And seeing that Kang Ha-jun’s expression had softened, it seemed like there was no need to appease him.
“You look like your dad.”
Kang Ha-jun, who felt that a woman’s gaze was alternating between Haneul and himself, bowed his head in greeting. After hearing that he resembled Haneul, his anxiety about crowded elevators disappeared.
In fact, there was no room for such complaints.
* * *
“It’s home!”
Hearing Eunyul’s shout, Haneul became excited and went into the house first. And Kang Ha-jun was standing at the very back, and not only did he have both hands full of shopping bags, but his eyes seemed to be empty.
Kang Ha-jun keenly felt that it was very difficult to walk around with a child who was overflowing with curiosity.
‘What’s this?’
‘What is this?’
‘What is this?’
‘What is this?’
The question of what this was still ringing in my ears.
“Sky, let’s take a shower.”
I was standing there blankly, unable to even come in from the front door, but Eunyul was moving diligently as if it wasn’t the end yet. Haneul took out the clothes she had taken off and put in the basket, turned them over, put them back in their original state, and went into the bathroom. The sound of Haneul’s laughter seemed to wash over Eunyul while she played with him.
Looking at it, I felt sorry for myself for being exhausted after just going shopping.
Kang Ha-jun, who was organizing the clothes in his shopping bag and drinking water, felt the gaze of Haneul, who had finished washing up, with a towel around her neck, and asked.
“why? “Give me some water?”
“Would you like to play with me? “There are games I can’t play alone.”
At Haneul’s suggestion, Kang Ha-jun’s eyes automatically turned to the wall clock. It’s not time to sleep yet.
“okay.”
“You’ll do it? How many will you do?”
“certain?”
They asked me to just play with them and I said I would, but I guess I need to decide on a number.
“2?”
“great. “Then I’ll give you a final word and bring one from my room.”
When Kang Ha-jun nodded, Haneul ran into her room with an excited look on her face.
“Say… … you’re good.”
I thought it was amazing just to talk to him because he was a kid who didn’t even come to class, but it wasn’t that much. I know how to distinguish between polite and informal speech and how to make suggestions politely.
“Is he smart?”
I don’t know what the average level of children of his age is, but in my eyes, Haneul seemed to be quite good at speaking.
“Haneul was slow to speak.”
After washing Haneul, Eunyul came out, drying her wet hair with a towel, as if she had also washed herself.
“The pediatrician told me to get speech therapy because my speech was slow.”
“language… … therapy?”
“yes. Even after two years, I could only say about five words. Dad, grandma, yes, no, no.”
“You brush your teeth alone.”
“There’s a reason why I let you brush your teeth alone. hmm… … “The reason he speaks so slowly is because I do everything.”
Eunyul sat in front of the table and looked at Haneul in the room.
“Because I don’t have one parent, I thought I should treat my child better than other children. “I was afraid she might get thirsty, so I gave her water in advance, kept snacks within reach, and never missed a meal, so she didn’t have to talk.”
“… … .”
“So I heard that my speech was delayed, so I started receiving speech therapy at 30 months.”
Eunyul’s expression darkened. My heart was heavy because I felt like it was all my fault that Haneul was slow to speak.
“That was very expensive. I heard there was a support system, but I didn’t know that and just sent it away. however… … .”
Eunyul laughed.
“You can open your mouth after exactly three months. I guess he didn’t want to go to speech therapy. You said on the morning of the day you had to go there? ‘Dad, let’s go to the playground.’”
Various emotions appeared on Eunyul’s face, as if she still couldn’t forget that moment. Embarrassment, surprise, joy… … Of these, by far the greatest emotion was joy.
“So that day, I quit speech therapy and went to the playground. And now… … Oh, I can’t say anything. How good are you at speaking? “They’re smarter than kids aged six or seven.”
Since then, you taught me a lot to be able to do things on my own. Nothing just happened. I felt bad, perhaps because Eunyul was trying to fill the void that I was without.
“Why did I say this?”
Eunyul tilted her head for a moment as if she had forgotten something, and then looked at Kang Hajun as if she had remembered.
“So please lose to Haneul.”
“… … .”
Why does it make sense like that?
“calamari.”
“Fish cake!”
“Muksabal.”
“toes!”
