Ha Yeon, who had neatly planted sweet potato seedlings, headed to the bathroom to bathe Ji Hoo.

Bubbles fizzed in the bathtub filled with bath salts.

“Didn’t anything fun happen at kindergarten?”

Ha Yeon asked Ji Hoo, who was submerged in the tub covered in bubbles.

“Well… It was just okay.”

The child’s answer lacked vitality, as if he had lived through everything in the world.

‘This seems like a big problem?’

Ha Yeon’s expression momentarily hardened. Thinking back to her own childhood, children around this age were usually quite noisy. It was characteristic of children to chatter endlessly without being told to, but Ji Hoo seemed different from other kids his age no matter how she looked at him.

‘Is it because of his mother?’

She had collected articles about Coach Kang Min Je, but had never seen an article about him getting married. Well, unless he was a celebrity, his marriage might not have been covered in the news. But it was really unexpected that he had a six-year-old child. Moreover, without a mother…

Ha Yeon’s mind was complicated, but she deliberately raised her voice to hide her worried expression from the child.

“Have you ever tried this?”

Ha Yeon gathered some bubbles into a round shape, then poked a hole with her finger and said,

“Ta-da, an apple!”

“How is that an apple?”

Can’t you just go along with it? What’s the harm?

“Then how about this? Ta-da, poop!”

Ha Yeon smiled triumphantly. He won’t be able to help laughing at this one, right?

“Ew, that’s dirty.”

Ji Hoo pressed down on the bubbles Ha Yeon had offered, making them disappear. Tough kid. You’re the first little one who doesn’t laugh at poop.

Tsk, a failure. Ha Yeon pouted her lips and washed Ji Hoo. It was strange. A sense of mission to make the child laugh kept arising.

The next morning, Ha Yeon woke up at 6 AM. Then she sat at her vanity and did full makeup.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had put this much effort into her makeup. What was certain was that for the three years since her parents passed away, she had been too busy making a living to properly do her makeup.

“This should be good enough for Ji Hoo to like, right?”

Ha Yeon smiled awkwardly as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She felt a moment of self-loathing, wondering if this was really necessary, but if Ji Hoo wanted it, she could do full makeup every day.

Ha Yeon held her head high and went to wake up Ji Hoo.

“Ji Hoo, wake up.”

Mmm, the child stretched and rubbed his eyes, then startled when he saw Ha Yeon.

“Si- sister?”

Yes, who else would it be? Ha Yeon blinked her false eyelashes, waiting for Ji Hoo to compliment her beauty, but the expected reaction didn’t come.

“Did you… eat something bad yesterday?”

This kid! Is that all you have to say? Ha Yeon let out an exasperated sigh.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to show off to your friends?”

As Ha Yeon made it obvious that she had put in this much effort for that reason, Ji Hoo scratched his head awkwardly.

“Well, I guess so…”

What kind of reaction is that? Seeing Ha Yeon’s eyebrows twitch, Ji Hoo let out a small sigh and continued,

“…Okay.”

He says okay, but why does this unsettling feeling remain? Ha Yeon helped the child get ready while wondering what the problem was.

When they went downstairs for breakfast, Mi Ran burst out laughing.

“Do you have some kind of appointment today?”

“No, nothing like that.”

“I thought you might be going on a blind date or something. You look like a different person all dressed up like that.”

Ha Yeon smiled brightly, interpreting ‘like a different person’ as ‘pretty’. See, I’m really pretty when I put in the effort.

“Thank you.”

Seeing Ha Yeon smiling and greeting Mi Ran, Ji Hoo flinched while eating his meal.

When it was time to leave, Ha Yeon went to the front gate with Ji Hoo and the kindergarten vehicle arrived.

“Oh my, hello. I’ve heard about you. You’re the new…”

The teacher who got out of the vehicle greeted Ha Yeon warmly.

“Yes, hello. I’ll be taking care of Ji Hoo from now on. Please take good care of us.”

