The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:9

Dark tones sounded melodically from the living room as Minho stepped inside.

"We're leaving."

The tunes faded abruptly. Sooyoung was still touching the cold keys under her trembling fingers.

"All right." She did not turn around, so Minho could not look into her face. Quickly her chest rose and fell.

When he turned to head to his car, he remained standing for a moment. Even if Naeun was going to give up the hobby, why didn't Sooyoung want to see her daughter ride for the first time? Why wasn't she happy that Naeun would have a new experience today and laugh a lot and have fun? He took a deep breath and exhaled.

"You're sure you don't want to come?" his deep voice rang out in the silence.

In these moments, he no longer recognised Sooyoung. She was no longer Sooyoung, she was his wife now. Sooyoung had often sneaked away in the past to spend what little free time they both had, with him. If his wife changed her mind, he would have to quickly put the other shirt he had put on the passenger seat in the luggage compartment. And Sooyoung would certainly have changed her mind, but his wife wouldn't.

In Sooyoung's mind, the path forked. She wanted to be a good role model for her daughter. She wanted to show her that with hard work, you could achieve anything. But you could only become the best at something if you kept going. You had to give up some things and use the time to practise. She knew that very well.

But a quiet voice inside her wondered if maybe riding was in Naeun's future after all. Maybe her husband was right and that was what she wanted to do now. But as quickly as the voice rose, it fell silent again. Naeun would probably lose interest in that too. Sooyoung would not have missed anything. She would only have wasted precious time. Her daughter would see that her mother stood by one hobby and practised over and over again. No matter how good she was, no matter how many prizes she had won. Then Naeun would understand everything for sure. In front of Sooyoung, the path forked and determined she took the route she already knew.

"I still have to practise."

Even if this route was dark and lonely, she knew it and knew how to walk it.

Taemin looked at Jinki with a blank expression. He always looked like that when he was upset. Sometimes Jinki wished his little brother would show more emotion. That he would yell at him when he was mad or roll his eyes. Anything. But Taemin wasn't like that. When something didn't suit him, he would get quiet and said nothing.

After their mother's death, he had tried to talk to Taemin about it. But it always came to the same thing. He would talk and Taemin might listen. Since he never gave a proper answer when he did answer, Jinki couldn't figure it out. And now Taemin was looking at him again with that empty look.

"She's seven years old and probably won't eat you." He joked around, trying hard to sound casual.

Taemin hadn't said anything about it when Jinki asked him to fill in for him today.

"Jjong needs help at the café and I can't leave him hanging." Explained his older brother.

'We need your help too. You told father you'd take care of it, didn't you?' Taemin wanted to break things down for him, but remained silent. He had already taught many children, that was not his problem. But the family was from the city. And Taemin knew people from the city were different. They were casual, had no moral compass to guide them. But he had one. And he couldn't let Jinki not help his best friend when he needed him.

"I can't ask dad. You know how he feels about people from the big city." Jinki said in a sombre tone, as if he were telling a scary story.

But he didn't have to try any harder. Taemin had already made up his mind. And Taemin knew what his father felt about these people. And he understood why their father stayed away from them. Only this morning, before Taemin and his father had gone to church, their father had read in the newspaper that that a man had taken his own life in the city. Even though the man was still young and had his whole life ahead of him. Taemin thought about what would drive someone to do such a thing and prayed that the man's soul would find peace. "Something like that would never happen here." Said their father, gesturing to the Lord's Prayer.

"All right." Taemin finally said.

"And that's why you're the best brother in