Seryung grimaced in front of the homeless shelter. It wasn’t as run down and as shabby as she remembered it, she also recalled that she hated coming here. The shelter ignited an old anger in her heart, recently she’d felt it creep back as memories, of Yoon Raemi resurfaced. Seryung believed that Sehun’s memories were returning too. The siblings had learnt to move on, from there but now that their parents had arranged Sehun’s marriage, it was all coming back. Seryung clicked her tongue. Sehun didn’t show it but she knew he was upset about the marriage, more so because he felt wronged.

Seryung dragged her feet into the shelter, the weight of the boxes in her hand didn’t compare to the burden she felt Sehun was carrying. He’d never been able to let go, even after all these years. Seryung hoped Hana could make him forget Raemi, Seryung was rooting for Hana because in Seryung’s mind Hana was the only one who could help Sehun heal. Their parents believed that too, however Seryung was conflicted. She smirked sarcastically, she understood both their stories but couldn’t deduce which one was right. As she began to distribute what she was carrying her thoughts roamed.

Why had she taken Hana under her wing? Seryung had no clear answer. The girl had caught her interest at first because she had been labeled as Sehun's finacee. It had been like discovering a new plaything. Seryung had, had many plans for Hana including helping her get close to Sehun. Seryung's reason had more to do with dissolving Raemi's memory than helping Hana. It would have worked out if only Sehun hadn't turned the whole school against Hana. After that incident Seryung had pitied Hana for the trouble she was going through. She'd been reminded of a similar bullying incident in which she'd taken part in. Pity and acknowledgement were what she felt towards Hana. Friendship was out of the question, Seryung had confirmed that idea long ago, ten years ago to be exact. What had happened ten years ago was enough for Seryung. She didn't need friends nor did they need her. She didn't trust people and she hoped they would do the same.

-
Seryung was elated to be done her mediocre task. She hurried away from the shelter before someone could ask for a 'favor.' Freedom was sweet, she was ecstatic but her expression quickly ashened when she saw trouble brewing. She kicked the air and sighed holding her head down. She scanned the vicinity for any passers by who would ease her troubles but there were none. The residents of the shelter were having the lunch she’d distributed and now Seryung cursed herself for not staying inside the shelter longer. She pushed a lock of hair behind her ears and forced a smile, she made sure to fold her arms behind her back as a precaution against impulsive movements she skipped over to where the bickering was taking place.

What seemed like a slim middle-aged lady dressed in well tailored classic cream blazer, a matching pencil skirt and heels that made Seryung wince, was shrieking uncontrollably.

“I paid the amount you asked for old lady. How dare you accuse me of trying to cheat you?”

“I’m sorry miss but I’m missing a few coins,” the old lady in question, responded gesturing to the money that lay in her aged hand.

“You’re the one who dropped them! Are you sure you didn’t do it on purpose to get more money out of me?” Her adversary bellowed.

The old lady was quick to defend, “Miss, I would never dare to do such a thing-” but was cut of by her opponent who was reaching hysteria, “this is why I don’t help beggars. You people always try to take advantage of others.”

Seryung massaged her temples ruefully and scanned the vicinity one last time before clicking her tongue to gain attention. The heated debaters turned their heads to stare at her as if they hadn’t expected a third persons interference. Seryung noticed them eye her up and down, she shifted uncomfortably feeling self conscious about her attire again. Seryung momentarily forgot why she had interfered in something that wasn’t her business until the middle aged lady sniffed. Seryung held back a frown to ask, “Is something wrong?” She waited patiently for an answer to a question she didn’t need to ask as she’d gathered the main aspect of the argument. Relief washed over the old lady’s face and she offered Seryung a tight smile while the antagonist glared at her for interfering.

“This grandmother is claiming I didn’t pay her enough for this stupid owl!” The middle aged lady indicated to the cage sitting at her feet. “But I paid her exactly the amount she asked for and she dropped the money. Now she’s telling me that I didn’t pay her enough.”

The grandmother nodded gravely, agreeing with the lady’s words, “I did drop it but I didn’t lose anything you gave me,” she pointed out exasperatedly.

The middle-aged lady sniffed once more and crossed her arms, “You’re free to take your owl back. I shouldn’t have tried to buy anything from here.” Seryung took a step back as the middle aged lazy pushed the cage towards her, “Take it, I don’t want it anymore!”

Seryung swallowed as an owl peered at her curious and unblinking. The owl hooted at the youngest of the three making her jump backwards and shake her head.

