2nd Chapter

NOT WHAT I ORDERED

Morning came assisted by dark clouds that brought rain. The first heavy raindrops hitting the roof woke up Sunwoo with a startle as he jumped out of bed and run to his garden. This wasn’t the best start for their journey together but all Sunwoo could do was to bring two big umbrellas to work as an extra shelter for his ducklings—there just were no way he could bring all the seven ducklings inside. He felt a bit sorry for his yellow friends but he hadn’t built the shelter for nothing. They’d have to deal with it. Luckily the ducklings were all cuddled together and seemed rather cozy so the now soaked Sunwoo returned inside.

Sunwoo was curious to check on Deullie but decided he needed to shower first. There was hope that Deullie was still sleeping and if he woke it up now he’d have to feed and tend it and then Sunwoo would have to go on with his day without a shower.

Wrapped in a big fluffy towel Sunwoo stepped out of the steaming shower and paddled to look for Deullie, leaving wet footmarks on the floor. With slow motions he opened the door and peaked inside but it looked peaceful. He stepped into the room and walked to the box.

Sunwoo froze of the sight inside. A lump in his throat made him choke up as he tried to understand the situation. Instead of the tiny little duckling he had left sleeping in the box was now curled a… young boy? In a duck onesie? Cuddling the plushie Sunwoo had given Deullie?

It wasn’t the sound of Sunwoo choking but the violent beating of his heart that woke up the resident of the box. With a yawn he opened his big round eyes and immediately had his focus on Sunwoo who couldn’t do anything but blink in shock. He had no idea how the boy had ended up in his guest room. He had extremely secure locks all over his house and burglar alerts would’ve gone off if someone had sneaked in during the night.

The boy looked like any other Asian boy with orange-brown bowl haircut and monolids, but his eyes were incredibly round and dark. He kept his shoulders up awkwardly making his neck disappear and he stared at Sunwoo exactly like all the ducklings, waiting for him to move so that they could follow his every step.

Sunwoo blinked once again. The boy followed his moves and blinked too. He had a small happy pout on his round face that made his puffy cheeks rise up like apples in the center of his face. Sunwoo knelt in front of the box to take a closer look. He didn’t understand what kind of weird joke was to put him into a duck onesie to begin with, but then Sunwoo noticed the bandage on his left foot—just like Deullie had—and wasn’t sure how to think about the situation anymore.

Sunwoo scratched his head and stood up again sighing. At least he could offer the boy breakfast and then find out what was going on. ”Are you hungry?” Sunwoo asked. He was aware that usually people would ask questions like what’s your name, who are you and why are you in my house, but with just one look Sunwoo could tell that this boy would not be able to answer his questions. If anything he wasn’t completely in his right minds and Sunwoo didn’t think it was worth bothering him.

”Hungry! Hungry!” the boy yelped with a clear high pitched voice excitement in his eyes.

Sunwoo nodded and carefully grabbed the boy from under his arms to lift him out of the box—even if he wasn’t an expert with wounded humans he knew that wounded animals were unpredictable so extra caution was needed. The boy didn’t seem to mind to be touched and the pleased look on his face reminded Sunwoo of Deullie from yesterday when he had patched up its leg. Having him standing up Sunwoo noticed that he wasn’t horribly small at all, the top of his head reaching Sunwoo’s armpit. Perhaps he wasn’t a child against Sunwoo’s first guess.

Sunwoo left the boy standing while he searched the whole room for the little duckling but Deullie was no where to be found. His attention was brought back to the stranger in his room who was now flailing around trying to balance himself since he wasn’t stepping on his bandaged leg at all. Sunwoo’s eyes caught him just in time to see him falling—Sunwoo spread his arms and instead of hitting the hard floor the boy straddled over Sunwoo.

They stared at each others in the eyes, Sunwoo looking hard trying to figure out the boy. Nothing quite this strange had ever happened in his whole life and Sunwoo was worried of how to handle the situation. Something in the boy in his arms felt oddly familiar, but Sunwoo was certain they had never met before.

