“Saet-byul ah, this boy here will be your new tutor.” She quickly hid behind N’s back as she peeked out at the boy standing beside her teacher, wary of his smile. N held his arm out to protect her, frowning. 

“Why does she need a tutor? She’s doing her homework fine.” 

She inwardly cheered when the teacher squirmed under N’s hard glare, uncomfortable when she was pinned as the bad guy. “Her homework is fine, but her test grades are poor. She’s not retaining the information she’s learning, and it’s becoming a problem. We understand her background, which is why we’re giving her a tutor.”

“She doesn’t need a tutor. If it’s tests, I can help her-”

“Please Woo-jin,” she said, and she was surprised her teacher knew N’s real name, “we want to help her too. You can continue to help her with her homework, but let her try the tutoring out. Many students have succeeded with this.” She could see N open his mouth to retort, and she had to pull his hand hard to get him to look at her. He understood the look she gave him right away, and frowned concernedly. 

“Are you sure?” She nodded determinedly, and he sighed sadly before looking back at her teacher. “She’ll do it.”

“Wonderful!” She turned to the boy again, smiling as she put an hand on his arm reassuringly. “Introduce yourself.”

Still smiling, the boy bowed to both of them. “Hello, my name is Kim Won-shik.” 

“He’s a couple years ahead of you, so he’s learned all of this before. He’ll be able to help you prepare for your tests.” He turned his big smile to her and she quickly ducked behind N again, not yet ready to deal with him. N noticed and put a hand on her head. 

“Do you want me to sit with you for today?”

She glanced up at him, knowing inside she was bursting to say ‘yes’, but knew better than to force him to sit in a tutoring session that she agreed to herself. So, puffing her cheeks to hide her quivering chin, she shook her head, assuring both him and herself that she could handle being with him alone. N didn’t look happy, but he couldn’t say anything when she gave her consent. So he only gave her a small hug, glaring over her head at the boy. “If you don’t do your job-”

“Everything will be fine,” her teacher reassured, her voice getting harder. She could tell her teacher was getting annoyed, it was the same tone her mother used. “You should get going; classes are starting in about twenty minutes.” 

After N reluctantly left her side, her teacher gave a heavy sigh of relief as she pat the boy on the back. “I told you her brother would be the hardest to get through. He can be pretty scary.” 

The boy snickered, pointing his thumb in the direction N left. “He didn’t seem too bad. Though I’m surprised how much he looked like he wanted to rip my head off.” She frowned disapprovingly at the two of them, not liking them talking about N behind his back, though they only giggled at her. “I’ll meet you here after classes are over,” the boy said, waving at her as he started walking away. “See you then!” She half-heartedly waved back, already dreading seeing him. 

Hyuk was not happy that she had gotten a tutor from the smiling boy. “I could have tutored you!” he said sadly, pointing at himself. 

“I’m sorry.” 

“And why did you have to have Kim Won-shik as your tutor? That’s the worst!” She merely blinked at him and he quickly hit his mouth. “Sorry, you don’t know do you? Won-shik is super smart and good at sports, so a lot of teachers like him. But really he’s not nice at all, he’s arrogant and mean. You should be careful.” 

“What…what will he do to me?”

“I don’t know, he’s never tutored before. He might not do anything to you, but then he might.”

“What should I do? I told N he didn’t need to come…”

“That’s okay, I’ll stay behind. If anything happens just call me, okay?” She looked into his bright eyes, his determined face showing he wasn’t lying. She smiled appreciatively.

“Hello,” the boy greeted her with his smile again as she peeked from around the door, sitting in a small room with only one table. He motioned for her to sit in the chair across from him and, very slowly, she made her way over and sat down. They sat awkwardly together for a few seconds before he coughed into his fist, glancing at her. “You should get your books out.” 

She hurried as she pulled all her books out of her bag and stacked them on the desk, watching with bated breath as he started to go through them. He noticed her staring at him after a while, she jumped when he set her books aside and leaned his elbows on the table, chin in his hands. “What are you looking at?” She didn’t answer and he scoffed, looking away a second before smirking. “Oh right, you don’t talk do you?”

He grabbed her pencil and twirled it in his fingers, and she distractingly wondered how he could do that. “I heard you’re pretty stupid, you’ve never gone to school before this, right?” She didn’t answer him, her fingers ticking nervously at his tone. She didn’t like this; the way he spoke was different from Seok-jin’s mean tone. “Start by telling me what you can and can’t do.” 

She still didn’t answer, and she could see him growing annoyed as he groaned loudly, leaning over and pulling something out of his pocket. It looked like the phone that Hyuk had showed her, and he clicked on it instead of looking at her. She stared at him, and he knew it, laughing. “We’re not doing anything until you say something. And don’t think you’ll be able to get away, you can’t go home until you’ve done at least one assignment.” 

fell open and he laughed again, putting the phone down. “See? It won’t do you any good just sitting there pouting. Let’s just finish this as soon as possible.” 

She still refused to answer this boy that made her uncomfortable, though knew she had to do something so she could go home. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck here, away from N, longer than necessary. She pulled out her notebook and opened it to the current lesson, pointing at the circled numbers for homework. The boy rolled his eyes as he slammed the book shut. “I want you to talk,” he demanded. 

