Ahn Chul-do was not prone to strolling in parks. Regardless, the results he'd come to the hospital for were taking longer than anticipated, and rather than remaining in the cramped waiting room, he'd let Ahn Dong-suk to convince him to take a stroll around the hospital's newly manicured lawns. The place was meant as a recreational spot, both for the patients and the visitors who spent long hours in their loved ones' company. There were icecram vendors and dobokki stalls and even a proper café, and a gaggle of kids were crowding the small park.
"It must be the day kids are getting shots."
Well, that explained all the kids running away from their parents like they were hardened kidnappers...
The thought brought on years old memories he'd rather forget, so he gave a noncommittal "Hmm" and resumed his gait, his bespectacled son dogging him two steps behind.
" Oof! " A small but substantial weight barreled into his leg. He looked down to see a little girl - maybe five to six years old - looking up at him with large brown eyes.
"Hey, kid, watch where you're going!" his son said, trying to clear the kid off.
Hilariously, the girl cocked her head, narrowing her eyes and pursing her lips, the expression highly comical paired with her size and attire, which consisted of a frilly purple tutu and jacket with a pink T-shirt, hair up in two pigtails with pink bows and sparkly pink sneakers, a bracelet with a single kitten charm at her wrist. The kid blinked twice in rapid succession, then straightened up, shrugging as is to say, "Oh well, I could stay here and teach you a lesson for being so darn rude, but you're not worth my time, so I'll be on my way."
And Little Miss Sass did just that... only to turn around and say, this time to Ahn Chul-do, "Bia-ne, Ahjusshi. I didn't hurt you, did I?" .
Ahn Chul-do burst out laughing, drawing the attention of a substantial amount of passers by, but he didn't care. It had been a long time since he'd been this amused... probably not since that breakfast where his Min-hyukie had been called the Ultra Captain of Craze by his own girlfriend.
He became a bit wistful, and immediately pushed that wistfulness away. Nostalgia was not his thing.
Still, he was rather amused as he stooped, still towering over the tiny creature, in all his rounded-red-tinted-specs glory, and the girl gave no discernable reaction, only her oddly familiar eyes following his movements.
"What's your name?" he asked.
The girl - and yes, he was getting rather tired of calling her that, even in his own head - opened her mouth, let it an "Ah-" and shut it again.
"Omma says not to talk to strangers."
He could feel the laughter bubbling again, in the pit of his stomach. "Your omma is right."
"Then why'd you ask?"
Chul-do would have laughed again, but he caught sight of his son, and his amusement disappeared.
Not the one he'd come with - Dong-suk was standing at a distance, probably wondering about his odd behavior- but the one he'd not seen but heard plenty in the last half decade.
"Min Hyukaa."