Honestly, dealing with Yoohyuk a thousand times over would be much more preferable than this. There is no competition.

When your wide eyes meet Hyunwoo’s mother’s eyes, the shock is more than you can bear. Soomi’s eyes blink back at you.

“Ooh, Auntie, look! A big playground!” Mieun is blissfully ignorant when her intended attraction is now in sight. “Let’s go! Let’s go!” She’s pulling you with all of her might to the point she may very well dislocate your arm but your feet remain stubborn. “Auntie!”

“Mikyung?” Soomi, the oldest between you two calls out to you first. You know your emotions are a clear read even across the distance between you and them. She waves at you. She actually waved at you. Now the message in her waving changes as she waves you over.

For a fraction of a second, your feet are itching to grab Mieun and run. And with just an image of Taekwoon sitting across from you at that table at that BBQ place with his stupid mask and cap, the urge dispels.

You lean down and turn Mieun to you who is gazing at the playground in the distance with a childish awe. You heart stings to make her wait for it but with Taekwoon’s image in your mind, you know you have to at least greet Soomi. “Mieun?”

At your tone, she tears her eyes away from her desired location. “Auntie?” She’s now pouting at you. She knows what you’re going to say or at the very least she has an idea.

“I’m sorry baby, but there’s someone your Auntie needs to say hi to. Can you wait for me?” You plead with her to save you and throw a fit but also for her understanding.

She casts a look of longing to playground but still nods to you. With a flash in her eyes, she glares at you. “Buy me ice cream.”

Your grin breaks through. “Fine.”

She grabs your hand as you stand up and pull her along with you like the lifeline she is across the field. Hyunwoo is on the other side of the field with a group of boys and of course he’s playing soccer. Soomi’s been watching you this whole time and you’re pretty sure it’s so you won’t go through with your initial plan and run off. You don’t know if she would actually chase you but you know this will definitely reach Taekwoon’s ears. If this was Jieun instead of Soomi, you know that she would never tell Taekwoon she saw you simply due to how much she didn’t like you with him. Out of the three sisters, she was definitely the one against you sticking around and had no problem letting you both know. Soomi, on the other hand, let you be. She didn’t particularly dislike you but she also did favor you. It’s complicated.

You bow as soon as you’re within an appropriate distance to her. “Hello, Soomi. It’s…a surprise to see you again.” Mieun has become silent and she goes behind your legs.

Soomi smiles and nods back. “Yes, it is indeed.” She holds her arms out in invitation and you drag Mieun along to walk into her surprising embrace. “Oh my, you’ve only gotten prettier!” she exclaims as soon as you pull back when it is polite to do so.

You try to keep a neutral face, in fact you do your very best to but it fails and you make a face at her exclamation that is akin to a scowl.

She sees this and instead of being affronted, she giggles. “Ah, I see you’ve not changed in that regard. But it’s true you’ve gone from this pretty high school girl to an even prettier college girl.”

Behind you, Mieun giggles at your misery. You shoot her a strict look but she only smiles wider. Feeling it’s about time you introduce her, you pull her forward with your connected hands. “Soomi. This is Mieun. I don’t know if you remem-.” You’re cut off.

“Oh my! Mieun! Look how big you’ve grown!” Soomi kneels down and holds her arms out to her.

Mieun stares at her with wider eyes. She blinks at her and looks up at you. “Auntie?”

Soomi laughs. “Oh no, I’m sorry. I’m a complete stranger and here I am demanding a hug.” She stands up and you can identify the embarrassment she’s trying to hide. “I’m sorry Mieun.”

You shake your head to quickly reassure her. “It’s fine.” You kneel down by your niece. “Mieun? It’s okay. This is someone Auntie knows. She met you when you were just a baby.” You pat her head and stand up. She hugs your legs.

“I’m sorry Mikyung, I didn’t mean to frighten her.” Soomi waves meekly at Mieun.

You shake your head more firmly. “It’s fine. She’s kind of used to this because of how many relatives we have. It’s just a surprise still.”

Soomi’s smile becomes sheepish. “You don’t need to reassure me this much.” To your horror, her eyes become teary. You become alarmed at this as she walks over to the bench she was occupying before. “But it really is nice to see you again after all this time.” She pats the bench and you know the drill. You choose this time to pick up Mieun who is a bit surprised but relishes being carried by you and rests her head on your shoulder while wrapping her arms around your neck loosely. But you figure that the situation calls for her to be comforted a bit and you won’t deny needing the same.