She shook her head. 

“I know you can talk, I heard you talking with your brother. I can’t help you unless you tell me what you’re struggling with.” 

She shook her head.

“Then we’ll just sit here forever.” He picked his phone back up and went back to clicking, leaving her sitting alone. For a split second, she wondered what would happen if this boy was to become a doll, reveling at the look of fear in his eyes. Her fingers twitched excitedly at the idea, though she covered her face quickly in horror, horrified she would think of something like that. “What, are you crying?” She peeked through her fingers and he scoffed again. “You’re crying?”

“I’m not crying…” she whispered, and he immediately put his phone down, leaning in. 

“That’s more like it. Now if you can keep talking like that, we can finish and you can go home.” He pulled her math book from the stack, and flipped through the pages. “Now, what do you know for this?”

“I can add.” He froze, staring at her and she fidgeted. “I can subtract too.”

“That’s it?”

“Multiply and divide too.” He still looked at her in disbelief, and he ran a hand through his hair as he blew out tiredly.

“So…you know pretty much nothing.” She pursed her lips, unhappy with how that sounded, but didn’t say anything else. He opened to the first page, a page she already had gone over with N. He ran his eyes over the sheet, poking it with the pencil. “We’ll just look at math today, then. I don’t want to sit here all night.” 

The boy drilled her like N never had, making her head hurt from how many times he had to repeat the same thing. It wasn’t that she wasn’t listening, which is what the boy clearly thought, but that each time he showed a new problem, something changed. She just couldn’t understand that change. But she could say that by the end of their session, she was able to easily multiply and divide fractions, something she begrudgingly knew would never happen with just N’s help. 

As she packed her books away, the boy stood up, pocketing his phone. “Hey,” he called out, “don’t tell anyone that I’m your tutor.” 

Her stomach twisted, knowing she already told Hyuk. “W-why?”

“I don’t want anyone to know I’m tutoring a first year. It’ll ruin my reputation, especially with a girl as dumb as you.” She didn’t understand everything he said, but she did understand that he was embarrassed of her. He walked around her and opened the door, nearly jumping out of his skin at the sight of N in the doorway. N looked livid, and when he took a step in, the boy stumbled backwards. 

“Get your things,” N ordered to her, and she wasted no time grabbing her things and shoving it in her bag. She ran behind him and held his hand, trying to lead him out before he could do anything. She didn’t want him getting in trouble. N never looked away from the boy until she was able to drag him out of the room. When they were far enough away, he turned to her and cupped her face in his hands, examining her. “Did he hurt you?”

She shook her head and he sighed with relief. “Good. I’m going to tell your teacher to cancel the tutoring. I won’t make you go back to that.” 

“Don’t do that,” she said, and he sent her an exasperated look. “Even if he was mean, he was still helpful. And if I do this, I won’t have to bother you so much later.”

“You’re not bothering me,” he said softly, brushing her hair from her face lovingly. She still shook her head, and she could see he was still confused, though she wouldn’t let that change her mind. She just held his hand and hoped that he would understand.

“Look who I have!” Both her and N’s head shot up at her mother’s excited shout, looking at each other confusedly before turning to her standing at the door. Her mother was strangely happy, a large, wide grin on her lips and her cheeks red from excitement. Both their eyes trailed from her face to her hands, one hand still out the door. Her face turned sour when neither reacted the way she wanted, huffing as she yanked what was surprisingly another human inside. “See?”

N jumped when the man stumbled in, his hands tied loosely with rope and his eyes blindfolded; that’s right, N wasn’t used to her mother bringing home dolls. With a swift movement, her mother pulled the blindfold off, watching impatiently as he let his eyes adjust and locking on the two of them. They widened at the sight of N.

“Y-you! Cha-” His voice cut off when her mother silenced the doll, and he could only watch helplessly with tears in his eyes. 

“We don’t need you blubbering here,” she snapped, slapping the back of his head. “I just wanted to introduce you to my family here before you went down. Say hello you two.” They both managed a small wave, still not entirely sure who this man was. It was strange though, her mother never introduced her new dolls. She would bring them in and go straight to the basement. Was she supposed to know who this is?

The man’s eyes never left N the entire time, and her mother noticed, her smile widening even more. “Do you recognize him? You were looking for him all this time, weren’t you? Slaving away…and look where that’s gotten you?”

N, still confused, glanced at her again and she could only shake her head. “Who is that?” he asked. 

Her mother’s smile vanished as she glared at him, not wanting either of them to speak. She must have been extremely excited about her new doll though, she went back to smiling as she his bearded face. “This is that lovely police officer who interrupted our dinner that one time looking for N. He’s been following me all this time, and it was getting really annoying. So now he’s our new friend.” 

N’s face paled, the pencil in his hand falling to the table. 

“What are you two doing right now?”

“We’re doing homework,” she interjected quietly, seeing N wasn’t ready to say anything. 

