“Mrs. Oh!” I exclaim, going after the woman who is brisk walking her way back to the open room. I swear she needs to stop going on her daily early morning walks because even I cannot keep up with her anymore. “Mrs. Oh!” 

“Ari!” She snaps at me, stopping dead in her tracks to turn around and face me. “If you’re going to allow yourself to continue using your voice while your throat is still healing, you’re never going to get any better!”

“I don’t give a crap about my throat. What I care about is the fact that you’re about to allow something crazy in our community!”

Her shoulders sag then she crosses her arms in front of her defensively. “Fine, then,” she articulates ever so slowly. “Tell me why you think I’m about to allow ‘something crazy’ into our community.”

I start with clenched fists, “I believed that if I found a way to make him talk, it would be the end.” I gesticulate, “We make him talk, get an explanation as to why he’s here, and then we let him go. It never occurred to me that we’ll be keeping him with us.”

“Ari, are we not social workers?” She argues with me. “We help people, especially those who are lost.”

“Mrs. Oh, I found a way to make him talk!” I point out, almost on the verge of raising my voice at her. “That was our job, now it's time to let him leave.”

“But don't you think that he's like the kids here? Hoping for people to help him in some way?”

I gape at her in pure disbelief. “Don't you guilt-trip me by bringing the kids in. Don’t you even dare,” I test her, pointing a finger.

"But it is working a bit, right?"

I almost burst from her retaliation. I respect this woman with every fiber of myself, but there are just times when I cannot understand or even bear her bad decisions. I raise my hands in surrender. "I can’t with you." 

"And I'll take that as an indication that you agree with me." She takes a few steps near me and clasps a hand on my shoulder. "Good to know we're on the same page," she finishes with an evident smile playing about her face. 

She leaves for the open room just as I clarify by shouting, "This does not mean that I think it's a good idea!" 

Aish, I swear this woman knows how to drive me insane.

Hours later of working in the library because I'm still quote-unquote, "resting my throat", I finally found the chance to escape the place as everyone seems to have gathered somewhere far from where I am. 

Mrs. Oh, Yejin, and Hyunwoo did not want me to stay first with the kids since they might... wait...would be asking me about the remnants of the bruises on my neck. I understand where they are coming from, but they really can’t do anything to keep me away from the kids. 

I grunt as I jump a bit to aid in pushing myself up. My hands grip tightly onto the open windowsill as I climb out of the window of the library which is direct to the rooms of the children.

If they are not going to allow them to me, then I’m going to them, I thought with a surge of courage coursing through me. This simple misdeed is bringing too much thrill for me. God, I need to go out more if I think that what I’m doing is thrilling.

I eventually climb through the window and land on the sand on the other side of the building. I’ve gone out of the window a lot of times already, so this is getting easier for me. I dust my hands and wipe them down my pants before crouching down a bit, carefully looking around me to see if any of my colleagues would catch me sneaking out. I only need to run a good five meters to reach the backdoor of the building where the children’s rooms are. 

I make my way, dashing through the open area where I could get caught at any moment. I stop before the backdoor and wrap my hand around the knob and heavily breathe out a sigh of relief when it turns. Without any hesitation, I open the door and enter the building in a rush before closing it behind me. 

“Miss Ari?” One of the kids, Hanwool, aged 6, is the first to spot me leaning against the door, breathing heavily. 

“H-Hey Hanwool!” I greet him, plastering a giant smile to hide the fact that I’m not supposed to be here.

He tilts his head, gazing at me with eyes filled with curiosity. “Miss? Why are you not with the other big people?” He asks, brushing his disheveled matte black hair out of his eyes.

Big people. It’s what the children here like to call us, grown-ups.

“Ah…” I breathe out, biting my bottom lip as I conjure up a lie on the spot. “I was asked to stay behind and play with all of you here!”

His eyes instantly lit up at that. “Really?” He exclaims, a smile growing on his face.

I nod and even snap my finger at him. “You bet! Now, are you all in the playroom? Take me there!” I hold a hand out for him to take and he runs as fast as his little legs could carry him to grab it. 

“I’m sure the others will be happy to play with you, Miss Ari!” He starts to pull me with him to the playroom, but after taking a few steps he stops and points directly at the fading bruises littered on my neck. “Miss, what’s that?”

“I-I,” I stutter and unconsciously cover them by placing my hand over the skin. “Hanwool, this is-”

“Why is it vlalo...vlayliyo...vlilo-”

“Violet, you mean?” I corrected him gently. “Vai-yo-let,” I enunciate for him to get the word. 

“Vai-yo-let,” he repeats slowly but correctly. He points toward my neck again. “Why do you have vai-yo-let marks on you?” 

“These...marks,” I start out slowly, fighting an inner battle if I should tell him the truth or feed this kid with fanciful things that could fit with how he currently views the world based on his age. Sometimes dilemmas like these bother me. “I, um, I got hurt. So because of what happened, it does not hurt anymore, but these are left behind on my skin to remind me that it used to be painful in these parts of my body.”

There. That was not entirely a lie. I just hope he buys it. 

