“…Mom.”
Yewon quickly came up with an answer.
“Mom told me about you a long time ago.”
“My sister did?”
Doha raised his brows as if he truly hadn’t expected that.
But Yewon noticed that the emotion appearing on his face was closer to happiness than discomfort.
…So they weren’t on bad terms?
Her mother had barely kept in contact with him, and the fact that she’d asked Yewon to tell her uncle she was sorry had made Yewon think they might have parted badly.
But apparently that wasn’t it.
It seemed more like there was some deeper, more complicated story behind everything.
As the two of them sank silently into their own thoughts—
Youngoh called out to Doha with a serious expression.
“Doha.”
“Yeah.”
“We brought her here for now, but… what are you seriously planning to do?!”
Youngoh lowered his voice. He was probably trying to keep Yewon from hearing, but Yewon’s ears were sharper than expected.
No—she was simply quick-witted. It was obvious what the adults would be worried about in this situation.
“I already asked the company to block the news articles for now, but if a child is staying in your house…”
“…I know.”
Doha rubbed his face tiredly.
“U-Uncle… I’m scared…. I don’t want to go back to that man…”
At the funeral hall, his only thought had been protecting the child, so he brought her with him without thinking things through.
But a currently active top idol—especially one with a murderous schedule—raising a child?
Without any preparation?
That was close to impossible.
‘And more importantly…’
Doha glanced at Yewon.
If Doha raised her himself—
Then the world would eventually learn of Yewon’s existence.
Doha bit his lip.
That couldn’t happen.
“Should we hire a nanny first? Maybe ask the company to find someone urgently…”
“No. We can’t rush it.”
Doha cut him off firmly.
“It has to be someone trustworthy. If people find out she’s my niece… no, I can’t leave her with just anyone. Right now… I can’t trust anyone.”
“……”
“…The atmosphere around me is already bad lately. More strange rumors will spread. I don’t want the kid getting hurt.”
“Then what are you going to do? You still have schedules. Maybe it’s fine temporarily, but… you know this can’t continue forever.”
Youngoh looked at Doha with worry-filled eyes.
“I have to follow you around too. Are you going to leave a child alone in this huge house? What about food? Sleeping?”
Everything Youngoh said was completely reasonable.
There were problems piled up from one to ten.
Even Doha remained silent, unable to come up with an answer.
Heavy silence pressed down over the living room.
‘…At this rate.’
Yewon tightened her grip on the water cup.
She might get sent away again because of “realistic problems.”
Maybe not back to the fake uncle, but there was a high chance she’d be sent to a boarding school or childcare institution.
Judging by what the fluffball had said, Doha’s personality seemed like the type to believe it was better to send her somewhere safer if he couldn’t handle raising her himself.
‘Absolutely not.’
She had finally gotten this opportunity. If she lost it here, she might never get it back again.
More than anything—
She never wanted to live a life where she was “entrusted” to someone ever again.
She couldn’t remain a burden that needed protection.
She had to become family that this house needed.
Clack.
Yewon placed the cup on the table and hopped down from the sofa.
“U-Uncle….”
At her sudden voice, both Doha and Youngoh turned toward her.
Yewon stood proudly in front of the two adults.
“I-I can stay home by myself!”
“What?”
Doha’s expression instantly darkened.
Yewon shrank back a little, but she forced herself to smile brightly.
“I know how to eat by myself, and I know how to wash up too. I won’t touch the stove, and I’ll lock the doors properly. I won’t bother you while you work, Uncle.”
Because she had always lived like that.
…She was confident she could do it well.
No—she could do even more than that.
“So….”
So—
“Can’t I… live with you, Uncle?”
So please don’t abandon me.
This was sincere.
Yewon didn’t want to be abandoned by Doha a second time.
She desperately tried not to cry.
…There were plenty of times I tried to cry on purpose, but this is the first time I’ve ever acted while trying not to cry.
“…What is this kid even saying?”
At the hopeless answer, Yewon lowered her head.
Ah.
…So in the end, impossible things really were impossible—
Just as she squeezed her eyes shut—
“Why should you have to know how to do those things?”
Doha’s voice rang out beside her.
“Even if you can’t do any of that, you’re still staying here.”
“!”
Yewon hurriedly lifted her head again.
And what she saw was Doha’s face twisted into a miserable expression.
‘…I’ve seen that expression before….’
Who would’ve thought seeing someone’s distorted expression could make her this happy?
