Moon's Labyrinths

“You want me to take Shinhae to her dad?”

Jiyoon blinked her eyes .

“Yes . In truth, there is a nasty cold going around, and we had to send several kids to the hospital . Of course, we couldn’t send the children to the hospital by themselves, so couple of teachers had to accompany them . That is why we are short on staff and don’t have the time to take Shinhae to her father . ”

“Doesn’t her father usually pick her up?”

She gleaned from the director’s words that Shinhae would be meeting her father outside of the orphanage . The director’s expression turned for the worse . She looked regretful and sad .

“I told you last time, right? Shinhae’s dad visits her often, so the other children shun her . That is why we tried to come up with several solutions . One of the ideas was to stop the other children from witnessing the meeting between Shinhae and her father . Of course, the children know what is going on, but there is a difference in witnessing the meeting and imagining the meeting . ”

It was a pretty convincing argument . Jiyoon nodded in agreement .

“But just because we are short on manpower, I can’t tell them not to meet, . ”

“That’s true . ”

This was Shinhae’s day to meet her only family member . It would be too cruel to rob this day from the child .

“After you deliver Shinhae, you don’t have to stay with them . You just have to accompany her to the promised location, and you have to pick her up on the agreed time . You just have to bring her back . ”

When Jiyoon heard the director’s words, she realized that it wasn’t a difficult task . It was why Jiyoon agreed to do the request .

“Where do I have to take her?”

“So you are agreeing to do it?”

“Yes . It isn’t as if I’m a stranger to Shinhae, and this won’t be a difficult task . ”

The director’s face brightened .

“Thank you very much . The location is the bank next to the orphanage . ”

“It is close . ”

It was really close . Jiyoon didn’t even need directions to get there .

“They just have to avoid being seen by the other children, so there was no need to go far . ”

“Should I go right now?”

“Yes . He’s probably waiting for her right now . ”

After the director thanked her, Jiyoon went to look for Shinhae . It wasn’t too hard to find Shinhae, who looked like she wanted to run outside . She was pacing around the front gate .

“Shinhae!”

Jiyoon had a bright smile on her face as she called out to the little girl . They had become quite close, so there was no disagreeable tone to her voice .

“Unni!”

Shinhae gave a big wave . Her reaction was different then normal . Normally, she would pump those little legs to jump into Jiyoon’s arms .

“You are going to meet your dad today?”

“Yes!”

Normally, she had a sad expression on her face, but currently, there were no traces of such expression on her face . It was as if Jiyoon was witnessing a small flower bloom on a warm spring day . Shinhae’s bright expression was too cute . There was an atmosphere of joy surrounding her, and it highlighted how cute she was .

“Unni will be taking you instead of the teacher . ”

“Huh? Unni will?”

Shinhae’s eyes turned round .

“Yes . All the teachers are busy today . That is why unni will be going instead . ”

Shinhae was a bit surprised, but she soon put on a big smile .

“Let’s go!”

In the first place, Shinhae didn’t care if the person delivering her was a teacher or Jiyoon . If she could meet her father, she was willing to go out by herself . Of course, her father and teachers told her that she always had to be accompanied by a teacher . That was the only reason why she hadn’t gone out .

Jiyoon firmly grasped Shinhae’s hand . She felt the warmth that was unique to a child in her hand .

“Unni’s hand is cold!”

Shinhae let out a trilling laughter . Jiyoon had never seen Shinhae be so happy . She had thought she had gotten close to Shinhae, but as expected, she couldn’t hold a candle to her father . For some reason, she was a bit jealous .

They walked parallel to the wall of the orphanage, and they soon arrived at a crosswalk on an intersection . Shinhae raised her one hand that wasn’t in Jiyoon’s hand . She was also careful to look at both sides of the street . Her actions made Jiyoon smile .

After crossing the crosswalk, it didn’t take too long to arrive at their destination . There were a lot of people going in and out of the bank’s glass door . Everyone looked busy, but there was one man standing next to the entrance .

“Dad!”

It felt as if Shinhae spurned Jiyoon’s hands . Shinhae let go of Jiyoon’s hand, and she started running . It drew the eyes of passersby, but Shinhae didn’t care about them .

The man reacted to Shinhae’s voice, and his face lit up .

“Shinhae!”

The man ran forward to greet the running Shinhae .

“Dad!”

Shinhae jumped into Sungyoon’s arms, and he let out an ‘oof’ as he received Shinhae .

Shinhae had suddenly let go of her hand to run forward, so Jiyoon had been a bit taken aback . However, a smile appeared on her face when she witnessed the warm reunion between father and daughter .

“Have you been well?”

“Yes!”

Shinhae’s expression was brighter than the sun in the sky . Shinhae buried her face in Sungyoon’s chest .

The father and daughter remained that way for a while as they talked .

Jiyoon watched them, and she wondered what she should do . Shinhae had met her father, so she thought about returning to the orphanage without saying anything . Still, she thought she should say goodbye to Shinhae .

Jiyoon approached the father and daughter .

“Ah! Unni!”

It had been a while since Shinhae had met her father, so she had totally forgotten about Jiyoon . Shinhae finally registered Jiyoon’s presence again . She escaped Sungyoon’s arms then she pulled on Sungyoon’s rough large hand .

“Dad, dad! She is the unni that brought me here today!”

When Sungyoon looked at her, Jiyoon could observe Sungyoon’s face more closely . She was a bit surprised .

He hadn’t groomed himself, so his hair was unkempt . It seemed he was leading a rough life, so he looked gaunt . It made his cheekbones more prominent . He also wore squalid clothes that looked to be falling apart . He looked shabby . However, Sungyoon’s face was much better than she had expected . If he was given a makeover, she thought all the freshmen girls on their date dash would fall for him .