“instrument.”
“diaper!”
“Earpicks.”
“Gamo!”
Dog mother?
“Don’t you know uncle? There’s something from Cinderella. step mother.”
“I don’t think so… … .”
“uh? That’s right. “Is that correct?”
“that… … .”
Kang Ha-jun couldn’t find anything to say, but Eun-yul lowered her voice and muttered.
“I pride myself on being good at speaking, so I couldn’t help but have a strong competitive spirit.”
* * *
“All you have to do is put down the number, shape, or color of the card that overlaps two of them. “You roughly understood it, right?”
“Roughly?”
It wasn’t an answer that meant I vaguely understood it. I found it fascinating to use the phrase “the sky is roughly,” so I followed suit.
Kang Ha-jun looked at Eun-yul. Then he shrugged his shoulders as if Eunyul was no big deal. He asked if he had seen him speak well once or twice.
“Sky.”
“huh.”
“What should be the penalty for the person who loses this?”
Haneul seemed to be worried about Eunyul’s question and placed a finger on her plump lips. Haneul, who has nothing sharp on her body, rolled her round eyes, thought, and a bright smile appeared.
“The person who loses has to eat with me. And whoever wins, enjoy it.”
“good.”
When Eunyul accepted it right away, Haneul shook her butt as if she was excited. It was a game we were playing together, but it was a punishment that we had no intention of losing.
“You know what I mean, right? “If you want to cook, you lose. If you want to eat, you win.”
Eunyul reinterpreted Heaven’s words to Kang Hajun. Kang Ha-jun whispered to Eun-yul as he watched Haneul diligently shuffle the cards.
“… … “I’ll try to lose.”
“You know what?”
Eunyul added a word just in case.
“If you lose clumsily, the sky will cry.”
You need acting that will fool anyone. When Haneul collected all the cards, Eunyul immediately smiled and pretended not to say anything.
“Then I will hand out seven cards to each person.”
While Haneul was handing out cards with her small hands, Eunyul lined up the cards in front of her and Kang Hajun held them in one hand. And as Ha-neul began to play out her own cards, Eun-yul grinned and opened all of her cards.
Kang Ha-jun wondered if he should hold it out of sight, but Eun-yul slyly looked at my card and muttered.
“I have to put it this way. “Hae-neul is not allowed to look at her father’s things.”
“Kahaha. “I can’t see it, I can’t see it.”
Haneul pretended to cover his eyes with his hand and looked at all the cards in front of Eunyul. Hajun Kang also tried to quietly put down his card as his body was twitching here and there as if he was happy. But Eunyul didn’t just sit there and watch.
“uh? “Uncle Hajun is trying to follow in his father’s footsteps.”
“No. no.”
Haneul grabbed Kang Ha-jun’s hand and blocked him from seeing the card.
“You can’t do that. “It’s a foul if you intentionally show it to someone else.”
Kang Ha-jun looked at the card in front of Eun-yul. I showed you everything there. Eunyul grinned and looked away. It seems like Kang Ha-jun’s difficult situation is none of his business.
“Now then, let’s begin.”
The game finally started, and of course it started with the sky.
“Colors and shapes!”
Haneul shouted very loudly and put down the card. After seeing this, Eunyul chuckled and held out one of her cards.
“Dad, I like shapes and numbers.”
Haneul, who saw the card her father held out, realized that she could put down her own and started shaking her butt. I wanted to pay quickly, but it wasn’t my turn yet, so while I was waiting, it was Kang Ha-jun’s turn.
He wondered if he could put it down or pretend it wasn’t there. Given the current situation, it would be best to pretend it doesn’t exist, but wouldn’t it be okay to submit the first one? He also played a silver note, so he should pay himself and take the card on the next turn.
Kang Ha-jun made up his mind and put down his card.
“Colors and numbers.”
“uh?”
As soon as Kang Ha-jun put down the card, Haneul made a surprised noise. He compared the card he was holding with the one that Kang Ha-jun had just laid down, and when he saw that the two things in common had disappeared, he burst into tears.
“ah… … .”
Kang Ha-jun, who didn’t see what Haneul had prepared to lose because he was thinking about what I should do to lose, let out a sad sound.
Sky was the first to take a card from the deck, and the child became more sullen.