Shaking his head Sunwoo helped the boy to the kitchen and sat him on a chair. The boy was eager to touch and try every object on the kitchen counter so Sunwoo handed him a box of cereals as appetizers to keep him occupied before he’d hurt himself on a knife or something. While he was munching away Sunwoo’s morning cereals Sunwoo himself dialed Chansik’s phone number and tried calling him. For it was Sunday morning it didn’t come as a surprise that his call was never picked up.

”Aish,” Sunwoo let out and ruffled his moist hair in annoyance. He didn’t know how to take care of a mentally disabled lost person! Feed him first, his mother’s voice said inside his head. Sunwoo’s mother always pressed on having manners and that if you didn’t know what to do, at least make sure no one is hungry. With an empty stomach it’s hard to think.

It was difficult to know what the boy would like to eat but he didn’t seem like the type to be picky so Sunwoo settled with an English breakfast with toast, fried eggs and bacon. The cereal box entertained him all through breakfast preparations and when he was done Sunwoo was worried the boy wouldn’t be hungry anymore after downing a whole box of cereals. It turned out there was no need for such worries as hunger glimmered in his dark brown eyes when Sunwoo placed one of the two plates he had prepared in front of the boy. Unsure of whether he’d knew how to use utensils Sunwoo gave him a fork to begin with and although clumsily the boy did just fine, gulping down the plateful in five minutes, even the plate. Sunwoo kept staring at him unable to finish his own plateful of food.

Cuddles plushies in his sleep. Likes skinship. Eats everything like he had a stomach size of a whale. Is super clumsy because of an injury in left foot. Just like Deullie. Was found from the cardboard box Sunwoo had left Deullie in. Is dressed in a duck onesie and even looks like a duck with that happy pout and those same eyes Deullie had stared him with.

Sunwoo knew it didn’t make any sense at all, but nothing about this incident made sense anyway and all the clues led him only to one conclusion.

”Deul?” Sunwoo tried out the name with a hoarse throat. He was sweating nervously.

The boy put down his plate he had been and stared at Sunwoo with excitement. ”Deul, Deul!” it repeated with spirit. Sunwoo wondered if this was the only way he knew how to talk. Well, at least he knew how to talk in the first place.

”Could it really be you?” Sunwoo pondered hard. ”What kind of ducklings did Chansik bring me…”

If Sunwoo was correct and the boy in front of him really was the same yellow thing from yesterday, it meant that the ranch Deullie was brought from had something very seriously suspicious going on. Were they doing some kind of horrifying experiments? Pure horror filled Sunwoo’s heart when he thought the possible things that could be going on there. It wasn’t for no reason that Chansik wanted to save the ducklings from that particular ranch. Sunwoo wanted no trouble for himself to tarnish his image and destroy his future opportunities, but could he just let this go?

For now Sunwoo decided to wipe away all those thoughts. He knew nothing about anything and how could he be one hundred percent sure that this boy used to be a duck without having to question his own sanity anyway.

The rain continued but Sunwoo still hadn’t given food to the ducklings out in the garden. At least they still remained as just ducklings. Sunwoo didn’t think he could handle more than one duck boy in his house.

He left Deullie by the kitchen counter hoping he would stay still for two minutes while he took food outside. With big rubber boots on and an umbrella in his right hand Sunwoo stepped into the rain. He had just filled all the cups with fresh sunflower seeds and put on the heat lamp inside their shelter house when Sunwoo heard splashy sounds from behind. He turned around and saw exactly what he had been afraid of—Deullie had escaped outside and was now rolling on the wet grass and in little puddles of water.

”Deullie, no!” Sunwoo yelled. He felt weird calling the boy Deullie because truthfully the whole idea was hard to digest. Sunwoo, still wearing nothing but a towel, dropped his umbrella at that stage and run to catch the wild duckling. Boy. Whatever.

