“Taeyeon, your childcare is here to pick you up,” her grade school teacher informed the eight year old student. Taeyeon quickly placed all her belongings into her bag messily, not bothering to zip it up as she rushed out of the classroom, not forgetting to give a slight bow to her teacher. Whilst she was busily rushing out, she had not noticed that she had dropped her water bottle. Laughing at the flustered student, the teacher walked up and picked up the bottle to place it at her desk for the girl to pick up tomorrow.   Still unaware of her missing water bottle, Taeyeon continued to run to the pickup area where a van was waiting for her. A wide grin started to form and grow with each step she took towards the van, eager to get inside and relax. About a few feet away from the van, one of the students from the school moved into her way. Not being able to hit the brakes quick enough, Taeyeon collided with the stranger and knocked them both over. All of the contents from Taeyeon’s ped bag flailed everywhere as the witnesses rushed to their aid, one of them being the stranger’s mother.   “Hey, look where you’re going you clumsy child,” the woman yelled. Taeyeon bowed her torso in her sitting position in apology and continued to help the stranger up. Feeling frustrated with the child, the mother moved her child away from her and muttered not so child friendly words. Realising the delay that she had caused, Taeyeon quickly got up to pick up her belongings. The moment she flexed her leg, she noticed a stinging pain in her knee.   “Who’s your mother? Children like you cause so much trouble. Doesn’t your mother ever teach your mother teach you any manners?!” the mother of the stranger Taeyeon bumped into continued to yell at the girl, not bothering to help her up. The child who was knocked over received very little injuries except for a scrape on the palm of their hand but the mother was hurrying others to call the nurse. Not wanting to make her childcare caretakers wait, Taeyeon bowed again in apology and picked up her stuff hurriedly before making her way back to the van. Before she could take another step further, the mother hand placed her hand onto her shoulder and pulled her back to stop her.   “Aren’t you going to apologise? My son could have broken something!” she yelled. Taeyeon glanced over at the boy she had bumped into, recognising him to be two grades above her. As sincerely as she could, Taeyeon lowered herself into a ninety-degree bow. The mother looked at Taeyeon with a look of disgust when Taeyeon quickly turned around to limp again.   “Yah! You disrespectful child!” she yelled after her.   “Excuse me, Miss?” a sudden voice interrupted. Taeyeon looked up from the floor and immediately recognised the third person. As quickly as she could, Taeyeon hopped over behind her favourite childcare teacher and hid behind her long legs when she heard footsteps following behind her.   “Your daughter here bumped into my son and didn’t apologise. Don’t you teach your daughter anything?!” the mother yelled in pure frustration. Taeyeon gripped onto the legs slightly tighter in fear of being forcibly taken away by the angered woman.   “I’m sorry miss, but I am not the child’s mother. I am Choi Sooyoung and I’m her caretaker at the childcare,” Sooyoung explained calmly. She then bent down and picked Taeyeon up into her arms, noticing the bleeding knee that the girl had acquired from her accident. Unknown to the mother, Sooyoung had been by the side of the van and had witnessed the accident unfold before her own eyes. Seeing Taeyeon being injured, she quickly rushed over and was angered at the woman’s attitude towards the young child.   “Well you should tell her mother to teach her daughter better. She doesn’t even apologise for bumping into my son,” the woman continued whilst pointing her stubby fingers towards Taeyeon. Taeyeon quickly turned around to face Sooyoung and shook her head furiously but Sooyoung patted her head to stop her. She clearly saw Taeyeon bowing towards the mother and son in apology and was proud that the girl had done so.   “I don’t know about you Miss, but I clearly saw Taeyeon apologising to your son even though she was not at fault. Your son was being careless and stepped into her path. It was an accident and Taeyeon has already apologised on her half so I do not see why you are so angered. Now if you don’t mind, I’ve got other children to take care of,” Sooyoung said calmly. Without waiting for a reply, Sooyoung turned away and picked up Taeyeon’s bag from the floor and zipped it up to avoid having things fall out of it again. Taeyeon turned back to where the lady was standing and quickly looked away when she saw the older woman glaring at her.   “Taeyeon-ah, how many times do I have to tell you that you should zip your bag up before you leave the classroom? We’re not going to leave without you so there really is no rush,” Sooyoung said calmly as if the encounter with the overprotective mother had not happened. Taeyeon blew onto the front of her hair and crossed her arms with a displeased expression. She then pointed to Sooyoung and the van that was coming into sight.   “No, we don’t get sick of waiting. I have others in the van to keep me company whilst I wait,” Sooyoung chuckled. Once they reached the van, Sooyoung opened the side door and placed Taeyeon onto the van’s floor to look at the injured leg. No sooner had Sooyoung placed Taeyeon down did another smaller girl move out of her seat to wrap her arms around the injured Taeyeon and placed a friendly peck onto her cheek. Taeyeon grinned widely and hugged back her friend, returning the kiss to her cheek.   “Sooyeon-ah, could you not wait a little more? Taeyeon’s injured,” Sooyoung chuckled upon seeing the other girl sitting eagerly beside Taeyeon. Knowing that she won’t receive an answer, Sooyoung continued to reach for the first aid kit to clean up Taeyeon’s knee whilst allowing the two to do their own thing. Sooyeon noticed the scratch on Taeyeon’s leg and pointed at it with a questionable glance. Taeyeon held up her hands and used her middle and index finger to motion a figure running. She then did the same with the other hand and crashed them together. Sooyeon let out a loud laugh as she smacked Taeyeon a little too hard on her back. In reply, Sooyeon pointed towards Taeyeon and closed her own eyes, mocking Taeyeon for being so blind. Taeyeon shook her head sternly and held up her two figures again. She demonstrated how her path was clear until the two years older boy had moved into her way. Being the good friend that Sooyeon was, she just stuck her tongue out at Taeyeon and covered her eyes mockingly. Taeyeon stuck her tongue back out and turned her head away with a dissatisfied pout sitting on the end of her lips. Sooyoung who had caught sight of their conversation laughed and started dabbing the disinfectant onto Taeyeon’s knee, forgetting to warn the girl first. As a result, Taeyeon winced at the unexpected stinging.   “Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot to warn you that it would sting,” Sooyoung apologised. Taeyeon relaxed her knee again and shook her head reassuringly, allowing the caretaker to continue. Sooyeon watched with a curious expression at the sight of her friend pouting and looked back down to see just how bad the scratch was. Feeling sorry for her friend, Sooyeon patted Taeyeon’s head slowly as if it would relieve any pain just as her mother would do to her. Once Sooyoung had placed the bandage on, Sooyeon took it upon herself to lift Taeyeon up and place her into the seat next to hers.   “Is she alright?” Jiyeon questioned when she caught a glimpse of the comical sight of Sooyeon literally dragging Taeyeon by the shoulders to her seat. Sooyoung nodded and climbed in to take her seat beside the other caretaker.   “Seat belts everyone. Panda express is going home,” Kangin from the front beamed. All at different times, the clicks of seatbelts were heard before the sound of the van starting signalled their departure. Jiyeon glanced over her seat to look at Sooyeon and Taeyeon who were poking at the bandage on Taeyeon’s knee.   “What happened?” Jiyeon questioned. Sooyoung gave a long sigh and leaned her head against the headrest tiredly.   “She ran into someone,” Sooyoung answered blatantly. Jiyeon poked at Sooyoung’s arm and urged her to continue.   “You seem troubled. What’s up?” she urged. Sooyoung shook her head slowly and continued to stare blankly at the seats where Taeyeon and Sooyeon were. She would be lying if she said that she wasn’t worried about the girl who she had grown to love since four years ago. Although the childcare had warned her to not get too involved with the children, Sooyoung couldn’t help but find herself drawn to the young girl. Since her first day at the childcare, she has still not uttered a word. Once in a full moon there would be a chance to hear the girl laugh but that was about as far as it went. It hadn’t bothered her much, but slowly it was starting to sink in that Taeyeon was mute. Not a single word was voiced by the girl.   “Don’t lie. You’ve been getting a lot more moody lately. What’s up? Is Taeyeon slowly ignoring you or something?” Jiyeon mocked with a punch to the shoulder. Sooyoung grumbled at her workmate and shook her head again.   “It’s just sinking in… that’s all,” she voiced absentmindedly. “Taeyeon’s showing no signs of wanting to speak.”   Jiyeon turned her head to stare at her workmate closely. She knew that it was something that everyone at the childcare was aware of but she didn’t know that Sooyoung would take so long to realise it, or be so concerned about it. Everyone had tried to help the quiet girl but nothing had worked, not even the professionals knew why. The reason why Taeyeon remained with the childcare was because her parents would always be working in order to pay for the appointments that the girl constantly had with speech therapists. Mrs Lee had felt sorry for the parents and had provided extra help at the childcare but the girl remained as stubborn as ever.   “Today, the mother of the boy she ran into started yelling at her because Taeyeon refused to give a verbal apology,” Sooyoung continued. “She gave a sincere bow but that woman still demanded a verbal apology. I’d hate to think what else she would say to Taeyeon if I hadn’t gone in to help her.”   “Relax, Sooyoung. People like that are narrow minded. A bow is more of a sincere apology than a verbal sentence. Once she’s calm, she’ll realise her errors and feel guilty,” Jiyeon reassured. Sooyoung gave another long sigh and shook her head. It wasn’t just what the woman said that bothered her. Taeyeon’s parents had informed the childcare that they were considering to withdraw Taeyeon from there and keep her home. Since Taeyeon rarely saw her parents, Sooyoung was worried about the communication between the family and most importantly, between those around her.   “When she grows up, she’s going to be under constant pressure to speak. Sooyeon attends a school specially made for people like her, but Taeyeon will go to a school where kids gossip and talk all day. I don’t know how she’s going to cope with her surroundings in the future,” Sooyoung explained. Jiyeon bit her lower lip and looked up at the front where Taeyeon and Sooyeon were again. If the Kim family had decided to withdraw Taeyeon, she knew that Taeyeon would experience much conflict. The childcare was the only place where everyone knew Taeyeon and most importantly, it was the only place that Sooyeon could see her.   “I know it sounds horrible, but I sometimes wish that Taeyeon lost her sense of hearing as well,” Sooyoung whispered. Jiyeon turned to her side and nudged her workmate for making such a comment.   “Sooyeon has it easier. She doesn’t have to listen to others talking about her or judging her. She has a school specifically made for people like her whilst Taeyeon is only seen as a stubborn and ignorant child. No one recognises her to be just as disadvantaged as anyone else with impairment,” Sooyoung explained further. Jiyeon leaned against her chair and stared out the window for a moment. She never really thought of such consequences before. Over the past four years, she would be lying if she said she wasn’t attached to her own special child, Sooyeon. Hours she spent learning sign language so she could teach the girl during their free time together. There were programs and facilities there to help Sooyeon. Taeyeon… didn’t have much to help her.   “She’s still young. Kids develop at different stages,” Jiyeon rationalised. Sooyoung bit her lower lip and stared at the girl swinging her legs at the front.   “I just hope you’re right.”   Just as the conversation ended, Sooyoung felt a nudge on her knee. She looked down from the back of the chair in front of her and saw Sooyeon and Taeyeon standing beside her with an eager smile. Worried that they don’t have seat belts, Jiyeon picked up Sooyeon and Sooyoung picked up Taeyeon to place in their laps securely. Jiyeon silently scolded Sooyeon for being reckless but Sooyoung was not given the chance. Taeyeon had forcibly held a bright pink piece of paper in her face, stopping her from saying anything. Curiously, Sooyoung took the paper and noted that it was from the school.   ‘To Taeyeon’s guardians We have concerns regarding Kim Taeyeon’s behaviour at school. As you are aware, we do not condone bullying acts within our school premises and work hard to make everyone feel welcomed within our community. However, we’d like to inform you of our concerns we have. We are aware that Kim Taeyeon has trouble with her speech but we have noticed that some of the students are becoming hostile towards her. We have talked to these children but there is not much we can do with what has already been done. We urge you to speak to your daughter regarding this matter as we regrettably cannot understand her gestures properly. The school has been trying to make her feel welcomed but we fear that she may experience some trouble fitting in. Over the past two weeks, our school counsellor has been seeing Taeyeon and we’ve had no progress, but rest assured. We are willing to help our students in whatever way we can and shall continue these sessions. Sincerely yours, Kwon Boa’   Sooyoung placed the paper down and stared down at the girl in her lap who was playing a clapping game with her friend beside her. Jiyeon glanced down at the paper and scanned through it briefly, her expression changing from a neutral to concerned one immediately. Silently, Jiyeon placed her hand on top of Taeyeon and patted her head slowly, not wanting to raise too much suspicion. Sooyeon was not pleased with the caretaker interrupting her game and mo