Sehun emerged from the bathroom just as the woman was setting the steaming dish of fried rice on the table which was already set with a number of side dishes, two bowls, two spoons and two pairs of chopsticks. He was dressed in Jongin's jeans and sweater, dry and much warmer than he was half an hour ago. The woman looked up at the sound of his footsteps and gave him a warm smile.

"Sit down, you must be starving." He accepted the invitation without hesitation this time and sat down at the table. The moment the smell of sesame oil and garlic entered his nostrils Sehun had forgotten how to resist.

"Thank you for the meal," he whispered, partly out of awe at seeing real food for the first time in a week, partly because his voice was still hoarse from the cold. Regardless, he grabbed for the serving spoon and began to fill his bowl, seconds later he was wolfing the rice down. He figured he was going to choke on something at the speed he was eating or even feel sick later but for the moment all he could focus on was the fact that he was having a proper meal, home-cooked at that. He reached out with his chopsticks for the container of kimchi when he suddenly remembered he wasn't alone at the table.

He looked over at the woman while he chewed, she was eating her own rice, still dressed in her business attire. Finally, Sehun asked himself the question that had been lingering at the back of his mind since the other day: who exactly was she? And why was she helping him? She must have noticed him staring as she lifted her gaze up from her meal. Sehun quickly retracted his hand and stuffed the piece of kimchi in his mouth. She waited for him to swallow before speaking.

"So," she started. "What's your name?"

"Oh Sehun," he stated politely. Suddenly feeling self-conscious he straightened his back and bowed his head. "Thank you very much for the meal, it's delicious." Sehun wasn't lying, the greasy dish was the best thing he's tasted in five days. The woman smiled at the compliment- or maybe it was out of amusement.

"No need to be so polite, I won't bite," she chuckled. She held her hand out and motioned for him to give her his bowl which was already empty. Sehun picked it up with both hands and passed it to her, expecting her to take it away. He grinned internally when she started to fill it up with more fried rice and struggled to not let his glee show too much. He mumbled another 'thank you' when she handed it back to him.

"I'm Shin Jihye." Sehun swallowed his mouthful quickly to reply.

"It's nice to meet you."

"How old are you, Sehun?"

"I'm seventeen this year." Sehun had a feeling the basic questions would lead up to an interrogation, but he saw no reason to deter her from doing so. After all, she had every right to know who she was letting into her house. Besides, he could always lie if he didn't want to answer.

"And which school do you go to?" Jihye already knew of course, and Sehun knew that she knew, too. There weren't too many other schools with uniforms similar to his, and certainly none with his school's emblem on the front of the blazer.

"Daewon Foreign Language High School," he answered in a small voice, avoiding her eyes. Jihye nodded slowly as she hummed in comprehension.

"So how does a seventeen-year-old private school student end up on the street?" He knew the question was coming eventually but now that it was hanging in the air between them he didn't know how to answer it. Sehun instead opted to stay silent as he tossed between telling the truth or lying, either way he'd probably get kicked out of the nice lady's house. Sensing his discomfort, Jihye tried again.

"Do you have a home, Sehun?" she asked, softer this time. Sehun figured she wanted an answer, he also figured he could give her a vague one. After some time, he opened his mouth.

"Not anymore," he answered with a small grimace.

"I see..." Jihye leaned back against her chair. She tried to think up reasons as to why he answered the way he did. She deduced that he most probably ran away or got kicked out, she couldn't figure out why, though. But she realised she would have to remain curious since she was in no place to ask something so personal to a stranger. Nonetheless she couldn't just send the kid back out into the cold and rain after feeding him, her conscience was already yelling at her about how doing so would make her guilty of negligence even if the boy wasn't her responsibility.

"So you don't have anywhere else to stay?" she asked. Sehun looked up from his rice again and shook his head sheepishly. 'It's the right thing to do and you know it', her conscience nagged. Jihye took a quick, deep breath and leaned forward with her elbows resting on the table.

"How would you like to stay here, then?" Sehun stared at her blankly for a moment, disbelieving. When Jihye didn't laugh it off and he realised she was being serious, his jaw slackened and his hands numbed in shock, sending the sound of his metal chopsticks clattering against the table into the tense silence.

