With a subtle sigh, Chanyeol steps into the train. It is still the same with any other day. A crowd of humans, each strikingly different from each other and yet possess the similar air about them rush into the train together. Chanyeol claims his usual spot (if he isn’t squished in the middle of human sea) nearby the door. He has always preferred standing up so he doesn’t have to awkwardly leave his seat when an elder or a disabled person walks in. Saves him from another complication of his life.

Chanyeol takes the subway everyday to go back and forth between his workplace and where he lives. Just like everyone else on the train, well, most of them. It is quite the distance between the two places, which is exactly twelve stations apart. There are lots of underlying stories between the twelve stations which keep him entertained enough throughout the lengthy traveling time. Between the second and third station, there is a favorite local supermarket called ‘Hello Mart’. He sees housewives entering and leaving the warehouse building in the morning with fresh vegetables and fish in their hands. Sometimes, less-known local singers would sing in front of the establishment to promote their songs. He became a fan to a couple of them since then.

Nearby the fifth station, is a fancy boarding school which a lot of the rich kids go to. He couldn’t be so sure about that but that is what the kids from other schools nearby (who take the same train) talk about. There isn’t much interesting stories about the school, except for the fact that one of the most famous young celebrities in South Korea at the moment used to attend that school. He also heard from the schoolgirls’ gossips that that guy called Sai or Kai -or whatever he is called- is still dating his girlfriend whom he met at that very school.

Those kind of stories flood into his mind as he passes the stations day by day. Sometimes, he will see something new from time to time, like that girl who forgot her umbrella in the train three days ago. Today, he sees her with a new umbrella.

Out of the many instances that he observes, his personal favorite would be the traditional dance class which is located nearby the tenth station. When the train stops, he has enough seconds to glance into the glass building and observe the activities held in it. There is a girl, probably his age, who has drawn his interest quite recently. There are days when she is seen teaching to young children, there are also times when she practices with other girls her age. Both instances he had seen her elegantly clad in a hanbok; something he doesn’t see everyday. Today is that day when she dances. Just like every other days, she is always smiling. A little too happy, a little too oblivious of the outside world. He feels a little jealous sometimes, that he could no longer be innocently happy like that. Chanyeol feels a little urge to leave the train and continues watching her moving her limbs in those elegant, gentle motions, but he is too tired to even consider that.

-

Chanyeol grunts when he hears the door knocks.

That must be Baekhyun again.

“The door is not locked!” His deep voice booms in the small single apartment, despite his cheeks being filled with ramen noodles.

Baekhyun comes in on the cue. With a desperate look on his face, he throws himself on the floor and kneels in front of Chanyeol.

“Chanyeol, I need food!” Baekhyun begs. From the way he dresses, the all-black code and the thick eyeliner adorning the pair of small eyes, he probably just returned from one of his gigs.

“Just so you know, this is the last pack of my ramen,” Chanyeol pointed with the chopsticks in his hands towards the ramen-filled pot on the foldable low table he often uses for dining.

“Yeah, and sharing is caring,” Baekhyun adds before he grabs the chopsticks in Chanyeol’s hands. The latter rolls his eyes and let the former does as he wishes. There is no point arguing with Baekhyun. He must be the most carefree person on Earth, living as he likes all the time.

“Did you just got back from a gig? Don’t you have money to even buy food?” Chanyeol asks Baekhyun who is stuffing himself with the warm instant meal. He behaves like someone who hasn’t eaten for days. He probably is. Both of them are the same; barely scraping by at the end of the day. Baekhyun with his unstable choice of career while Chanyeol with his low-paying jobs.

“It was an illegal gig but a very well-received one. You should have seen all those girls screaming for my name,” Baekhyun chuckles, “I feel like a god.”

“The point is?”

“The point is, the police raided the place in the middle of the gig, and the guy who keeps the entrance fees ran away with the money. I’m going to hunt down that bastard first thing tomorrow morning.”

Chanyeol chuckles, shaking his head. He leans against the wall and continues watching Baekhyun stuffing himself with his food.

