“Hello” I greeted the person on the other side of the door that somehow resembles Miss Kim. I smiled at the little boy in her arms and waved at him. “Hello. Are you looking for Yongsun-unnie?”

“I am. You must be Wheein?”

Oh, she knows me.

“Yes,” I answered cautiously.

“Hi, Wheein. I’m sorry to be here so suddenly but it’s finally nice to meet you. My name is Yonghee. I’m Yongsun’s older sister and this is my son, Jihoon”

Miss Kim has an older sister?

She frowned at my clueless face. “She didn’t tell you about me?”

I shook my head.

She mumbled something under her breath like a scolding and in that instant, I could already tell she’s more intimidating than Miss Kim.

“Can we get inside? I need to tell her something”

I was second-guessing whether to allow her in or not. I didn’t want to let strangers in the house but if she is really Miss Kim’s sister, then she is not a stranger anymore. But how sure will I be that she is really her sister?

Seeing the little boy in her arms and the bag right by her feet, I decided to open the door wider but stayed wary of her.

“Unnie is still in the shower. She’ll join us afterwards. I guess you can just stay in the living room while you wait?”

“Yes. And please tell her to be fast. I am in a hurry today”

“Sure”

The boy, Jihoon, glanced up at me with curiosity. His eyebrows furrowed as he stared at my orange hair. It probably caught his eyes, making me smile at him.

I excused myself and went back to the bedroom. I knocked on the bathroom door before I said, “Unnie, are you done? Someone’s looking for you outside”

“Who?”

“Your sister”

She was silent after that. I could only hear the splashing of water inside the bathroom before it also went quiet.

“You didn’t tell me you have a sister”

The bathroom door opened and our gazes easily found each other. I was slightly pouting at her while she only had an unreadable expression on her face.

“I didn’t know if we’re supposed to introduce each other to our families now”

I stepped and allowed her to head to her closet to change. I followed her there and said, “I wanted to bring you to Jeonju on the holidays so it wouldn’t disrupt our work”

“I was also planning to introduce you to her too”

“When?”

“Soon. Not this soon but soon”

My lips frowned some more as I continued to watch her. Something about her response didn’t make me feel good but I ignored it. After all, it wasn’t my business.

“She knows about me. You talked to her about me?”

“Yes. I told you I planned to introduce you. Baby, help me tie my shirt please.” She gathered her hair up as she turned her back to me. “I planned to introduce you someday but work caught up. It just didn’t feel right then”

“Okay…” I allowed myself to relax and ignore this unwelcome feeling. I trust her, I did say that. “And you have a nephew? He’s cute, by the way”

“Oh, he brought Jack”

“Jack?” I asked, pronouncing the name in my accent.

“Cute” she whispered, turning over when I was done to softly pinch my cheek. “It’s his English name. I believe Yonghee-unnie introduced you to him as Jihoon?”

“Yes”

She wore some shorts next as she continued to explain. “His English name is Jack Roth and then my sister named him Kim Jihoon for his Korean name”

My eyebrows furrowed as I asked, “He has two different family names? Shouldn’t it be just the same?”

“Yes. It should. I’ll explain it to you later, baby.” She held my hand and walked us out of the bedroom. “Let me introduce you to my sister and her son”

I giggled as I followed her out.

Her sister and nephew were patiently waiting in the living room. Her sister was talking quietly to her son and the little boy was just adorably listening to his Mommy. He’s so behaved and so polite too.

“Unnie…” Miss Kim called.

We joined them in the living room and sat on the couch perpendicular to theirs. Her hand was still holding mine and her sister took notice of it, making me shy.

“I believed you’ve met each other already earlier but let me introduce you to my girlfriend. Wheein, this is Yonghee-unnie, my older sister. This is Jihoon, my nephew.” She squeezed my hand as she turned to me. “And this is Wheein, my girlfriend. Now… What brings you here?”

“I need you to babysit Jihoon for me. I have an emergency at work. No one can watch over him but you”

“No,” Miss Kim said, which surprised me, making me pout at her.

“I’ll get him first thing tomorrow”

“No, unnie” she stubbornly answered. “Wheein and I have somewhere to go”

“Then bring him with you”

“No”

I held Miss Kim’s arm, grabbing her attention. “It’s fine, unnie. He can come with us” I whispered, intervening. If she’s worried about me, I don’t mind if we bring Jihoon with us. I can even help her watch over him.

“Wheein-ah… it’s supposed to be our day”

“I don’t mind, unnie. I don’t think he’s going to give us any problem”

She frowned with her eyes begging. “But I was looking forward to spending time with you alone. We didn’t get to go out over the weekend or the other weekend”

I could only laugh at her petty excuses but most especially, she looked so cute as she whined in front of me.

“Unnie, we spent almost all the time together. It’s not like we’ve been apart for a year” I reasoned.

“But not on a date. We’ve never been on a date for a long time now” she argued.

“We had so many dates this month already”

“Still!”

I reached to cup her cheek as I laughed at her lousy attempts, which is very unusual of her. “It’s fine, really. And besides, it’s your nephew. Don’t you want to spend time with your nephew?”

“I didn’t say that” she whispered but still continued to express her displeasure by groaning.

As I glanced at her nephew, I caught her older sister watching us with a soft smile, looking entertained and amused at our interaction. Our gazes met and I could see her silently thanking me. I returned her smile with a small nod.

“Your hair…” Jihoon spoke for the first time as she pointed at me. His cute and shy voice made me smile so wide.

“Do you want to touch it?”

He glanced at his mother, silently asking permission. When he got it, he smiled so wide and excitedly got down off his mother’s lap. He walked towards me and I noticed how he walked around the coffee table to reach me instead of in front of Miss Kim. Like he’s purposely avoiding her.

