8 Years [ENGV]

#21

JISOO

On Saturday, Hae-in went out for a photo shoot and Kan-in came in the morning to see Haeji. Like every Saturday, she didn't go into detail about what they talked about — keeping up her professional ethics — but from her expression and tone of voice, I could tell something was wrong.

I went to Hae-ji's room and found her sitting in her favorite spot, the window seat. I went over and sat down in front of her.

"Is everything okay?" She nodded. I wanted to ask what she and Doctor Kan-i talked about, but I was afraid of being intrusive. I wanted Hae-ji to talk to me because she trusted me, and I wanted to show her that she could confide her thoughts in me.

As if reading my mind — but without looking at me — she sighed and said:

"I don't want to talk to Miss Hoo anymore."

"Why?" She looked at me, looking scared and, at the same time, sad.

"She just asks me if I miss Auntie and living at school and if I like living here. I'm afraid of answering the wrong thing, and she'll send me away. She can do that, can't she? But I don't want to go, Unnie." I called her with my hands, and she came closer, snuggling into my arms. It felt so good to hug her, to feel her so close to me, welcomed and safe, as if no one could take her from my arms. I smelled her hair, holding back the urge to cry. The fear of being separated wasn't just mine and Haein's. It was hers too.

"You're not leaving." I held her against me, gently, wanting to reassure her. "I won't let you go!" She raised her head and looked at me, pulling away a little to look into my eyes.

"Why do you want to adopt me?" ​​I felt the insecurity in her trembling voice as she asked the question. I took a deep breath, looking away and looking for a way to comfort her with the right words. I wasn't good with words, my desire at that moment was to tell her the whole truth, but what could that do to her little mind?

"When I met you, I realized you were special, and you were sad there. So I looked for your aunt and since she said she was very busy, I asked if I could adopt you." I brushed a few strands of hair from her face and she blinked slowly, before laying her head back on my chest, squeezing me lightly, she was still scared — and I don't think my words reassured her. "Hey, what do you think about going to the mall?" She looked at me again, this time without moving away. "Hae-in's birthday is coming up, so what do you think about buying something to celebrate with him?" She smiled.

"Haein-ssi's birthday? I want it!" She said, getting excited again. "Can I pick out a gift for him?" I nodded, smiling.

"Let's go?"

"Let's go!"

♡

She seemed more excited about shopping. Even with masks and caps to keep our faces from drawing too much attention, I noticed that some people recognized us, and some even took pictures — I mentally hoped that they would only be pictures of me and that they would leave out the part about me being there with her, even though I knew it was almost impossible.

The story they knew was that I was adopting a child, and I knew that the world was curious to know more about it, to know more about her, about my private life. But I would fight to prevent that from happening and to keep her safe under my wings.

Haeji couldn't choose a gift for Haein and was frustrated by this, so I helped her. I took her to a jewelry store where they engraved jewelry pieces, and she picked a watch. Well... I'm Kim Jisoo, I don't agree, but sometimes it's worth having special treatment. The engraving that Haeji requested would be ready in less than 4 hours, which gave us time to buy some groceries to prepare breakfast and some other things that weren't so necessary — which left both of us with our hands full of bags.