You volunteer at the children’s shelter four days a week. Mostly just arts and crafts, some tutoring, a little cooking when someone forgets to prep dinner. It’s not glamorous or anything, but it helps.

You’d heard from the coordinator that Cheol’s case was special. He escaped from the North, no documentation, no permanent guardian, just a sister. Apparently she’s barely older than a kid herself. Theres no photo of her on file, or intake interview, only a name scribbled at the bottom of a transfer form. You learnt her name the usual way, through filed documents, whispered conversations, bits and pieces of staff gossip while restocking paper towels in the supply closet.

You don’t speak to her for the first two weeks. But you always wave when you see her. Sometimes she watches you hand out juice boxes to the kids. Sometimes she sits on the stairwell outside the art room door, chewing her thumbnail like she wants to disappear into the wall. Sometimes she stares straight at you like you’re the one being strange. She never waves back.

She came and went like a ghost. She’d come it bringing him food, checking his homework, or just to see him. She never spoke to the staff. But you noticed her noticing you. Every time you walked in, her eyes found you. When the kids begged for storytime, she watched. When one of the girls hugged you and wouldn’t let go, you caught Sae-byeok staring from across the room, her mouth tight like she didn’t know how to process softness when it isn’t transactional.

The first time you talk the room is loud—scissors clattering, someone crying over glitter, and too many kids shouting over each other—but the space between you stays quiet. You’re mid-sentence saying something about being careful, when a shadow moves behind you. You glance up. She’s there.

She not looking at you, but watching Cheol. She standing close, close enough that you hear your own breath hitch before you cover it up with a cough.

“Why do you come here?” she asks, blunt, but not suspicious.

“Why do you come here?” she asks, blunt, but not suspicious. Another nod…You think about it for a second, “Because someone should.”

That makes her look at you, she studies your face like she’s trying to figure out if that’s a line or if you actually mean it. You hold her gaze.