Sunwoo wrapped his arms around the muddy creature and dragged the giggling him inside, closing the backside door carefully. Deullie still in his arms Sunwoo kicked his wet boots off and headed straight to the bathroom. Sunwoo was suddenly extremely thankful for owning a bathtub and not just a shower head. He locked the bathroom door since it seemed Deullie knew how to open doors and he didn’t need a wet boy jumping around his house creating mess. Sunwoo’s worries of escape weren’t needed in the end since the moment the bathtub started filling with water all of Deullie’s attention was taken. He wanted to splash the water eagerly so Sunwoo filled the tub only halfway through or soon his whole bathroom would be flooded.

Feeling a bit awkward Sunwoo had no choice than strip down the boy in his bathroom from his onesie. Sunwoo grabbed Deullie away from the bathtub for a moment and turned him around to face Sunwoo so that he could . It wasn’t until that moment that Sunwoo noticed three letters embroidered on his onesie.

”S-A-N?” Sunwoo read out loud and looked at Deullie who nodded vigorously.

”San!” he said.

”I guess you need a proper name now that you’re a person,” Sunwoo said, ”how about we take something from you and something from me?” A moment of silence and deep pondering. ”Would you like… San-deul?”

”Sandeul?” they were the first words he said whispering and not yelping with excitement. There was a moment of awe and wonder in his round eyes and then he gave the widest teethless smile to Sunwoo as an agreement. A hug was followed by the smile, making Sunwoo even more muddy and wet as well.

”Eoow, Sandeul get off,” Sunwoo laughed. He proceeded to strip Sandeul completely and helped him into the bathtub, taking off his bandage from left foot; the wound looked a lot better already, although now a lot of dirt had entered it. Sunwoo was pleased to notice that the boy was more in the chubbier side all around. ”If you’re not Deullie then you’re a super good imposter,” Sunwoo murmured to himself. ”Well, at least I now know for sure that you’re a boy,” he said gazing down, ”with that pretty face of yours I can’t lie and say I didn’t hesitate.” Sandeul splashed water at him and Sunwoo wondered if he could understand everything.

After bathing Sandeul Sunwoo dragged the hesitant duckling out of the water and planted him by the bathtub to sit on another fluffy towel of Sunwoo’s and have him wait there while Sunwoo quickly washed himself for the second time. Sunwoo felt awkward having someone gazing his body while he showered even if that someone wasn’t exactly fully sane. It didn’t help that Sandeul felt absolutely no shame in staring at him where ever and as long as he pleased.

Wrapped in fluffy towels Sunwoo took them both into his bedroom for clean clothes. He gave Sandeul everything starting from underwear to socks, shorts and a t-shirt. Dressed in Sunwoo’s clothes he looked a lot more like a real person—so much that it made Sunwoo even more embarrassed to think that he had to bathe this boy following only an hour after their first meeting.

”Aeh, what’s the big deal between men,” Sunwoo comforted himself shaking his head. Besides, if he indeed was Deullie then it meant they had already met yesterday. Kind of.

He took Sandeul away from his bedroom before he’d find something to play with and took him to the living room. Sandeul was now using his left foot for walking as well as his right, although he still limped a little. Sunwoo placed him on the couch and opened TV to keep him occupied while Sunwoo needed some time to wrap his mind around all of this.

It was a rainy Sunday noon. No social service numbers were available and all of his friends had abandoned Sunwoo as well, none of them answering their phones. On a Sunday noon that was meant for peace and relaxing he found himself in this sudden position taking care of another rather lost being with no one to get support or advice from. Eventually Sunwoo sat down next to Sandeul and let his body sink into the cushions of the couch. In the TV was playing a drama about a mermaid who came to land not knowing any of the customs of modern world. Sunwoo let out a low chuckle that made Sandeul tear his eyes away from the screen for a little moment while he looked at Sunwoo. He seemed to like the sound.

Maybe Sandeul was a bit like that mermaid in the drama. In the original story it was a witch who gave the mermaid legs with a spell, but who could have turned a duckling into a person?

In the guest room by the window the little sprout shuddered looking for warmth on the rainy Sunday noon.