sight, but I hadn’t expected him to just run off and go tell.

It was clear that I’d underestimated how low an eight-year-old could go.

"I have to go, so have fun until I’m back, okay?"

Julianne finally let go of me and spoke softly. Her green eyes were filled with concern for her younger sister.

‘Oh, Lia, I'll do better…’

I smiled as if telling her not to worry and lightly waved my hand.

Cedric left Joshua behind and went back to work, just like Allen, and since Michael and Julianne were going to be working for the next hour…

"Josh."

As soon as Julianne disappeared from sight, I turned around and looked at Joshua, causing Luca and Aiden to flinch as well.

‘Come on. What did I even do...? Hit you? I simply played a few small pranks. Just like all the kids do.’

Perhaps my character really had taken a turn for the worst…

For now, following Julianne's advice, being a little nicer didn’t seem to hurt. Once I was done thinking, I stared at Joshua and asked,

"Do you hate it when I do that, Josh?"

When I asked that with a smile, Joshua closed his lips shut and raised his eyebrows.

‘Seems like he's too proud to say he doesn't like it, understandable.’

"Well, I won't do it from now on."

I spoke kindly to Joshua.

As kind as possible, like the most affectionate person in the world, just like Julianne.

But strangely, Joshua looked even sadder, more so than before.

‘Hey, I tried my best. What’s with the reaction?’

Unable to understand, I tilted my head, and so did Aiden and Luca. Soon enough, Joshua opened his mouth with a pouty expression.

"Aren't you only eight years old?"

I immediately understood what he meant.

‘You little boomer!’

"Uh-huh, that’s right."

I had lived ten years more than him, but of course, I planned to maintain myself at their mental level.

"But why aren’t you calling me big bro?" Joshua asked with his blue eyes wide open.

It was so absurd.

Although he looked like the heavenly Cedric, he acted just like that damn Robain.

‘Try to be at least half like your uncle!’

Besides, in the West, they didn’t even use such honorifics and titles. They just called each other by name! Why the sudden Korean language patch?

Now that I thought about it, it had to be a plot hole within the novel! In the novel, the word 'big bro' was featured randomly at some point even though the international age applied.

So, as a result, it seemed like some kind of system bug.

Anyway, I use the word “bro” for Cedric and Michael, that was only because we had such an age gap. Even so, when I really thought about it, that was technically an error too.

"Is that important to you, Josh?" Luca, who had been listening to Joshua, asked in a confused voice.

As expected of the open-minded Allen Lowell’s younger brother!

I nodded along with him and opened my mouth to speak.

"Luca and Aiden are the same age as me."

“…”

"So, do Luca and Aiden have to call you that too, Josh?"

I feigned ignorance as I asked, and Joshua hesitated for a moment before nodding.

‘Why is it only me who has to call you big bro? Did I annoy you that much?’

His personality really was nothing like Cedric’s. In short, he was hopeless.

‘You’re even more messed up than me, you brat.’

"Okay, I'll call you that from now on."

‘Whatever, I’ll do what you want then.’

I retorted lightly, making Joshua's face loosen up even just the tiniest bit.

‘Do you like it that much?’

I soon smiled brightly.

“That means you don’t have any friends now, big bro, right?”

"What are you talking about?"

"It’s true. Luca and Aiden are friends with me because we’re all the same age, you’re the only one who’s a year older."

‘If you want to be treated as a big bro, you’ll have to give up being treated as a friend.’

After finishing my sentence, I raised the corners of my mouth even more as I beamed.

‘Don’t try to act like you’re Korean. You’ve never even lived in Korea before. Trying to act like you’re older than me when you were only born a few months earlier… I’m not wrong when you think about it, right?’

I tilted my head once I stopped laughing.

‘Shouldn't they consider international age here?’

"But when’s your birthday, big bro?"

"I know! It's in April!"

"Thanks, Luca."

I smiled at him softly.

‘So, Joshua's birthday is in April. It's currently May, and according to what Julianne said to Cedric, my birthday was probably around July, so…’

"I only have to call you big bro for two months then, right?"

"That’s ridiculous...!"

"Haha! So, I just have to call you that for two months? Two-month big bro!"

‘How funny is that? A two-month big bro. You sure you’ll be so proud of yourself during those two months, big brother?’

"That means you won’t have friends for those two months, right? You'll be lonely!"

"L-Lili... that's true, but don't tease him too much..."

Aiden whispered to me, cautiously glancing at Joshua, seemingly worried that he’d tell on me again.

‘But really, it's so funny! The worst combination of Joshua’s rude personality and a plot hole!’

“Urgh…!”

Joshua gave me a frustrated look, his face turning red. It almost looked as if he would collapse from high blood pressure.

‘Well, he's just a kid, so he'll be fine, right?’

More importantly, he was almost screaming, "Please make fun of me!"

That was why I couldn’t stop teasing him.

"Don't call me big bro!" Joshua suddenly shouted out loud as I burst into laughter.

‘Oh, such a childish reaction.’

I wiped away the tears that had welled up in my eyes with the tip of my finger and spoke while Luca rolled around in the grass in laughter, just like his brother would’ve done.

"But you told me to call you big bro, big bro!"

"I told you not to!"

"Ahahaha..."

"Lili, calm down..."

Aiden got anxious and clung to me as I bent over laughing. Then, in his soft, gentle voice, he whispered in my ear urgently.

"Joshua looks like he’s about to cry..."

"Ahaha!"

Despite Aiden's warning, I didn't stop laughing, and a tear soon rolled down from Joshua's eye. I looked at the teardrop running down Joshua's chubby cheek and laughed even harder.

Shortly after, he bit his lip and began to cry loudly.

‘Hey, wait, don’t cry so loud. That’s not fair, you know...’

"What on earth happened? Again?"

Why was it that my uneasy premonitions were never wrong?

Julianne, upon hearing Joshua's loud wailing, immediately rushed out. Even Michael followed behind her.

I didn’t know whether it was a relief that Cedric wasn’t there. Either way, I hadn’t meant to tease him like that.

‘Lia said again. AGAIN. I wonder what she thinks of me…’

All I could do was shut my eyes tightly as I watched Julianne running toward us from a distance.

‘Sad thoughts, sad memories. Remember when the professor gave me a horrible D- grade... remember when I lost my full four-year scholarship in the first semester of my freshman year...’

“…Sob.”

Remembering every sad thought throughout my life, I started to cry along with Joshua. Now that it had come to this, I didn’t have a choice.

If Julianne knew that I’d made Joshua cry again, she was bound to ban me from having desserts…

I couldn’t help but play dirty.