Chapter 5

Hyunwoo was cleaning the apartment unit peacefully as his younger siblings watched a cartoon on the T.V. until the door to Jeongsoo's room opened.

Startled, the three looks at the room and saw Jeongsoo in a rush to leave.

"Huh? Noona, you're going to work on a Saturday?"

"I just got promoted which is fortunate and I have to go to work on Saturdays for a few weeks which is unfortunate." Jeongsoo explained as she put her shoes on.

"Is that so? Congratulations, then." Hyunwoo smiled while clapping his hands.

"Thanks! But I need you to buy some groceries today. I left the money on the table in my room along with a list. The money should be enough for you to buy groceries and buy takeout food for you, Eunjae and Jiseok."

"I have to go now! Love you three!" Jeongsoo left in a hurry as Hyunwoo laughed.

"She must be very happy because of the promotion. I'm going to buy some groceries today, so don't let anyone else but me or Jeongsoo noona to enter the house." Hyunwoo patted the heads of his two siblings.

"We can't go with you?"

"Yeah, for now at least. I can't really carry you both when you get tired unlike buying groceries with Jeongsoo noona. I'm gonna be carrying some groceries."

"Don't worry. I'll bring you both something you might like on my way back."

After a few hours, Hyunwoo was at the grocery store, pushing a cart while reading a list of grocery.

"Hm... First on the list is the milk for the two. But if I remember correctly, Eunjae wants the chocolate one..."

"I'll buy both the chocolate and—" Hyunwoo was about to take two boxes, but a hand also grabbed the box of chocolate milk.

"Ah, sorry. It's yours now—" Hyunwoo turns his head and saw Hyejin also doing some grocery shopping.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Hyejin."

"Neither did I. But you can take the box." Hyejin smiled at Hyunwo, reassuring him it was alright.

"Oh, no. You grabbed it first. It's yours now." Hyunwoo smiled at Hyejin, letting her know it was also alright.

"No, it was you who first grabbed it. You should be the one to keep it." Hyejin giggled.

The box of chocolate milk was eventually taken by an old lady and both were completely fine with.

Hyunwoo and Hyejin were walking together, eating ice cream, finally on their way home after a long day of shopping for groceries.

"Hmm... Grocery shopping really was tiring..." Hyejin let out a heavy, tired sigh.

"Do you need help with your bags?"

"No, it's alright. I only have two bags, but you have three. You should worry about yourself more than others sometimes." Hyejin smiled at Hyunwoo.

"You seem happy today. You've been smiling since I saw you earlier." Hyunwoo let out a small laugh.

"Well, that's because—" Before Hyejin could finish her sentence, someone suddenly bumped into her from behind.

The two turn around and saw a small girl sitting, sitting on the road while holding her head.

"I am so sorry! Are you alright?" Hyejin kneeled to help the small girl stand up.

"Mom?"

"... I think you may have mistakened me as your mother... Where are your parents?"

"Mom... Dad..." The small girl looked around before she started crying.

The two were clueless about what they are supposed to do in a situation like this, they were on the verge of panicking.

"P-Please stop crying! I'll help you find your parents! H-Here's a bar of chocolate for you!" Hyejin wiped the tears of the small girl while offering her the bar of chocolate.

After a few minutes of trying to calm the girl down, Hyejin knelt in front of her to get to the same level.

"What's your name?"

"Sung-ah... My name is Sung-ah." The girl introduced herself as Sungah.

"What a nice name! Listen, Sungah, I'm going to help you find your parents, but in the meantime, you have to behave and follow me, so I only need to find your parents." Hyejin smiled at Sungah while patting her head.

"Okay." Sungah nodded.

"Sorry, Hyunwoo. I wish we could continue talking, but I have to go help this girl find her parents. See you on monday."

"No, it's alright. We'll find her parents together. I'll help you." Hyunwoo said while smiling.

"First, where'd you get lost from them?" Hyunwoo knelt to the same level as Sungah.

"It was at the mall. There was a crowd and it probably got mixed up and I ended up following you both because you looked like my parents..."

"I see... Let's head to the mall first. We might find them there." Hyejin holds Sungah's hand and they started walking together as Hyunwoo followed behind.

"I doubt we'll be able to find them there... It's been almost thirty minutes since we left the mall. Her parents might've gone out of the mall... There might be a chance, though." Hyunwoo decided to keep that thought to himself.

The three arrived at the mall and started looking around for Sungah's patents, but they didn't manage to find there. Sungah started crying once again until Hyunwoo decided to buy her food to eat while they look for her parents.

Hyejin also ended up carrying Sungah in her arms while they walk around the city.

"We should go file a report to the cops. I can at least leave my phone number, so her parents can call or if they had left their child, we can call them." Hyunwoo suggested.

"That's right..." Hyejin also realized it was a good choice.

The three next walks to the nearest police station.

Once they arrived, Hyejin sat on a bench with Sungah as Hyunwoo talks with a man in the counter.

"I'd like to file a case of missing child. By any chance, has that little girl's parents gone here? Her name is Yang Sung-ah."

