Taekwoon remembers the first time he met Wonshik as if it had only been yesterday, whereas, in fact, it happened almost 17 years ago.

It was a nice, sunny afternoon in May, and Taekwoon was clutching his mother’s hand hard while they were walking in the streets full of people fixing their clothes–the weather was too hot for sweaters, but too cold for T-shirts. Drops of sweat were forming under Taekwoon’s black fringe as well, but his mother had been way too charmed by her son looking ‘like a handsome little heartthrob’ in his new jacket (whatever she meant by that), and Taekwoon had liked the smile on her face very much, so he didn’t say anything.

He finally got rid of the jacket in the house they arrived at, while a woman was crouching down in front of him, smiling at him and telling him how much he had grown since she had last seen him. Taekwoon was blinking fast, looking right and looking left but never meeting the woman’s eyes; he was flattered by the words, but he didn’t know who she was, until his mother told him she was a good friend of hers.

Taekwoon felt a little relieved when he was told to take a seat (and actually did so when his mother told him that it was okay to accept the offer), and got a glass of very yummy juice and a plate of delicious cookies. He started swinging his legs, nibbling on a cookie, not quite listening to the adults’ conversation until he heard soft sobs coming from behind one of the closed doors. He pricked his ears up, his heart rate becoming faster upon hearing the painful-sounding, high-pitched noises, but the two women stood up from the table beaming at each other as they entered the room.

Taekwoon put down the cookie, hopping off the chair and padding towards the room, hiding behind his mother’s leg when he finally stepped in. There was a small bed in the room with some birds and flowers hanging above it, and a lot of furniture Taekwoon didn’t know what they were good for. He glanced up at the women, just in the right moment to see his mother taking a baby from her friend, rocking him in her arms and cooing at him like she had done so many times to Taekwoon himself. The baby was crying quietly, his sobs subsiding with each movement of Taekwoon’s mother’s arms, and she asked “Did you have a nightmare, Shikie?” Taekwoon thought it was silly; the baby looked very young, there was no way he could have answered, but apparently he didn’t even need to: his mother put him back into the tiny bed, and the baby only emitted some feeble sounds afterwards.

Taekwoon’s mother ran her fingers through her son’s hair absentmindedly while she left the room with the other woman, but Taekwoon stayed where he had been standing. He watched the baby reaching out for the birds and flowers above his head, giggling with only a few teeth showing.

Taekwoon was rooted to the spot. He didn’t quite know what was so enchanting in the baby’s presence, but he couldn’t stop watching him, so he sat down on the floor, next to the crib, cross-legged, and whispered, so that the women in the living room couldn’t hear, “My name is Taekwoon. Nice to meet you.”

The baby paid no attention to him, instead, he yawned, dropping his little arms next to his body, kicking into the air with one of his legs.

“Are you sleepy?” Taekwoon asked quietly. The baby babbled something. “Mummy always sings to me before I go to sleep.”

Taekwoon took a deep breath, and started singing in his soft voice, eventually silencing the baby with the lullaby, and helping him fall asleep.

He only stopped singing when his mother caressed his face, telling him that it was time to go home, and Taekwoon held his mother’s hand, waving at the baby and promising him that he would come back.

But the baby didn’t notice him leaving.