Despite Lily's dramatic entrance into the world, her life soon adopted a sort of normalcy.  Mother Superior and the Sisters at the monastery still searched desperately for Lily's father, but after months of searching, they had gradually accepted the fact that now they were the baby girls only family.

 

 

     Since the moment that he had first held her, Yunho had become Lily's watcher and protector.  He thought this was a natural feeling of brotherly love.  He had after all told her, from the moment that she had come into his arms, that he would indeed protect her.  But often he would catch the Sisters laughing fondly as they watched him make yet another lap around the monastery with Lily in his arms. He would ask them why they always laughed when they saw him holding her. They had simply replied,"You'll know when you're older." And Yunho wondered just what was that supposed to mean?

 

       He was so attached to her that Mother Superior had even scolded him once when he wanted to carry Lily instead of lay her down in the makeshift crib the Doctor had built. 

 

      "You're going to make Lily the most spoiled baby in the world if you keep this up. How will she be able to stand on her own two feet if she doesn't even know what the ground feels like?" She scolded gently. 

 

      As she swept out of the room Yunho thought hard about what Mother Superior had said.  He came to the conclusion that, as always, she was right and resigned himself to carrying Lily only 3 times each day.  But as he stared down at her, and her sleepy grey eyes opened, her lips curving into a gummy smile, she reached up her tiny hands in recognition of his face.  Yunho sighed heavily and reached down into the crib.

 

     5 times a day wouldn't hurt.

 

     Mother Superior continued to watch Yunho closely to make sure that he wasn't coddling Lily too much. In all honesty she got enough attention from the Sisters who fawned over her every smile, coo and laugh.  And although Mother Superior said that Lily needed to learn independence, there was a little part of her that was also susceptible to Lily's charms.  It was evident when the decision of where to place Lily's crib was not put up to a vote and instead put straight into Mother Superiors room.

 

     It seemed that Yunho also could not resist.  It became so that Lily would only put her arms up and request to be carried when she saw Yunho.  With everyone else she would not protest being carried, but if he was in the room she would immediately make it known that she wanted to go to him instead.

 

     Mother Superior had more wise words for Yunho.  "We can't shelter her all her life.  She needs to be able to see the world with her own eyes.  And she definitely can't see it if your arms are blocking the view."  She said as she took a napping Lily from Yunho's arms and placed her back into her crib.  Yunho knew, once again, that Mother Superior was right.  But the beautiful baby girl had him bending over backwards just to please her.  

 

       The next day Yunho was acting strangely.  He spent his entire day in the storage shed and talked to no one.  The Sisters had seen him running back and forth across the courtyard with his toy car, some blankets, a small serving trough, and a pair of old pans.  Mother Superior thought this strange as he did not report to his lessons with the Doctor, nor did he visit Lily.  Not even once.  She just wrote it off as the workings of a creative young boy and continued with her day.

 

       At around midday Mother Superior called for Yunho.  She figured that she would ease up on him a little and let him coddle Lily just a little bit.  She looked everywhere but could not find him in his usual hangouts.  She was drawn to the courtyard by the sound of laughter and a strange rattling noise.  When she arrived and saw what all the Sisters were laughing at, she smiled as well.  

 

      The rattling noise had come from a shabby little stroller, that by the looks of it, Yunho had constructed himself.  In the stroller, rattling around a bit herself, was Lily who looked extremely satisfied with her new ride.  And pushing the cart was a very proud, and dirty looking Yunho.  As he approached Mother Superior and the other Sisters he beamed up at her and said, "Now Lily can see the world all she wants without my arms blocking.  And now we can see it together without my arms getting all tired."

 

     And Mother Superior had no wise words to say to that.

 

     As the days went by Lily and Yunho were almost inseparable.  The only time they were apart was when Yunho would attend his daily lessons with the doctor and when they went to sleep at night.  Lily had cried at first when Yunho would leave for his lessons, but by putting her down for a nap 5 minutes before he left everyday, he could assure that she would sleep through his lessons.  

 

      A year passed and Yunho and Lily could still be seen walking the same worn paths around the monastery in that old beat up stroller.

 

      Mother Superior asked Yunho if he wanted to sign up for school this year, seeing as he was already 6.  But he had told her no, saying that he would put it off for another year or so so he could watch Lily.  Mother Superior resigned to accept this, seeing as how many of the Sisters were now sent out periodically, that they really did need someone to help watch over Lily.  She wasn't worried about Yunho falling behind in school, he was actually ahead of most kids his age.  

 

      Yunho was one of the first children that the monastery had had in years.  His mother had left him there for a few days saying she had to sort a few things out and then she'd be back for him.  The newspaper the next day reported that she had been killed herself only a few hours after she had dropped off her son.  Although Yunho was only 4 at the time, he seemed to understand the gravity of his own situation and asked Mother Superior if he could stay at the monastery. 

 

     "I can do many things. I can clean. I can cook. I even used to help Mama when she was sick in bed."  Mother Superior thought he seemed very knowledgable and articulate for a 4 year old. Luckily for little Yunho the Doctor was rather old and was looking for an apprentice to take over the medicine practice at the monastery.  

 

     Since he was the only child at the monastery there were no children's books for him to read and entertain himself with. The anatomy books that the Doctor had told him to study were a bit icky, so he had read pretty much every other book in the monastery's extensive library. He had memorized facts on plants, animals, history and foreign countries. At five years old he knew things that even Mother Superior did not know.

 

     Yunho made it his mission to pass on his knowledge to Lily. So he began to read to her before they both went to bed.  He noticed that although she couldn't understand his words she often smiled when he read and tried to mimic the movements of his lips.  Often she fell asleep right in his arms, a lot of times right when he got to the good part.  But he would never continue after she had fallen asleep because he didn't want her to miss anything.

 

      On the night of her 2nd birthday, Yunho was reading to Lily from an Astronomy textbook. As he took her on a literary journey through space and time, she uttered her first word.  

 

     "Star." 

 

      She began to laugh as Yunho praised and hugged her congratulating her on her first word. Both Yunho and Lily didn't know it at the time, but this event would trigger a lifelong obsession with the stars within the young girl.