He woke up to find the girl gone. Slowly, he sat up and examined his wound. This is the second gun injury he experienced, he's hoping there won't be a third. Thinking about the bullet injury he suffered from when he was seven, he wondered why those people are opening fire at his family. Why would anyone want to kill them? What kind of mistake did they make to have people chase after them, wanting to take their lives?

He didn't understand. And perhaps he never will. Since his parents were dead, nobody will be there to tell the story, and his sister probably do not know either.

Thinking about his sister, he touched the necklace hanging around his neck gently with his hands. Although it's old and dirty now, he still treasures it a lot. It's the only thing he have left from his sister. The necklace had never once left him ever since he got it from his sister as a present.

Just then, the girl came in with a tray in her hands and he let his hands fall back down to his side. Seeing that he had already woken up, she smiled and walked over, saying something in the process. She passed him the tray and sat down on a chair beside the bed. Recieving the tray from her, he saw a bowl of porridge and a spoon placed carefully on it. The nice aroma of the porridge triggered his hungry stomach to growl.

The girl laughed and encouraged him to take a spoonful of the porridge. How long have it been since he ate food? Human food. He stared at the bowl, thinking about how he should empty the content in it. The little metal beside the bowl caught his eyes, he knows what it is, he used to use it a lot, but for what? And how?

Placing the tray on his lap, he reached for the spoon. The metal felt cold against his fingertips, he felt weird and awkward holding it with his hands, but he managed to scoop some porridge onto the spoon. Maybe he didn't forget as much as he thought he had. His body still remembers, stuffs that he used to do a lot, stuffs he used to like. Slowly, he placed the spoon into his mouth, clean whatever was on the spoon.

She looked at him expectantly, hoping he would comment something about the porridge, but he didn't. He just delivered spoon after spoon of porridge into his mouth, filling up his empty stomach. Only after he finished the porridge, did he realised that he was still in the girl's house, and that RyeoWook would be worried that he didn't go home last night. He quickly stationed the tray beside him, and got up from the bed. 

Dragging his numb shoulder with him, he exited the bedroom. She said a long string of words and sentences, probably asking him what he was doing, but he didn't care, he cannot care. He didn't belong with the humans, at least for now. Even if his body tells him that he belong here, instead of there, he is determined to return home, to where RyeoWook was waiting for him.

He wobbled his way out of the house, with the girl following him closely behind. He knew from young that he should say thank you whenever someone helped him, his father emphasised on it a lot. The girl helped him, but he didn't feel like thanking her. She's wavering him, and disturbing his once normal and peaceful life. He can hear his father screaming at the back of his mind;

" Manners! Where are your manners?! "

But he's a big boy now, he's no longer afraid of his father. Although he would prefer him still being alive, screaming at his ears, instead of just living in his memory. As he was about to enter the woods, he finally heard something that he understood in human language. He turned back to face the girl, and she repeated herself, " CheonYi. "

He stared at her, how did she know his sister's name? How? The girl said something else, a sentence instead of a single word. He didn't know what she was talking about, but he caught his sister's name somewhere in the sentence again. Does she know his sister? Where is she now? Is she healthy and fine? What does she look like now? Does she still remember him? Was she waiting for him to find her?

He have tons of questions to ask the girl about his sister, but his tongue won't work, so he just stared.

He then realised that he might never be able to call out to his sister again, that he might never be able to have her accept him the way he is now. He can't speak, he can't stand up straight, he can't write, he can't cook, he can do nothing that a human being can do, his life is in a mess. 

The girl walked towards him and pointed to the necklace hanging around his neck. It was a present from his sister years ago. CheonYi had gifted him the necklace when he got first in an art competition, to serve as a souvenir. In it, there's a picture of him and his sister when they were younger. And behind it, their names were carved there. He knew that it was their names there, but he didn't know how to pronounce them anymore. However, when someone says it out loud, his ears still recognise the names.

Perhaps that's why she knows his sister's name. For a moment, he felt disappointed, but he convinced himself that it is because the 15 days are not up yet. 