Once seated, you place Mieun on your lap and she cuddles against you. Every few seconds, she takes a peek at Soomi who is unabashedly watching her with fewer tears in her eyes thankfully.

“She’s so cute.” Soomi says to you after a few seconds of watching you both. It’s when she places her hand on her belly do you finally connect the dots and internally admonish yourself for being so daft. Soomi’s pregnant just like Nunji and if Nunji’s current temperamental behavior is to be sampled, then Soomi is also going through similar symptoms like mood swings. And from Taekwoon’s announcement, Soomi’s expecting a girl which may only add to her fascination with Mieun.

You feel yourself smiling at her with an unrestrained calm before you second guess yourself. You feel another realization hit you and upturn your world.

Does she know?

Has Taekwoon told her? Like anything about you? About you both? That is if you can phrase it like that, not that you’re confident to address you two like that. Because it’s not like that. Or is it? It’s not, right? Does Taekwoon think so? He must, right? Shouldn’t he? Or should he not expect that?

Wait, does she know you know she’s pregnant? Most likely not. Should you tell her you know? But that would mean you have to tell her how you know. And that would mean you have to explain why Taekwoon told you and that would mean…

You want to groan and escape this whole thing. You close your eyes and turn away from her when she’s dabbing at her eyes with one hand while the other continues to rest on her stomach.

“Are you okay?” Mieun’s sweet consideration isn’t directed at you. You glance down to see that you’re right. She’s asking Soomi.

Soomi looks pleasantly shocked, much like how she looked when you both first caught sight of each other. She smiles warmly at your niece. “Yes, thank you. I’m just…happy right now.”

You hear and feel the validity in her honest admission. It reminds you of Nunji in more ways than one. It’s basically bordering sisterly affection. That’s the closest you can describe it.

Mieun breaks free from your arms and sits on the bench herself in between you and Soomi. “Does your stomach hurt?” She asks next. “Or are you hungry? Mieun has a lot of snacks if you want some. Auntie! Give her snacks!”

This makes you chuckle and it makes Soomi smile wider. “She’s so sweet.” She says this to you as Mieun gets off the bench and tries to pull your backpack off you. She addresses Mieun. “It’s fine Sweetie. This old woman is fine. My stomach isn’t hurt or hungry.”

“Then why are you holding your tummy? Do you need to use the potty?”

Soomi laughs at that. “No. It’s really nothing.” Here she gives you a meaningful smile and for a second your heart stops. She does know! She knows you know! Taekwoon told her!

Her expression becomes puzzled as yours becomes stricken.

Or hasn’t he?

“MOM! Jaesung crossed me just now! He won’t admit he’s taking lessons!” Hyunwoo sprints up to the bench. His soccer ball is kicked in front of him pretty smoothly and agilely for someone his age from what you can see. “When is Uncle coming here? Did he text you he’s done with his training?”

You’re thinking about how much Hyunwoo has grown. He’s really unlike the toddler he once was and now he’s so much bigger. You can now fully understand Soomi’s astonishment with Mieun’s growth.

“Hyunwoo,” Soomi groans as he reaches to take her now ringing phone from her. “Your uncle said he will be here if he can make it. He didn’t say he will definitely come.”

“But Jaesung is saying that he’s much better than me now! Uncle needs to take me to his training so I can learn more and show Jaesung I’m good too!”

Soomi laughs. “You can’t go to his training. That’s for soccer players who are much much older than you are.” Her phone stops its ringing. It then beeps with a new message notification.

“I have gotten older. I’m a whole year older than last year!”

Mieun is hiding behind you once again and you let her as you continue to take Hyunwoo in. He doesn’t really look like Taekwoon did at his age if you can remember his childhood photos. He looks more like a male Jihee if you’re being accurate.

It’s when Mieun sneezes that Hyunwoo stops what he’s saying and looks at her. Then he looks at you. And then you’re both staring at each other. In your peripheral vision, you see the way Soomi is being so attentive to your little reunion. But not much of your mind is on her or even Mieun who walks around the bench and clamors into your lap. It’s only when you look into Hyunwoo’s eyes do you see the Taekwoon glint that’s always been reserved for anything and everything to do with Soccer. You see the way it animates him much like the way it animates his uncle.

“Auntie,” Mieun hugs you. “I want to go to the playground now.”