Strangely enough, Yewon recognized this expression very well.
It had been the summer when she was twelve years old.
“Hey, stop stuffing your face. What are you going to do if you gain weight?”
Thunk.
Whispering so others couldn’t hear, her uncle snatched away the lunchbox from Yewon’s hands.
Yewon stared blankly at it.
That lunchbox was the first proper meal she’d had in two days.
Her uncle had never properly fed her.
When she still belonged to an agency, the female managers had taken care of her well, but after her uncle terminated the contract, she couldn’t remember anyone ever taking care of her again.
At least she could eat school lunches, but even school attendance wasn’t properly allowed.
Her uncle hated hearing accusations of child abuse, so he would send her to school in the morning only to force her to leave right before lunchtime under the excuse of schedules.
And today—
Her uncle had excitedly dragged her to a commercial shoot without even asking because they finally got an advertisement offer after a long time.
And the person who gave her that lunchbox was—
“Excuse me.”
Lee Doha, who was scheduled to film the commercial with her that day.
“What exactly are you doing to the child right now?”
At Doha’s fierce tone, the fake uncle flinched briefly before immediately scowling.
“What? What’s your problem?”
“You just took away the lunchbox I gave the kid. Can’t you see she’s hungry?”
Doha snapped at him with blazing eyes.
“Don’t tell me you’ve been treating this child like this the whole time?”
“…No, I’m just putting her on a diet because it’s necessary for work. Why are you suddenly acting like it matters now? Seriously….”
Despite Doha’s angry voice, the uncle merely picked at his ear carelessly.
Cracks slowly formed in Doha’s composure.
“…What do you mean, why does it matter now? You call that something a person should say—”
“Yeah. After showing up this late, are you trying to act like family now? Don’t make me laugh.”
“You little—”
“Go ahead, then! Let’s see whose side loses!”
“Doha!!”
At that moment, Yewon glanced up toward the voice calling Doha.
“Hey, Doha. Calm down. Violence isn’t allowed, man. Ah, sir, you calm down too….”
Youngoh sweated nervously while trying to stop Doha and the uncle.
Ignoring Youngoh entirely, Doha continued glaring at the fake uncle.
And watching him, Yewon thought—
…This person.
He really shines.
She had even dreamed impossible dreams back then.
Dreams like how wonderful it would be if this person were her real uncle.
Of course, even then, she had thought something about their conversation sounded strange—
But filming had been too urgent for her to dwell on it.
And not long afterward, news arrived that Doha had died.
“Then I’ll come again tomorrow! You two… uh… t-take care…?”
Standing at the front door, Youngoh awkwardly said goodbye to Doha and Yewon.
“Don’t come.”
“!”
At Doha’s words, both Youngoh and Yewon stared at him simultaneously.
D-Don’t come?
“W-What?! Why?!”
Youngoh asked in confusion.
Yeah, why?
Yewon wanted to know too. Without Youngoh, this empty place would become even more awkward!
“Don’t come. Stay home and rest. There’s no schedule tomorrow anyway. You should rest too.”
“T-That’s true, but….”
Youngoh scratched his head awkwardly.
“What are you going to do without me? Doha, do you even know how to raise a seven-year-old?”
“……”
Good point. Uncle, have you ever raised a child before?
Yewon looked at Doha with the exact same question in her eyes.
At Youngoh’s innocent question, Doha fell silent.
“I’ll just watch OTube.”
“You’re going to learn childcare for a seven-year-old from OTube?”
“Do other parents… go to some parenting school or something? If I don’t know something, I’ll just search it up.”
He definitely hesitated while saying the word “parents.”
“Still, Doha, you raising Yewon alone is kind of….”
I object too! If she stayed beside Uncle Doha, she felt like she wouldn’t even get proper meals. Purely because of his survival skills.
Yewon nodded with a very pale face.
“What’s wrong with me?”
“You can barely take care of yourself. And besides, raising a girl by yourself instead of a boy is hard to imagine….”
Exactly, exactly.
While silently agreeing, Yewon finally asked something she’d been curious about for a while.
“But why are you alone?”
“Hm?”
At Yewon’s question, both men turned toward her.
“Where did all the other Uncle Glit members go?”
“!”
An awkward look crossed Youngoh’s face.
Even though Doha himself remained calm.
No, but why was that such an awkward question? Didn’t idol groups usually live together?
“We don’t live together.”