Ha Yeon returned the greeting affectionately.

As Ji Hoo took his seat in the yellow minibus, Ha Yeon waved her hand, telling him to have a good day. Ji Hoo just stared at Ha Yeon without waving back.

By now, Ha Yeon had gotten a sense of the child’s temperament, so she wasn’t disappointed. Instead, she waved even more enthusiastically until the bus disappeared from sight.

Feeling good about perfectly completing her morning tasks, Ha Yeon entered the house with a spring in her step.

Min Je was sitting on the living room sofa, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper.

“Good morning, Coach.”

Min Je looked up at the sound of Ha Yeon’s voice and choked, coughing. Did she see Ji Hoo off looking like that?

He was taken aback to see Ha Yeon looking ready for an evening party or special exhibition. Yesterday her face had been puffy from eating ramen, and today she surprises people with excessive grooming first thing in the morning.

Ha Yeon raised one eyebrow as she watched the coughing Min Je.

“Surely you’re not reacting like that because of me?”

Ha Yeon’s voice was strangely chilly, so Min Je cleared his throat and composed his expression. For some reason, her face showed a strong determination not to accept any criticism of her appearance.

“No, well, you’ve put in a lot of effort…”

Min Je made a vague gesture for her to go about her business. As if nothing had happened, Ha Yeon smiled and bowed slightly.

“Well then, excuse me.”

Min Je glanced at Ha Yeon’s retreating back as she went up the stairs and slowly stroked his chin. What an unpredictable, strange woman. Honestly, he hadn’t expected her to try this hard.

To make such a fuss over a child’s request. Was this her usual personality? Or was Ji Hoo special to her? Min Je’s gaze deepened as he pondered.

Unaware of Min Je’s thoughts, Ha Yeon took out her phone as soon as she got to the second floor and launched an app called ‘Kids Note’. This app was created to view kindergarten notices and photos of the children.

“The world really has improved…”

Ha Yeon chuckled as she looked through Ji Hoo’s previous photos.

“His expressions are all the same.”

After examining several photos, Ji Hoo’s expressions were hardly different. Worry began to creep in again.

‘Well, it was just okay.’

Ji Hoo’s answer to the question about fun things at kindergarten echoed in her mind. A child who describes kindergarten life as ‘just okay’. It seemed like he felt that way about all aspects of his life, which bothered her for no particular reason.

At that moment, Ji Hoo was playing with his friends at kindergarten.

“Who was that pretty sister waving to you this morning?”

“Did you get a mom?”

The children who had seen Ha Yeon that morning gathered around Ji Hoo, unable to contain their curiosity.

“No, not yet.”

Ji Hoo answered briefly before focusing on the block toy he was building.

“I see. What are you making?”

Seeing Ji Hoo’s quite serious expression, the children’s attention was quickly drawn to the block he was building.

Ji Hoo was creating an unusual shape, unlike the planes, spaceships, or robots that children often made.

“What do you think this looks like?”

When Ji Hoo held up the completed block and asked, the children’s expressions became a bit strange.

“Don’t tell me that’s… poop?”

“Teacher! Ji Hoo made poop with blocks!”

“Huh? Who made what?”

The teacher couldn’t believe her ears. Ji Hoo was the most mature and exemplary child in the mischievous 6-year-old class. And it was Ji Hoo, of all people, who had made what?

“You recognize it, so I must have made it properly.”

An unfamiliar smile appeared on Ji Hoo’s face. It was the smile of a mischievous little rascal no different from his peers.

“Ji Hoo, you, you did a good job.”

The teacher praised him with an awkward smile. Well, children might make poop out of blocks while playing.

“But next time, try making something else too.”

However, as a teacher responsible for teaching creativity and diversity, she couldn’t leave out this advice.

Ha Yeon prepared Ji Hoo’s bed, wondering why the day felt so short.