She brings you out of your staring contest with Hyunwoo. You can’t really tell if he remembers you or not and you’re not sure if you want him to. “Oh, yes. Of course. You’ve been patient enough to wait this long.” You look over to Soomi who looks disappointed and surprised once again. “Sorry, Soomi, but I promised Mieun she can spend as much time as she wants at the playground while the sun’s out.” You straighten out your backpack straps on your shoulder from being yanked this way and that by Mieun earlier.

“We can go now?” Mieun asks excitedly as you stand up and she grabs your hand. She starts her usual motivated yanking and succeeds in pulling you a good distance away from the bench as you settle the straps much more comfortably on your shoulders. “Let’s go Auntie! I want to try all of the slides first! And then we can go on the swings next! And then…ice cream!”

Soomi still smiles at Mieun with so much warmth, easily ignoring her ringing phone again. “Aww, look how excited she is, Hyunwoo. Pretty soon, that’s going to be your little sis-.”

“Wait!” Hyunwoo yells.

You were about to say your final goodbyes to Soomi when you pause and pull Mieun to a halt too. Hyunwoo runs up to you so he’s closer. He waves his hand downward over and over at you like he’s beckoning you.

“Hyunwoo?” Soomi asks. “It’s very rude to yell like that. Especially in front of girls.” She admonishes him but Hyunwoo doesn’t seem to hear her. He keeps frantically waving his hand at you and you’re clueless to what he wants.

Mieun peeks up at him from behind your legs. “I think he wants you to get closer to him, Auntie.”

You give her a puzzled glance before she grabs your jacket and she pulls you down. Hyunwoo flashes a smile at Mieun who gets confused by that herself like she doesn’t know how to react. You’re feeling the same way.

When you’re closer to him, Hyunwoo reaches out to you.

“Hyunwoo!” Soomi yells. “What are you doing?” He has a very familiar determined spark in his eyes and that makes you powerless in its familiarity as his hands reach for your hair. Soomi is now marching over to you guys. “Lee Hyunwoo!”

He gathers some of your hair and pushes them up on your forehead and then he drops your hair like you shocked him. “You are her.” He says this to himself in revelation.

“Hyunwoo! Apologize for doing something like that to Mikyung. She’s older than you and you shouldn’t treat someone like that much less grab her hair.”

“I remember you!” Hyunwoo’s gaze is wide eyed and beaming. “You’re Uncle’s pretty friend!”

You’re not sure how you feel. You don’t know how you want to feel as his words wash over you and it’s only then does his confusing gestures make sense. He was making bangs out of your hair because duh, you had bangs in high school. And now he’s hugging you. This alarms not only you and Soomi but also Mieun who just about jumps way from him.

“Where did you go, noona? Do you still go to Uncle’s games? I haven’t seen you at any yet. Do you want to see me play too? Do you want to play with me now? Uncle should be here soon and we can all play together!”

You can only gaze at him with an open mouth. You’re not even sure you should answer him and all of his questions. That is until his questions actually register. Taekwoon? He’s coming here? You’ve been so caught up with taking Hyunwoo in that you’ve only been focused on him and what little attributes and behavior you can find of Taekwoon in him. You definitely never expected the real thing to come here. You’re at a complete loss right now.

“Hyunwoo?” Soomi tries to pry him from you but he has a good hold around your waist while his chin rests on your stomach where he continues to gaze star struck up at you.

“Let my Auntie go!” Mieun demands more firmly as she grabs your jacket again and tries to pull you away from him.

Both of their interventions are enough to stop Hyunwoo and his hundreds of questions as he looks at Mieun not even noticing his mom trying to pull him away from you. He looks beyond her over Mieun’s shoulder and then. “Uncle! You made it! You’re here!” His arms drop around you and then he’s blazing off to his Uncle.

Mieun stops her yanking and wraps her arms around your legs with a tighter hug than normal. “Don’t touch my Auntie! She’s mine!” she calls out to the back of Hyunwoo. She pouts up at you. “You’re mine Auntie, right?”

Soomi’s eyes mirror yours in just how wide they are as you stare at each other equally taken aback by what’s happening right now. There is so much to take in! This is too much!

“Auntie!” Mieun whines up at you. You tear your eyes from Soomi and look down at her. “You’re mine, right? I don’t want to share you with him.” You don’t have to think to comfort her. You kneel down and pull her into your arms. “You’re my Auntie.” She hugs you back and holds on tight to you.