“Can I finish this?” Baekhyun pauses briefly to ask. Chanyeol nods so the smaller guy proceeds with his intention. Chanyeol still has free lunch at work tomorrow so he isn’t always worried about food. Baekhyun, on the other hand, has always gone around as he is, penniless or not. He insists that he keeps singing and writing songs even though he doesn’t always has fresh paycheck waiting in his bank account every new month. When he already uses up his money for rent or the band’s instruments, he sometimes cut down his expenses on his food. That is the kind of guy he is, and yet that bright smile on his face never ceases no matter what. Those who don’t know better might think he has a perfectly happy life. Baekhyun almost reminds Chanyeol of that girl. The girl with the perfect smile he almost wanted to slap that smile off her face.

“How long are you going to live like this?” Chanyeol asks. It is an honest question, purely out of curiosity and Baekhyun understands that.

“I told you, until I hit it big!” Baekhyun laughs loudly, patting Chanyeol on the shoulder. 

Baekhyun adds, “we’re having a real deal next week. There’s this gig with all the most popular bands on Youtube performing. I heard people from recording agency will be there, scouting for new talent. He’ll definitely get blown off with our performance!”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“If he doesn’t then...” Baekhyun slides his arm down and puts it away from Chanyeol. He turns himself to face the same wall Chanyeol does and leans on the wall opposite of it. Baekhyun shrugs, “we’ll just try again next time then.”

“Aren’t you tired?”

Baekhyun pauses briefly, giving Chanyeol a slight weird look.

“Are you?” He asks back.

“Maybe. Unless my employer keeps his words and raise my salary by next month.”

“If he doesn’t?”

Chanyeol sighs, “I don’t know... All the better paying jobs needs at least high school diploma.”

“Are you going back to school?”

Chanyeol scoffs at the idea.

“I won’t be able to make ends meet that way. Besides, I don’t really want to go back to that.”

“You know... Have you ever thought that maybe your father doesn’t mean it when he told you to get lost?”

“Countless times. Maybe I’m just being stupid but I just can’t bring myself to forgive him for telling me that. And all the things he said before that.”

Baekhyun scratches the back of his neck. Honestly, the spot isn’t even itchy; he is just stalling the time to find a suitable answer to that.

“You know, for me, things do get tough a lot of the times if not all the times. But then, whenever I get to stand on the stage, nothing matters anymore. This might not be the best advice so you can ignore me, but maybe you should start doing the things you like instead of working your off to make more money only to feel this way at the end of the day.”

Baekhyun pauses again. His sharp eyes shift to the chili red guitar propped against one corner of the room.

“Plus, I’ve seen that pretty baby being neglected for way too long. You can join us whenever you feel like it, you know?”

He might not seem like it, but Chanyeol does realize that Baekhyun has always been on the lookout for him. For instance, he was the one who finds him a place to live, no matter how shabby or inconvenient the apartment is at times. Chanyeol is not complaining though since the rent is pretty cheap.

“Yeah... Thanks for the offer.”

-

It is another day at the records store. There weren’t a lot of people dropping by in the morning but more people begin to visit the store during lunch hours. The morning was quite leisurely for Chanyeol. He had fun putting his favorite music in the playlist on the store’s sound system. A few boxes of new cd’s arrived earlier so he decides to start putting them up. The bell chimes, indicating a new customer waking in. Another staff is in charge at the register so Chanyeol ignores them. Crouching low, Chanyeol buries himself into his work, even when the customer walks right next to him.

“Um, excuse me?”

“Yes?” Chanyeol looks up. He almost chokes on his saliva from being startled. It isn’t because she suddenly tapped his shoulder, but it’s because he recognizes her face. She is the dancing girl from the tenth station.

“Can you help me get that folk songs album at the top?” She points to the top row of cd’s on the wall. She smiles, this time politely compared to her lively smiles during her dance practice. She still seems genuine though.

Without another word, Chanyeol raises to his full height. He is taller than most guys, the girl looks surprised when Chanyeol stands up. Without much difficulty, Chanyeol stretches his hand and reach for that certain album. He hands her the small boxy package and she bows to him gratefully.

“Do you have more of this album? It’s really difficult to find this elsewhere.”

“Nope. That’s the only one left.”

She sighs, but quickly put on her smile again. She thanks him again. Chanyeol returns to his crouching position while she takes out her mobile phone and walks towards the reception counter while making a call.

“Hey, Minsun? I finally found that cd! But there’s only one copy of it left, so I’ll make a copy for you later, okay?” She continues to chat into the phone, laughing lightly from time to time. The conversation ends soon when she reaches the reception counter to make her payment.

