As sleep got further and further away, Yongguk’s eyebrows furrowed and grogginess took over as his eyes opened into slits. He went to stretch but, feeling some weight on his legs and hearing the cartoon on the TV playing in on the background, he slowly lifted himself up to see what was going on. 

And, certainly, there was heavy baggage sitting on top of him. 

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Watching my cartoon.” Joon answers nonchalantly. It didn’t once occur to him that he had Yongguk serving as his cushion.

“Your flipping cartoon again?” Yongguk groans and attempts to flip around. “Can you get off?”

Joon doesn’t respond as his attention was completely taken away when the main character smacked down on his watch and changed into an alien.

“Whoa, how did he do that?” Yongguk blurts as his attention was caught by the amazing scenes as well. He flips around to lie on his back and Joon fixes himself once more.

The two boys didn’t say another word to each other and continued watching the show.  

***

I woke up to hearing the sounds of crashing that I figured was coming from the TV in the living room. Joon must have woken up early to watch his Saturday morning cartoons. This was a normal thing. But, that was before Yongguk had come lived with us. Jumping out of bed, I rushed into the living room, fully expecting a war scene. And, strangely, it was the peaceful scene that made me speechless. 

To my surprise, the two 5 year olds were behaving. No one was yelling at the other and nothing was broken.

“Oh, Wonnie you’re up?”

“Hi, mama.” Joon looked from the TV and grinned at me.

“Morning, honey. You’re watching TV.” I stated the obvious.

Only because I wanted to confirm my sights. They seemed to have reached some compromise on their own with the couch situation.

Joon nodded his head.

“Why did he do that?” Yongguk asked out loud. “Shouldn’t he save his cousin first?”

“No, uncle. If he wants to save her, he has to beat the alien first.”

“I think that’s dumb of him to do that.”

“He’s not stupid!” Joon defended the main character. “And, mama says that isn’t a nice word.”

Here they go again.

Yongguk rolled his eyes. “What can I say around here?”

I sighed out loud. The moment of peace didn’t last long, did it? “Joonie, what do you want to do today?” I walked over to the kitchen counter to make my coffee.

Joon spun around and looked over the couch at me. “The park!”

That was no surprise.

***

Yongguk sighs while looking at the huge field with benches and a wide playground in front of him. The sight of parents and children running around like crazy animals brought him grimacing. “Why the park out of all places?”

“You know you didn’t have to come.” I remarked and walked forward while holding onto Joon’s hand.

“For a second I was out of mind thinking I would be bored at home.” He retorts and follows after us anyway.

“They’re such a cute family.”

I heard someone say and snapped my head around. They couldn’t have been talking about us, right? But, lo and behold, the women were looking at us.

“They weren’t talking about us, were they?” Yongguk grumbles and contorts his face into a look of disgust.

I couldn’t help but feel a bit offended by his reaction. “Why are you the one feeling grossed out? It should be me.”

“Yeah, right. Look at me.” Yongguk motioned at himself. “How does this body scream ‘dad’, ‘father’, or ‘old’?”

I clicked my tongue at his comment. It would have been illegal and unnatural for a 5 year old to be someone’s father anyway. It didn’t seem to stop there though. An older woman comes up and eyes Yongguk up and down.

“Can I help you?” Yongguk asks unsurely.

“Are you the kid’s father?” The old woman points down at Joon. Yongguk eyes widened and he went to go shake his head. “How could you get her pregnant at that age?!” She slapped his arm and clicks her tongue. “Young folks these days.” She walks away while shaking her head.

Yong Guk looks at me with a blank face. “I told you, didn’t I? That you were too young to be doing those things?”

Unable to even offer a response, I figure a blank stare would be enough.

“Yongguk?”

We all flipped our heads around at the voice.

“Himchan?”

“What are you doing here?” The man eyed Yongguk before shifting to me, his brows furrowed in bewilderment. But, he also seemed to have company. I looked down at the little girl holding onto his hand. Her eyes darted back and forth warily.

“I – uh, I’m doing what you’re doing, Himchan.” Yongguk answered unclearly.

Himchan's eyebrow quirked. “You’re here hanging with your niece too?” He chuckled.

“Mama!” Joon shook my hand in excitement. “I wanna play at the playground.”

“Okay, honey. Just wait one second.” I looked back up Yongguk. “We’re going ahead. Hang with your friend.” I offer Himchan a smile before allowing Joon to tug me along.

***

As soon as Wonnie is out of earshot, Himchan burst out laughing. “Oh, my God!”

“Shut up.” Yongguk mumbled. He already knew what his best friend was going to say so he walked away before he could hear it.

“Uncle!” The little girl called out to Himchan. “I wanna go play.”

“Okay, just a minute, Yuna.” Himchan says softly and walks her with him in the same direction his friend was heading in. “Yongguk, I can’t walk as fast, so slow down.”

Yongguk ignores him and goes on ahead to take a seat at the bench. Soon, he heard a presence sit beside him.

Himchan urges his niece to go play and she runs off giddily. “So –“ Himchan breathes in. “I’m guessing that’s the secretary.”

Yongguk doesn’t answer and watches Wonnie as she waits for Joon to slide down the big yellow tube.

Himchan nudges him when he gets no response. “Come on, I only laughed because I didn’t expect this situation.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Yongguk says unhappily.

“But, really, this would be the last place I would have thought to run into you.”

“I don’t even know why I’m here.” Yongguk answers. “I was bored and decided to tag along.”

Himchan stares at Yongguk.

Yongguk was starting to become a person that he didn’t recognize anymore but to him, that felt like a good thing and nothing to be concerned about. He looked back out towards the playground to watch his niece running around. She seemed to have found some people to play with.

Wonnie and her son.

***

Himchan’s niece was cute but she had so much energy. Enough energy to rival Joon’s and that isn’t something that my body could keep up with. When I decided I was going to collapse at any second from exhaustion, I walked over to where Himchan and Yongguk were sitting.

“Mama! Where are you g