12.
12.
They were eyes that seemed to endure everything.
A face stiff and hardened.
A gaze that seemed to suppress something.
When Sihu met eyes with the child, he couldn’t help but be puzzled.
Children always wanted to eat delicious food placed before them.
Yet the child in the hall remained stiff-faced despite the food in front of him, his eyes clouded.
The woman who seemed to be the child’s mother smiled warmly as if coaxing a sulking child and cut the tofu steak.
“Say aah.”
The child’s mother placed a piece of cut tofu steak into the child’s mouth.
She wore a smile kinder than anyone else, but to Sihu’s eyes, the mother looked different.
‘Her eyes aren’t smiling.’
The child seemed to open his mouth forcibly.
From the kitchen, Sihu glanced over at the mother and child.
Hayun, reading Sihu’s mood, entered the kitchen, turned his back toward the hall, and spoke.
“Strange, isn’t it?”
At Hayun’s question, Sihu nodded.
When Sihu looked toward where the mother and child sat, Hayun spoke again.
“I complimented the mother, said the child looked refined, and she smiled with her mouth, but her eyes didn’t smile. It was a bit scary and somewhat strange.”
At Hayun’s words, Sihu seemed to think of something and quickly steamed potatoes he’d brought from the garden.
He added salt and mayonnaise to the steamed potatoes and began mashing them with a masher.
It was mashed potato.
Once it was somewhat smooth, Sihu used a scoop to form the mashed potato into a round shape and placed it on a plate.
Then he arranged cucumbers and sprout greens around it and placed it on a tray.
Clack—
The child and mother’s gazes turned to Sihu.
The mother and child looked at Sihu puzzled and asked.
“We didn’t order this?”
At the mother’s words, Sihu smiled and began to speak.
“Our young friend ordered Korean food, so this is a small service from me. Please try it together, mother.”
At Sihu’s words, the child’s mother gestured with her eyes for the child to try it.
The child neatly moved his chopsticks and put a bite of mashed potato into his mouth.
After chewing for a moment, the child’s eyes turned slightly red, as if remembering something.
The child opened his eyes wide, picked up his spoon, and began forcing down spoonfuls of rice.
The child’s mother looked at the child with pitiful eyes for a moment.
Then she scooped up mashed potato with a fork and put it in her mouth.
Together with a texture as smooth as cream, the savory flavor of the potato filled her mouth.
“Oh my? It’s delicious.”
The child’s mother unconsciously brought one hand to her cheek as she spoke.
Though the mother’s lips still held a smile, Sihu saw that her eyes remained unmoving.
‘?!’
Sihu was certain something was wrong with the mother’s expression.
Sihu crouched beside the child, met his eyes, and asked.
“Is it tasty?”
The child avoided Sihu’s gaze and nodded.
Sihu stood up and said.
“Is there any side dish you want more of? Uncle will bring you more.”
“…No.”
At the child’s answer, Sihu glanced at the mother once more and returned to the kitchen.
A short while later.
“Excuse me! Check, please.”
A customer called at the counter, and Hayun approached.
The child’s mother from earlier was trying to pay.
When Sihu looked out of the kitchen, the child’s mother seemed to say something to Hayun while paying, then nodded.
As Hayun smiled and said something, the mother bid farewell and hurried out of the store.
Hayun approached the child and said something.
The child nodded and sat quietly, eating his food slowly.
Seeing the child eating alone, the customers began to remark.
“He’s really well-behaved… Right, honey?”
“He is? Usually when Mom says she’ll be right back, he wants to go with her.”
The conversation in the hall wasn’t audible well from the kitchen.
However, Sihu, who had been watching everything, felt a tingling sensation at the back of his neck.
When Hayun entered the kitchen, Sihu asked.
“Hyung, the kid’s mother said she was going somewhere and would be right back?”
At Sihu’s words, Hayun’s eyes went wide.
“You heard that?”
“No, did you at least get that mother’s contact number?”
“No, why do you ask?”
Sihu organized his thoughts for a moment, then shook his head and said.
“No—let’s just wait for now.”
Sihu wiped his hands and went out to the hall alone.
After finishing his meal, the child sipped water and kept staring at the shop door.
“Did our friend finish his rice?”
“Yes…”
The child’s answer was weak.
Seeing the child’s expression, Sihu became slightly angry.
Anger at the mother who had left the child alone in the shop to run an errand.
Sihu sat in the seat where the child’s mother had sat and looked at the child as he asked.
“What is our friend’s name? And how old are you?”
After asking, Sihu studied the child’s expression.
A slightly anxious-looking face.
Then the child smiled slightly, held out seven fingers, and said his name in a small voice.
“Yu Jinu.”
Sihu nodded.
Calling the child’s name, he asked.
“Jinu, do you want ice cream?”
Only then did the child show a childlike nod.
“Wait just a minute—. Uncle will bring it to you.”
Sihu ruffled Jinu’s hair and stood up.
He took ice cream from the kitchen freezer, scooped it, and decorated it beside the scoop with stick cookies.
‘I’m glad I learned even this much from Ganghun Hyung….’
Sihu carried the plate of ice cream out to the hall and set it in front of Jinu.
“Eat it deliciously and wait.”
“Yes…”
Jinu carefully began to move his ice cream spoon.
While other people entered the shop to eat, paid, and left, the child’s mother did not return.
Hayun muttered as if worried.
“Is it okay to leave the kid alone like that? She asked me to watch him for a bit while she ran an errand and said she’d come right back… Sigh—”
Time passed, and the busiest evening hours arrived.