“Aww, she’s so sweet!” Soomi gushes. It appears Mieun also broke her out of her shocked state which is good for her.

Even with Mieun hugging you as close to her as she can manage, your eyes catch his over her head. He doesn’t seem to register Hyunwoo who’s trying to climb up his body like a baby monkey. When your eyes meet, you can tell he’s been watching you guys from a distance for a while. Otherwise there would be imperceptible shock shared between you two. No, there is no shock in his eyes. Instead, there is a meaning in them. A meaning that reminds you of Japan and what had been decided there between you two. You can feel that meaning breaking and transforming into something even bigger. Monumental.

“Auntie!”

“Uncle!”

Both yells are sounded with opposite emotions, one in elation and the other in distress.

He’s the one to break your connection as he gently pulls Hyunwoo away from him and you also pull away from Mieun a little. When you catch her expression, you’re shocked once again. She’s crying!

“Auntie! I want to go to the playground with you!” She cries. “I want to go now!”

You feel your own lip tremble with how sad she sounds. Your eyes become teary as you nod at her feeling her emotions add onto your current frantic ones. “Okay, okay. We’ll go there now.” You need to collect yourself and you’re sure it has to be done away from this situation.

You breathe in through your nose and turn away from Taekwoon and Hyunwoo to smile weakly at Soomi. You lift Mieun up into your arms and she clings to you as she cries into your shoulder. As you say your excuses to leave, you don’t notice how quickly Hyunwoo quieted down because of how Taekwoon gives his nephew a stern look. You have to take another breath in before you turn to face him.

He has his usual blank face on show and you feel the same weak smile you gave Soomi become fragile. “I have to go now. Mieun wants to go to the playground.” You meet his eyes for a second before you drop his gaze. You hope it doesn’t sound like you’re giving excuses to get away from him specifically. “I’ll call you la-,” you stop yourself. “You can join us there when she’s calmed down.” His eyes flicker from yours to Mieun who’s sniffling now. You can plainly see the concern in them that it gives you chills. You smile at him again before turning to bow one last time to Soomi and then look down at Hyunwoo who looks sad himself. “It was nice to see you again Hyunwoo. Thank you for remembering me.”

His eyes light up and you feel Mieun clutch you tighter. You’re feeling lightly devastated that you can’t talk more to him with Mieun like this and that’s your fault for not paying better attention to how Mieun feels.

After you say your goodbyes and you feel odd walking away from them. You figured you would feel relieved to leave them and the tension but you also want to stay and ask how long he was watching you. You want to know why he didn’t show up sooner. You want to see him and Hyunwoo together a bit longer. You want to ask Soomi about her pregnancy.

You want to close your eyes and teleport back to your apartment with Mieun. You want to go home. You wouldn’t mind visiting Hwangin’s family if it meant you were with your mom and Nunji. Why did Yoohyuk have to be such a jerk? If not for him , Jimri would be here with you and Mieun right now. You feel your emotions drift from anger to desolation to isolation.

“Mikyung.”

Feeling a bit winded from your internal dilemma, you try to wipe your tears off the back of Mieun’s jacket. You turn around to face him.

His blank face transform to one of anger before it calms down to a frown. He walks up to you and Mieun who lifts her head to watch him on his approach.

“Are you both okay?” he asks directly when he’s close enough. It’s then do you notice what he’s wearing which is his training gear. His cleats are thrown over his shoulder and he has a duffle bag different than the one he uses for his games.

“Fine,” you clear your throat with how rough it sounds. “We’re fine. Mieun just became overwhelmed by what was going on.”

“Don’t.” He warns. “Don’t pretend.”

His tone immediately calls for a scowl. “I’m not.” You say defensively.

Mieun gently pats your cheek and you instantly look at her. “Auntie?”

“We’re going to the playground right now,” you assure her by turning around and start walking. You can hear him following you two.

“No, Auntie,” she pats your cheek again. “Potty.”

You stop in your steps. “Oh.” Your eyes start its immediate detection for a bathroom when Taekwoon clears his throat. Not wanting it to seem you’re mad at him, you turn once again to face him. He points at a building about a hundred meters away. “Oh.”

“I’ll see you soon.” He speaks first again.

“Hyunwoo,” you answer for him. You give him an understanding nod and his eyes arrest yours again.

