Minseok had been contemplating giving his mother cold shoulder as he and his father mounted the front steps of their house. However, when she lifted and drew him into her arms as soon as she had opened the door, he forgot all about ignoring her and held tightly onto her.

“Oh goodness, Minnie, you don’t know how much I missed you!” His mother sobbed as she admitted it; and that was all Minseok needed to hear for the little iciness left inside his chest to melt.

“Look how chubby you’ve become!” She half wept and half laughed as she drunk him in with her eyes, seeming as if she never wanted to let him out of her sight again.

“Grandma fed me a lot!” Minseok giggled merrily, immediately launching into a narration about his days at his grandparents’. It felt like he was continually in paradise; he could hardly believe that he had lived at his uncle’s once.

Were he a giant, he would have hugged the whole house. He was immeasurably happy; he could not even find himself hating Minseo when she wailed from his old room upstairs (his parents had notified him before she had been born that she would occupy his previous room). His mother hurried up the staircase after depositing him in his father’s arms.

His father walked toward a room in between the guest room and the eat-in kitchen then, with Minseok nestled against his chest.

“Argh! You’re heavy, Minnie!” The older man joked and pretended to almost drop him. He screamed delightedly and they both laughed. He trusted his dad: he would never let him fall.

One sweeping glance around the interior of the room told him that it was where he would, perhaps, permanently reside from now onward. His father sat down on his bed and perched him on his lap.

They lapsed into silence while Minseok looked around his new bedroom more carefully. Everything that belonged to him was there. He missed the second floor room, which was across his parents’ bedroom. It’s okay, he tried to be optimistic as he thought to himself, I can sneak into the kitchen for ice cream when Mom and Dad are sleeping. In addition, there was a window through which to slip outside whenever he wanted!

“Minseok,” his father said gravely, and for a moment Minseok feared that he had read his mind. His dad only called him Minseok when he spoke something important or to reprimand him. “I’m sorry.”

Minseok peered up into his father’s face, half relieved that he was not being chided and half inquisitive as to why his parent was apologizing.

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