I patted my lap and asked, “Do you want to sit on my lap?”

He glanced at his mother again and when he got another nod, he gave me the widest grin as he nodded at me.

I lifted him off of his feet and let him sit sideways on my lap. His tiny hands went to reach for my strands the moment he was seated comfortably.

“How old are you, Jihoon?”

He raised for fingers as he said, “Four”

I wasn’t able to resist pinching his cheek because he’s so cute. “Do you go to school now?”

“Yes,” he said with a nod. He pointed at my cheek. “You have a hole on your cheek”

I giggled and wrapped my arms around him, unable to contain my giddiness. “That’s not a hole, Jihoon. That’s my dimple”

“Can I?” His index finger is ready, which made me understand his question.

I offered my cheek to him before he poked it. Both of us were giggling as he repeatedly did it. But then, one look from Miss Kim and he shied back away, curling himself like a ball as he hid his face from her.

“Yah!” I elbowed her arm while patting Jihoon’s back. “Don’t scare him”

“I wasn’t,” she insisted. “I was just watching you two”

I brushed Jihoon’s hair so he’d show his face again. “Are you afraid of your Auntie Yongsun, Jihoon?”

“Auntie Yongyong,” Miss Kim’s sister corrected, which made me smile as I remembered how Hyejin calls her that.

“Are you scared of your Auntie Yongyong?” I asked again.

Jihoon nodded.

“She’s not mean, Jihoon. She just looks mean but she’s not. Right, unnie?” I asked Miss Kim beside me, giving her a pointed look.

“No, I’m not”

“See?”

“Can I just stay with you?” he asked instead and the pout made it unbearable to say no.

“Of course but your Auntie Yongyong will be with us.” I bent down to whisper into his ears. “She just gives close attention to the people she care but she’s not bad, okay?”

Somehow, it convinced him as he nodded his head. Although he doesn’t totally agree with me just by looking at his pout.

“We’ll have fun.” I glanced towards his mother and asked, “Is he allergic to dogs and cats? And does he also have food allergies?”

Miss Kim’s sigh of defeat was so funny but I held myself from laughing as I waited for her sister’s response.

“Not that I know of but he’s fine. He is also not a picky eater and can feed himself. He just needs help in cutting food into small pieces”

I turned to Miss Kim next. I was torn between pouting or grinning to sway her. Turns out, I didn’t have to do anything because she already gave up even before I made an effort.

“Do I have a choice?” she asked and I laughed as I shook my head no. “He can come with us”

I held Jihoon close to me so he wouldn’t fall when I leaned to Miss Kim to give her a kiss on her cheek. “Thank you! We’ll go to the animal shelter, Jihoon. Do you like puppies and kittens?” I asked the four-year-old boy on my lap.

He gave me the brightest smile as he nodded his head with excitement.

I couldn’t help myself. I hugged him close to me because he’s so cute. “You’re so cute, Jihoon-ah”

“So that settles it then?” Miss Kim’s sister asked.

I lifted Jihoon off my lap so he can say goodbye to his mother. And then we headed to the front door to walk her out.

“It was nice to finally meet you, Wheein. My sister has been hiding you from me. If it not for that emergency at work, I might not able to see you at all”

“It was nice to meet you too… Ah….”

“Unnie. Yonghee-unnie”

I have been struggling with what to call her since I opened the door. I wasn’t quite sure if I should be casual or not, after all, it’s our first meeting. And she looks more intimidating too. I still don’t know how to act around her but she’s nice.

“It was nice to meet you too, unnie” I said with a shy smile.

“And thank you for allowing Jihoon to go with you. He likes you too, unlike my sister over here.” She glared at Miss Kim, making me smile. “But he’s a good boy. And he’s very behaved. I’m confident he won’t give you a problem”

“Right…”

I elbowed Miss Kim again, causing her to whisper an apology, while I unabashedly smiled at Yonghee-unnie.

“I’m sure he is. I’ll make sure he’ll have a fun time—”

“No,” Miss Kim complained, “or else we can’t have more time for ourselves now. We’ll end up babysitting all the time”

I crouched down beside Jihoon and wrapped him in a hug. I squished our cheeks together, which he found funny as he giggled, while I pouted at his Auntie Yongyong.

“Can you resist such cuteness? I don’t think so, unnie…”

She mumbled something in English but I didn’t know what it was.

My knowledge in the foreign language has improved so much from my constant exposure to it; having to spend time with Miss Kim and Hyejin. Wendy-unnie has been constantly teaching me too. And the internet is such a huge help if any of those three are not around.

But because I was far from her, her voice was low, and her accent made it even more difficult, I didn’t understand what she said. It must’ve been something funny based on how hard Yonghee-unnie was laughing.

The shelter has had two new cats since we last visited last week. Their names are Oyen and Panko. Panko is a domestic longhair while Oyen is a domestic shorthair cat. And Jihoon likes both of them. He also likes our pungsan dog, Baram.

The cats, whether new or not in the shelter, often stay in the playhouse. For Oyen, however, he loves the attention. So he keeps asking for pets from Jihoon and us. Baram has been playing catch and doing zoomies, which entertained Jihoon a lot.

“Be careful with his tummy. He might scratch you” I carefully reminded Jihoon.

He’s now sitting on my lap with Oyen displaying his fluffy belly in front of us.

“He doesn’t like it?” he asked in this adorable high-pitched baby voice.

“Most cats don’t like it so we’ll just be careful, okay? Your Mommy will not like it if she sees a scratch on you”

“Okay”

He brushed Oyen’s head, which Oyen loved just from the way he kept on rolling on the grass. Although Jihoon petted him slowly, he was still a little clumsy given that he’s still a toddler but that makes him cuter and delightful.

I gr