By Zephyria 
The man was distant. Ever since he had unilaterally scolded Tae-heun in town, he had been cautious around him. There was no opportunity to tell him not to, so the awkward atmosphere lingered throughout.
“Uncle, you bought this from the market in town, right? At the entrance of the market.”
“How did you know?”
“You can tell just by looking. This place has the best food. Dad, you should eat quickly too.”
The child shouted towards the man who had just entered.
“Dad, eat all the tteokbokki and have some red bean bread too. I saved up my allowance to buy it.”
“Why would you buy something like that? Just eat it yourself.”
“Come on, I ate it all and it was so good that I bought some for you too. Hurry up, it’s getting cold.”
If it were any other time, he would have complained about why the child didn’t buy something for him, but he kept his mouth shut, not wanting to ruin the good mood.
The man reluctantly sat next to the child.
“How did you know I like tteokbokki from this place?”
The child asked with a big smile.
“I didn’t know. But as I was passing by, I just couldn’t help but stop. I guess it’s because you like it.”
As Tae-heun shamelessly replied, the child laughed with a ‘pee-hee’ sound.
The man glanced at Tae-heun while eating the tteokbokki. Unlike the child who was enjoying it, the man was indifferent. He ate a little, then stopped. Tae-heun also pretended to pick up his chopsticks but then stopped. Then, at the same time, they both reached for the soup with a spoon. Tae-heun withdrew first.
“Ki-beom, you eat.”
“No, you eat first.”
“I’m telling you to eat first. No, wait a minute.”
Tae-heun opened the cupboard as if it were his own house and took out a bowl. When the man tried to stand up, feeling awkward sitting there, the child stopped him, saying, “Uncle will do it.” The man, half-sitting, thanked Tae-heun when he served the soup with a ladle. After adding a piece of fish cake, he also served himself the same way and sat back down.
“By the way, Uncle. I heard you went to work with Dad and Mr. Jang, right?”
The child asked while looking at Tae-heun. The rumors spread quickly.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Uncle, you didn’t ruin someone’s melon farm, did you?”
“What are you talking about? Ask your dad. Ask him how well I worked.”
Tae-heun looked at the man.
“I worked well, right? No, honestly, I didn’t do that well, but I didn’t ruin anything, right?”
The man replied with a ‘yes’ to Tae-heun’s question, and the child glared at Tae-heun, seeing that his father’s answer was unsatisfactory.
“I knew it.”
Tsk tsk, the child clicked his tongue.
“Wow, Ki-beom, you’re betraying me here. You two had lunch and went shopping together in town, and you’re being too harsh, aren’t you?”
Tae-heun complained.
“Really? You went to town with my dad?”
The child asked, eyes wide open.
“Of course. How else would I have brought this tteokbokki? After finishing work in the morning, I went to town with your dad, had cold noodles, and bought Uncle’s work clothes at the market.”
“Wow.”
The child didn’t quite understand what was so ‘wow,’ but he admired and looked at both the man and Tae-heun. Then he smiled proudly. The man sitting next to the child didn’t see it, but Tae-heun noticed that the child was very pleased that the two had gone to town together.
“But where do you wander off to like that? Is there anything fun to do in town?”
“Don’t underestimate our town. There may not be much, but we have everything we need!”
The child shouted angrily. Tae-heun chuckled at how different he was from his father and teased the child a bit more before stopping at a reasonable point.
For dessert, they had melons brought from the greenhouse. They received bags of melons that were not of good quality, but the sweet smell filled the house. Still feeling nauseous, Tae-heun could barely eat a piece of melon and stopped. The man noticed this and showed a hint of concern.
Between 7:30 and 8:30, just as everyone had finished dinner, the phone rang. Ever since Tae-heun started living at the man’s house, it had been like this. At first, he was startled by the ringing, but now he had gotten used to it. It rang that often.
Most of the calls were for the man, and all the matters were work-related. The man, already busy, became even busier as he kindly responded. Occasionally, the child would receive calls too, and during those times, he would take the cordless phone and go into his room to talk.
Today, there were no calls for the child, and the man only answered the phone once, so it was quiet. They seemed to take weekends off too.
While the child and Tae-heun were watching TV in the master bedroom, the man went out to the yard and swept and cleaned the not-so-dirty yard.
“Uncle.”
The child called out.
“What?”
“Our dad is boring, right?”
He asked with an unexpectedly downcast tone.
“No, he’s fun.”
“Really?”
The child shouted as if his ears were about to burst. His eyes widened at the same time. Surprised by his own reaction, the child quickly covered his mouth. Tae-heun laughed.
“Is that really something to be surprised about?”
