Min Yugeon absentmindedly ran his tiny hand across the desk, then started fiddling with the edge of the table.
I stared at his face.
“You’re not eating?”
At my question, Min Yugeon flinched. His wide eyes locked onto mine.
“Huh?”
“……”
When I pointed to the plate full of snacks, Min Yugeon let out an “Ah,” as if just realizing something, and gave a small nod. Then he picked up a biscuit and offered it to me first.
“Want one?”
“……Yeah.”
Only after I accepted it did he start eating his own. For a while, the only sounds between us were the crisp crunching of snacks.
Glancing sideways at the kids in the next seats, who couldn’t stay still and were constantly making noise as they rocked their chairs, Min Yugeon looked like he was itching to talk. I brushed the crumbs from my hands and met his gaze. He flinched, then awkwardly opened his mouth.
“Hey, that over there looks fun.”
“Where?”
“Over there.”
He pointed at the ball pit—not quite as popular as the slide, but still a favorite. We watched the kids already inside, swimming around, full of energy.
“Yeah, looks like it.”
“Right? Let’s go play together.”
Min Yugeon’s eyes sparkled. He was already halfway up from his seat.
“I think I’ll stay here.”
But at my response, he froze like he’d just taken a hit. Clearly, he hadn’t expected a rejection.
“You don’t want to go?”
“Yeah.”
“Is it… you don’t want to play with me?”
His face looked deeply disappointed.
“? No.”
“Then why?”
He immediately perked up, as if relieved. …Well, it just looks way too chaotic and cramped. Seems like the kind of place only really lively kids would enjoy. Even if I did go, I doubted I could play as energetically as the others already inside.
Before I could answer honestly, another question came flying at me.
“What do you usually play with?”
Min Yugeon had apparently lost interest in the ball pit and settled back into his seat. It was the first time a peer had shown such open curiosity about me. With that unfamiliar feeling, I thought back on how I usually spent my time at home.
“I solve quizzes.”
Lately, I’ve been absorbed in all kinds of books, and whenever Mom or Dad gave me quiz questions related to what I’d read, I found a lot of fun in answering them.
Min Yugeon looked at me with a fascinated expression.
“Quizzes…”
“……”
“I hate studying. I only do it ‘cause my dad gets mad if I don’t.”
He mumbled how much he disliked solving problems, but then grinned, saying he liked building with blocks, even if it meant sitting still for a long time just like studying.
Now that I looked closely, Min Yugeon was missing his front teeth, too. His sharp canines and the way his eyes scrunched up reminded me of a little fox I’d once seen in a picture book.
A chubby-cheeked baby fox.
“Kids, all done with your snacks?”
“What were you two chatting about so much?”
The adults approached, saying it was time to head home. By then, the atmosphere between us had improved a lot compared to when we first started talking.
We parted with a hint of reluctance, and it wasn’t long after that day that we met again.
***
“You’re here, Sanghan. Yugeon’s back again! Minha, welcome!”
“Heeseo, Jaejin—it’s been a while.”
“So good to see you. Are you feeling any better?”
The once-quiet house grew lively with the arrival of guests. I was standing at the front door with my parents to greet them when my eyes met Min Yugeon’s.
Hugging a small box in his arms, Min Yugeon grinned like a little rascal and greeted me.
“Hi.”
“Hey.”
Today, his mother was with him. I glanced to Min Yugeon’s side. The woman smiling like a picture as she exchanged greetings with my parents seemed to sense my gaze and turned to look at me.
“You must be Suho.”
She had an air of grace, but also carried a faint trace of sorrow. Extremely slender, her complexion was pale. Lee Minha bent down to meet my eye level and studied my face.
“It’s so nice to meet you, Suho.”
“Hello.”
“Really… You’re just as adorable as Yugeon described.”
At her words, my parents let out a simultaneous “Oh~” of delight.
“Ah, Mom!”
Min Yugeon’s face turned bright red as he tugged on her sleeve, as if whining, Why would you say that? At the same time, he was clearly glancing at me nervously.
“Yugeon is adorable, too. He looks just like you, Minha.”
My mother spoke while watching the two of them with an amused smile. My father clapped his palms and chimed in.
“Now that you mention it—he really does! Yugeon’s the spitting image of his mom, huh?”
“Exactly. Good thing he didn’t take after me.”
Min Sanghan joked playfully. When my father and mother waved their hands, saying that’s not what they meant, he just laughed heartily and brushed it off as a joke.