"I- I can't accept- I- How could I stay here? I can't- I can't burden you like that, Ahjumma," Sehun stuttered.

"It's not a burden at all! It would be irresponsible of me to send you back out onto the streets to fend for yourself, if I'm going to help you I should help you to the end, shouldn't I?" Jihye smiled.

"But, I can't just stay in your home at no cost, and I don't have anything to pay you with..." Once again, Sehun's gaze dropped.

"Then how about we make a deal?" Jihye offered. "In exchange for letting you stay here," she waited for him to look her in the eyes before continuing. "You can do a few chores," Sehun nodded once slowly, "and go back to school." He raised a brow at the second condition.

"Is that...it?" he asked cautiously. Jihye hummed affirmatively.

The sensible part of Sehun was telling him to accept the offer, it would be stupid to turn down charity like this. The same sensibility was also telling him not to stay in a stranger's house, who knows what kind of person this woman could be. But if he did turn her down where would he go? Jongin's house was out of the question, he already made his friend worry too much and if anyone came looking for him (although the chances of that happening were slim) that would be the first place they would go. And there was no way Sehun was going back home- no, to his father's house. That place was never a home.

He stared at the small grains of rice remaining in his bowl. He couldn't remember the last time he sat with his family and had a meal at home. Not a single breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch or tea for a long, long time. This woman, who he knew nothing about aside from her name, had already shown him more hospitality in the past hour than his own family has for as long as he could remember. This kind, kind woman has shown him more care than his own kin, he'd be a fool to turn her down. After a few long moments of contemplative silence, he spoke up.

"Ahjumma... I don't know what to say except, ‘thank you’." His face broke out into a bright smile. "Thank you so much," he bowed as deeply as he could without smacking his head on the table. Jihye patted his shoulder for him to sit up.

"Well, for starters you can stop calling me 'Ahjumma', I'm not that old," she laughed. Jihye pulled her chair out from the table and reached for the empty dish in the centre.

"Oh no, let me!" Sehun chirped, pulling the dish out from under her fingertips. "I'll do the dishes, Noona," he grinned.

"Alright, then," she said. Standing up and giving him room to collect all the empty bowls and cutlery and haul them into the kitchen.

Jihye headed into her bedroom, picked up her pajamas and made her way to the bathroom to wash up. Once she closed the bathroom door, she noticed Sehun's uniform, folded somewhat untidily and set on top on the counter. She made a note to do the laundry before she went to bed.

 

By the time she was out of the shower and out of her pencil skirt and blouse, Sehun had finished washing and drying the dishes. She was surprised to find him wiping down the table, albeit roughly, but she appreciated the effort.

"It's getting late, why don't you rest now." Sehun's head turned at the sound of her voice. "You've got school tomorrow, after all."

"Oh, uh..." Sehun straightened himself up. "Where should I..."

"You can sleep here in the living room. Wait and I'll bring out a futon and some blankets for you," she said as she disappeared into the house again. Sehun put away the cloth he was using to wipe the table and returned to the living room to find Jihye with her arms full of thick bedding. She set it down on the floor and began to roll it out when he stopped her.

"It's alright, I can do it." Jihye nodded and stood up straight.

"I have work to do so I'll be in my room if you need anything. Sleep well, Sehun," she said with a smile.

“Have a good night, Noona," Sehun bowed. Jihye headed into her room and closed the door. Sitting down at her desk she pulled her laptop out of her bag, set it up and got to work. She would have to stay up a little later than usual and loose a little sleep in the process but she didn't mind. She felt good having helped Sehun out. She could sense he was a good kid, and she hoped she could help him out more.

She stared at her computer screen, an early draft for Ms. Jeon's argument to win back her money and keep her children stared back at her. Jihye realised then, that she spent an awful lot of time pulling kids out of their homes, and while the decisions were always made in their best interest, not all children ended up happy with their arrangements. Her mind conjured up images of disheartened children in consultation rooms and watching on from spectator seats in courtrooms, their faces similar to how Sehun looked when she asked about his home. But maybe she could do something different this time. Maybe, she dared to hope, maybe she could help this kid find a home.

