Ten years ago, when I was only 14, Uncle Sangmin had just moved in next door to my mom and I. I remember it like it was just yesterday: I was coming up to our apartment door when a man was moving towers of boxes into the apartment next to ours, on his own. Usually, when people move, they hire moving companies, but this man decided to do it all on his own.

I guess I hadn’t realized that I was still standing there watching him because when he stopped and greeted me, I was both surprised and embarrassed. I greeted him back respectfully before finally unlocking the door into the apartment and went in. My mom was already at the front door and welcomed me back in a rush before poking her head out to take a look into the hall way.

“What’s the matter?” I asked as I watched her sneak a peek at our new neighbor.

“That’s a celebrity,” She merely responded before quickly coming in and shutting the door, almost as if she didn’t want to be caught looking at him. But that was when I realized why he looked so familiar. Everyone knew who he was about now, even 15 year olds were talking about his business because of what they had seen online and on the news.

‘The King of Debt’, was what we called him. There was no need to even question why he decided to live in this apartment building instead of a more luxurious one, and it made sense that he was moving things on his own.

I finally placed my backpack down on the couch and followed my mom into the kitchen. She was making dinner for me but it seemed like she was making a whole feast, “What’s this all for, mom?” She was quiet at first but then she pointed next door and I knew right away what she meant. I knew she felt bad for Uncle Sangmin from the start, but it felt like she was pushing it. “Are you inviting him over tonight?”

My mom shook her head as she turned the stove off, “No, no, you bring some over to him tonight. Nobody will say no to a child.” I didn’t protest and stayed quiet. I was innocently curious of how he was living, if he was alright, and how did everything affect him. So I stayed quiet in compliance.

After three hours, my mom fed me then packed food into containers and packed the containers in a traveling bag. She helped me put my shoes on just to walk next door and helped me place the bag onto my shoulder. She cupped my face to look at me and reminded me to be nice, then sent me off with her delivery.

When I stepped out, there was no sign of a mover beside the broken down boxes beside his front door. He had finally finished moving in and hopefully was resting now. I knocked on the door and a few minutes later, he opened it while chewing on something. He looked down at me with a both surprised and confused expression. “My mom and I welcome you to the neighborhood,” I said quietly and shyly before carrying the bag closer to him. He must have noticed me struggling because he carried it from me.

”You really didn’t have to, I’m even eating already...but, thank you.” He said in response. “Where is your mom?” I quietly pointed next door, and he nodded in understanding. He looked down at the bag then thanked me again. “Have you eaten yet?” I merely nodded again before we both fell silent. “Ah, wait here,” He said before rushing back inside with the traveling bag of food, leaving me to wait in compliance.

I noticed my mom quietly peek her head out and saw me alone. Her expression alone asked me where he was and I pointed at his door. She quietly came out to me at this point and not long after, Sangmin opened his door again and right away greeted my mother. “Ah, hello, I’m Sangmin.” My mom quickly said she knew who he was and introduced herself as a fan and as Mrs. Lee. My mom was only a few years older than him, but she always went around introducing herself as an old lady. She then introduced me to him for me, “This is Hyorin, by the way.” He acknowledged the name before handing over the bag in his hand full of things.

“It’s seeds. They’re a gift in return. There’s a few packs to grow and bags of dried ones to eat.” It was an unusual gift in my opinion but my mom and I thanked him for it before wishing him a good meal and a good night then returned to our own home.

“He’s still good looking,” My mother quietly complimented him to herself. She rushed back into the kitchen and finished cleaning it up. I on the other hand brought the bag of seeds with me to the living room and looked through it. I placed the dried seeds to the side for my mom and picked up the packs to grow. I nevered imagained myself caring to grow any plants, but the packs came in seeds of both flowers and vegetables. It was interesting to me, so I made a note to self to look up them up the next day and grow them over the weekend.

~

A couple days passed, and on Sunday morning, I decided to finally grow the sunflower seeds Sangmin had gifted us. I checked online the night before and learned how to take care of them. They didn’t need much but water and sun, so I decided to plant them beside the kitchen window. I found an old pot my mom used to grow an already dying plant and pulled the plant out to replace it with the seeds. I gave the dry soil some water then used a chair to climb onto the sink and place the pot on the window sill. I stared at it for a moment, doubts of it growing with the old soil and the small amount of sunlight coming to mind, before jumping off the sink and returning the chair to the dining table.

I went back into my room to study some more when I heard a knock at the door. I went straight to it and opened it, only to find Uncle Sangmin standing there with a smile. “Hello, I came to return these,” He said more comfortably this time. He held his hand out with the traveling bag and I took it from him.

He thanked me again then asked where my mom was. “She’s getting groceries for dinner tonight,” I responded.

“And your father?” He innocently asked after. “I don’t have one,” I simply said.

He murmured an, “I see,” before falling silent again, and that was when I invited him inside. He asked if I was alone before I simply took his hand and pulled him inside of our apartment. At that moment I had remembered that I had planted one of the seeds he gave us and wanted to show him. “I planted one of the seeds,” I said innocently, “Let me show you.” He didn’t protest and allowed me to lead him further into the home to the kitchen. I placed the bag down on the kitchen counter then pointed at the pot on the window sill. “Look! It’s inside of there,” I said excitedly with a small smile.