“Yes! No, you see, the uncles here don’t think so. My dad can be fun sometimes, but since he’s so quiet, everyone just thinks he’s a boring guy.”
The child crossed his arms and criticized the uncles.
“But Uncle, what do you find fun about my dad?”
“Just. It’s nice to be together.”
“Wow.”
The child’s mouth dropped open. The way he looked at Tae-heun was so affectionate that it almost melted him. Feeling the child’s overwhelming attitude, Tae-heun pretended to hit him.
“What’s so ‘wow’? If you keep this up, I’ll tell your dad.”
“Hey! You can’t do that!”
The child quickly shook his small hand.
“Then stop asking questions and just watch TV.”
“Yes.”
With no choice but to watch a daily drama due to lack of channel options, the child, who had insisted on watching the drama, only stared at Tae-heun’s profile.
“Yoon Ji-hye. Stop staring. Uncle’s face is going to get a hole in it.”
When he suddenly turned to the child, the child quickly turned his head away.
“Acting like you’re not looking. You’ve seen Uncle’s face plenty, haven’t you?”
“…Yes.”
“Then you have to pay for it.”
“Where’s the logic in that?”
The child pouted and protested.
“Where is it? It’s right here. Can I ask you just one thing, Uncle?”
“Depending on the question.”
He replied indifferently, but the child’s face showed an expression of dying to know what Tae-heun would ask.
“Okay. Just listen for now.”
“Yes.”
“Why do you call him ‘father’? Everyone else calls him ‘dad.'”
The child showed a disappointed expression, saying, “Ah, that.”
“What were you expecting?”
“My father says he likes being called ‘father’ better.”
“Really? Is there a special reason why ‘father’ is good?”
“Yes. When my dad was little, he called my grandfather ‘dad,’ but my grandfather wasn’t a good dad. So when he hears ‘dad,’ he remembers his grandfather and doesn’t like it.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Is Uncle’s father a good person? Is he still alive?”
The child asked.
“Yeah. He’s alive. But he’s not a good father.”
The child didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, he sighed deeply.
“How nice would it be if there were only people like our dad in the world?”
“That’s true.”
Tae-heun’s agreement made the child smile brightly, knowing it was a compliment to his father.
The man entered the house just as the drama ended.
“Ji-hye, it’s time for bed.”
“Yes, Dad.”
The child jumped up and turned to leave the master bedroom but then turned back to Tae-heun and whispered.
“It’s a secret from Dad.”
“Okay.”
“Promise.”
“Promise.”
“Seal it with a stamp.”
“Seal it with a stamp.”
The child dashed out into the living room.
As the opening song for the 9 o’clock news played, Tae-heun turned off the TV.
His body was exhausted, but his mind was completely clear. He listened to the sound of leaves rustling in the wind and the chirping of insects all night. The dogs occasionally barked, but it wasn’t enough to wake the man or the child. After tossing and turning for a few hours with random thoughts, a distant rooster crowed. A cow mooed.
Even at 4:30, it was quiet outside the door. The man and the child must have been sleeping in on Sunday. He wanted to go outside but didn’t want to wake the sleeping people. He chuckled to himself, thinking that if he were this considerate, he would have been married long ago.
At 6 o’clock, the alarm rang. 6 AM, early morning. No matter how you put it, it was an early hour. Even on weekdays, it was early, but the man woke up only an hour and a half later than usual on Sunday morning. He thought the man would never truly understand the meaning of sleeping in.
The man was the first to go out to the yard and feed the dogs. After that, he collected the laundry and sat on the floor, folding it while glancing at the dogs eating. Just by looking at his back, you could tell the man was smiling. He looked very peaceful.
“Did you sleep well?”
The man greeted first, having sensed someone.
“Yes. Did you sleep well, Ki-beom?”
“Yes.”
“You wake up early even on Sundays.”
“I slept a lot. Are you feeling a bit better?”
“Oh, well. I’m sore here and there, but it’s not to the point where I can’t move.”
Tae-heun yawned widely and looked up at the blue sky. The temperature felt unusual.
“It seems like it’s going to be really hot today.”
Not wanting to sit still, he sat next to the man and helped fold clothes.
“I’m going to church with Ji-hye later. Would you like to come along?”
The man asked.
“Sure. Let’s go.”
“After the service, we’ll all have lunch together. It’s delicious. There are many kinds.”
“Is it a buffet?”
“Yes.”
“Sounds good.”
While saying this, he picked up a pair of underwear, which the man snatched away. Was it really something to blush about just because two men touched a pair of underwear? It wasn’t even torn. He grumbled inwardly and looked down at his empty hands.