“Auntie.” Mieun brings you back to her with her words. “Potty.”

You’re not sure how you want to leave him or even if you want him to leave you. You both take a step away from each other while still facing each other. It’s you that turns away and you increase your pace for Mieun’s sake.

At the playground some time later, you’re following in Mieun’s wake as she treks all around the sprawling playground. There’s not many kids at this playground and so she’s free to try all of the slides with little to no lines. You make sure to take videos to send to her parents and grandparents while hoping that her pink eyes aren’t detectable in all of them. You weren’t in peak condition to handle a Nunji tirade right now.

Especially right now as Taekwoon walks over to you with Hyunwoo in tow. Both of your eyes are drawn together like always before you turn away to check on Mieun who is at the top of the playground’s biggest slide.

“Watch me Auntie!” she shouts before she does a propelling swing off the slide’s hand rail to give her added momentum as she travels down the length of the slide. She’s in a fit of laughter when she sees you at the bottom of the slide. “More! Auntie, more!” she runs off from you to the nearest ladder.

You sit down at the nearest bench and its seconds later when Taekwoon sits down by you. Not right by you, but with an appropriate distance between you two. Your eyes look for Hyunwoo and find him already at the same slide Mieun went down. He looks much more his age at such a setting.

“Feeling better?” he asks.

“Where’s Soomi?” you ask instead.

He lets out a sigh. “She went home.”

You nod and wave at Mieun who is waving at you through the bars near the top tower. Hyunwoo waves at you too at a different tower.

“Are you?” he asks again.

Trying not to bite your lip, you nod in answer.

“Hyunwoo remembers you.” He states.

You feel the wonder of the truth in his words. “He does.”

“Mieun,” he stops speaking as soon as she runs up to you.

“Auntie! My shoelace is untied. Mieun almost tripped on the stairs!”

You lift her and place her on the bench in the space between you and Taekwoon. As you begin to tie her shoe with difficulty because she is swinging her legs in excitement to get back to the slides. When you’re done, she’s about to slip off the bench to get back to her fun but you grab her jacket. “Mieun.”

“Auntie,” she whines. “Slides are waiting for me.”

“Mieun.”

She huffs. “What, Auntie?”

You turn her around to face Taekwoon whose expression is hard to read right now. He clears it up to appear blank. “This is Auntie’s friend.”

She tilts her head up at him to the side as she wordlessly studies him. It’s really similar to how she reacted to N and Ken. “Who, Auntie? What’s his name?”

One corner of Taekwoon’s mouth goes up at her curiosity and you would be lying to say that you don’t have a similar reaction. But before you can answer, Taekwoon introduces himself first.

“I am Jung Taekwoon.”

Mieun unexpectedly leans closer to him. “Taek-woon.”

“Jung. Taek. Woon.” He repeats himself.

“Jung. Take. Woon.”

He gives a pleased nod.

“Woonie. Woonie!” Mieun exclaims. She looks at you and finds a smile. Taekwoon frowns at you. “That’s your name. Uncle Woonie.” She chants his name as she dashes away.

While trying to contain your enjoyment, you still laugh at his deadpan expression. It’s hard to regain your senses but you feel lighter right now. It’s similar to the feeling that you felt when Hyunwoo made the connection in his brain with the high school you. It feels almost bittersweet now. It’s too bad that you became overwhelmed earlier.

“It’s not funny.” He says this so seriously.

“It is.”

“It’s not.” A pause. “Mimi.” A hit. “Ow!”

“Don’t call me that,” you warn him.

“Why not?”

“You know.”

Quiet.

“Mimi.”

You groan.

“Mimi.”

“You’re lucky Mieun is close by.”

“You already hit me.”

“Fine.” You hit him again.

This time he laughs. “Stop, Mimi.”

You push him away from you. “No more.”

“Fine.” He tugs at your ponytail.

While pulling your hair away from him, you see Hyunwoo watching you two. He runs away. “How?” you ask.

“He was older than Mieun.”

“He is older…what?” you ask him after he is staring at you for too long.

“Of course he remembers you.” He says this as if exasperated.

A scoff from you. “How then?”

Taekwoon leans forward so his elbows rest on his legs next to you and you realize he’s closed the distance between you two on that bench. A bench that seems much smaller with your shoulder brushing his shirt especially with his giant form already occupying so much of the bench before.