In the warm, cheerful atmosphere, we moved into the living room, where the adults and children naturally split into groups. While the two couples began their tea time on the sofa, Min Yugeon and I headed to my room. He looked around as soon as we entered.
“Whoa, you’ve got so many books.”
He sounded slightly overwhelmed as he stared at the packed shelves. Then, something must’ve caught his eye—he pointed to one of the book spines.
“This one…”
“Monster Species Encyclopedia.”
I stepped closer and pulled the dictionary-like book from the shelf, answering him.
Not long ago, I had started to wonder what exactly these ‘monsters’ my parents were researching actually were. In response to that curiosity, they had given me this encyclopedia along with several other related books.
I opened it wide so both pages were clearly visible. The moment a photo of a monster appeared, Min Yugeon scrunched up his face.
“Gross.”
“……Really?”
While they did look threatening and powerful, if you looked closely, some of them had a sort of charm to them. Still, I didn’t feel any need to convince Min Yugeon otherwise, so I stayed quiet.
I shut the encyclopedia with a thud and slid it back into its place on the shelf. Then my gaze shifted to the small box Min Yugeon had been holding all this time.
“What’s that?”
“Ah.”
Min Yugeon flinched, looked down at the box, and after a brief moment of hesitation, held it out toward me.
“It’s a gift.”
“For me?”
“Yeah. It’s yours.”
A gift… I accepted the box with wide eyes, surprised without realizing it.
“Thanks.”
I immediately sat down on the mat to open it. Sitting beside me, Min Yugeon’s eyes sparkled as he eagerly watched my reaction.
When I opened the flaps, inside was a brightly colored cube.
“You said you liked quizzes.”
He must’ve picked it out remembering that. My chest felt strangely warm and tingly as I turned the cube over in my hands. Solving a cube was, in a way, a kind of puzzle too.
“If you match all the colors, it makes a sound.”
Min Yugeon fluttered the instruction sheet as he explained. I turned the cube in different directions, inspecting it.
“It’s already solved, though.”
“Maybe ‘cause it’s new. Here… it says to do this.”
Min Yugeon took the cube from me and rolled it straight across the floor. The cube tumbled along, releasing a series of cute, plunky sound effects.
My eyes widened in surprise before I even realized it. So did Min Yugeon’s.
“It actually works.”
Fascinated, I twisted one row of the cube to mix up the colors and gently rolled it across the floor again. This time, it stayed silent.
“How does it make the sound?”
Min Yugeon stared intently at the cube, as if determined to figure out how it worked. Despite being the one who gifted it, he looked ready to take it apart piece by piece.
A wave of unease swept over me, and I gripped the cube tightly with both hands.
Thankfully, the nightmare of losing a gift the moment I received it didn’t come true.
Min Yugeon and I spent a long time huddled together, wrestling with the cube, trying to solve it.
“……”
Suddenly, I found myself quietly watching him—more focused than I was. He had said he liked building blocks, so it made sense that something like this would be fun for him too… But still, maybe he’d bought it because he wanted to try it himself.
“Suho, Yugeon! Come on out, it’s time to eat.”
At the sound of my mother calling us loudly, Min Yugeon and I got up and shuffled out of the room.
“Your room was so quiet. What were you two up to?”
My mother asked with a smile as we appeared side by side. I felt her hands gently smoothing down my hair as I answered.
“The cube. Yugeon gave it to me as a gift.”
“He did?”
My mother looked down at Min Yugeon with an admiring gaze. Then, as if sharing a silent agreement, she exchanged a soft laugh with Lee Minha, who had her arm affectionately around her son’s shoulders.
“Watching them like this, I’m really glad we got together today.”
“Same here. Thank you so much for having us. Next time, you should come to our place.”
“We’d love to. Though it looks like we won’t have any days off again for a while…”
Just then, Min Sanghan, who had apparently just finished washing his hands, approached us.
“Alright, alright, let’s head to the table.”
The adults ushered Min Yugeon and me toward the dining area. My father, who had just finished setting the table, greeted us with a smile. The food spread before us was the result of my father’s hard work following recipes—he actually had more cooking experience than my mom.
“Enjoy!”
“Thanks for the food.”
The meal unfolded in a warm, cheerful atmosphere. The parents chatted about their everyday lives, while Min Yugeon and I simply focused on eating. Now that we were facing plates full of food, the hunger we hadn’t noticed while playing suddenly caught up with us.
“Oh, right. I heard you’re moving soon?”
Lee Minha dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin and looked back and forth between my parents as she spoke.
I froze mid-bite, completely blindsided.
…Our family is?
