Kyungsoo seemed to have a hard time understanding the concept of hiding. Hwamin tried desperately to explain the situation to him but Kyungsoo refused to listen to her. Suyeon was visiting and Hwamin felt very uneasy about the situation. She could be here at any moment and there was no way she would be pleased to see Kyungsoo in her daughters apartment and neither would she believe said daughter if she told her who he was or where he came from.

“Please, Kyungsoo. I don’t want my mother to act mean to you.” She tried, “I’ll buy you those cookies again. Kyungsoo.” Kyungsoo crossed his arms. He really just seemed to be a toddler but one much too large for Hwamin to push away. Her mother was getting closer with the minute and Hwamin was starting to panic.

“Kyungsoo can you please do this for me?” Then the doorbell rang. Kyungsoo clearly didn’t like the sound and hissed at the door. Hwamin sighed, trying to think of something as she got up to open the door.

“Hey mom, I can explain..” She started as she pulled the door open. Suyeon frowned at her.

“I certainly hope so. I thought I taught you how to clean? This place is a mess!” Mess? Why hadn’t she said anything about Kyungsoo? Confused Hwamin turned around, only to find that Kyungsoo was gone. Where could he have gone so suddenly?

“Ah yeah.. About that..” She laughed nervously, “how about tea? I’ll fix this..” Suyeon didn’t seem impressed but at least she sat down at the table. Hwamin slipped into the kitchen, half hoping to find Kyungsoo there. He wasn’t in the kitchen. Then where was he? He couldn’t be in the bathroom, she hadn’t heard a door open! The answer came when she returned to the living room with the tea. From here she could see something moving under her bed. At least he’d hidden, she thought, hopefully he would continue to hide there.

“It’s not really that bad actually. My room was much worse when I first moved out.” Suyeon smiled at her daughter. Hwamin nodded and allowed her mother to ramble on about her own time as a student. She couldn’t really focus on the story though, since she was more focused on trying to hear Kyungsoo. He kept so quiet she was worried he might not be breathing.

“I’d almost forgotten.. I got this a while ago in the mail but I wasn’t going to tell you.” Suyeon said a bit stiffly as she took a white envelope from her elegant purse. Everything about Suyeon was always classy or ladylike to Hwamin. She’d never even caught her with a single stain on her clothes although she did a lot of housework.

Curious Hwamin took the letter. The name on the back didn’t mean anything to her, but the letter came from a school. She noticed her mother had opened the letter already and took out the paper on the inside. It was an invitation for a reunion. Apparently the school existed for 75 years or so, and all the former students had been invited.

“This is the school you went to. The one you hated so much. I thought I shouldn’t remind you if it didn’t come back to you but.. Since you remembered that name..-” Suyeon stopped talking and sighed. Hwamin understood clearly why her mother hadn’t wanted her to remember. Although she still wasn’t clear on what had happened, she felt remarkably little temptation to accept the invitation. Still, if she wanted to find out about Kyungsoo, she should probably go there and ask around.

“Thank you.. I’ll go there and see if anyone knows anything. If it’s still a bad place, I won’t stay there.” She smiled, folding the letter and placing it on her desk. As she turned, she noticed Kyungsoo having crawled closer, because he was cautiously watching her from underneath the bed. Hwamin moved over slightly to hide him from her mother’s sight.

“I hope you’ll find what you’re looking for there..” Suyeon sighed, “it’s just-” She stopped when her phone rang and fetched it from her purse, answering it before it could ring a second time. Hwamin was used to that. What she wasn’t used to was Kyungsoo reaching quietly for her hand from under the bed. She looked back at him and moved her hand closer to the edge of the bed so he could hold it properly. Maybe he sensed that she felt lonely.

“I’m sorry sweetie, something came up at work and I have to go. I’ll let you know if I find something else about the school. If I find some phone numbers or something. The tea was lovely darling.” Suyeon smiled, gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek, and saw herself out. She hadn’t even sipped her tea, Hwamin noticed. With a sigh the girl got up and closed the door. Maybe Kyungsoo would like to have it, she thought. It almost didn’t surprise her to see Kyungsoo just a few inches from her when she turned around.

He gazed over her with a look of worry and took her hand again, pulling it to his chest. Hwamin gazed up at him. His eyes focused clearly on her and seemed to be brighter than they’d been before, as if he’d suddenly woken up from his childlike state. Slowly he leaned closer to her until his nose pressed against hers. Hwamin felt her heartbeat increase and glanced at her hand that was still pressed to his chest.

“Hwamin..” He spoke very softly but the sound went right through her, making her tremble. When she looked up at him, he’d stepped closer again. “Hwamin.” He repeated and reached his arms around her, enveloping her in a hug. His hold was strong but not rough, and it just held her close for what seemed to be minutes.

“K-Kyungsoo.. Do you want some tea?” Hwamin asked after a very long silence. She leaned back, which Kyungsoo didn’t seem to be fond of, and found herself looking at his childlike face. The brightness in his eyes had faded and it seemed she was just looking at a very large toddler again.

“Hwamin.” He said, apparently having added another word to his vocabulary. Hwamin smiled, finding this a cute turn of events, and pointed at the cups on the table.

“Tea.” She repeated. Kyungsoo repeated her name and smiled brightly. Hwamin sighed and ruffled his hair. Kyungsoo’s spine straightened as he looked up at her hand almost in a hostile manner before realizing what she was doing. Then he sat down next to the table and patted the spot where she’d been sitting. She knelt down and folded her legs underneath her as she sat down beside him and reached out again, his hair. Kyungsoo seemed happy.

He’d learned a lot of things, or he’d remembered a lot of things, but Kyungsoo hadn’t remembered to brush his teeth. Hwamin spent the rest of the day trying to teach him, because she couldn’t let him get cavities. Dragging Kyungsoo to the dentist would probably be a lot harder than getting him to brush his teeth. Or so she’d thought at least.

“This is a toothbrush, Kyungsoo.” Hwamin held up the toothbrush, “you brush your teeth with them.” She added and pointed to her teeth. Kyungsoo reached out to her toothbrush but Hwamin quickly pulled it away. She’d bought him a toothbrush of his own.

“This one is yours.” She tried to explain. Kyungsoo refused to accept his toothbrush and again pointed at hers, wincing when she wouldn’t hand it to him. “I use this one Kyungsoo! You can’t have it.” A rather loud whine erupted from the boy in front of her and Hwamin stumbled back. Kyungsoo jumped forward almost immediately and grabbed hold of her before she could fall. There it was again, that bright and sincere look in his eyes.

“Hwamin..” He spoke softly. It seemed just like he might speak more even though Hwamin was quite sure he couldn’t. Then again he had surprised her before. “Be careful.” There it was. Kyungsoo had spoken. He’d not just spoken a name or just a word or two. He’d spoken a grammatically correct sentence that seemed to be entirely intentional.

“I’m fine, I promise.” She muttered, trying to brush his arms off her. Kyungsoo shook his head and brushed his hands over her shoulders before stepping back. The brightness in his eyes was still there but eventually it did fade. Then he grabbed her toothbrush and ran to the bathroom with it. Hwamin chuckled and left for the kitchen to clean up some more. She wasn’t so sure what to make of Kyungsoo any longer. If he was becoming more lucid, he could give her some answers. Who was he, and where did he come from? Was he, possibly, the same Kyungsoo that she had once known?