So she listens to this kind of music. It is not a very popular genre among the general public, he guesses that explains her willing to travel far to get to this big record store. Chanyeol shrugs. He goes back to his work but he finds himself checking on her from time to time. To see if she buys anything else, if she chats with the cashier. Just, to find out a little bit more of her than her preference in music. He finds nothing else about her in the end. She went to the cashier and paid her stuff and left; and that’s about it.

-

It’s 6.30. Chanyeol walks into the train coach in leisure as if he has all the time in the world. If he put aside the matter of money, he really does. He doesn’t keep in touch with his family, he rarely make time for friends or relationship. Other than his very own detached life, he doesn’t have anything else. Even when he is crammed with the rest of these strangers in this tiny space, he still doesn’t feel like he is  a part of the world. Nothing will change whether he lives or dies, that is how he thinks of himself.

As always, as if he is the sole audience of this big stage called life, Chanyeol begins his observing habit.

When the train pass by the favourite local supermarket, Hello Mart, Chanyeol sees a rather large eye-catching sign. 70% off for salmon and beef. Maybe he should stop by that place before he goes home next time. Tomorrow would be perfect. He can fix a nice sushi set for himself.

I should get more nutritious food.

The train arrives at the fifth station. A horde of school boys and girls fill the coach he is in. Not long after that, enters a rather fragile looking old woman. The train starts moving again but nobody makes the attempt to give her a seat. If it isn’t for the crammed coach, the poor lady would have tumble all over the place everytime the train makes a corner.

Kids these days.

Chanyeol almost want to tell them off, but he reminds himself that there is no use to be so concerned of the surrounding. It’s not like he wants to be a hero or wish for a peaceful world. But still.

Chanyeol feels a little weird for being too concerned of the old lady. He looks back one more time, hoping that one of the kids would give up his seat for her. The train stops at another station. Thankfully some of the kids get off so the old lady finally gets to sit. Chanyeol still feels a little bothered though. Maybe he should be more ignorant next time. Save him another complication in his life.

-

Chanyeol stares at the plastic bag in front of this door. He bends to pick up a little note attached to it.

I caught the bastard. Here’s a little gift for you. We’re having a drink at my place tonight. Join us!

There’s no signature or name on the hand written note but Chanyeol is sure that it must be from Baekhyun. Chanyeol picks up the plastic bag and peeks inside. Kimchi flavored ramen. That is Baekhyun’s favorite flavor, but his least favorite.

.

Chanyeol unlocks the door and enters his small, musty apartment.

Chanyeol throws away his stuffs to the side and plops on the mattress at one side of the room. Suddenly, the image of her face fills his mind. As if losing control of his body, sequences of his memories since she stepped into the store begins to play themselves. Until she stood next to him. When he looked up, he saw a smile which forced itself to burn at the back of his eyes. Her lips moved, telling him to reach for the cd she had been looking for so long.

“Ugh.”

Chanyeol sits up and shakes his head. Why is he thinking of her? His eyes scan the room, looking for something which can distract him from these evading thoughts. His gaze finally rests on the red guitar at the foot of his mattress. He reaches for it and cradles the –what Baekhyun calls- ‘pretty baby’ on his lap.

His mind does get distracted from thinking about her when he begins to wonder if he still remembers how to play this thing. Before he even finishes reminiscing, his fingers already proved to him that they still remember. As if he was born with it, his fingers smoothly changes from one chord to the other, while the rest pluck the strings expertly. Chains of melodies fill up the room.

For a moment, the room seems different. It looks alive, somehow. Is it the music?

And then once again, that detailed image of her smile appears again at the back of his mind. At the same time, his fingers continue to dance along the fret board and over the strings. An unfamiliar melody echoes from within the hollow of the guitar’s body part. It’s a pleasant melody.

For a split second, Chanyeol is possessed by a ghost. A ghost who forces him to scramble on his feet to search for a piece of paper among the stacked magazines and newspapers; and also a pencil. He ends up reaching for a money loan flyer and turns the paper upside down. The ghost wreaks havoc in every inch of his body, even to the tip of his fingers, giving him the ability to quickly jot down notes comprising of the melody he played just now.

The room turns quiet again. There’s only the faint noise of the aggressive friction of the pencil against the paper. 

Before long, Chanyeol gives up and drops the pencil. He throws his head back and sighs.

“What the hell am I doing?”