Without speaking, how can he let his sister know that he's her brother? Will she even believe him? Showing her the necklace might lead her to think that he killed her brother or something, he don't know what he will do when he meet his sister. For the past 5 days, he had only thought of how happy he will be to see her again, but never about how they'll have to communicate. Now he sees that big obstacle between him and his sister.

But maybe the girl can help him, she can talk, with her help, his sister might understand what he is trying to tell her. Does the girl know that the little boy in the photo is him? If she does, she'll be able to convince his sister, right?

But I look nothing like when I was a kid.

He remembered that creature he saw in that mirror the other day, it was horrible, and he doubt anyone would group him together with that clean and happy boy in the photo. The girl took another step forward and said something gently. It sounded like she's asking something, asking a question, but what? She waited for a reply, looking up at him, hoping that he would open his mouth. 

Does she still not understand that I cannot speak?

After a moment of silence, she realised that she's not getting any answers, so she grabbed his arm and led him back into the house. Closing the door behind them, she pulled a chair out from the dining table and motioned for him to sit. He ignored her and conitued standing on his feet, his would feel uncomfortable sitting on that thing, he believed.

She chukled and took a piece of tissue paper and passed it to him. He took it from her hand, but didn't know what to do with it. It felt like it would break if he used slightly more energy. He looked at the amused girl, hoping she could give him some answers on what she wanted him to do with the tissue paper.

She took back the tissue from him and picked up his necklace with the other. He flinched. It's not something anyone can touch, they might snatch it away, or break it. He quickly pulled his necklace away from the girl, warping it tightly with his palms. She looked at him with a pair of hopeful and kind eyes, exactly like his sister's. He soften, and for a moment, he thought maybe she is his sister. 

The girl smiled and removed his hands from the necklace. His heart raced at the slight skin ship, plus the fact that they were standing not very far apart. She began wiping the necklace with the tissue paper, trying to clean it up, not realising how his cheeks were burning in embarrassment. The dirt collected from all those years were not very easy to clean off, they stick to the necklace like super glue. 

After the tissue paper is covered in brown and black, she walked off to throw it away. Bringing a wet cloth back, she tried to clean the necklace again. It's hard work, but she managed to wipe off most of the dirt, leaving the rust behind. She smiled to herself, probably satisfied with what she had done to the necklace. Taking a few steps behind, she scanned him. 

She gave him a look of disapproval and brought him into somewhere human called bathroom. He remembered hiding in the bathroom when he was younger, pretending to have a stomachache so that he can skip piano lessons, but the bathroom he recalled at home was so much bigger than the one he was standing in right now. She said something, and more things, as she fiddled around with something he remembered as a tap. He's guessing she was talking to herself, since she's not stopping for him to reply like always.

It turned out that he was wrong. She turned back to him and smiled, waiting for his reply. The waiting time this time was much shorter  though, unlike all the previous times where she would stare at him for a very long time for an answer. She gently pushed him down onto a chair, and took his tattered shirt off him. He didn't feel as weird as he thought it would be, sitting on a chair was suprisingly relaxing for his legs.

Without giving him time to wonder what she was going to do, she sprayed some water on him and began scrubbing him with a cloth. He was shocked by the sudden attack of the water, but luckily, controlled himself from breaking the snake like thing that was spraying water onto him. She tried cleaning off the dirt on his body just like the necklace. After his upper body was thoroughly  cleaned and washed, she started on his messy and oily hair.

Half an hour later, she dried him and carefully dressed him in a new peice of clothes. Human clothes. But she wasn't done yet. Her scissors slide across his hair, again and again. He could see big chunks of hair dropping onto the ground, onto his just cleaned feet. He had learnt to trust the girl, after she gave them fruits, after she saved him from the hunter, healed him from the gun injury, and after cleaning his necklace. Whatever she's doing must be good for him.

Necklace, done. Bathing, done. Hair, done. One last thing left on her list, his nails.

When she finished everything on her list, she brought him to a mirror. She smiled proudly to herself for a job well done, and he stared at that stranger in the mirrior. He look totally different from what he saw just two nights ago. He looked cleaner, tidier, better. More like human being, more like a boy, more like the boy in the photo. Watching his reflection blink made him realise that he have similiar eyes with his sister.

He had became a handsome young man.