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Chapter 8
Blink. Blink.
“Seeeriously, this is insane. You look exactly the same. Wow, Lee Doha, be honest—she’s not your niece, she’s your daughter, right?”
“Don’t say nonsense in front of a kid.”
Blink. Blink.
“No, for real, it’s like you gave birth to her yourself. Otherwise, how could two people look this identical?”
Blink. Blink.
What was all this supposed to mean?
…It was the sound of Yewon blinking, her energy completely drained by the over-the-top reactions of an extremely extroverted person.
“She’s like a doll. Hey, kid, are you even human? You’re not a doll, are you?”
A handsome man with ear piercings, his swagger practically dripping off him, poked Yewon’s cheek with his finger.
“…I’m human.”
“Whoa. The doll can talk too~?”
“…….”
Not knowing how to react at all, Yewon simply closed her mouth.
Of course, Yewon knew exactly who this young man was.
Han Wooyeon.
The main dancer and sub-rapper of <Glit>—but skill-wise, he was easily on par with a main rapper from any other group.
If Doha was the universally acknowledged “gateway member,” Wooyeon was the “seal-the-deal member” within the fandom.
You could tell why at a glance.
Beneath his rough, carefree demeanor, warmth and affection overflowed.
“Hey, kiddo, what’s your name~?”
Kiddo. That word again!!!
A shiver ran down Yewon’s arms.
“…Lee Yewon….”
“Oh, Yewon~ Then can uncle call you kiddo~?”
You’re already calling me that.
This guy was enjoying it. He was clearly enjoying the fact that she absolutely hated being called kiddo.
When Yewon narrowed her eyes and glared at Wooyeon—
Thunk.
Doha flicked Wooyeon on the forehead.
“!!”
“Hey! What the hell, Lee Doha?!”
“Don’t bully the kid. Act your age.”
“How am I bullying her?! I was just greeting our kid normally?!”
“You have a particular look when you’re messing with people. That’s exactly the face you’re making right now.”
“This is seriously such a false accusation. I’m ridiculously wronged.”
“Don’t use cheap language in front of a kid.”
“…….”
Trying to switch to “non-cheap” speech apparently left Wooyeon at a loss for words, and he shut his mouth.
…He’s amazing….
But still…
The two of them actually… seemed to get along better than expected…?
Watching them bicker yet somehow look perfectly in sync, Yewon tilted her head.
No matter how she looked at it, there was no bad blood between them—so why had that quest even existed?
“I heard a rough version from Yeong-o. So you two are living together now?”
At Wooyeon’s question, both Wooyeon and Yewon looked at Doha at the same time.
Yeah. I want to know that too, Uncle.
Are we living together now?
“…What about the other members?”
Doha, apparently not ready to answer yet, subtly changed the subject.
Though Wooyeon looked at him oddly, he answered without resistance.
“Eon’s probably still in the UK. And Yeonho hyung is… I dunno, maybe holed up in some gym working out?”
“Do they all know?”
Doha had glossed over it, but it was obvious he meant Yewon’s situation.
Wooyeon glanced at Yewon, then shook his head.
“For now, just me. If everyone knew, it’d be chaos.”
“…….”
At the word chaos, both Doha and Yewon’s expressions darkened at the same time.
But then—
“They’d be going crazy trying to snatch Yewon and run, idiot.”
Wooyeon said something entirely different.
“!”
“With a niece this cute and adorable, wouldn’t you kidnap her and try to make her your own niece?”
At the unexpected remark, Doha and Yewon’s faces brightened simultaneously.
Wooyeon burst out laughing.
“Wow. Guess blood really doesn’t lie. You look identical and make the same expressions. I almost died laughing just now.”
“Do you want to get punched?”
When Doha subtly clenched his fist, Wooyeon openly sneered.
“Who’s punching who? You, Lee Doha? Go build some muscle first.”
At that moment, Yewon—who had been puffing out her cheeks—spoke up.
“Uncle Wooyeon is a bad person.”
“!!!”
Wooyeon, who hadn’t seemed fazed at all by Doha’s words, froze with his mouth hanging open at Yewon’s.
“Y-Yewon!! It’s a misunderstanding! Uncle’s a good person!! And what do you mean mister? I’m the same age as Uncle Doha! Call me uncle too!!”