 

Seongbuk-gu, 6:00 AM

Jihye's phone vibrated obnoxiously on top of her nightstand, rudely signalling the beginning of her day. She jolted awake at the sound of rattling wood and swiped across her phone's screen with a groan. Letting out a yawn, she sat up and willed her legs off the mattress. As much as she wished she could sleep in, the process of forcing herself out of bed was ingrained into her muscle memory, her limbs pulling her out of her dozing state as she padded around her bed to fix the covers. About to leave her room, she froze when she heard shuffling coming from the other side of the door. She would have almost panicked had she not remembered that she now had a housemate.

Opening the door, she was presented with the sight of Sehun staring at his uniform, washed, dried and ironed as a result of Jihye's late night laundry. Sehun's head jerked up at the click of her doorknob.

"Good morning!" he greeted with a brisk bow. He glanced briefly at the clothes in his hands before addressing her again. "Thank you for cleaning my uniform," he said with a shy smile which Jihye kindly returned.

"Go get ready and I'll make breakfast," she said. Sehun gave a chirpy 'yes ma'am!' and stepped past her into the bathroom.

Meanwhile Jihye hurried around the kitchen trying to prepare two portions instead of just one, turning the rice cooker on in one corner before adding soy bean paste and a few vegetables to the pot of boiling water in the other. Sehun had long come out of the bathroom, dressed in his wrinkle-free and perfectly clean uniform with his bag in one hand, and now stood awkwardly in the living room watching the older woman flit from one task to another.

Honestly, he wasn't expecting anything more than cereal or toast, so the sight of yet another home-cooked meal being prepared was surprising to say the least. Glancing at the clock above the table he bit his lip, it was already twenty past six. With only five hundred won left on his transport pass he would have to walk most of the way, and if he wanted to get to class on time he would have to leave soon. When he noticed the timer on the rice cooker still had fourteen minutes left he concluded, rather sadly, that he wouldn't have time for breakfast.

"Um, Noona..."

"Yes?" Jihye kept her back turned as she stirred the soup.

"I have to leave soon, I don't think I can stay to eat," Sehun called out softly. Hearing his excuse Jihye turned her head.

"Why so early?" Jihye peered at Sehun's face. While the colour had returned to his cheeks his face still looked gaunt and tired. Used to long days herself, Jihye refused to ever leave the house without having breakfast. She knew for a fact that surviving the first half of the day's classes was next to impossible without a good meal, and in addition to Sehun's lack of meals throughout the week she knew he wouldn't last. There was no way he was leaving without eating first.

"I don't-" Sehun suddenly felt embarrassed by his predicament, he'd never had the problem before. "I don't have enough money for the train so I have to walk," he said, voice dropping with every word. Jihye squinted a little harder as she tried to make out what he was saying, but once she deciphered his explanation she laughed it off.

"I'll lend you some, don't worry." She continued before Sehun could refuse, "could you set the table? Bowls are in the cupboard behind me." Sehun stood frozen for a second before steeping into the kitchen to collect their bowls.

A few short minutes later the table was set, a pot of hot soy bean paste soup and a number of vegetable dishes which Jihye had pulled out of the fridge placed in the middle. The rice cooker beeped and announced that the rice was done before Jihye picked up two of the empty bowls and took them into the kitchen to be filled. She returned and set them back on the table, one in front of her, one in front of Sehun, then took her seat.

"Thanks for the meal," she sang as she picked up her chopsticks and dug into her meal. Sehun repeated after her and reached for his spoon. The pungent smell of fermented soy beans had been wafting around the room for a while now and the second the rich, salty broth touched his tongue Sehun found himself having to resist the urge to drink from the bowl. It tasted like any other soy bean paste soup he's had but the fact that he was having it first thing in the morning and not in a restaurant made it feel like the best soup he'd ever had.
 

Shortly afterwards Sehun and Jihye were done with breakfast, the table was cleared and the dishes done. Sehun stood by the door with his bag hanging off his shoulders, fingers busy tying his shoe laces.

"Oh! I should probably tell you the passcode before you leave," Jihye remembered as Sehun stood up again. "Do you want to write it down somewhere?"

