_____________________

          _____________________

The last thing Taehyung wanted was to get Mrs. Lee fired.

She had been his family's housekeeper for as long as Taehyung had been alive. Mrs. Lee was a short, bright, woman. Her skin reminded Taehyung of milk; clear, creamy, and exceptionally white. He always wondered how she managed to keep such a pale profile when her commute to work was half public transportation, half walking. She was an older Korean woman, somewhere in her fifties or sixties. She took her job very seriously, often shooing Taehyung and his older brother, Seok-Jin, out of her way during her shifts but she was warm. She had a smile that could allay all your fears, but over the last few months, the smile stopped reaching her eyes. Beneath the surface, Taehyung could always sense a sort of sadness radiating off her. As if she were carrying a huge, invisible, burden on her shoulders.

The summer before his ninth birthday, he met the burden.

"I'll give you two honey cookies if you keep this a secret," Mrs. Lee had told him, presenting the sugary bribe in a small white box.

Taehyung nodded but he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be keeping a secret. She hadn't said what it was yet. To Taehyung, however, that didn't really matter. He would have done anything for honey cookies. They were his favorite. He reached for the small box, but Mrs. Lee stopped him, taking the box with her as she disappeared behind the two large doors that led out to his family's garage. A few moments later, she reappeared, the box in her right hand and the hand of a little girl in her left. The girl was small, especially for her age. She had dark skin, and wild curly hair that covered most of her face and wore clothes that were too big for her.

Mrs. Lee gently pushed her forward, but the girl wouldn't look Taehyung in the face. "Taehyung, this is my granddaughter, Lucille."

Mrs. Lee nudged Lucille and she bowed, with Taehyung following. He smiled brightly at her and said, "Nice to meet you, Lucille." The name felt weird on his tongue, but he liked it all the same. When she didn't respond, he leaned in closer, inspecting her face as if she had some invisible tape over he needed to find and rip off. "Does she talk?"

Mrs. Lee nodded. "Yes, but she's still learning Korean. She began living with me a few months ago."

"How old is she?" Taehyung asked, looking up at Mrs. Lee and then back down at Lucille.

"Just a year younger than you," Mrs. Lee replied. "Now, I need you to keep her a secret, okay? There's a honey cookie in it for you if you can hide her in your room until the end of my shift each day. It'll be just for the summer. Can you do that for me?"

Only a smidge of skepticism hit him as he looked Lucille over again. His parents were out for the moment, which is probably why she decided to ask him at that moment. His older brother was at a day camp until four, and there wasn't a single doubt in his mind that Seok-Jin would have ratted Mrs. Lee out on the spot. He was a narc, a trait that annoyed Taehyung to no end; but Taehyung was different from his family. Mrs. Lee knew that. He had a good heart.

Hearing the familiar sounds of the garage door opening, he and Mrs. Lee quickly turned their heads to the double doors. His parents were home. He had to make a decision fast. Quickly, he took Lucille's hand and ran up to his room with her, forgetting about the cookies in Mrs. Lee's hands.

"Your house is huge." It was the first thing out of Lucille's mouth. Taehyung noted how soft her voice was. "Are you rich?"

Taehyung shrugged, unsure of how to answer. Instead, in Korean, he replied, "I guess."

"What do your parents do?" Her grandmother had been right. It was clear she was still learning Korean as her pronunciation was a bit off but for someone still learning, it was decent enough.

"My dad owns banks, and my mom doesn't do anything, but she likes to paint," Taehyung replied and then decided to change the subject to something more interesting. "Hey, when’s your birthday?"

“September 15th. When’s yours?”

“The same! So, we’re like twins!” Taehyung exclaimed excitedly.

“I guess,” Lucille said with a giggle. “Can I call you Tae Tae?”

Taehyung regarded this for a moment. He never really had a nickname and while he found the nickname from Lucille to be a little odd, he liked the way she said it. So, with a smile, he replied, “Only if I can call you Luce.”

Lucille shrugged. Her parents had called her ‘Luci’ and her grandmother rarely used her name, choosing to call her ‘baby’ instead. But Luce sounded cool. It sounded mature. “Yeah, you can call me that.”

Taehyung smiled. “Cool. You wanna see my RC truck?”

They spent the day together, attempting to communicate with his little knowledge of English and her limited knowledge of Korean. They played with his toys, ate lots of fresh fruit and Lucille tried Jolly Pong for the first time. Anytime he felt his parents closing in, he'd hide her under his desk, and he'd feign studying until they left. As their time came to a close, Taehyung found he sort of liked having Lucille around.

It went on like this for three summers and several holidays.

They found new hiding spots over the years. Better ones. Like Taehyung's cabinet under his bathroom sink or the farthest corner of his large closet where he kept his laundry baskets. With lessons from Taehyung, her Korean improved and Taehyung found he spoke better English as well. They spent their days eating fresh fruit, listening to music from the West, and playing video games. They even, at one point, snuck an entire cake back to his bedroom. Lucille liked being with Taehyung at his house. His home was so much bigger than the tiny house she shared with her grandmother. His parents' jobs seemed so much more interesting than what her grandmother did, and Taehyung was just about the most interesting person she had ever met. They had gotten accustomed to seeing each other every summer or on their days off from school, but then, things changed.

"Can I show you something?" Taehyung asked, handing Lucille a slice of his peach. It was the first day of summer and the first time Taehyung had seen Lucille in months. He had been ecstatic about their reunion, Lucille as well.

"What is it?" She popped the slice in and held out her hand for another. Taehyung obliged, plopping two more slices in her hand.

"It's in my mom's office," Taehyung answered, peering out his window. It was an hour past noon, which meant his parents were enjoying lunch outside on the veranda. "You remember the way?"

Lucille nodded, swallowing the last bits of her peach as she and Taehyung went about their usual routine. In the last year or so, they had concocted a way for Lucille to explore the house with Taehyung and remain unseen by his parents. Their first few attempts had been rough and full of close c