“It sure is lucky that you were able to call us so quickly, but don’t worry about him.” The doctor smiled at Hwamin. Since there was no way of identifying the guy she came to the hospital with him. “He seems mostly okay, just bruised from the fall. He’s really lucky he didn’t break anything. We’ll keep him overnight in the hospital to make sure he’s alright and we’ll let you know if something comes up.” Hwamin thanked the doctor and cast another glance at the boy. If he was alright, then why did he faint? Maybe it was the shock.

After checking to make sure her information was left properly at the counter, she picked up her bag again and left to go home. What a strange event, a stranger seemed to just fall from the sky. The doctors hadn’t found any sign that he’d been climbing the tree, but it was just a preliminary exam. Tomorrow they’d have the answers. Hwamin tried to clear it from her mind. She’d done the right thing to help this stranger and that was all she could do for him. She didn’t notice him opening his eyes and watching her leave.

Once the girl had left the room he got up from his bed and walked to the door, watching her from behind the glass with shocked eyes. Just then a nurse walked into the room. Curious how he’d woken up so suddenly she walked towards him and tapped him on the shoulder. The adolescent jerked and jumped to the side, trying to avoid her touches as he glared at her.

“Please calm down sir, I’m just here to give you these.” She said, holding out the hospital clothes. He glared at her and from his chest came a low, haunting growl. Then he dashed out of the room. The nurse tried to stop him but to no avail. When she’d followed him outside he seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

When she came home Hwamin dropped her bag on the table and rubbed her eyes. She needed a cup of tea right now, she decided. The sight of that man just wouldn’t leave her mind. A strange noise made her look up. It came from her kitchen. The window was hitting against the wall, she thought, it was just the wind. Still she didn’t remember leaving the window open. Then another sound, something had fallen over. It sounded like there was something in there. A cat, she told herself as she hesitantly reached for the door, it must be a cat. This was the fifth floor! Or maybe a bird had flown in.

At first she saw nothing when she entered the room. The lights were off. Her fingers brushed over the wall, looking for the light switch. Then she heard something move, something heavier than a cat. With a trembling hand she the light and almost screamed. The man from the hospital was in her kitchen, sitting crouched next to her dishes and peering at her with his big eyes from behind his knees.

“W-what are you doing here?” Hwamin stammered. ‘How was he here’ was a better question. He looked up at her but didn’t say a word and frowned as he stared at her. Then he placed his hands down on the edge of the countertop and slid his legs down until he was standing. His feet were bare, she noticed, and covered in mud and blood. He must have walked here on his bare feet. But how had he gotten here before she had?

His eyes focused on her, big dark eyes. From his hair that was soaked, water was dripping onto the floor. Hwamin wasn’t sure what to do. A strange person had snuck into her house but he looked more like a lost puppy than a threat. He had something so very boy-like about him that Hwamin couldn’t help but address him as a boy in her head.

A noise came from his stomach and interrupted the strange silence between them. He must be hungry. Hwamin reached inside her bag, careful when she saw him focus intensely on her hand, almost ready to charge at her. Maybe he was more scared than she was.

“It’s just cookies… Here, you can eat them.” She said. The boy looked up at her before focusing back on her hand and what she held in it. It was possible that he didn’t understand Korean; he didn’t seem to understand what was going on at all. Carefully Hwamin held out the cookies and pointed to . “You can eat these.” She repeated.

Faster than she could see the boy snatched the package from her hands and gnawed at it. His grip was crushing the cookies inside. With a look of disappointment he looked at her, trying to chew on the plastic. If the situation wasn’t so strange Hwamin might have found it cute.

“No not like that. Let me show you.” She smiled at him and reached for the package. The boy jerked back and growled at her. Hwamin straightened her back and stepped closer, opening the package rather quickly. “These, you eat these.” She pointed at the half crumbled cookies inside. The boy picked out one and sniffed at it curiously. After giving her a cautious glance he slowly took a small bite. It seemed to puzzle him for a second but then he started shoving the cookies into his mouth, almost forgetting to chew. The crumbs that fell down started to make a horrible mess on the kitchen floor. Again Hwamin’s eyes were drawn to his feet. She should clean them before the wounds got infected.

“Can you speak?” She asked. He didn’t pay attention to her and continued to stuff his face as if he hadn’t eaten for days. Hwamin sighed and rubbed her hand over her forehead, trying to figure out what she should do. As soon as she’d sighed the boy looked back at her and swallowed. It seemed like he was waiting for something.

“What’s your name? I’m Hwamin.” She tried. Maybe it was her imagination but it seemed as if he smiled for a split second when she said her name. “Hwamin.” She repeated, placing a hand on her chest. The boy looked at her surprised but then went back to eating.

Whilst he was occupied Hwamin decided to look around and see if she had a tub or a big bowl to wash his feet in. There was her dish washing tub of course. She rinsed it out once and started to fill it with lukewarm water when she noticed something nudging at her shoulder. The boy had emptied out the package and held it out to her. There were crumbs all over his face.

“Are you still hungry?” Of course he didn’t understand her words. Hwamin pointed at her stomach and then to . “Hungry?” She repeated. The boy blinked but pointed at the empty package and then at his mouth. He was still hungry. Hwamin nodded and lifted up the tub. With clear mistrust in his eyes the boy eyed it and shook his head, gesturing again at the empty package. Hwamin sighed and placed the tub down.

“Feet.” She said, pointing at his. He looked down and lifted his right foot. Surprisingly agile for a boy his age, Hwamin thought. “You let me wash your feet, I’ll give you food.” With every word she gestured to the object she meant. He tilted his head. Hwamin sighed and reached out to his foot. Panicked he almost jumped back but Hwamin quickly retracted her hand. How was this going to work?

Luckily the cookies had been on sale and she’d brought two boxes. Slowly so as not to scare him she pulled out the second box. Immediately he seemed interested and crouched down, reaching for it. Hwamin shook her head and pointed at his feet. A light seemed to be switched on in his mind. The boy sat down and somewhat reluctantly let his feet slide in her direction over the floor. Hoping to put him at ease Hwamin reached out the cookies to him at the same time as she reached for his feet. He grabbed the cookies very quickly again but at least he didn’t try to run away. When her hand landed on his feet he let out a meaningless sound that came closest to an animalistic scream of panic.

“No!” She said sternly as if she was talking to a toddler. The boy looked up at her in shock but stopped protesting and let her lift his feet. First she splashed some water onto them, disregarding the increasing mess on her floor. She’d have to clean that up anyway. Every time the water hit his feet the boy trembled and clenched his packet of cookies. Hwamin sighed and tried to lower his feet into the tub after washing away most of the mud. The boy flinched and let out a hissing sound. The water must hurt in his open wounds.

“Leave them in there. I’ll open it.” She instructed him and slowly reached to open the package again. This time he just let her do it, gladly taking the cookies that came out. Although he still seemed very unhappy every time she rubbed his feet to clean them, the boy was too occupied eating to pull away. Hwamin felt very happy she hadn’t followed through with her once wish to become a kindergarten teacher. She probably couldn’t deal with this stubbornness on a daily basis. Then again most young children weren’t this big or strong.

When she’d finished washing his feet Hwamin sighed and carefully lifted his feet out of the tub, rubbing them dry slowly with a nearby towel. To prevent any dirt or cookie remains from getting into his wounds again she placed the towel down for him to put his feet on. Now what was she going to do with him? There was clearly something wrong with him, maybe he’d hit his head really hard when he landed. Or maybe something very traumatizing had happened to him. Hwamin sighed again and picked up the tub to clean it. One day in her apartment and it was already a mess.