I watch how his eyebrows pinch together as he tries to comprehend the explanation I gave him. “So…” he drawls, first looking at the bruises before shifting his gaze up to meet my eyes. “You got a boo-boo?”

I start to breathe easily, happy that he bought it. “Yes, I got a boo-boo, but I’m feeling better now.” Though, I thought I was going to die the moment I got this “boo-boo”. 

He gasps and immediately kisses his palm before pressing it gently against the skin where one of my visible bruises is. “Kisses help them get better faster.” 

My heart melts with that single cute gesture I was not ready for. I swear, these kids would also be the death of me, but in a heartwarming way. I couldn’t hold it in when I had the urge to pinch his cheek, so I really do it. “That was very sweet of you, Hanwool.”

He frowns and wipes a hand over the cheek I pinched. “Miss, I’m not sweet,” he huffs.

“Oops,” I bring a hand to my mouth, feigning shock, “I forgot that you’re strong, not sweet.”

He holds his head high and smirks. “Of course, Miss Ari! I help protect the kids here, that's why I can’t be sweet, I must be strong!” He tightens his hold on my hand. “I’ll take you to the playroom, now! The other kids should also be sending their kisses so that you’ll heal faster.”

I follow after him and when we reach the playroom, the kids inside start to get all excited by my presence. 

“Miss Ari!” They exclaim in unison. 

“Hi, everyone!”

Most of them run to me and some of them try to pull me to their different play stations, but I choose to just sit on the matted floor in the middle of all of them so that it’s fair for all. 

And that is when they start to bombard me with questions, especially those pertaining to the bruises on my neck. 

“What happened to you, Miss Ari?”
“Hanwool said it’s a boo-boo. Does it still hurt?”
“Want me to leave my kiss on it, Miss? I remember that when you kiss on a boo-boo, the pain goes away.”

I reassure them with a gentle expression on my face, “I said that I’m all right, kids. Okay, it might still hurt just a little bit, but I am okay.”

“You have to tell us if someone hurts you, okay Miss Ari?” Sunja utters, taking a seat on my lap. I help position her comfortably on me and even wrap my arms around her. The other kids have sat around me, unintentionally forming a small circle.

“You, kids, should not worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

“Did someone give you the boo-boo, miss?” Another kid asks genuinely. 

“Um...well…”

The same kid gasps in realization. “Did someone hurt you, miss?” Darn, I forget that these kids are sometimes smarter than me.

“N-No,” I stammer then point toward the bruises, “I got these because-”

“Ari?”

My eyes widen and I feel my heart drop to my stomach the moment I see Mrs. Oh with my colleagues standing before the entrance of the playroom. They all throw me looks of confusion and bewilderment. “Oh, God,” I mutter breathlessly. Because I easily become too complacent, I got caught red-handed. 

The children are oblivious to the tension between me and the rest of the grown-ups standing by the doorway since they greet the social workers with cheerful voices. Of course, this prompts them to greet the children back in the same happy manner. 

“Ari?” Mrs. Oh repeats but in a softer voice to mask the pointed tone I know she wants to throw at me. "Why are you not at the library?"

Her sudden change of tone of voice is when I notice that I have the upper hand here. Taking advantage of the situation where she cannot berate me in front of the children, I smirk at her and reply, "I wanted to play with the children, Mrs. Oh." 

I haughtily hold my head high and throw each of them a knowing grin, feeling good about myself, until my entire being turns dour in the blink of an eye. My gaze locks with someone I did not want to see again. My mouth falls in an instant, forming a frown. “What is he doing here?” I spit out venomously. 

Why is the mystery man here? 

He seems to look healthier than what he looked like back when we found him. He has on another new set of clothes, completely covering where his gunshot wound is located. He stands among my colleagues, staring back at me with a neutral expression on his face.

Yejin says, “We decided to bring Jun with us to see the place. If he’s staying with us for quite some time, then he should also meet the kids-”

“Jun?” I utter incredulously, arching an eyebrow at her. Did I hear her say that name correctly? Where the hell did they get “Jun” from that guy?

“Yes, Jun,” Yejin clarifies for my sake. “It’s a name he somewhat recalls.”

I scoff then throw him a look, derisively. “If you could continue to do that, can you try to recall more each day so that you can leave us alone and get back with your old life?”

“Ari!” Mrs. Oh exclaims. “Try to be nice, please. In fact, you should have not been here with the kids yet and still have continued to wear the bandage around your neck.”

“And what? Hide the fact that he did this to me?!” I blurt out without thought, even pointing a finger at Jun out of instinct. My hand instantly clasps my mouth as realization dawns on me and with what I said. “O-Oops…” I stammer.

The children let out a collective gasp and look at the man who clearly wants to hide himself from the sudden attention now laid on him.

“Children,” Mrs. Oh starts, holding her hands out in hopes of calming them down, “try to listen to me-”

“You’re the one who gave the boo-boo to Miss Ari?!” Hanwool interrupts her in a loud voice, pointing an accusing finger at Jun. 

And that was when the children started clamoring because of my big and stupid mouth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Their interactions are going to start being more frequent so prepare for that ;)

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