Near Hankuk University, there were many office buildings along with the university hospital, so the shop was always packed in the evenings.
Ring-a-ling—
“Welcome-. Huh? You’re back? Ma’am?”
The one who entered through the open shop door was Jinu’s mother.
Seeing the child’s mother panting from how much she had run, Hayun handed her water.
“Please have some water.”
“Ah— yes, thank you.”
Glug— glug—
Jinu’s mother bowed her waist as she looked at Hayun.
“I’m sorry for coming so late.”
Sihu watched the situation from the kitchen and breathed a sigh of relief.
He had thought the mother abandoned the child and left.
It was true that he had been anxious, given the incidents that often appeared in the news lately.
Jinu’s mother stroked Jinu’s head.
“Jinu, I’m sorry. Did you wait a long time?”
Jinu nodded with his head lowered.
The child’s mother held Jinu’s face and met his gaze.
“Jinu. Is Mama’s eye feeling a little better today? Take a look.”
The child’s mother moved the muscles around her eyes to make an expression.
Seeing the mother’s expression, Jinu touched around her eyes and asked.
“Oh, Mom. Doesn’t it hurt anymore?”
At Jinu’s question, the mother shook her head and answered.
“The doctor said I have to go a few more times to get better. But Jinu, you need to eat dinner.”
She felt sorry for leaving Jinu alone.
Jinu would turn pale and tremble all over if it was a hospital.
‘Ever since his father left, he hated hospitals even more.’
Jinu’s mother had tried to leave the child at kindergarten, but the kindergarten wouldn’t take a child who was no longer an enrolled student.
In the end, she ate with Jinu near the hospital and told the staff she’d be right back, but the treatment was delayed.
‘I’m sorry….’
Then Jinu pointed at people and spoke.
“Yeah, Mom. I’m hungry. I want to eat that red noodle thing those misters and ladies are eating.”
Gurgle—
Hearing the sound from the child’s stomach, the mother made an apologetic expression and spoke.
“Really? Then should Mama have the Korean food Jinu ate during the day again?”
Jinu nodded and gave a thumbs-up.
“Yeah! The food I ate during the day was really delicious. And the uncle inside gave me ice cream too.”
Jinu pointed at Sihu in the kitchen and spoke proudly to his mother as if bragging.
Watching the two, Hayun held out the menu and said.
“Please call me when you’ve decided on your order~.”
After that.
Hayun moved about the hall like he was flying at the calls of other customers.
“Yes! Just a moment!”
“The food you ordered is out. Please enjoy.”
“Yes, have you decided on the menu? Ah? Yes. Then please wait just a moment!”
Hayun flew about the hall taking orders and serving food.
The child’s mother decided on the menu with Jinu and called Hayun.
“Could we get one Napolitan and one ‘Today’s Menu,’ please?”
After taking the order, Hayun smiled broadly and ruffled Jinu’s hair as he asked.
“You’re happy Mom is back?”
“Yes. I am.”
Only then did Jinu make an expression befitting a seven-year-old child.
Hayun, entering the kitchen, told Sihu the mother and child’s order.
Sihu quickly prepared the ordered dishes.
And as a service menu, he arranged a fruit salad on a plate.
Vitamin-rich oranges and grapes. And salad greens were evenly arranged.
Ding—
On the tray were Napolitan and rice, soup, a braise, seasoned vegetables, and a grilled item from the “Today’s Menu.”
Hayun picked up the tray and set it before the mother and child.
“Wow-. I saw other misters and ladies eating this deliciously.”
Hayun stroked Jinu’s head again and said.
“Did you? Eat it deliciously.”
“Yes! Thank you!”
Only then did Jinu show a childlike reaction, saliva pooling in his mouth.
The child’s mother also murmured upon seeing the salad in the “Today’s Menu.”
“Fruit… It looks delicious.”
Hayun also smiled toward the child’s mother and said.
“Please enjoy.”
“Ah, yes! Thank you.”
It was fruit she hadn’t seen in a long time.
Raising the child alone, she hadn’t been able to put fruit in her mouth at all.
‘The doctor said to eat things like fruit to relieve the symptoms….’
Recalling the doctor’s words, the child’s mother pierced an orange with a fork and brought it to her mouth.
Nyaam—
The juice was sour yet sweet, as if asking, ‘Guess who I am?’
‘Huh? Oh, is this not an orange?’
The child’s mother’s eyes widened, and she stabbed the salad again with her fork.
Seeing his mother, Jinu tilted his head and asked.
“Mom? Why are you crying?”
“Huh?”
The child’s mother touched the corners of her eyes with her hand.
The corners of her eyes trembled, and tears flowed down on their own.
“Huh? Mama’s not crying.”
She fished for a handkerchief and wiped the trembling corners of her eyes where tears kept falling.
The reason Jinu’s mother left the child and went to the hospital was Bell’s palsy (facial paralysis or peripheral facial palsy).
In Jinu’s mother’s case, oddly, only the muscles around her eyes were paralyzed.
When she received treatment at the hospital, she was fine for a moment, but otherwise, her eyes never smiled while only her lips smiled, creating a strange expression.
“Mom, your eyes curve like this—”
Jinu looked at his mother’s eyes and drew a half-moon with his finger.
The child’s mother looked at the salad.
And then she glanced at Sihu in the kitchen for a moment.
‘N-no way-. Did he know the symptoms and show consideration?’
Thank you for reading.
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