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"I really don't mind helping out a friend, Rok Soo, so calm down."
The man watched you comb his mother — wait, no, the little girl’s hair, an elastic hairband on your wrist. You gathered her hair up into a ponytail before beginning to tie it up with the hairband, the little girl humming and moving her legs back and forth as she sits on your lap.
“There you go, sweetheart,” you say with a smile. “You look very pretty.”
“I do?” The little girl asked with wide eyes. She turned to Kim Rok Soo with a bashful expression, “Do… do I look pretty, Uncle?”
Kim Rok Soo stared at the little girl for a moment and even though her face was immensely different than his mother from another life, he thought of how he could see fragments of his mother in the little girl.
He smiled, nodding lightly. “Yes. Yes, you look pretty.”
“So pretty I could just—” you hugged the little girl close and began kissing her cheeks “—eat you up!”
Kim Rok Soo watched the scenery in front of him in silence.
You were good with kids and although a bit snarky, you were kind and helpful, never once turning away from him despite the rather bittersweet memories you shared with the original Kim Rok Soo.
He wondered what exactly the original Kim Rok Soo saw in you that led to your break up because as far as he could see, you were a partner anyone could dream of.
The little girl’s stomach grumbled in protest of not yet having dinner and you stopped your numerous attacks on her cheek. “Oh, right, we should eat something.”
You set the little girl down and stood up, staring at him, and asked, “You mind me using your kitchen?”
Kim Rok Soo shook his head and stood up as well, “Oh, no need to help yourself. I can prepare something for us all—”
“Hey,” you called out for him with a soft voice. “It’s fine. I won’t ruin your kitchen. I still remember where everything is.”
“That’s not what I—” Kim Rok Soo takes a deep breath. “Alright. Do what you want.”
“You still kept my mug, right?” You asked, walking into the kitchen. “The one you didn’t like.”
Kim Rok Soo spun the gears in his head, trying to remember if he could remember any mugs that the original Kim Rok Soo might’ve hated.
“Aww.”
You appeared out of the kitchen, holding the mug.
That one?
He always thought that the original Kim Rok Soo loved seeing that one — Cale himself thought it was a bit funny — since he had placed it at the front in his cabinets and cleaned it regularly for reasons Cale did not know of.
The original Kim Rok Soo hated that?
“You still kept it?” You asked him with a grin.
The little girl walked towards you and you bent down, showing her the mug. Her face scrunched in dislike, “That’s a weird cat.”
“I know, right?” You replied, unbothered. “I love it so much.”
“You like weird stuff, Auntie?”
You snorted. “I do. That’s why I’m friends with your Uncle.”
The little girl puffed her cheeks out. “Uncle is not weird! Your cat is weird!”
“Alright, alright.” Kim Rok Soo neared the both of you. “Let’s not talk about the cat and let’s start doing dinner before the three of us die of starvation.”
You let out a chuckle, standing up and rolling your eyes. “Dramatic as usual.”
Kim Rok Soo got onto one knee in front of the little girl. “Go to your room and wait, okay? We’ll call you for dinner.”
The little girl nodded. “Okay!”
When he followed you to the kitchen to help, he noticed how you were quiet and only spoke after hearing the little girl shutting the door to go to her room; “She’s a nice girl.”
“I know,” he replied.
“Didn’t expect you to do that type of stuff,” you added, “Adopting and whatnot.”
“Really?” He asked. “Then what do you expect?”
“You’ve always been the type to have life companions — a sort of found family type of person,” you say, not knowing you’ve hit the bullseye because the man that you spoke of was not him, but the original Kim Rok Soo. “But I’m glad to see you’ve chosen to not be alone anymore.”
You were a genuinely good person who cared for Kim Rok Soo and that’s how he was able to conclude that the breakup that happened must’ve been mutual.
“Why?”
Kim Rok Soo blinked. “Why what?”
You used your chin to point out that ridiculous mug of yours. “Why’d you keep that?”
He can’t give you an answer because it wasn’t his choice. It wasn’t him who placed that mug in the cabinet in the front row so he would always see the thing whenever he opened the cabinet, cleaning the mug regularly to make sure it doesn’t catch any dust despite hardly using it.
“I…”
Kim Rok Soo wished he could make up a reason without sounding suspicious, but he doesn’t know what to say because even he had to admit that the original Kim Rok Soo could’ve just given it back instead of keeping it here.
Why would he keep an item that would obviously bring bitter memories?
Why would he even keep the item of someone else like this when he doesn’t even use it?
“I don’t know.”
You paused on washing the ingredients for tonight’s dinner.
“I see.”