He puts the guitar aside, along with the paper and the pencil. He should be asleep. Forget about drinking with Baekhyun, he still needs to go to his night job soon.

-

Every week from Wednesday to Friday, Chanyeol works at an instrument store at night until the early morning next day. There’s also a jamming studio for rent at the store. A lot of the bands like to spend the whole night jamming since most of them have another life to be fulfilled during the day. Chanyeol attends the store and the studio but most likely he would be sitting at the back, quietly repairing music instruments. His job lets him help out Baekhyun a lot too. He helps with their instruments outside of working hours, and gives away spare parts that are too old and need to be thrown away from the store.

He likes the job for the proximity he gets to spend with various instruments, but he also likes his job at the record store because he gets to listen to music for free.

A few days after he picked up his guitar again, he keeps repeating that unheard melody he played on it in his mind. As much as he tries to forget it, the song comes back haunting him at night, disturbing his sleep. In the end, Chanyeol decides to sell the guitar at the shop he works at. He doesn’t really use it anymore, and he doesn’t plan into doing anything serious with it. He brought the guitar along with him that night, set it aside and forgotten about it until he is about to head home.

Chanyeol sits on a stool, directly facing the guitar.

“How come I forgot all about you?” Chanyeol asks. He even waits for an answer, letting silence slips in between his one-way conversation.

“Do you mind staying here? Someone might like you and bring you to a better home.”

Chanyeol scratches his head.

It might feel a little lonely for him at home.

“I’ve treated you badly, didn’t I?”

“Maybe I should let Baekhyun takes care of you instead.”

Chanyeol sighs and let out a guttural moan. He frowns, distorting his face. He winces. He shakes his head.

“No, no. I should not do this. I promise him that I’ll take care of you. Let’s go home, okay? Let’s just go home.”

-

Chanyeol ends up bringing back the guitar with him. The instrument store is located in a walking distance from his house, which makes working late into the morning bearable to Chanyeol. Chanyeol walks slowly, fighting back his sleepiness as he does. The autumn breeze has gotten colder, causing him to involuntarily hunch against the cold weather. That reminds him that his clothes are all a bit too thin for the weather, but all the cozy jackets cost quite a fortune.

Chanyeol enters a rather narrow, dim path as he gets further from the building he works at. It’s the same route he takes everyday since a year ago, he doesn’t even have to think about where the next step will bring him to. Everything he does in his daily routine is pretty much engraved at the back of his mind, as if he is programmed to do so since the beginning.

But then, just like how he sees new things in the train from time to time, this morning feels a little different than all those days before. Something, someone is watching. His calm stride bounce faint noise against the dead silence, but an unpleasant echo of footsteps soon follow suit. Chanyeol quickens his steps, and that echo also multiplies.

Chanyeol raises his feet higher, there is not much distant left on the path before he reaches an open area.

Faster, Chanyeol.

Chanyeol ignores the annoying pain of the guitar slapping his back . He needs to be faster. The air in his lungs is knocked out when a strong force grips him from the back and mercilessly pushes his face against the wall.

“Give us everything you have!”

Chanyeol coughs, spitting out thick crimson liquid.

“I don’t have anything...” Chanyeol mutters. Despite the bruises on his face, he turns his head to the side to try to see his assailant. In the darkness, he could make out two figures of shadows. One of them grabs the wallet from his back pocket but quickly throws it away to find that there is nothing worthy inside. Chanyeol sighs in relief,internally, but alerts when one of the guy grabs the guitar from his back.

Chanyeol quickly turns around, defending the guitar from being taken away.

“You can’t take that!” Chanyeol fights back even though obviously the two larger builds easily overpower him. Punches and kicks landed on his face and all over of his torso. The searing pain becomes an obstacle for him to defend himself. He can feel it when they rip off the guitar back off his back. Chanyeol takes a deep breath before he charges towards them with the last strength that remains in him.

-

Chanyeol wakes up with a stinging pain all over his body. There are cuts near his eyelids and on his lips. He couldn’t even imagine how horrible he must have looked right now. Chanyeol grunts as he pushes his body into a sitting position.

The sky looks brighter than when he passed out last night. The solemn shade of blue in the sky indicates that he haven't been out for too long, considering it was already late when he passed by the place. Chanyeol scans his surrounding and finally finds the object of his concern.

 The guitar.