"It's fine, I can remember it," he offered, only because his phone was lying in his bag, dead.

"It's zero-five-zero-five," she said. Sehun mumbled the sequence under his breath several times before nodding his head.

"Got it."

"Are you sure you won't forget?"

"I'm sure. Zero-five-zero-five," he echoed. "Like Children's Day, right?" Jihye froze for a second.

"Yeah." Jihye said with a stiff smile. "Like Children's Day." Suddenly those numbers didn't seem like such a good idea anymore.

 

Gwangjin-gu, 8:17 AM

Sehun entered Daewon FLHS differently on this particular morning. His head was down, eyes warily glancing around him to check for stares as he walked. There were none, of course. With his clean and freshly pressed uniform on, Sehun blended in perfectly fine with the rest of the student body, who were also filtering in through the gates and heading to class.

Once he reached his classroom on the fourth floor he made his way to the lockers which lined the back wall. He spun his combination into the lock and was glad to see all his books and even his PE uniform squeezed into the small box. He took out what he needed for the morning and shut it before heading to his desk, thankful that he had forgotten to take any of his materials back to his father's house last week. Once seated among the handful of other students in the room, he reached for his pencil case in his bag but was interrupted by a loud voice.

"Hey!" Jongin boomed. Immediately all eyes went to the boy standing in the doorway. "Oh Sehun!" His eyes were squinting under his furrowed eyebrows as they bored into Sehun, and even though his mouth was down-turned, Sehun grinned at his best friend.

"Hey Jongin," he said with a wave. Jongin's frown wavered for a second before he also broke out into a smile, no doubt glad to see his best friend back at school after a week. He walked up to his own desk right beside Sehun's and sat down, facing him.

"You feeling better now?" Sehun looked confused for a fraction of a second before he remembered the story he had told Jongin.

"Yeah, I'm good now." Jongin nodded his head in relief but Sehun still threw in a small cough for good measure. "Well, mostly," he chuckled.

"At least you're not stuck at home anymore, it was so boring without you, man." Jongin fell into a recount of the past few days, which included reminding him about all the work he missed. Jongin was kind enough to take pictures of his notes and send them to him but he still had a week's worth of homework to do and the thought of it alone made Sehun's head hurt. Soon enough the bell for first period rang and their homeroom teacher came walking in, so Jongin turned his body away from Sehun (but they continued to chat while the teacher wasn't looking).

 

"Also don't forget that your midterms start in a few weeks, I expect you all to be studying hard." The teacher's reminder was met with a chorus of 'yes sir's just as the bell rang, sending the room into a state of noisy chatter again. Sehun was jotting down the last of the reminders Mr. Hwang had written on the board when he heard his name being called from the front of the room.

"Oh Sehun?" Sehun looked away from his notebook and to the middle aged man who was collecting his things off the desk.

"Yes?"

"Front office would like to see you during lunch regarding your absences," he stated before walking towards the door.

"Yes, sir." The colour was draining from his face again.

 

Halfway through lunch Sehun had emerged from the front office, eyes set on the yellow sticky note in his hand.

"We're going to need a doctor's certificate or a letter from your parents to account for your absences before your reports are finalised, otherwise they'll count as truancy." Sehun let out a small breath at the thought of having some more time to figure out how to work around the situation, which didn't go unnoticed by the woman on the other side of the desk. "But we'd prefer sooner rather than later."

Sehun mumbled an 'I understand' and rose to take his leave, but not before the woman scribbled the dates '16/05/09-16/05/13' on a sticky note and handed it to him. Sehun bowed by the door and left the small administrator's office.

With a sigh, he folded up the square of paper and tucked it into his pocket. He could deal with this problem later, he decided. Shifting his attention to the noise in the halls, he figured lunch hadn't ended yet. Depending on if he chose to follow the sound of energetic conversation or of his classmates squabbling over a soccer ball, he'd be led to either the cafeteria or the playground. Guessing Jongin and their other friends would still be eating (even Sehun, admittedly, was surprised by how big a teenage boy's appetite could be at times), he took a right and headed down the corridors.

