Insoo learned to be a grown up fast.

One of the telephones in the Kang mansion rang loudly one late afternoon and a maid rushed to answer it. She spoke quietly to the person on the other end of the line as to not disturb Insoo from his studies but Insoo couldn't help but glance up at the woman as soon as he heard Seulki's name. He knew Seulki's school got out later than his did since she went to a public school so he wasn't worried that she wasn't home yet. He only became worried when he saw the maid's expression turn from content to apprehensive.

“Oh dear,” the maid said, placing a hand over , “Thank you for letting us know. I shall inform her mother right away. Yes. Thank you. Goodbye.”

She looked over at Insoo and smiled sweetly but then rushed out of the room. Insoo waited a moment before following her. He knew that he would later be yelled at for neglecting his studies but he felt that Seulki was more important at that moment.

He quickly found the maid on the second floor inside another room approaching Mrs. Shin. Mrs. Shin shut off the vacuum she was using and turned to the maid. “Yes, what is it Young Hyeon?” the mother asked as she noted the expression on the maid's face.

Young Hyeon took in a deep breath and then said, “It's Seulki. We just received a call from her school's principal. He said that she ran away from school and they can't find her.”

Insoo's eyes widened. Seulki was missing? His Seulki was missing? His heart became heavy as he felt that he had failed her. He told her that he would always protect her. He wanted to barge into the room and beg Mrs. Shin to take him to go and look for her but something held him back: Mrs. Shin wasn't going to look for Seulki.

“Have you told the Mistress?” he heard her say, referring to his mom, “She needs to know about this. Send some of the security to look for her and I'll wait here and see if she comes back. We must not tell Insoo about this. Do you understand?”

He was planning on keeping quiet and not letting himself be known but he suddenly found himself bursting into the room, tears forming in his eyes. “Where's Seulki?” he screamed, running up to Mrs. Shin, “What happened to her? Is she hurt?”

Young Hyeon looked at Insoo with wide eyes and then scurried out of the room as Mrs. Shin approached Insoo with a sad smile. “Insoo, sweety, I need you to listen to me,” Insoo nodded. “Seulki left school without permission and we can't find her. I need you to do me a favor, okay?” Again, he nodded. “Do you remember when you were taught how to answer the phone? I need you to stay by the phone and answer it if it rings, alright?”

“Is Seulki okay?” he asked.

Mrs. Shin nodded and patted him on the head. “She'll be alright. Now go wait by the phone, alright and let me know if something happens?”

Insoo nodded faithfully and ran out of the room and back into the study room and anxiously sat by the phone. He sat there patiently for roughly twenty minutes before he began to get antsy and started to pace the room. Thirty minutes after that, the phone rang and Insoo quickly ran over to it and picked it up. “Seulki?” he yelled into the phone, disposing of all of the manners he had previously learned.

The person on the other end was stunned for a moment before he regained his composure. “Uh, no, this is the Seoul National Aquarium. Is there an adult in the area that I may speak to?”

“Mrs. Shin! Mrs. Shin!” Insoo yelled part into the receiver and into the house, “Someone's on the phone!”

A moment later, Mrs. Shin's voice appeared on the line. “Hello, this is Shin Giyong speaking.”

“Yes, Mrs. Shin, we have a little girl here at the aquarium – we don't know how she got in – but she's crying nonstop and disturbing some of our guests. He had a ID on her backpack that said to call this number if there were any problems. Do you know of a little girl with such identification?”

“That's Seulki!” Insoo yelled, forgetting that the others thought he had hung up already. “Is she okay? I need to make sure she's alright!”

Mrs. Shin sighed, half with a laugh and half with relief. “Insoo calm down. We'll go and get her, okay? Thank you very much, sir. We'll be there in a moment.”

“You're welcome. Good day,” the man said and then hung up the phone.

Immediately, Insoo slammed the phone down and ran around the house until he found Mrs. Shin. “Come on! Come on! Come on! Hurry! We have to go get Seulki! Come on! Let's go!” He grabbed Mrs. Shin's arm and pulled her toward the front door without letting her prepare. Noting how worried he was over her daughter, she didn't complain and hurried up her pace.

In the car, Insoo couldn't sit still. He kept looking out the window and over at Mrs. Shin in hopes that she'd drive faster. In only a matter of minutes, they had arrived at the aquarium and before Mrs. Shin could even unbuckle her seat belt, Insoo was already out of the car and encouraging Mrs. Shin to move faster and once she was out, he grabbed her arm tightly and dragged her into the aquarium.

When they arrived at the ticket counter, Mrs. Shin had to force Insoo to stop running and looked at the man behind the desk. “Hi there, we received a call about my daughter, Seulki.” Mrs. Shin said to him. He nodded understandingly and let them through without hesitation and Insoo let go of Mrs. Shin's arm and ran freely through the aquarium.

“Seulki!” Insoo cried out, looking for his best friend. With each step he became more and more discouraged until he saw a familiar figure curled up on the bench in front of the otter enclosure. His face brightened. “Seulki! I found you!” he cheered, causing Mrs. Shin to begin to move in his direction toward her daughter.

She looked up at him with red eyes and then moved away from him, crying harder into her lap. “Seulki, dear,” Mrs. Shin said, running up to Seulki.

Looking up again, she uncurled herself and ran toward her mom. “Mommy!” she cried out and embraced her mother tightly, begging her mom to carry her.

Insoo approached the two and felt dejected. Seulki didn't need him. Seulki didn't want him. As they headed out of the aquarium, he tried to look at her and try to get her attention but she always turned her  face the other way. Only when he touched her gently did she finally speak to him. “Go away! I don't like you!” she yelled, fully burying her face in her mom's chest.

With that, Insoo's whole world seemed to shatter. He felt like crying. He felt like giving up. He had gone on this long search for his best friend and was worried so much for her safety and she rejected him like that. He stayed quiet for the whole ride home.

A few hours later, Insoo was back in the study room trying to do his homework but having troubles. It wasn't that it was difficult, it was that he was distracted. All he could think about was Seulki and how she didn't like him anymore. What did he do wrong? Did he say something wrong? Did he touch a boo-boo that she had? He didn't know.

“Insoo,” a soft voice suddenly called out to him. He looked over at the door to find Mrs. Shin entering the room with Seulki trailing behind her. “Seulki has something that she wants to say to you.”

He looked at his friend whose eyes were red and puffy but waited for her to make the first move. Mrs. Shin slowly left the two of them alone and Seulki stayed by the door, not moving. It took her a minute to compose herself before she said, “I'm sorry I scared you.” Insoo's face softened. “And, I didn't mean what I said. You're my best friend.”

“Why were you crying?” he asked her, still not moving from his spot, “Did something bad happen at school? What's wrong?” Seulki didn't answer and it looked like she was on the verge of crying again. Insoo's face softened. “It's okay,” he said, “You don't have to tell me.”

Seulki looked up at him and suddenly ran into his arms and began to cry into his shoulder. He was sad that she was sad but he was happy because she didn't hate him. He wrapped his arms around her body and hugged her tightly and then said, “Will cookies make you feel better?” At the sound of the word 'cookies', her tears seemed to dry instantly and she shook her head feverishly. Insoo giggled and ruffled her hair. “Well come on. Mommy bought chocolate chip cookies; your favorite!”

This time, Seulki was the one to lead Insoo. She grabbed his arm and bolted out of the room. For now, he didn't have to worry about his Cinderella.