“Umma” I call umma as I enter the kitchen. She’s busy peeling off the onion to add to the steak she is cooking. “Do you need some help?” I ask and sneak in on her side to have a better look. Umma’s cooking has always smelled this good that my stomach starts to growl when I’m not even that hungry a while ago.

“It’s okay, dear, umma can handle it well.” She smiles as she moves from the counter to the stove to put in the chopped onions. “Where’s Myeon Hee?” She asks.

“She’s back in the garden to water the flowers.” I tell her. My mother smiles and looks at me.

“I was right.” She says. “The flowers in our garden are growing beautifully, and so she is. I see that she is such a wonderful person so I can’t even blame you for risking your life to save her.”

“She’s not a burden to you, right?” I ask to make sure. Of course I still want to know how long it is okay for her to stay with umma and appa.

“Why would she? She helps me out around the house. She waters the plants for me, and she’s eager to learn everything that I do. She pays a lot of interest to me, and since you’re not living with us, she has taken your place for quite a while now.” She chuckles.

“So that is why you are not calling me often and it’s always I who needs to make a call?” I say, sounding a bit jealous. “And whenever I call you, you will always tell me to call later after talking to you for just quite a while. That is why I go home. I feel like you’re not even missing me.” I utter and pout.

“I will not treat you like a baby from now on.” She looks at me and winks. “You see, when Myeon Hee arrived, I realized my Jinki isn’t as young as how I think he is. You’re old enough to even decide for yourself to save a girl from being almost killed. I’m sorry I’ve been treating you like a child, I miscounted your age and I thought you were still 16. Time flies, Jinki is already 23 now.” She says in a happy tone.

“Umma.” I look at her unbelievably. “Why are you suddenly like that?”

“Because Myeon Hee is already 18 but she acts as if she’s older than you, at least at home.” She says. “You’re saying you’ll be responsible for her welfare, but how can that happen if you act like a 12 year old kid?”

“I thought umma never wants me to go old.” I say in disappointed. It’s funny, to be honest, but teasing umma has been my forte ever since I was a kid. She gets all loving and warm when I start to talk to her like a child. I don’t know why it doesn’t have an effect to her right now, perhaps, she is really drawn with Myeon Hee’s presence.

“Imagine being an appa.” Umma suddenly says and looks at me. “Rather being an older brother, I feel like you should act more like an appa to her. I don’t know but… it’s cute. That’s why Jinki should act like a real man now… just like how you seem to be when you dance to Lucifer.”

“Out of all the songs, it really should be Lucifer, huh?” I chuckle at mom’s cute conversation with me.

“Onew in Lucifer is the manliest form of Jinki.” Mom declares and I laugh out loud. That is really funny. I didn’t know Jinki has many forms. “Right. I should start calling you Onew from now on.” She decides.

“What is the right thing to do to become manlier, umma?” I ask her and she thinks for a while.

“Stop doing your gummy grins.” She looks at me and winks, and then she walks away to get something outside. I still laugh like a kid and follow her. I always want to converse like this to umma.

“Aren’t we going to adopt her to be my real sibling by law?” I ask her and she just shakes her head.

“She had enough of being adopted and bought. Rather than getting her to be with us legally, we should help her find her real parents.” She looks at me. “That way, she’ll feel better will have some peace of mind.”

“We’re not adopting her?” I ask again.

She shakes her head. “But you should come here more often. She only opens up to you. The story you heard from her, it was her first time telling it. Actually, this is the first time she has talked that much. It only shows how comfortable she is around you.”

“She’ll open up more soon. We just need to wait for her.” I say and my mother nods.

“Do you want to ask her for a walk?” My mother asks after a while. “You made her smile, I think you can make her go out for a bit as well. I already tried to ask her to go to the park with me, but she’s afraid to do so. You’re appa already asked her to have a stroll with the car but she refused as well. You should try.”

I nod and proceed outside to the garden to see Myeon Hee. I see her standing on the same position where she was at just a while ago when I arrived. “Myeon Hee-ah.” I call her softly and she immediately turns around meeting eye contact with me. I smile. She smiles back. I slowly make my way beside her.

“Do you know what your name means?” I ask her and she nods.

“Cotton.” She says. “Umma told me your friend gave that name to me during the times when I’m losing myself.”

“Taemin said you have such cottony cheeks.” I smile. “You should meet them once in a while again. They want to see you and they will be happy to know you’re fine.” She just smiles at me and nods. I face her and reach for her head to pat it gently. “We cannot forget what happened in the past… for it will always be forever part of us. But right now, I want you to forget everything and consider us your new family. Don’t worry, you’ll face everything with us in the future so please stop worrying and just trust Onew-appa… I mean oppa.” Umma’s words that I should be Myeon Hee’s father have gotten a lot into me. She chuckles and I feel relieved when I realize she’s starting to loosen up. “Good to see you laugh. Now… I want to go out for a while and see the park.” I say. “I haven’t been here for long and I always go for a walk whenever I go home. Can you join oppa?” I ask and she looks at me, confused and not able to answer me immediately. “Appa won’t take no for an answer.” I hold her hand and gently pull her to a walk.