When the hallway opened up into the much wider space of the cafeteria, it took Sehun less than a moment to find his friends. The group was gathered around a table on the side of the room with spoons and chopsticks in their hands, shoving food into their mouths while spitting out dialogue at the same time. He approached the table with a small smile, he wouldn't ever say it out loud but he had missed the rowdy group of boys he hung out with, they were a fun break from the seriousness of a long school day.

"Oh! Sehun!" exclaimed a gangly boy with his mouth full of rice, a grin stretched out across his face anyway. The boy next to him slapped his arm with a hard whack as Sehun sat down next to Jongin.

"Close your damn mouth, you animal," he scorned. He turned his head swiftly to Sehun and gave him a friendly smile. "Hey Sehun."

"Hey Kyungsoo," he smiled back. "Hey guys," he addressed the rest of the table who all gave him a chorus of greetings in return.

"Jongin told us you were really sick, you feeling better now?" Asked a different friend, a kid with dark rimmed eyes (which was “definitely not eyeliner- only weirdos wear eyeliner and I’m not a weirdo!”) called Baekhyun. The other three boys all faced Sehun with curious concern.

"Huh- Oh, yeah." He kept forgetting he was supposed to have been more or less bedridden for the last few days. "I'm pretty much all better now," he said with a tense smile. His friends all nodded their heads and went back to conversing. They would never admit it either but Sehun knew they missed him just as much.

Sehun was chatting away happily when Jongin nudged him with his elbow. "Yo, aren't you gonna eat?" Honestly Sehun hadn't even noticed that he had forgotten to get a tray, and by now the cafeteria ladies had closed up the counters and everyone's plates were clean. It didn't bother him too much, however. His breakfast had been bigger than usual and Sehun wasn't even beginning to feel hungry yet. He figured he might get peckish later on but he'd gotten somewhat used to skipping meals, so he shook his head.

"Nah, I'm not hungry," he shrugged.

 

Joong-gu, 5:43 PM

“Yes. Thank you very much.” Jihye put the phone down with sigh, placing the handset on top on her desk rather than in its dock. She let her head wilt backwards and stared up at the perforations in the ceiling tiles. She’d been on the phone all day with everyone from welfare workers to bankers trying to track down Ms. Jeon’s husband and set her up with temporary support at the same time. After some seven hours of throwing around e-mails and phone calls she had finally managed to pull through with the court to supply Ms. Jeon with financial relief for the duration of the case and was now waiting on her copies of the documents to appear in her inbox.

Unfortunately, Ms. Jeon’s husband had more-or-less disappeared. Jihye had called his workplace but according to their logs he hadn’t signed in, so she could only ask them to inform her if he shows up. Meanwhile Joonmyun had called up his bank asking for transaction records, only to find that there were none. But they did inform Joonmyun that the man in question had visited the bank’s main branch about two weeks ago to request his massive withdrawal- they wouldn’t have that much cash on the premises and would need time to process the transaction- before returning two days ago to collect his money. So for now, all they could do was wait for him to show himself.

A chime from her laptop was all that was needed to send Jihye’s head flying back up as she spotted the envelope shaped icon in the corner of her screen- ‘1 new message’. She eagerly clicked on the underlined text and scanned the contents of the e-mail which popped up as a result. Attached to the message were the documents approving Ms. Jeon’s pendente lite, signed and ready to be printed off.

A few clicks later and Jihye was darting off to the print room, welcomed by the rumble of the printer. Leaning against it, she drummed her fingers on the large machine as it languidly fed out pages of legal paperwork.

“Oh Jihye, I’ve been looking for you.” Jihye turned around at the voice and greeted Joonmyun with a nod of her head. “How’d you go with the pendente?” he asked as the printer finished up the last page. She gathered the two copies she made and tapped them straight against the top of the printer.

“All done,” she said with a smile.

“Fantastic!” Jihye stapled his copy and handed it over, “could you forward the soft copy to me? I’ll call Ms. Jeon up to let her know.”

“Sure.”

“Good work, Jihye,” Joonmyun patted her shoulder. “It couldn’t have been easy to get this all done so quickly,” he commended. He gave her a warm smile which Jihye returned.

“Ah… well, desperate times call for desperate measures, right?” she laughed nervously.

"Then you must always be dying to help others," he quipped gently.