He reached for it to look inside of it and clicked his tongue, “I don’t think it’s going to grow in this old soil.” I stayed quiet, knowing well of why he would doubt its growth. He placed it back anyway then turned to me. “How about I get you a whole new pot and a bag of soil one of these days? Then you can plant more.” I smiled again only bigger this time then nodded in agreement.

“Hyo? I’m home,” Mom called out as she came inside the door. Uncle Sangmin rushed out of the kitchen to greet her and I could hear my mom almost curse in shock. She greeted him in return before quickly asking why he was over. I came out from the kitchen as well as he started to explain to her how I wanted to show him my plant. He apologized for coming in when she was away, and she quickly accepted the apology only to ask him to stay for lunch. He tried declining the invitation, but my mother was a firm woman and with her talent, he had to agree. She led him to the couch to sit and make himself comfortable and I followed.

On the outside, he looked like a real tough guy. Someone who isn’t as nice as he has shown himself to be. I sat a little far from him and looked at him curiously. I’m sure he noticed me staring and smiled at me. That’s when I moved on my own closer to him. “I don’t have a dad,” I repeated from earlier. He nodded in knowing. “Can I come to you when I have questions about men?” I could tell he was surprised but then laughed it off before agreeing to the idea. I thanked him before getting off the couch to grab the remote and turn the tv on.

We watched silently together for awhile before he spoke up, “Hyorin, how old were you again?”

I corrected him to call me Hyo instead then replied, “I’m fourteen.” He nodded then turned back to the tv.

Not long after that, he questioned me again, “What kind of questions would a fourteen year old have about men, anyway?” I could tell he was honestly curious about it, but I only shrugged. Only because I didn’t have any, at least not yet. We stayed silent like that for awhile until my mom came into the living room with a plate of cake and drinks to join us. She had left her pot on the stove to boil while she entertained our guest. “Oh you don’t have to treat me this much, really,” He told my mom with an embarrassed smile.

“Don’t worry about it, I want to,” She sat down on the floor beside the coffee table and started to serve him a plate of the cake. “Mr. Sangmin, I was such a big fan of yours. You are truly talented,” She didn’t hesitate to bring up his past and it only made him laugh in more embarrassment. He began to eat the cake since it was served to him and thanked her both for it and the compliment.

My mom went on about how shocked she was that he was living so close, but never once mentioned about his struggles. I remember her telling me to never bring it up the night he moved in, ‘He hears about it enough on the radio, we need to be nice neighbors,’ She had told me. I’ve done my best to keep all of my questions to myself up til now, but I really was anxious to know everything.

I left the room to go back into my own room and decided to bring my homework out to the living room with me. The adults both watched me and my mom complimented the fact that I never procrastinated on my work and called me a good student. With that, she left the living room to go back into the kitchen. I sat next to uncle Sangmin again and looked at him. He was looking at me too with a smile, “It’s good that you focus on your work, keep it up, alright?” I nodded as if I didn’t hear that plenty of times before already.

“I have a question about men,” I suddenly said. He gave me that same surprised expression to stayed silent to let me continue talking, “Are all men irresponsible with money?” He started chuckling in an embarrassed manner and turned his head away. I continued, “Mom said my dad was terrible with money too. She said with money, he wasn’t a man. She was the one who had to handle it.” My mom quickly entered the living room and came straight to me. I had fallen silent when I saw her and froze.

She grabbed my arm and forced me to stand up, “Say sorry!” She firmly said, smacking my bottom in a scolding way, only not too hard. I complied and quickly bowed my head in apology while yelling out the words, ‘I’m sorry’. She apologized for my rudeness as well and explained how quiet yet straightforward I normally am. Uncle Sang-min, shocked, merely shook his hands and said it was okay. He told her not to worry about it and invited her onto the couch to sit and relax. I picked my head back up and followed her to the couch. My mom continued to apologize anyway that it now sounded like an argument of apologies.

We all fell silent in awkwardness after that but then he spoke up again, “I knew everyone would know my situation by now, so please don’t worry about hiding it or acting like you don’t,” he said reassuringly. “As you can tell, I had to move to a smaller and more affordable place. This was the only place that I found that was both affordable and comfortable,” He explained. “But I never would have imagined a family as friendly as you both would be staying in a place like this.” He fell silent again then smiled slightly to himself. “This encounter has honestly comforted me more than my celebrity friends who still have everything.” My mother hung her head. I knew she felt worried and sorry for the man who was now our next door neighbor.

“This place is nice alone,” He complimented. “But I think it’s better knowing that you two are my neighbors. My first night here, I had nothing but old ramen packets. I was so hungry from having nothing to eat since morning and moving, I decided to cook three packs. I regretted it quickly because that meant I wouldn’t have much to eat for the next coming days. As soon as I started to pitifully eat the ramen, an angel came to my door and gave me food to eat.” He reached over to me and placed a hand on the top of my head with a smile so genuinely you couldn’t help but trust the tough man, “So I want you both to know that I’m already very grateful for everything, especially for treating me like any other person. If I wasn’t so poor...I know I would have given you both a better living space.”

I can tell my mom was touched from the way she sniffed at the end of his speech. She reached over to him and hugged him with me in between them, so I hugged him as well. “Please, do not hesitate to come over for any meals,” She told him. “Hyo, tell him too,” She forced me.

“Please come over anytime,” I simply said, and he chuckled. After a short while, he finally agreed with a nod and hugged us both.

“Thank you,” He said. “Thank you for everything and for everything to come.”