The woman-with-Yoo's-face glanced down at him, eyes widened in surprise. For a moment, So experienced an instant of fear as he recalled being five years old, pain searing his face as his mother's knife bit into his skin. When this woman bent towards him and stretched her hand out to his still-healing scar, he couldn't stop himself from taking two steps backward, flinching away from her touch. She snatched her hand back as if burned, then straightened slowly.

"I didn't mean...I just thought…." she struggled with her words, as if flustered by So's rejection. Then she smiled again. "I'm sorry. Welcome, Wang Seon Ho. We are very glad to have you here."

"Thank you, Shin Mi Yeong-ssi," he said, bowing. "Please take care of me."

As So straightened and looked up to meet her eyes again, he thought he saw something in the woman-with-Yoo's-face change. The light in her eyes dimmed and her smile faded slightly. Although her expression remained pleasant, it dawned on So that if he had to put his finger on the difference, he thought she looked disappointed - perhaps even a little sad.

The social worker stayed just long enough to see him settled in his room, which was furnished with two sets of bunkbeds. However, at the time, the room was occupied by only one other child, so he had his choice of the other three beds. So chose the unoccupied top bunk. The woman-with-Yoo's face helped him unpack his belongings put his clothing away in the wardrobe at the foot of his bed.

"It's almost time to start supper. Would you like to help in the kitchen? Eun Jae helps me wash vegetables," she said, indicating one of the other beds, which had obviously been claimed by another child, judging by the stuffed animals cluttering it. "The older children help clean up afterwards. Do you think you could peel carrots?"

So furrowed his brows. Peeling vegetables was the work of servants - but nothing in this world was like the one he remembered. If he was stuck here, he should do his best to fit in.

"O-okay," he said, remembering the quaint word Hae Soo had taught him once upon a time. He'd heard it several times since he had regained consciousness in the hospital, and when he said it now, Shin Mi Yeong smiled.

"Then let's get to work," she said, and left the room, glancing back once, gestured with her hand for him to follow.

So followed Shin Mi Yeong into the kitchen. It was large and spacious, with even more wonderful machines than he had seen at the place called a hospital. Slowly he moved from cabinet to cabinet, exploring. One countertop contained a pair of metal basins, over which curved a metal tube, almost like a swan's neck. On either side of the base was a handle. When he twisted one, water began streaming from the the tube. Delighted, he wiggled his fingers back and for in the water. With a small laugh, the woman-with-Yoo's-face reached over and squirted something into his hands, then rubbed them together beneath the water, causing a soft froth. When he finally tired of playing with the soap bubbles and water, So continued his exploration of the kitchen while Mi Yeong-ssi began pulling cooking utensils out of drawers and cabinets.

"Seon Ho, the vegetables for tonight's supper are in the large bowl in the refrigerator," she said, nodding her head towards the door they had entered. Next to it was a shiny, metal storage box more than twice his height. When he opened one of the doors, a wave of cold air washed over him. So put his hand inside to touch the contents - everything was as cold as if it had been stored in an ice cellar, and frozen like ice, too, but there was no ice inside the box. He opened the door on the other side. These things too were cold, but not frozen. He reached out to touch an apple, one larger and more shiny than he had ever seen.

"You must be hungry," the woman-with-Yoo's-face said from over his shoulder. "Would you like some fruits? Eun Jae hasn't had a snack yet, either." Without waiting, Shin Mi Yeong retrieved the apple So had touched along with a second one. Next she pulled a circle divided into wedges with handles on either side from one of the drawers. In moments she had sliced the apples neatly into eight wedges each and placed them on two small plates, pushing one in front of So. "Go on, eat some while I find Eun Jae and help him wash up."

"Thank you, Eomo-" he began, but halted as he realized what he had been about to say. His heart thumped a little harder in his chest, and he was unable to meet her eyes. However, he was unprepared for her next words.

"It's okay, Seon Ho. Many of the children here call me eomoni. You may, too. In fact, I'd like it very much." Her smile, when he finally glanced up, was warm again.

So nodded, but he was unable to comply with her request. Instead, he said, "So." When she appeared confused, he continued. "My name...it's So. That's what my...my family called me."

"Then I will call you that, too."

She smiled, but So just nodded again, sighing in relief when she finally left to go find the other child. He snagged one of the apple wedges off the plate and crunched it between his teeth. It was sweet and tart, crisp and cold, and possibly one of the best things he'd ever tasted. He managed to devour every last slice on the small plate before before Mi Yeong ssi had reappeared. Eager to see the water again, he carried the plate over to the basin and turned the water on again, marveling as it cascaded over the stoneware. As his fingers were sticky from the apple, he added some soap. Mesmerized, he didn't hear Mi Yeong ssi re-enter until she called his name.

"So-yah, this is Eun Jae."

So glanced up at the two figures in the doorway and received his second shock of the day. The dish he was still holding slipped from his grasp and shattered in the sink.

"So-yah!" the woman-with-Yoo's-face cried as she rushed to his side. "Are you ok? Are you hurt? Did you get cut?"

She took both his hands in hers and flipped them palm up, then back again. Next, she took his face in her hands to examine it, brushing his hair away from his eyes, her thumb drifting over the still-healing scar. So barely noticed. Instead, his eyes remained fixed on the small boy still standing in the doorway.

I don't understand how this is happening, he thought.

He still remembered that face from when he was young, before he had been sent to live with the Kang's. The last time he had seen it, he had been much older, the light fading from his eyes as he slumped to the ground. So alone had been the only one to hear Eun's very last words as he died, and they had echoed in his head for years afterwards:

Thank you, hyungnim.

So closed his eyes and swallowed hard past the lump in his throat. When he felt a tug on his sleeve, he opened them again. The little boy was standing next to him, looking up at him curiously.

"Hyung, do you have any toys?" he asked. So just shook his head - the only things that had been in his suitcase were clothing and few other essentials.

"No. They didn't let me bring any," he said.

The little boy nodded solemnly, then his face broke into a smile. "It's okay. I share."

The lump in his throat grew so painful that So thought he might choke from it, but he did his best to give the little boy a smile. "Thanks," he said.

Eun Jae nodded. Together they helped Shin Mi Yeong wash the vegetables, then she showed him how to scrape the carrots with the vegetable peeler without cutting himself while Eun Jae ate his own apple slices. Supper was a rowdy affair; there were a half-dozen other children living at the orphanage, all of whom were at least several years older than So and Eun Jae. After a few curious looks when Shin Mi Yeong introduced him, they mostly left the two younger children alone. Eun Jae chattered to him throughout the meal, but So was still too overwhelmed to pay much attention other than answering where required.

Later that evening, after So returned to their room from washing up and brushing his teeth and found Eun Jae was already curled up on his own bed asleep. So breathed a sigh of relief - he was simply too exhausted from the day's events to face any more questions. He climbed up to his own bunk, but noticed a lump under the blanket that hadn't been there earlier in the day. Curious, he pulled the covers back.

There waiting on his pillow was a small, furry, stuffed wolf. So clutched it in his hand and glanced back at the boy on the other bunk, but he heard nothing but soft snoring. He climbed under the covers and held the stuffed animal up in front of his face for a moment.

"It seems even here I can't escape you, Wolf," he said to it. "But maybe that's not such a bad thing."

He tucked the stuffed animal under his arm, rolled over and was asleep in moments.