"Yes. Let me call them."

Hyunwoo smiled once he heard that Sungah's parents have gone to the police station before.

"How bad..."

"Wh-What's wrong?"

"Their phone is unreachable. Try calling them on your phone. Here's the number." The man handed a piece of paper to Hyunwoo.

Hyunwoo tried calling them, but the person is just unreachable as of now.

"If you want to, you can leave her here for now. We can just wait for her parents."

"No, we'll find her parents. Call me in case they go here. We'll head here straight away." Hyunwoo wrote his number on the paper and gave it back.

The three of them walked out of the police station in silence and Hyunwoo calls someone on his phone.

"Hyung! Where are you? It's night now." Jiseok's voice could be heard.

"Sorry. I might go back home late. I'm helping someone find their parents. I'm sure you both can order food to deliver there online. Go to my room and I left some money there. It's enough to feed you both dinner."

"Okay. I'll tell Eunjae. Goodbye!"

"Yeah, goodbye."

Hyunwoo ends the call and walks back to the two.

"Did... Did they find Mom and Dad?" Sungah asked and it was obvious, she was on the verge of crying.

"... No, they haven't—" Hyunwoo was cut off by Sungah bursting into tears.

Hyunwoo and Hyejin knelt beside Sungah and wiped her tears.

"They might have not found them, but now that I've given them my phone number, it'll be easier to find your parents now." Hyunwoo pats Sungah's head while Hyejin wiped her tears.

"But... it's night already... I'm only wasting your time... I'm sorry!" Sungah cried even harder and the guilt in her voice could be felt by the two.

"No, you're not wasting my time. I'm not giving up until we find your parents. Until we find your parents, I'm not going to rest." Hyunwoo said, surprising Sungah.

"I'm not giving up until we find your parents either. I'm gonna make sure you reunite with them." Hyejin added.

Hyunwoo carried Sungah on his back while also holding his groceries on one hand as Hyejin tried to call Sungah's parents.

They arrived at a park, but they still haven't found Sungah's parents.

"Maybe... you should just leave me here..." Sungah said, shocking the two.

"No. We can't do that. You have no idea how dangerous places are at night. That's why I told you I'm not going home until we find your parents."

"Sungah... Sungah! Is that you?!"

The three turns around and saw a couple who seemed to look tired.

"Mom! Dad!" Sungah finally smiled for the first time she was with Hyunwoo and Hyejin.

Hyunwoo lets Sungah down from his back as she and her parents ran to each other and hug after almost a whole day of separation.

Sungah and her parents reunite with tears in their eyes while Hyunwoo and Hyejin smiled from the side.

"We finally found them."

"Yeah."

Sungah's parents walk up to the two and bows in front of them, making them blush.

"Thank you for helping our daughter find us. Words can't even express how grateful we are. We can never repay you enough, but we can give you both a coupon that lets you eat for free forever at our family restaurant." Sungah's father handed them a paper with his signature on it.

"O-Oh! There's no need to repay us, actually! We just wanted to help!"

"No, please accept our offer. Sungah and her brother is our world. We can't afford to lose both of them. Not even one of them." Sungah's father insisted.

"We understand your feelings, but we can't really accept such a big offer."

"It's alright. The both of you deserve it. We've given you both enough trouble for half a day." Sungah's mother also insisted and the two finally had no choice, but to accept the offer.

"If you insist... Thank you."

"No, we should be thanking you both."

"By any chance, are you Sam Hyun-woo? A basketball star from Daegu?" Sungah's father asked and he seemed to be surprised.

"Yes." Hyunwoo nodded.

"You really are tall as they say. There were rumors that you're person with a bad personality. Now I know that you're a good person. I should tell this to my colleagues who believes in rumors."

After some time talking, Sungah and her parents were finally heading home, so were Hyunwoo and Hyejin who rode a bus together.

Hyunwoo was talking with Eunjae and Jiseok on the phone.

"I'm on my way home now. Have you two eaten?"

"Yeah! We ordered chinese food today!"

While Hyunwoo talks with his younger siblings on the phone, he felt a weight on his shoulder. Hyunwoo looks at his shoulder and saw Hyejin sleeping on his shoulder.

"She must be tired." Hyunwoo let out a small laugh.

Later, Hyejin woke up in her room, clearly dumbfounded.

"H-Huh? Did I dream about Hyunwoo again?" Hyejin wondered, trying to recall her dream.

Hyejin walks out of her room to head to the dining room saw her father putting the same exact groceries she bought into the refrigerator.

"Huh? That... That wasn't a dream?"

"Ah, Hyejin. You've woken up! I heard what happened from Hyunwoo. I'm so proud of you and myself for raising you up properly!" Daesu said as he pats Hyejin's head.

"H-How'd I get home?" Hyejin asked, clearly more dumbfounded than earlier.

"Hyunwoo carried you from the bus station to here. I wanted him to join us for dinner, but he said he had to go home because his siblings were waiting."

"Oh, it wasn't a dream."