“Hello . ”

Jiyoon gave a slight bow, and she gave a short greeting . That was it . Jiyoon wanted to be close to Shinhae, but she didn’t feel the need to be on familiar terms with her father . Moreover, she was a bit guarded right now . Even married men made passes at her . If Sungyoon showed too much interest in her, it would make it awkward for Jiyoon to interact with Shinhae in the future . She wanted to avoid that .

However, she had worried for nothing .

“Yes . Hello . ”

Sungyoon bowed towards Jiyoon . However, that was it . He didn’t show any interest in her, and he didn’t make any moves . In fact, Sungyoon seemed a bit guarded towards Jiyoon . For the first time in her life, a man was looking at her with wary eyes .

“Are you her teacher?”

Sungyoon sounded a bit astringent . Jiyoon was flustered, but she kept that hidden .

“No . I came out to volunteer at the orphanage today . Children were sent to the hospital today, so several teachers had to accompany them . That is why I came here instead of them . ”

After hearing her explanation, Sungyoon nodded . That was it . Sungyoon’s eyes didn’t linger on Jiyoon .

“My cute daughter! What do you want to do today?”

If he was like the other men, he would have tried to continue the conversation . Jiyoon found Sungyoon’s reaction quite refreshing . Jiyoon was sure of it now . This man didn’t have an ounce of interest in her .

“Mmm...”

Shinhae put a finger to her lips, and she started thinking hard . How was she going to spend her day? What will allow her to have the most fun with her father? Jiyoon could almost hear Shinhae’s thoughts churn .

Sungyoon waited for Shinhae to speak . His face didn’t show any signs of being bored . Jiyoon could tell by his look that Sungyoon loved Shinhae very much .

Sungyoon didn’t look anywhere else . He looked only at his daughter’s happiness, and Jiyoon felt a very good feeling from him . Jiyoon felt a lot of favorable feelings towards Sungyoon .

Of course, this feeling wasn’t affection . It wasn’t like the movies or drama where the person fell for someone saying, ‘You are the first one to treat me this way . ’ Her feelings weren’t close to that . If she was to come up with a comparison, it was a pleasant smile that appeared when one saw a family that got along . It was that type of feeling .

“I’ll go for now . ”

This was the time between father and daughter . She wasn’t family, so she didn’t want to intrude on their time . That was why Jiyoon had spoken those words .

“Then I’ll meet you later here, Shinhae . Ok?”

“Yes, unni!”

Shinhae gave a big hand wave towards Jiyoon . Jiyoon laughed as she gave a small hand wave .

“Thank you for bringing Shinhae here . ”

“It was nothing . ”

As a thank you for bringing Shinhae to him, Sungyoon lowered his head . Jiyoon was a bit embarrassed, so she let out a bashful smile .

After letting Jiyoon go, Sungyoon started to play with Shinhae in earnest . They went to a fast food restaurant, and then he bought Shinhae a hamburger . They went to a movie theater, and they watched the latest animation movie . If he had his way, he even wanted to take her to an amusement park or a zoo . Unfortunately, his schedule wouldn’t allow it .

However, Shinhae was truly happy at every little activity they did . It didn’t matter how much the director of the orphanage and the other teachers took care of her . It didn’t matter that Jiyoon came to play with her . Nothing could beat her time with her father .

However, time moved faster the more fun you had . While she was having fun, the sun had already set . There was only the lingering red color of the sun left in the sky .

Jiyoon was waiting for the father and daughter in front of the bank . She came 10 minutes early .

Jiyoon saw the father and daughter coming towards her from across the street .

There was a big cotton candy in Shinhae’s right hand, and her left hand was in her father’s hand . The glow of the sunset washed over them, and it was a very warm scene .

Jiyoon suddenly thought about her own family . When she was young, she had gone to the amusement park several times . She had so much fun there, but there always came a time when she rubbed her eyes as she yawned from exhaustion . When her father saw this, he had always given her a piggyback ride . Her father’s back was large and very warm . She hated the smell of cigarettes now, but when she was young, it was one of the smells from her father that comforted her .

‘It has been awhile . Should I eat out with my parents?’

She wanted to get used to her college life, so she hadn’t spent much time with her family . She thought it would be a good idea to spend some quality time with them .

Jiyoon was having many thoughts when the father and daughter arrived in front of her .

“Did you have fun, Shinhae?”

Shinhae didn’t answer her . Jiyoon observed Shinhae’s expression . Her expression looked rough, and moisture was starting to appear near her eyes .

Sungyoon didn’t say anything as he put his hand on top of Shinhae’s head . Shinhae was like a puppy sticking close to her mother . She placed her hands above Sungyoon’s hand as she clung to him .

“I want to stay with dad longer . ”

Shinhae pouted, and she spoke with a childlike hope . Shinhae had spent a fun day with her father, yet she didn’t look happy right now . Jiyoon knew why .

‘She doesn’t want to part with her father . ’

Shinhae had to live separately from her father at such a young age . Of course, she was having a rough time . Jiyoon felt sorry for her .

Sungyoon crouched in front of Shinhae, and he extended both arms towards her .

“Let me hug you once, my daughter . ”

As if Shinhae had waited for it, she hugged Sungyoon’s neck . Sungyoon also hugged Shinhae as he patted her back .

He wanted to tell her that he would come for her next time . At that moment, he wanted to tell her that they’ll live together once again . He wanted to say that, but he knew his situation wasn’t good enough to make such promises .