Apparently, being demoted from uncle to mister was a devastating blow.
“Mister is bad.”
“Guhhh.”
At Yewon’s continued assault, Wooyeon clutched his chest in despair.
Hmph.
Whether Wooyeon sulked or not, Yewon coldly turned her head away.
Do you know how startled I was earlier?
“Did Park Yeong-o tell you today?”
“Yeah, this morning. He suddenly called and went, ‘Hey, Wooyeon. I need you to do something big…’”
“What big thing could you possibly do?”
“He told me to play with Yewon. Said you wouldn’t know how to play with a kid, Lee Doha.”
“…….”
Unable to deny it outright, Doha’s mouth shut tightly for a moment.
But then—
“And what would you know?”
Doha pushed back, gathering his strength.
“I’ve got three younger siblings. Two younger brothers and a baby sister.”
“…….”
“They all live in the States now, but I changed diapers, fed them, raised them myself, you know? At the very least, I’d know better than you, Lee Doha.”
“…….”
“Right, Yewon? Uncle’s right, isn’t he?”
Wooyeon turned to Yewon, seeking her agreement—
“Mister.”
“…Guuuh.”
Still resolute, Yewon’s stance dealt him yet another wound.
Ignoring Wooyeon, Yewon turned toward Doha.
“But why is Uncle Eon in the UK?”
She’d been curious about that for a while.
Was he on a business trip? An overseas schedule?
“…….”
Apparently, it was a difficult question to answer.
Doha and Wooyeon exchanged glances, unable to speak easily.
What was this? Was there some complicated reason?
“Well, um… Yewon, so….”
“He ran away.”
“!”
As Wooyeon stammered, Doha cut in.
“Ran away…?”
Had he committed some kind of crime?
Just as Yewon’s expression started to turn serious, Wooyeon jabbed Doha in the side.
“Why are you always like that with your word choices? How can you call it running away?!”
“It is running away.”
“Say avoiding! Call it avoiding, you idiot!! He left because he didn’t want to see your face—how is that running away?!”
Doha turned his head sharply, clearly displeased.
Yewon’s expression softened a little.
Ah, avoiding.
“Why didn’t Uncle Eon want to see Uncle Doha’s face?”
“The two of them fought.”
Wooyeon answered cheerfully.
“Why?”
“Because they really don’t match.”
“Why?”
“Well~ there was a really, really bad person. Uncle Eon thought that everyone should know exactly what bad things that person did. But Uncle Doha thought it should stay a secret. So Uncle Eon’s heart went ow, and he went back to his own place.”
This time, Yewon turned to Doha.
“Why did you keep it a secret??”
“…Because sometimes the truth can hurt people too. The people who liked that bad person… it would hurt them.”
After saying that, Doha let out a deep sigh.
“Han Wooyeon, you’re really teaching a kid some things. Why did you even make her ask this?”
“At seven, kids actually know more than you think. Don’t underestimate seven-year-olds. Even little kids pick up on things—if you hide stuff carelessly, it backfires. Kids are scarier than you think. You don’t know that, do you?”
“That’s right. You can’t hide things. We know everything.”
With Wooyeon and Yewon joining forces against him, Doha let out a baffled laugh.
“You two are weirdly in sync.”
“I knew from the moment I saw Yewon that we’d get along like this. Right, Yewon~?”
“…….”
“Why! Why won’t you answer me?!”
I don’t think we’re that close yet, sir.
Leaving the despairing Wooyeon behind, Yewon edged closer to Doha.
“Uncle Doha.”
“Yeah.”
“…You were hurting too, weren’t you?”
“!”
At Yewon’s words, Doha’s eyes widened slightly.
“It wasn’t just Uncle Eon who was hurting. You were hurting too.”
As if to say I know everything, Yewon pressed her lips together and held Doha’s hand.
She still remembered.
The filming set where they first met—how lonely he had looked, sitting all by himself.
And even though it had been much later in the future, she remembered that his phone’s wallpaper was still a group photo of Glit.
Even though Glit had already disbanded by then.
“…Yeah.”
Though Doha answered with a smile, deep sorrow flickered unmistakably across his face.
For some reason,
Yewon wanted to fill that face with joy instead of sadness.
So desperately that she wondered—
Is this what family feels like?