He’s silent for a while. It’s as you’re waiting for his answer that you resume your Mieun-tracking. You make it a point not to move away.

“Uncle! Look!” Hyunwoo is at the monkey bars. He swings from one to the other but you don’t see him finish as Mieun runs to you.

“Swings.” She demands in one word and you smile at her.

“Swings what?” you ask back.

“Swings, please.”

Giving an assenting nod, you stand up and reach for your bag.

“Hyunwoo. Swings.” Taekwoon states robotically as he stands up too. He takes your bag from you before you can grab it. He also picks up both his and Hyunwoo’s duffles.

“Okay Uncle!” His nephew yells before looking around for the nearest exit up in the tower.

Mieun doesn’t care about any of this. She’s already skipping over to the swings.

“You should learn from your niece,” Taekwoon whispers to you before following after her.

His words make you frown. What does he mean by that?

“Let’s go noona!” Hyunwoo shouts this at you as he jogs past you to his Uncle where he grabs his duffle from him before throwing it over his small shoulders and takes off for the swings where Mieun has already picked one out for herself. She’s now waiting for you to get her into the swing where she would then push you away while stating she can do the rest herself.

Hyunwoo tosses his duffle next to the first empty bench he gets to before claiming his own swing. When you get to her, Mieun is already holding her arms out to you. You lift her and situate her in her swing where she settles herself. Then she’s waving you away. “Go, go Auntie.”

You lean against the pole as she slowly swings back and forth before she has the speed to propel herself higher. Once she’s satisfied with the height, she stops swinging her legs. You edge away slowly.

When you walk up to him on the bench, you know he purposely placed the duffle bags at the very end so that it leaves you no choice but to sit closer to him. He can be obvious like this. You sit down and he instantly shifts so his knee bumps into yours.

“What do you think?” you ask after a while goes by. His knee keeps knocking into yours but you don’t reciprocate. Instead, you sit there with your arms crossed.

“About what?” he asks softly. You can feel him assessing you.

“About Mieun.”

“She’s bigger.”

You snort. “Of course she’s bigger.”

He chuckles. “She’s two years older.”

You shake your head this time at such an obvious thing.

“I mean it. She’s bigger.”

“Hmm,” you hum.

“She doesn’t look like you.”

“She doesn’t.”

It’s his turn to shake his head. “She does look like you.”

“She doesn’t.”

“You’re wrong.”

“You said she doesn’t.”

“She does.”

“Make up your mind,” you mutter.

“She really does.” He nudges you with his elbow.

You sigh. “Fine. She does.” When you chance a peek, you catch him rolling his eyes. “What?” you demand.

“Nothing.”

“Ha!” you scoff. You sit up so that you can see him better. “Tell me.”

He meets your eyes for an unidentifiable amount of seconds before he answers. “No.” Then he looks away.

“Hmph,” you slump back down. You turn your head away from him.

“How’s Nunji?” he asks this time.

“Fine.”

“Crazier?”

You crack a smile on that. “Worse.”

“Like you?” You never knew your head could turn that fast. And you also never knew your glare could pierce steel because his earlier façade of a quiet moody guy dissipates. He actually leans away from you.

You stand up and walk away.

“Mikyung. Mieun.” He says this to remind you with a touch of banality and a smidge of desperation. You walk back and you see the relief in his eyes but that disappears when you grab your bag and start walking towards your niece. “Mikyung.” He groans.

Your niece spots you and then zeroes in on your bag. “Now?” You nod and she nods back. Her feet try to reach down to create friction with the ground so she can slow down but she’s not that tall yet and so she can’t reach it. She tries once more before she gives up and smiles up at you which makes you lighten up a bit. “Ice cream?” she asks conversationally as she lets the swing slow down on its own.

You nod. “Ice cream.”

“And then?”

Shrugging, you lean against the pole. “I don’t know. What do you want to do?”

“Hm,” she looks away from you to the distance for an answer. “Movie?”

“Okay,” you nod again.

“Yay!” she claps her hands. It takes a minute more before the swing slows down enough for her to slip off the swing herself.

She holds her arms out to you and you freeze just as you’re about to pick her up for two reasons. One is Nunji’s glare crossing through your mind, and you know you shouldn’t be picking her up so much. This is enough for you to shake your head at her and she frowns but grabs your hand. The second reason is when you sense his presence but that is easy to ignore, especially in your agitation.

