Su Ji was quick to pull herself together and insisted on Grandma not even touching the suitcase. "Even I can't carry it," she pointed out.

"You think I'm some weak old woman, huh?" said Gandma. "I bet I'm in better shape than you, you city girl."

Su Ji gave a weak smile and Grandma led her to the table, where a meal was already set out.

It comprised of a hearty kimchi stew and rice, but she could barely touch it – she couldn't taste it. All she could think about was what her father would be eating, and it definitely wouln't be as good as what she got to eat. That just struck her as unfair, for some reason – he hadn't done anything wrong, and it was terrible to think of him eating prison food while she got Grandma's cooking.

She was grateful to Grandma for not forcing her to finish what was on her plate, or showing her around the house. "We can see it tomorrow, right?" she asked. Su Ji nodded before disappearing in her new room.

Normally, she would have loved the way the room was furnished – it was covered in wallpaper with soft pink roses, and white lace-edged airy curtains. Three plump pillows and a thick quilt were on the bed, looking warm and welcoming. A simple white desk with a matching chair were set next to the large window, and judging from the cleaness and the smell, they were brand new. So was the wallpaper and the curtains. With a pang, Su Ji realized that Grandma had taken pains to redecorate the room – just for her, and keeping in with the fairytale house theme.

Su Ji sighed and set the suitcase down. She lowered herself to the floor and slowly opened it – it smelled like home. She dug to the bottom of the case and unwrapped an old T-shirt from around a photo frame. Her father beamed up at her, his arm around a slightly younger Su Ji. There was a time when he had been obsessed with taking photos and getting them framed, and Su Ji hadn't given much thought to it besides having fun with the poses – there was even a photo of her holding a frying pan over his head somewhere.

Now, she was just grateful that he had that obsession. She could see her father, not a younger version of him, but more like the way he had looked when she left.

She touched his face over the glass with her finger. "Dad..." she murmured softly. "I got here safely. The room is pretty, and the food is good. Except... I don't want to be here, Dad. I don't know how I will be able to live here..." She took a deep breath and forced herself to smile, but it hurt. "But don't worry about me, I'll manage it somehow. You know I will, right? You wouldn't have sent me here otherwise, right?"
Her father still beamed at her from the photo, and she held it close to her. "I miss you, Dad." She kissed it and set it carefull on her night-stand – that way, he would be easy to see when she woke up and when she was going to sleep.

Now what? She was too exhausted to unpack; the journey plus the emotions left her drained. She didn't care that it was still early in the evening; she just crawled onto the bed without changing or taking a shower. She didn't even fully appreciate the comfort before she was fast asleep.

Su Ji didn't hear the gentle knok on her door a half-hour later. Grandma opened it and to her surprise, she saw Su Ji lying in bed, still fully dressed and not even under the blanket. She sighed and slowly covered the sleeping girl with the blanket; she noticed the photo on the night-stand and sighed again. Her son... she still couldn't believe that he was imprisoned for something he didn't do – she still felt as though it was unreal. If she felt like that though, what about Su Ji, then? Her son had kept Su Ji too close to him throughout her life, the minute his wife died they hadn't even spent a full twenty-four hours apart. How could Su Ji cope with all of that?

A sudden howl interrupted her train of thoughts. Aish, that wolf was around again, she thought with annoyance. Thankfully, Su Ji hadn't even budged and Grandma was grateful – she should just sleep. And to be honest, howling wolves were not an easy thing to listen to when all you wanted to do was sleep.

Another long howl disturbed the brief silence, and Grandma shuddered – it sounded as though the wolf wasn't too far away. But she wasn't worried, that wolf had never harmed anyone or hunted the sheep, goats, and cows the people owned. She was a lot more worried about Su Ji than over that wolf.

****

Su Ji wasn't used this kind of thing.

She was used to the sounds of Seoul, the busy big city noises of traffic and so on. It wasn't exactly quiet here at Grandma's, but it was a different kind of noisy. Some kind of bird was always singing, and squirrles were busy getting ready for winter, scurrying and chattering about and there was the noises of animals such as sheep, cows, and goats– everything just sounded like nature. Once in a while, an ancient car spluttered to life and sounded unnaturally loud and out of place.

It smelled different too. Seoul smelled familiar - of cars, smoke, the typical big city smells and sometimes of delicious street food. Here, it just smelled green - if that was even a word to describe it. Woody, fresh and clean. It was nice, but it was unfamiliar.

The meals were different too. Back home in Seoul, her father had basically allowed her to eat whatever she wanted, be it take out or eating at a restaurant. Here, there wasn't a fast-food restaurant nearer than ten miles. Plus, Grandma believed in home cooked meals – not that there was anything wrong with her cooking.

There was nothing to do either. Su Ji was too terrified of getting lost to go out on a walk, and she didn't like gardening either – the earthworms made her stomach drop.

"Just do something," Grandma said, after the third day of Su Ji doing absolutely nothing. "Go unpack!"
Su Ji turned a mournful face towards her grandmother. "I'm tired," she said pitifully. "Maybe I'm getting sick."
"Getting sick, my foot," Grandma huffed. "Aren't you getting sick of just lying on that couch all day?"
Su Ji shook her head firmly. Lying around and being bored was a lot better than venturing outside, which had all kinds of scary things like worms and bugs. Plus, lying around let her think about her father.

Grandma sighed,and told herself it would all pass, Su Ji just needed time to settle in.

Su Ji did have to admit though, that Grandma's house was really nice. Grandma liked having things neat, and loved pretty things, so the house was full of pretty little trinkets. An elaborately embroidered wall-hanging occupie