He jumps from his spot and kneels by the object. He takes the guitar and cradles it in his arms. Chanyeol almost feels relief that they didn’t take the guitar, but his heart broke to pieces to see that the guitar is badly damaged.

Chanyeol falls seated again. He leans against the cold wall and throws his head back, feeling exasperated.

“.”

-

Chanyeol feels a little disoriented after waking up outside, in an early autumn morning with a sore body nonetheless. He continues his walk home with staggered steps, dragging along the broken guitar with him. He might be able to fix it. He should bring this guitar with him to work tonight, and repairs it whenever he gets the chance.

Wait.

Chanyeol looks up and finds himself in an unfamiliar environment. He must have accidentally taken the wrong corner several steps back. He stays at his spot and scans the surrounding. The neighborhood he is in is filled with medium sized houses, all of them located closely to each other. There are faint noises of children’s voice in a near distance. Counting from one to eight. And eight again. And a whole lots of complaining.

Chanyeol has been going back and forth from his workplace and his rundown apartment for more than a year but he has never been in this calm neighborhood. He feels compelled to roam the neighborhood and find that source of noises. Noises that sound too happy to his liking.

He arrives to a small clearing of grass field and finds a group of children, led by a young woman in a series of morning exercises. The woman (or a girl, he can’t tell because he is facing her back while she faces the children) seems to be the most energetic and high spirited among the bunch. Some of the kids, especially the older ones are complaining that she is being nonsensical on a school holiday.

“No excuses! No complain! Everyone is doing this exercise with me until I said so! Now, one!”

The kids begin to chorus the count again while doing the star jump.

He isn’t sure why, but he couldn’t tear his eyes off the scene. What’s so fascinating about a bunch of kids doing morning exercise? Chanyeol continues watching until they finish their morning exercise. The girl tells the children to go back together, and to keep an eye on each other. For some reason, she continues watching the children leave the field with her hands on her hip. Only after the grass field is completely empty, the girl finally makes an abrupt turn, aiming her focus on Chanyeol.

“You’ve been watching aren’t you?!”

Chanyeol quickly turns around before their eyes met. He walks away from there as fast as he could, but his body is hurting all over so he limps a bit. The girl easily catches up to him. She put a firm grasp on his shoulder and twirls him around, causing Chanyeol to wince and grunts out loud in pain.

“Who are y- OH MY GOD YOUR FACE!” She cups her opened mouth and takes a step back.

Chanyeol rolls his eyes and sighs. He better leave.

“Wait! Wait!” She shouts when Chanyeol is about to turn around again. He complies with her request, but without much consent from the way he frowns at her.

“Are- Are you okay? What happened to you?”

Now that Chanyeol has a good look at her, she seems familiar. Turns out she’s the girl he’s been watching for the past few weeks. The dancing girl. The girl who listens to traditional instrumental music. She probably doesn’t remember him though, for obvious reasons.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look like it. You need to be treated right away.”

“Forget it.”

Chanyeol turns around again, but she stops him just in time, grabbing a hold on his shoulder. The pain gets worse overtime. She retracts her hand immediately while Chanyeol stays still. He couldn’t even budge an inch until the pain goes away.

“Oh gosh, I’m really sorry!”

“It’s okay.”

“No, no! You don’t look okay. You should come with me.”

-

“This one looks pretty bad. Are you sure you’re not reporting to the police ?” An old man who seems to be in his fifties introduced himself as Lee Hanwoo while he treats to Chanyeol’s injuries. He carefully cleans the cuts on Chanyeol’s face, puts on iodin on his wounds and neatly covers them with plasters and bandages. He even gives Chanyeol a fresh change of clothes. Both him and his daughter seems so casual with the idea of inviting a stranger to their home, Chanyeol wonders if it runs in the family.

“Nah. It’s not like I lose anything.” Except for the only piece of paper inside his wallet worth five bucks. That’s too little to go through much complication as making a police report.

Soojin, the previous girl comes into the room with a tray of warm drinks and a light meal for her guest. She couldn’t take her eyes off Chanyeol, even when she was putting down the tray in the middle of the room. Hanwoo gives a pat on Chanyeol’s arm after he finishes the last bandaging work . Soojin winces along when Chanyeol does.

“There, all finished,” Hanwoo gets up and leaves the room after he cleans up the mess.

Soojin sits next to the tray and watches carefully. She notices the broken guitar behind Chanyeol and then frowns.