“You’re leaving, noona?” You close your eyes in frustration. Of course, he’s diabolical and selfish enough to use his nephew against you. You slowly turn around. You don’t miss the way Mieun’s hand tightens around yours.

Before you can answer, she does for you. “We’re going to go get ice cream.” She says this like she is bragging. No, she is bragging. You squeeze her hand and she looks up at you. At your firm look, she pouts.

You look at only Hyunwoo. “I promised Mieun ice cream.” You hope against the world that Hyunwoo suddenly became lactose intolerant.

“I want ice cream,” Hyunwoo says these damning words while looking up at his uncle. You want to frown. You also want to cuss. You know he’s smirking. You know he’s thinking he has you trapped now.

“This is Mieun and Auntie time!” Mieun suddenly shouts. She’s breathing in and out like she just ran a race. She has you worried instantly. Mieun looks up at you in distress. “Right, Auntie? Mommy and Daddy promised me it’s only me and Auntie until they pick Mieun up.”

You’re left with no choice but to nod at her. You squeeze her hand again but this time in comfort. Smiling apologetically, you look at Hyunwoo and only Hyunwoo. “I’m sorry Hyunwoo, but Mieun is with me for this one weekend. And I want to spend as much time with her when she is visiting me.”

Hyunwoo shrugs. “Uncle and I can get ice cream at a different ice cream shop then.”

Mieun’s grip on your hand lessens. She smiles at both males now that she’s got things her way. You want to say that she’s feeling triumphant and you can’t deny feeling the same. In fact, you send a smug smile at Taekwoon when you finally look at him. He’s frowning.

“Can I hug you before you go, noona?” Hyunwoo asks out of nowhere. Taekwoon looks down at his nephew in surprise as Hyunwoo doesn’t wait for an answer as he jogs up to you and gives you a side hug even though his duffle bag is in the way. You just so happen to catch Taekwoon’s expression and he looks miffed? Or he looks more envious? You give him a warning glare and he only shrugs. Like you’ll give him a hug with the way he’s been teasing you this whole time. Not that you would had he been nicer to you.

It’s Mieun’s turn to surprise you. She bows her little head to Taekwoon. “Nice to meet you Uncle Woonie.”

Hyunwoo makes a face at the name and Taekwoon places a hand on his shoulder, most likely in warning.

With one last smug smile at Taekwoon, you are the one to pull Mieun away.

“Oh, noona!” Hyunwoo calls out to you when you and Mieun are back on the sidewalk leading to the park’s exit. Hyunwoo trots up to you. “Mom wanted me to give you this.” He hands you a receipt and you’re confused by it for a second before common sense dictates to turn it over.

Her phone number.

At the sight of this, you try to think back and remember if you ever kept any of Taekwoon’s family’s numbers on your phone. It doesn’t take long for the answer to pop up. No. You deleted everything after graduation.

Clearing your mind of such dreadful memories is easy now. You pat Hyunwoo’s head. “Thank you.”

“Wait!” Hyunwoo drops his duffle and zips it open before rifling inside looking for something. “Ha!” He shouts triumphantly. “Here, noona!” He holds a bigger piece of paper out to you. “Can you come to one of my games? We’re playing tomorrow!”

This is a harder request to answer. You look down at a familiar sports schedule that instantly takes you back to high school. This could easily have been either your volleyball schedule or his soccer schedule only with different school names and a different mascot.

“Let’s go Hyunwoo. Your mom wants you home early today.”

“Awww Uncle!”

You can clearly understand that Taekwoon just saved you from making any commitments to his nephew. It’s hard to say if it is for you or Hyunwoo though.

“Auntie, ice cream is waiting for me.” Mieun reminds you.

“Ice cream is waiting for us too, Uncle!”

You think back to Japan. You think back to this week. You think back to Taekwoon’s game and the evening afterwards.

“Okay.” You are still looking at the piece of paper. “I’ll go to your game.” There is no ignoring Taekwoon when you make a point in looking at him even when Hyunwoo claps his hands.

“Cool! You can be my cheerleader! Mom can’t anymore because she has my sister in her belly and my grandma and aunties are too busy.”

Taekwoon looks down at him and lightly hits Hyunwoo’s head. “She’s not your cheerleader.”

Hyunwoo frowns up at him. “Why not?”

“Why not?” you ask too.

Taekwoon gives you a meaningful look.

It takes a second for his message to click in your mind. Your glare is immediate.