LIGHT NOVEL Lie Again!
Chapter 5
<Chapter 5. A Place Called Crawford (5)> Jin was sitting on the large sofa in Ruth’s spacious living room, enduring the gaze of four pairs of eyes fixed on her.
Interestingly, while the four of them kept their eyes fixed on Jin, they were incessantly babbling nonsense with their mouths. “Do you know what two things you can never eat for breakfast?” “Oh, please.” Joey grabbed her head at Dustin’s question. “Lunch and dinner.” Sighs filled with frustration echoed from all sides. Several cushions flew towards Dustin, but he remained unfazed and opened his mouth. “What do you get when you stack cats?” “Don’t answer it no matter what.” Amanda became serious. “Meowtain1).” Amanda couldn’t hold back and punched the cushion furiously. “Jin, could you please get us out of this pain?” At some point, Ruth, who had been burying his face in the couch, lifted his head and pleaded with a desperate voice. Jin, who had been blankly watching the comedy unfold, turned her head toward Ruth. Ruth pointed to Jin’s side with his finger, his eyes full of questions. Amanda was punching the cushion, Joey was hitting Dustin with a cushion, and Dustin was attacking with verbal assaults. It was chaos. “That, guys.” As Jin cautiously opened her mouth, all eyes immediately turned to her, as if they hadn’t been engaged in chaos just moments before. Once the stage was set, Jin couldn’t bring herself to speak. What had seemed like a huge problem when she was alone now felt trivial in front of the four of them. She felt embarrassed and ashamed for letting her worries grow in isolation and avoiding them. “What’s next to the USA?” Instead of Jin, who couldn’t easily speak, Dustin broke the silence. Joey yelled, and Amanda and Ruth both raised their middle fingers at Dustin. When it seemed like it was going to be a mess again, Jin hurriedly started talking. “I’m sorry for avoiding you without saying anything!” Jin told them about what happened with Butterfield. After the short story, Jin apologized to Joey. “I’m sorry, Joey. I should have asked you, but I was scared and just ran away without thinking.” Joey, startled by Jin’s apology, quickly tried to stop her. “Why are you saying sorry! I should be the one saying sorry, Jin.” Joey hesitated, trailing off as she continued speaking. “Butterfield is just… so much of a celebrity type, I guess I didn’t feel cautious about it. It felt like talking about celebrity gossip from tabloids.” I’m sorry, Jin. Amanda, who was listening to Joey’s apology with her arms crossed, scolded Joey. “Joey, you’re overdoing it with the gossip. Keep it in moderation.” Joey, hearing Amanda’s cold advice, sulkily nodded. Then, she sank deeply into the sofa, almost disappearing into it. Her already small frame seemed even smaller, as if she had been swallowed by the large sofa. Amanda, watching Joey, turned her head towards Jin. “Jin, if something like that had happened to you, you should have asked before thinking about it alone.” Jin nodded and apologized in a hushed voice. It was really nothing at all. It made her feel ashamed of her past self, who had piled up bad imaginations, one after another. What she thought was a heavy stone turned out to be nothing more than a giant cotton candy once she peeled away the layers. No matter how big it was, a cotton candy was still just cotton candy. ‘I should have talked about it sooner.’ Jin realized that the enormous cotton candy that had settled in her heart had melted away without a trace. “Is everything settled now? Jin starts eating on Monday, right?” Ruth lightly asked while stretching his stiff body. Jin nodded with an embarrassed look on her face. “Alright, then let’s have some fun now. Mandy, you’re not going home until you lose to me today.” At Ruth’s serious tone, Amanda uncrossed her legs, stood up, and let out a small laugh. “What’s it like to lose in a game, Lucy?” “No! We have to shoot a reel today!” Joey jumped up from the sofa and shouted. She said there were many videos to shoot, and next to her, Ruth fired up with competitive spirit, while Amanda mocked Ruth. “….” Dustin was sitting still with his arms crossed in the midst of the chaos. Dustin looked at his friends and frowned as he opened his mouth heavily. “Wait a minute. Have you forgotten something?” Everyone looked at him at his serious voice. “The one next to the USA is a USB.” The cushion flew into Dustin’s face. * * * By the time Jin arrived home, the sun was already beginning to set. In Florida, where the days are long, it was still bright outside, but the intense sunlight had weakened. After watching Amanda and Ruth play games—both of them tried various genres like fighting, racing, and sports, but Ruth never managed to win once—Jin later found herself being dragged into filming various reels with Joey and Dustin, losing track of time as the sun set. Jin realized that dancing in front of a camera