After finally getting the job at the convenience store, I started to have some cash coming in. I was able to eat every day and save some for other purposes.

I was walking back to the slum from the store after work. I spotted Hyeri walking beside Shinyu while holding his hand. They both entered the slum and disappeared in the small passageways between the houses.

Were we living in the same place?

The next time I saw Shinyu, we were both at the graveyard. I waited for him to finish cleaning and helped Hyeri with her homework. Her hangeul book was almost filled with her handwriting, and I could see she improved greatly from the unfathomable scribbles she drew in her old book.

I patted her hair, then even decided to comb it. She was drawing something on a blank page with a few coloured pencils.

When her hair was in a nice braid, I sat down next to her. She smiled at me for a while, before handing me the paper she was drawing on earlier.

"I drew this for you, Nari-unnie."

She smiled and hid behind her brother, who was picking up leaves. I finally glanced at the paper she gave me.

There were three stickmen, each one labelled with their names. The tallest one was labelled Shinyu, then she drew herself and at the bottom, she wrote her name.

The third stickman was me... I was in her drawing...

I closed my eyes and processed everything. I peered at Hyeri, who was still hiding behind her brother. Tears filled my eyes, and they began to fall inevitably.

She came and wiped them with her tiny fingers.

"Did you not like it, unnie?"

I nodded and hugged her almost immediately. "It's not that sweetie, you did an amazing job. Thank you so much for drawing me."

Hyeri pulled away and started drawing something else on another blank piece of paper.

I stared at the three stickmen, lost in my thoughts.

"Mom! Mom! Look what I drew at school today!" I said while practically shoving the paper in front of her. She was puzzled at first while trying to understand it but later smiled warmly at me and hugged me asking if the three stickmen I drew were her, dad and me. Us. I nodded.

"We should get this framed and hang it on the wall near the staircase," she claimed while looking at my drawing like it was a masterpiece. I only just realised it had nothing special, but my mother was proud of it, which showed how supportive she was. I missed her. I missed the way I would come back from school and the first thing I would do was hug her, and she would ask how my day went and everything was normal like a normal teenager's life would be.

But mishaps happened, and I ended up being on my own.

Navigating through the storm which we called life, with a dilapidated boat, trying to reach the shore on the other side. Only, I am about to sink.

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I hope you are doing well :)

Jihoon on weverse :)