“Look at those two,” she hissed, leaning so close to the man’s face he squeezed his eyes shut in fear. “You were trying to rip them apart because of your selfish, greedy need for justice. But look at them, they’re so happy together.” She ran a finger down his cheek, chuckling as she watched him gulp nervously. 

“N,” she called out, never looking away from the cowering man, “is there anything you’d like to say to this man before he disappears?” 

She reached her hand under the table and took his hand in hers, watching him tremble and near tears. She knew how much N missed his mother and wanted to be free; she couldn’t imagine what it would be like for him right now. Her mother was cruel for doing this to him. “I-is…is my mother doing okay?” 

Her mother took the man’s doll out and wiped a finger across the mouth, the man then gasping for air as if he’d been holding his breath all this time. “Answer him.” 

“She…she’s holding you and Kim Seok-jin’s funeral tomorrow.” Her head snapped to see N collapse in his chair, the look of devastation on his face nearly making her cry. Scrambling, she scooted her chair next to his, reaching over and pulling his head into her chest. She whispered soothing words into his ears, making sure to hide his face from her mother and the man. She knew her mother made the man say that to hurt N. “I’m so sorry.” 

“That’s enough out of you.” Her mother grabbed the ropes around his wrists and dragged him to the basement door. “I’ll be up later. Finish your homework and go to bed.” Her mother fumbled with the lock momentarily before dragging her new doll downstairs, the silence following their departure suffocating. 

N pushed her away as he sat up, turning his head away so she wouldn’t have to see him wipe his tears. Frustratingly, she forced him to look at her, kneeling on her chair so she could wipe his tears with her thumbs. “Don’t cry,” she said lamely, wishing she was able to comfort him like he always did for her. 

“Saet-byul,” he said softly, grabbing her hands, “let’s finish quickly. I’m tired.” Even though she didn’t want to, she kept shut as she silently let him finish her homework. 

They finished hurriedly, N didn’t really check her homework, too upset over the man’s words, and climbed into bed. She usually loved when they lay under the blankets together, burrowing her face into his chest while he patted her head. But this time, he was so stiff and silent, his hands tiredly hanging over her and cold. She looked up at him, into his sad eyes, and frowned. “N…”

“She already thinks I’m dead…”

“N-”

“If anybody, I’d hoped she would be the one to wait for us. But she’s the one who thinks I’m dead. What do I tell Seok-jinnie?”

“Don’t tell Seok-jin.” She didn’t want Seok-jin sad too, just seeing N like this was enough to make her sad. 

“How can I not? Our mother is going to bury us so quickly. She’s given up on us. My mom…she….she’s….”

“N!” He clamped his mouth shut as she exasperatingly pushed herself off his chest and sat up, huffing. “I think there’s a way you can go back to your mother.”

“Really?” He shot up wide-eyed, grabbing her arms and staring at her in such a way she shuddered. “I…I can go back? How? But –but didn’t Seok-jin say I couldn’t see her again?”

“I don’t know if it’ll work or not, I’m only guessing. She’s only taught me how to put a doll together, I don’t know if you can take it apart.” 

“She taught you? Wait, your mom’s been teaching you how to make dolls?” The accusation was clear in his voice, and she didn’t like the way he looked at her. She hadn’t wanted to tell him about her mother’s teachings, knowing he would disapprove. But she would do anything to see him happy and smiling, and if that meant letting him know, she would do it in a heartbeat. “Saet-byul-”

“I haven’t made anything yet, she’s only showing me how to do it. She’s shown me enough to show how to attach the people to the doll. It’s the blood and hair, remember?” She could see him purse his lips, his face contorted, and knew he remembered. It was hard not to forget that night, the night their fates had been connected by the stitchings of a doll. She leaned in, almost as if she was afraid her mother would burst in and beat her, “If we take the doll apart, it shouldn’t work anymore.” 

“Are you sure?” he asked uncertainly, “That sounds too easy.”

“But why wouldn’t it work? When Mommy makes the doll, she puts the doll together, puts the person’s blood on it and then stitches the hair on. If we take off the blood and hair, it shouldn’t work anymore.” 

“I don’t know…that would mean that anyone could make a doll like that. There would be dolls all over the place. There’s got to be something extra that she does. You can’t make dolls like this easily.”

“I’m telling you, that’s all she’s shown me. I promise! We could try it on Seok-jin, and if it works-”

“You want to use Seok-jin?” he asked harshly, his voice so hard and angry she immediately shut up. “You want to use Seok-jin for something you don’t know will work or not?” She didn’t say anything as he yelled at her, not wanting to tell him that he was the last one she wanted to do anything on. She wanted to help Seok-jin because it would make N happy; she didn’t want to help free him because she wanted him to be with her forever. But she knew that would make N angry, so she kept it to herself. 

“But I want to help Seok-jin go home-”

“If you’re going to use someone, use me. Don’t touch Seok-jin unless we know it works.” She stared at him helplessly as she tried to find a reason to not use him, unable to find a convincing one. So she just laid back down with her back to him, tears flooding her eyes as she decided she wasn’t going to do it. She didn’t want to lose N. “Saet-byul-” She pulled the covers over her head, ignoring his exasperated sigh as he laid down with his back to her.

She didn’t want to hear him tell her to use him again.