required quite a bit of shamelessness. Watching Joey dance skillfully, Jin held back her embarrassment and tried her best to follow awkwardly. However, Joey couldn’t help but stare in disbelief at Jin’s strange movements. Joey tried to correct Jin’s moves with a serious expression, but soon she admitted defeat. She threw the words “Jin, you’re seriously hopeless at this” and put Jin in the video as she was. As she cheered, Joey firmly believed that with enough practice, even the most uncoordinated dancer could improve. That’s how the strange video of Joey McCoy controlling a broken wooden doll was born. Jin sat on the window bed, gently stroking Freckle, who was lying on its back with its belly exposed. Freckle purred contentedly, seemingly enjoying the touch. With her free hand, Jin scrolled down her social media feed. Under the guidance of Joey and Ruth, Jin had created her own social media account and sometimes spent time like this. Most of the things that appeared on her feed were meaningless, but there was a strange allure that made her continue scrolling. Before she knew it, she’d find that two hours had passed just watching short 5-second videos. Reels, reels, posts aimed at others, reels, nonsense posts, party photos, reels… Meaningless posts filled and disappeared from Jin’s feed. Then, Jin spotted a video on Joey’s account and let out a small scream. A familiar body moving strangely caught her eye. Jin quickly swept her fingers down, erasing the reels from her sight. Startled by the sudden noise, Freckle flicked its tail irritably. Jin closed her eyes tightly, pressing her forehead against the window as she tried to calm her racing heart. The thought that an unspecified number of people would see this Reels made her face flush with embarrassment. Jin, who was cooling her warm cheeks against the glass, couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle. Looking back at today, a smile started to form on her face. She still didn’t have the courage to watch the Reels, though. “Today was fun. Right, Freckle?” Jin shook its belly with both hands, asking for Freckle’s agreement, who knew nothing about today. Freckle protested slightly, flailing its front paws. Kieeek. As Jin held Freckle’s front paws and tapped its thick belly, the sound of a door opening echoed. Ivy poked her head out from the attic, looking down. Ivy, whose eyes met Jin’s, walked towards Jin and Freckle with a stiff expression. Ivy reached the window bed and stroked Freckle. After stroking his head for a while, Ivy carefully picked Freckle up. Freckle wrapped its tail around Ivy’s wrist and purred. Ivy, who was expected to leave the room immediately with the cat, hesitated and stood still in place. Jin hesitated for a moment and greeted Ivy. “Good evening, Ivy.” Ivy, startled by the sudden greeting, pressed her lips together and gave a small nod. Their communication usually ended here. When Jin greeted her, Ivy would either stare at her intently or give a small nod before turning away. In most cases, no conversation followed. Ivy would quickly avert her gaze from Jin and act disinterested, leading Jin to assume that Ivy didn’t want to talk and quietly leave the room. However, Jin today added one more thing. “I’ve been thinking for a while, but you and Freckle really look alike.” Today’s Jin was someone who had come to a realization. You can’t know unless you collide. Jin endured a brief silence, meeting Ivy’s eyes with a smile. Ivy’s lips, which had been mumbling, slowly parted. “Me and Freckle?” “Mhm. Especially the freckles, they look like the ones on Freckle. Your freckles are really cute, Ivy.” Ivy shut her mouth tightly again at Jin’s words. Realizing her mistake, Jin quickly added more words. “So what I mean is, Ivy is cute, so the freckles are also cute… I don’t mean that freckles are weird…” “Thank you. Jin, you’re beautiful too. Your hair is like black water.” Ivy sat down next to Jin while holding Freckle. Meow. Feeling uncomfortable due to the cramped space, Freckle struggled with its short legs before landing on the floor. The cat licked its front paws a few times and wobbled out through the open door, shaking its belly. “Can I… touch your hair?” “Of course.” Jin answered with a big smile. In the end, Jin spent the whole night playing the role of Ivy’s doll and only prepared for bed late. Her body felt heavy, as if weighed down by dumbbells, but her heart was the lightest it had been during her time here. Jin lay in bed, briefly reflecting on the past. What would have happened if she had had the courage to speak up then? Jin, who had been imagining meaningless things, soon dismissed them and closed her eyes. In the morning, it felt as though she had briefly seen someone’s face in a dream she wouldn’t remember. 1) meowtain: playful wordplay combining 'meow' (the sound a cat makes) with 'mountain'. 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