“he is traumatized by what had happened. May I ask what did happen to him? I’ll keep it confidential, so don’t worry telling me.” asked the doctor when he was done examining N in Cha Gi Jeong’s home.  N was worried, so Gijeong decided to call the doctor right at that time.

 “I don’t really know about it.” Said Gijeong. He really didn’t know in detail, and he also didn’t want to tell anyone including N’s doctor.

“ahh, alright then. His condition is pretty serious. You have to talk to him often. Basically, just try to make him talk. Cause if he won’t speak, he may have difficulty speaking that is way more serious.”

“yes, I understand. Thank you very much.” Said Gijeong

“no problem Mr. Cha”

“ok, here it is.” Said Gijeong as he gave a white envelope that contained money.

“thank you.” Said the doctor and he left.

Then, Gijeong went to the room where N stayed.

“what did the doctor say, honey?” asked Anna

“N is okay.” Said Gijeong. He smiled at Anna and N.

N heaved a sigh of relief...

“s..sooo.. I... I won’t become mute... ,right?” asked N, really stuttered.

“absolutely no! You won’t...  my dear.” Said Anna

N smiled lightly.

                                                                -----------

In the evening, after getting a lesson from the teacher who taught him Korean, Leo sat on the sofa. Nobody was there but him.

Leo was really tired. His first day as a son of a stranger was the worst day in his life. The teacher who taught him how to fire a gun was a really strict person. And his Korean teacher was worse. He was really cold to him. He was scary as hell, and Leo didn’t even want to think about him.

15 minutes later, when Leo was about to sleep, he heard a voice that shocked him. His father must’ve had come.

“what are you doing, you fool?!” yelled his ‘father’.

Leo was shocked and then he stood up. He bowed deeply, saying sorry.

“I’m sorry.” Said Leo in fear

“what were you doing, huh?”

“I’m sorry. I’m just exhausted, so I feel sleepy.”

“you are sleepy? Then, follow me!”

Leo looked up and he was hesitant.

“what keeps you waiting? Come here this instant!”

Leo approached him slowly and then followed him.

The man brought him to the swimming pool. Leo was amazed by that. He had no idea that this house would’ve one. The size was around 20’ X  45’. It was considered as a large swimming pool for a home.

“swim 15 times of the pool length.”

“pardon me?” asked Leo

“you said you’re sleepy, right? Then just do what I said! The water will refresh your body.”

“but, it’s not...”

“why? You want to swim 30 times?”

“no.. It’s not like that...”

“then what? Do you want me to get easy on you just because you are a kid?”

Leo bowed his head. He didn’t dare to answer. Yeah, the man was right. Leo wanted him to go easy. Leo was only 8 years old, though. And also, his body was still hurt because of what did the man do to him this morning.

However, it seemed that the man didn’t care about it at all. So, Leo did as he asked to do.

Leo was able to swim. He had learned swimming since he was  6. He was inspired by his older brother, N. N liked swimming so much, and he was really good at swimming. So, Leo asked him to teach how to swim. He was able to swim despite his age thanks to N. Swimming became their hobby.

And that time, when Leo swam, he remembered those times. He missed N. He also missed his parents who used to watch them when they swam.

Fortunately, Leo was capable to do 15 times repetition. He was really exhausted after doing that. For the most people, doing the 15 times repetition of a 20’ X 45’ swimming pool maybe was pretty easy. But, in that day Leo wasn’t in his best condition. He felt a bit under the weather.

The man smiled and then he asked Leo to take a shower.

“after taking a shower, come join me in the dinning room. We’ll have dinner together.”

Leo nodded.

                                                                ---------

“oh, here you are...” said Gijeong

N and Anna smiled when Gijeong came to the park. They had a small park behind the house.

“I searched you everywhere, LOL...”

“why didn’t you ask Mrs. Shim?”

“she had left...”

“ahh, I see.”

“Hello N...” said Gijeong to N

“hello...” Said N

“how was it, honey? Do they want to buy our house?”

“yes. But, I told them to wait a bit. We still need to clean up the house first.”

“alright, you should ask your assistant to look for someone to clean it.”

“okay, I will.”

 “have you both had dinner?” asked Gijeong to N and Anna

“yeah, we had. You should have it too. I prepared a bowl of chicken soup for you. You just need to heat it in the microwave.” Said Anna

“okay, thank you honey.”

“no problem.”

Gijeong entered the house.