“No, no, I’m sorry for the misunderstanding, I understand you’re upset and I don’t think you’re lying. I’m sorry for the trouble miss,” Seryung clenched her jaw and bowed hoping the owl would be sold.

The grandmother tried to protest but Seryung held her hand, “Halmoni,” she called and held the old lady’s stare, “It’s okay.” Seryung hoped the grandmother would understand the meaning behind her words as she used her eyes to warn her. The grandmother looked from the young girl to the vixen who was trying to con her, they had matched together and were pressuring her into coinciding when she didn’t want to. The young girl was holding her hand, squeezing it gently as if to tell her something.

The grandmother finally nodded at Seryung making her breathe a sigh of relief, the middle aged lady huffed and picked up her cage shaking her head at the two of them before taking her leave.

Seryung’s eyes narrowed at the lady who trotted away, her gait resembled a fox. Seryung clicked her tongue as the lady disappeared from view.

“You bad girl,” Seryung winced as the grandmother slapped her arm, “You plotted with that lady and tried to cheat me!” Seryung avoided the next series of blows that came her way, she raised her arms in defense.

“No, I didn’t,” Seryung retorted avoiding another hit, “There’s been a misunderstanding, I was trying to help!”

“Help? You call this help? I want you to get out of here and never come back, that would be help enough!”

Seryung shook her head and caught the grandmothers arms, the old lady tried to pry herself free but Seryung’s tight grip was too strong for the aged woman.

“I let your transaction go through. That ahjumma didn’t look like she was lying. Halmoni, I’m sure the coins are somewhere on the ground. If not, I will pay you the missing amount to make up for my interference.” The grandmother narrowed her eyes at the young girl and sniffed, she watched as the girl released her arms and nodded earnestly. The grandmother shuddered as a breeze crossed them and rubbed her shoulders before proceeding to search for the missing coins.

Seryung joined the search and clicked her tongue, she found nothing until, “Look halmoni!” She pointed her finger in horror, “They fell down there!” Seryung pouted and crouched down beside the drain crossing her arms over her knees and staring at the drain cover that looked like a prison cage with her on the outside and the coins inside.

“That vixen was telling the truth?” The grandmother asked squinting her eyes until she could see the coins, “But how do we get those out?”

Seryung remained silent as the good deed she’d tried to do had somehow overcomplicated itself. “I guess, I could make up for that,” she muttered under her breath as she calculated the probability of removing the coins from the gutter.

The grandmother rolled her eyes and returned to her chair, “No, it’s not your fault,” she waved her arm to brush off the idea and shuddered again as another cold breeze swept by.

Seryung stared at the coins and began to count the amount, squinting her eyes to make sure she didn’t skip anything. She eventually sighed and returned to her feet brushing her jeans out of habit, ‘You wore designer jeans to a homeless shelter! Are you trying to rub it in their faces or do you just enjoy that feeling of self importance?’ She admonished herself silently as the grandmother shuddered again. Seryung sighed, it wasn’t even a cold day yet the grandmother was susceptible to a breeze most people would have enjoyed. Seryung removed her hoodie gingerly and placed it over the grandmother’s shoulders.

“Halmoni, I think we might have had a misunderstanding,” Seryung mumbled and glanced at the caged owls waiting to be sold. Seryung shivered as she recalled her very first encounter with a ghost, it had been enough for her to hate the species for life, she wouldn’t even care if and when they became extinct.

“It seems that way,” the grandmother replied and pulled the hoodie around herself to keep herself warm, “Do you like owls?”

Seryung shook her head and rummaged her pockets grimly. ‘Do you don’t carry coins? All you’ve got is a wad of cash, Oh Seryung why do you flaunt your wealth so openly?’

“I’d like to buy one, if that’s okay with you.”

“Eh? But you don’t like owls.”

‘But I don’t have any coins. How am I meant to pay you for that?’

“I’ve read about them in Harry Potter and since then, I’ve always wanted to raise one, I’ll name him Hedwig.”

‘Liar…’

The grandmother scratched her chin and stared at her owls, “We don’t have snow owls in Korea though. There are only small eared ones, even these, we found a nest of them in the attic.”

Seryung nodded enthusiastically and hurried over to the least angry looking owl, “I like this one, it reminds me of Hedwig!” She pointed with gusto.

‘It doesn’t. It's brown.’

“It’s pretty,” Seryung cooed, she clenched her jaw to keep herself from crying out when the owl hooted.

‘Pretty ugly, are you sure you want to do this? Have you lost your mind? Don’t you remember what happened in the forest? You want to raise one now?’