“The guitar looks bad too. What a shame,” Soojin states.

“I can still fix it, I think.”

“You know how to fix that?” Soojin’s eyes widen. She seems easily amazed at the simple fact.

“I work at an instrument store after all,” Chanyeol adds, his face lacks emotions as always.

“I assume you’re pretty good at playing it too, right?” Her eyes light up when she asks.

“Uh... Just so-so...”

“Great! You should come here sometimes and play something for the kids! They’ll love it!”

“Uh...” Chanyeol scratches the back of his head unsurely.

“Just come over! You’ll love these kids in no time, I promise!”

Chanyeol looks at the scene beyond the window. There are loud mixes of noise outside. There are kids shouting and laughing with each other. Most of them are the kids he saw doing the morning exercise with Soojin this morning.

“How many siblings do you have, by the way?”

“Fifteen,” Soojin answers with a bright smile.

“Fifteen?!”

“Yeah,” she nods, “I’m the oldest. It’s really a lot of work taking care of fourteen younger siblings, you know?”

“Are you serious?”

“Dead serious.”

“Soojin,” Hanwoo’s voice is heard from behind the thin wall of the room. There is a subtle warning layered under his gentle tone.

Hanwoo enters the room again with a strict, yet adoring look on his face. For a brief second, Chanyeol catches that moment when Soojin subtly sticks out her tongue to nobody. She grins back at Hanwoo as she gets up and leaves the room.

“Don’t forget, okay?” Soojin manages to add before she runs outside and joins the kids.

Hanwoo lets out a calm, throaty laugh as he makes his way in the middle of the room and sits himself next to Chanyeol. He urges the young boy to have his breakfast and joins him as well. Chanyeol glances towards the window, and sees the kids playing tag in the courtyard outside. Soojin is there too. Compared to other residences in the area, the house owned by Hanwoo is far more bigger, but not any fancier. If anything, it looks a bit shabbier than other houses. The wallpapers are peeled here and there, the ceiling looks like it has been repaired many times, there are a lot of patches all over the house. Yet it looks sturdy enough to house fifteen kids and an old man.

“Are they really your children? All fifteen of them?” Chanyeol asks carefully. His voice quiet and thoughtful, his eyes gentle.

Hanwoo laughs again.

“Did Soojin told you that?”

“In a way...”

“Hah, that punk!” Hanwoo laughs louder this time, nodding to the question at the same time.

“Yes, yes. They are all my children, but they all come from different parents. Including Soojin.”

“You mean...”

“My wife and I never have children. She was always sick during her youth. We both began taking in children with no families, and raised them as our own. They’re all over Seoul now. All grown up and living well. Even after my wife passed away, I decide to continue providing a family and a home for these innocent kids.”

Chanyeol nods in acknowledgement.

No wonder Soojin seems very close to him.

As if he is able to read minds, Hanwoo suddenly says, “among the fifteen kids, Soojin is the latest addition to the family. She only starts living here since a year and half ago. Don’t you think she doesn’t look the part?”

Chanyeol nods again, “she seems to fit in well.”

“That’s just the kind of person she is. She used to live in a very close-knit family of her parents, an older brother and her. They used to be pretty well-off too. Unfortunately, she lost everything in a fire tragedy. She stays with her aunt and her family for awhile. There were lots of issues between them, and Soojin couldn’t fit in the new family. She ran away from home one day. I met her under a bus stop on a rainy day. She was shivering from the cold and alone. I meet her aunt, settle an agreement with her, and takes Soojin in as an employee to protect her aunt’s pride.  Naturally, Soojin acts more like an eldest sibling to the rest of the kids.”

Hanwoo takes a pause and gazes outside the window, observing Soojin and the kids playing together. A warm, fatherly smile spreads on his lips.

“Maybe because she’s the oldest, she feels obligated in setting an example to the younger kids. She treats everyone like family and stays positive all the time, even though she’s secretly grieving over the loss of her own family deep inside. She has always been warm and friendly since she was young though, I’m glad that she’s able to continue being so while staying here. I’m so thankful that I meet her on that fateful day. She doesn’t just take care of the kids, she takes care of me like I’m her own father too. Always fussing about the things I eat, insisting that I should be more aware of my health,” Hanwoo laughs again.

For thinking that ‘she always has that smile on her face that’s a little too happy, a little too oblivious of the outside world’, he couldn’t help but feels bad about it.

-