N looked at them. They looked so lovely. N suddenly missed his parents. His parents used to be lovely as well when they were alive.

N heaved a sigh.

“why, N? Is something bothering you?” asked Anna

N shook his head.

“what were you talking about?” N typed it on Anna’s phone. He still preferred to type.

“okay, so we want to sell one of our houses as an investment.”

“which house?”

“uhmm...” Anna hesitated for a moment. The house was the one where he met N this morning. She was a bit scared if it would traumatize N as she knew he had a bad memory in that house.

“ahh, I think I know.” Typed N.

“uhm, let’s not talk about it.” Said Anna

N nodded. He didn’t want to talk about it either.

“by the way... Who was Mrs. Shim?”

“oh my! Didn’t I tell you? I had no idea that I forgot to tell you about her. She is my housekeeper.”

“I haven’t seen her since my first arrival to your home.”

“really? Then, I’ll introduce her to you tomorrow.”

N nodded.

“oh, right. She doesn’t speak English.”

“why don’t Korean people speak English?” typed N

“I don’t know. N, would you like to go to school?” asked Anna

“of course I want to. But, how if I can’t speak properly? How if I stutter?”

“you don’t want that to happen, right? Then you should stop using my phone to type what’s on your mind. You can just tell me directly.” Said Anna

N looked through her eyes. He wasn’t sure to do that.

“what makes you hesitate? You can just speak up. It’s okay if you stutter. Even if you need a lot of time to utter a word, it’s really okay as long as you have the desire to speak.” Said Anna

“you... you sure?” asked N.

“see? You can talk, right?” said Anna.

N nodded. A small smile appeared on his pretty face.

N then gave Anna’s phone back. At that time, he decided not to type anymore. He would speak no matter what.

“I will take care of your documents and stuff. You’ll go to school soon.”

“thh.. thank you.”

“you are very welcome, my dear...” said Anna

                                                                                                -------------

 “don’t you have an appetite?” asked the man

“I do...”

“you didn’t skip your meal this morning and afternoon, right?”

“no. I ate the snacks in the refrigerator.”

“good. They are for you. You can eat as much as you want.” Said the man

Leo was taken aback. He thought he would get scolded. But, he didn’t. So, he was really thankful.

“may I ask who you are?” asked Leo. He was a bit afraid to ask it, but he couldn’t help his curiosity.

“sure. You are my son after all. My name is Jung Jun Kwang.” Said the man

“your son?” asked Leo

“yeah. I'm your stepfather, am I wrong?” asked Junkwang

Leo didn’t answer. He was confused.

“don't you remember? I asked you to call me ‘father’ in front of everyone, right? You are not Leo, but Jung Taek Woon.”

“but, nobody’s here.”

“yeah. I just want to get close to you.” Said Junkwang

Leo held his breath. He couldn’t help but worried. He knew something was wrong. He looked at him, and he was a bit scared. Jun Kwang was smiling at him. But, his smile looked fake.

Leo continued eating. He ate quickly, and then after finishing his meal, he asked for permission to leave.

“where are you going?” asked Junkwang

Leo was confused.

“I’m going to sleep... Uhmm.... May I?”

“sleep? Where are you sleeping?”

“uhmm... Floor?” asked Leo

“why would you sleep on the floor when I have enough room to lock you up?”

 “what... what do you mean?”  Asked Leo

Leo’s heart was about to stop when he heard that. He wasn’t excited. He was afraid.

“hahaha, I’m just kidding. Just sleep in the room beside the kitchen.” Said Junkwang as he laughed.

Leo didn’t find it funny. He was really flustered. He didn’t know how to respond.

“so, I get to sleep in the room?” asked Leo

“of course.”

“why? Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?” asked Leo

“what? are you saying that I wasn’t this nice before?”

“uh?”

“come here, you jerk! How rude!” said Junkwang. His face was red and he looked so angry.

Leo’s body shook in fear. He was about to run, but Junkwang grabbed his wrist.

“arghh.. It hurts.”

“you have to be punished!”

Junkwang took a baseball bat near him and then he hit him with that.

“please stop! Leo groaned in pain as he cried loudly.”

Hearing him cry made Junkwang get more angry.

“I told you not to cry, you pathetic idiot!” yelled Junkwang. He even swore harsh words at him. He hit him with the baseball bat again brutally.

“I won’t stop hitting you unless you stop shedding your disgusting tears!”

“alright. Alright. I’m sorry. I’ll stop. I won’t cry again. I promise!” Said Leo.