The grandmother stared at the owl in question, she bit her tongue as Seryung stared at her with pleading eyes. Her hands flew to the hoodie around her shoulder and she nodded reluctantly. As quick as lightening she felt a large note being pressed into her hand as the young girl lifted the cage and smiled.

“Just don’t name him Hedwig,” the grandmother chuckled and stared at the owl meant for someone else, she’d promised to give him this particular owl but it seemed like that couldn’t happen. The grandmother wanted to repay the young girl for her generosity and this was as much as she could do, the Chinese man would have to wait.

As if on queue his voice reached the grandmother’s ears, “Halmoni, you’re in luck!” Spoke an accented voice whose tinted pronunciation in no way concealed his excitement.

Seryung turned her attention to the young man, he didn’t look much older than she. He tousled his shiny black hair and shot a disheveled grin as he sauntered over to where the grandmother sat.

His enthusiastic grin made his eyes twinkle and form two waning crescent moons that caused the skin under his eyes to protrude masking the shadowed rims to give him a youthful essence.

Seryung noted the strangely shaved brow that divided his left brow into three, it was clear that the handsome stranger wasn’t from around here.

“Did you find more eggs?” The grandmother smiled revealing a set of shiny teeth. The boy nodded causing his hair to bounce in delight.

Upon seeing Seryung though, his expression darkened. He pointed to the cage in her hands, “You’re selling him?” His eyes widened in horror.

“I’m not selling him, child. I’ve already sold him to this young lady to repay her kindness.”

“What about my kindness halmoni? You know I wanted to keep MAMA but you’ve gone and sold him to this girl. She doesn’t even look like she likes owls!”

Seryung’s lips curved upwards at the unfounded resentment, it’d been a while since she’d experienced open hostility. No, she did not like owls,’ as the stranger had claimed but his aggression towards her marked him as her enemy and she could like owls,’ lizards’ or wolves just to spite an enemy!

“MAMA?” She scoffed crouching down beside her latest purchase. “Are you the owl's child?” She asked teasingly and mocked him by pointing from the owl to the foreigner, she feigned a realization making the grandmother laugh and the foreigner turn red.

 “MAMA belongs to this young lady now, Wang Shu, she helped me out of a pickle and she even gave me her jumper. Have you ever given me your jumper?”

The foreigner cringed but the grandmother dismissed him with a wave of her hand, “Never mind, never mind Shu. There are plenty of owls here, there’s still Mei, Rem and Lin.”

Shu sighed and wrinkled his nose. “I liked MAMA the best,” he muttered glaring at Seryung.

“Never mind that Shu I’ve got some work for you to do. We’re building a playhouse for the kids. It came in as a donation. Young lady would you mind helping too?” The grandmother raised herself from her seat and stretched her back looking at Seryung expectedly.

Seryung had initially wanted to go home but she felt reluctant to do so carrying the cage of a nasty bird who she’d decided to name Wang Sagaji (in honor of Wang Shu).

Wang Sagaji had awoken from it’s slumber and was now bobbing it’s head at Shu in recognition of it’s playmate. It’s hooting made Seryung jump slightly earning a chuckle from Shu. Wang Sagaji inspected it’s new owner curiously.

The girl who had been sitting beside him hand just jumped to her feet and began to bob her head at the grandmother who’d caged him. Wang Sagaji didn’t like being caged. This is why Wang Sagaji liked Shu.

Shu never just shut him into a cage. Shu would play with him, feed him, talk to him in Chinese and sometimes in Korean and give him a bath. Wang Sagaji reluctantly pecked at its cage and protested when the girl tried to lift his cage.

“Let me,” Shu offered as Seryung nodded placing her hand on her heart trying to suppress it from jumping out of her chest.

Shu grinned in response and winked at the owlet who returned the wink. Seryung uttered a “Heol” in response.

-

Seryung clicked her tongue at the unfinished playhouse. ‘How am I meant to fix that?’ She wondered in awe at its sheer size. She recalled the woodwork classes where she’d battled with splinters and shook her head at it. This project was too big for someone who’d barely made it alive out of woodwork.

Shu nudged the dumbstruck girl. She was in the midst of her own fantasy and ignored him much to his displeasure.

“Yah! Are you even listening to me?” He stomped his foot huffing at the daydreamer but no avail.

“MAMA,” he spoke to the owlet tenderly, “Looks like we have to do something drastic,” he explained to it in Chinese.

What do you think of Seryung's attitude towards Hana and just her character in general?

Obligatory cute owl video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyw6_lu3Y7Q

Wang Sagaji - Royal Jerk
Halmoni - grandmother