After searching for Ji Hoo’s photos in the morning and sitting in the studio in the afternoon thinking ‘What should I draw?’, it was suddenly time for Ji Hoo to come home from kindergarten. And after Ji Hoo returned, time flew by even faster and it was soon bedtime.

Ha Yeon sat by the child’s bed, gazing at his face. The child’s face looked cute in the yellow bedside light.

“Our Ji Hoo is so handsome, I bet you’re popular.”

Ha Yeon smiled and stroked Ji Hoo’s hair once.

“Well, I guess I am.”

This kid, where did he learn to talk like that? His attitude seemed to have thrown humility out the window, causing an involuntary chuckle.

Suddenly, Kang Min Je’s face came to mind. He would probably have the same reaction. His face, with that arrogant expression as if he had superior genes in his very bones, was vivid. Although that was the charm she had fallen for, the more she thought about it, the more a strange emotion welled up.

“At times like this, you should humbly answer, ‘No, popular? Not at all.'”

Ha Yeon thought it wasn’t too late to teach Little Kang Min Je how to be modest.

“Are you telling me to lie right now?”

When Ji Hoo asked with wide eyes, Ha Yeon was momentarily stunned.

“No, I’m not telling you to lie…”

“Then why should I say it’s not true when it is?”

“…”

She was at a loss for words. Ha Yeon blinked, then let out a low sigh. Right, the adult should give in. What’s the point of winning against a child? After laying out suitable excuses in her mind, Ha Yeon roughly changed the subject.

“Does your dad always come home this late?”

“It’s usually like this when there’s a new exhibition schedule.”

When the child’s face became momentarily gloomy, Ha Yeon felt regretful. She wondered if she had hurt the child by bringing up an unnecessary topic.

‘Why is nothing easy…’

Though Ha Yeon was self-deprecating inside, she smiled without letting it show.

“Now you have me! Don’t worry about anything because your sister is here for Ji Hoo!”

“Really? You don’t seem very reliable though…”

What did you say? Are you going to be like this till the end? As Ha Yeon flinched, Ji Hoo chuckled as if nothing had happened. The child’s laughing eyes twinkled beautifully like stars.

“Come on, where can you find someone as reliable as me? Even if you’re young, you shouldn’t be so bad at judging people.”

Ha Yeon clicked her tongue and spoke even more exaggeratedly on purpose. She didn’t know why she felt this way only in front of Ji Hoo.

A feeling of pity, fondness, and a lump in her throat…

Was it because she saw herself in Ji Hoo, who was putting up his quills like a hedgehog to avoid showing weakness? She couldn’t clearly define this complex feeling, but one thing was certain – she wanted to help Ji Hoo.

Min Je, who entered the dark house, silently climbed the stairs and stood in front of Ji Hoo’s room. It had become his daily routine to just look at the sleeping child’s face without being able to tuck him in.

The heavy self-blame and apologetic feelings hanging in a corner of his heart made his chest feel tight again today.

Click, he carefully opened the door so as not to wake Ji Hoo. And his eyes widened at the unexpected sight. Ha Yeon was sleeping bent over next to Ji Hoo’s bed.

‘Why on earth is she here…?’

Why was she sleeping in such an uncomfortable position? He approached her to wake her up.

She had a smile on her face as if she was having a good dream.

‘It seems she was born to make people uncomfortable.’

Min Je slowly shook Ha Yeon’s shoulder.

“Hey, Ms. Jang Ha Yeon. Wake up.”

Mmm, Ha Yeon opened her eyes groggily. Seeing a handsome man in front of her, she blinked, unable to distinguish if it was a dream or reality. Then, realizing that the man looking at her was Kang Min Je, she jumped up from her seat in surprise.

“Ah, I, I must have dozed off for a moment. Well then, I’ll be going now.”

As she tried to quickly leave the room out of embarrassment, Min Je called out to her.

“Wait a moment, this…”

“Yes?”

Ha Yeon accepted something he was holding out with a puzzled expression.