Prologue
“I’m so sick of this.”
Doheon grumbled irritably as he climbed the hill. The fact that even this irritation was only allowed now that he was finally alone only made him more annoyed.
Being labeled as the son of a benefactor was suffocating enough, but every curious glance from strangers and every excessive act of kindness grated on his nerves.
Sure, noblesse oblige, social service, giving back to society… all of that sounds great. Doing good is fine.
But why do I have to come too? They’re just going to stand around smiling kindly in front of everyone before leaving anyway.
“Someone who’s never even washed a single dish at home…”
The image of his hypocritical mother flashed through his mind, making his expression harden even more.
She would probably wash a few dishes, complain about overworking herself and being exhausted, then go spend hundreds of thousands of won on expensive skincare treatments. He could already picture it.
After leaving the orphanage building, Doheon followed the back path leading up the hill.
This was his second visit to Bitna Orphanage, following his parents here again after last year. Which also meant this wasn’t the first time they had dragged him here against his will. At the very least, he knew what waited at the end of this path.
His parents were probably smiling warmly for the reporters before heading into the director’s office to discuss donations. Taking advantage of the little time he had, Doheon quickened his pace.
He wasn’t supposed to be alone, but there wasn’t really anywhere to be alone in the first place. The building was small, yet packed with people.
Whether it was because of his striking appearance or because they found it fascinating that he couldn’t speak Korean, the children kept showing interest in him.
That attention irritated Doheon.
He didn’t dislike the children themselves, but whenever they approached him and tried to start conversations, he wanted to shout at them to stop being so noisy.
After finishing middle school, Doheon had returned from the United States the previous year. At his insistence, his parents had introduced him to everyone at the orphanage—including the director—as “a child who couldn’t speak Korean.”
It had been the one condition he demanded before agreeing to come.
He thought that if everyone believed he couldn’t understand Korean, they would leave him alone.
His prediction had been completely wrong.
“Next year I’ll be preparing for college entrance exams. Surely they won’t make me come again—”
As Doheon reached the small incline that barely qualified as a hill, his brows knitted together.
Someone was already there.
He had expected the place to be empty.
The unexpected situation caught him off guard for only a moment before he resumed walking.
She lives here, so of course she’d know this place better than I do. If anyone finds this cramped place suffocating, it would be her, not an outsider like me.
Besides, it wasn’t as if this place belonged to him.
Claiming ownership over it would be ridiculous.
All Doheon wanted was to escape people’s gazes and attention.
He simply needed somewhere quiet to rest.
The place contained nothing but a single large tree.
With the building blocking most of the sunlight, he couldn’t help wondering if the tree even received enough light to grow. It looked lonely and strangely out of place.
Perhaps the tree had been planted here long before the orphanage was ever built.
Putting aside his brief curiosity about the tree, Doheon shifted his gaze to the girl standing beneath it.
“…”
Wearing a school uniform, the girl stared up at the tree.
Whether she was looking at its branches or its blossoms, he couldn’t tell.
She stood completely motionless.
Had the wind not scattered flower petals through the air and gently swayed her long hair, he might have entertained the absurd illusion that time itself had stopped.
Originally intending to sit on the bench beside the tree, Doheon instead stopped a few steps away from the girl.
There were several reasons.
The biggest one…
…was that she was crying.
She cried silently.
Not a sniffle.
Not a sob.
Although tears had no color, the ones streaming down her cheeks somehow seemed painted with one.
If only her hair would cover her face.
But the mischievous wind had no intention of doing that.
Instead, it exposed the tear-stained face even more.
Doheon remembered the girl.
She had been here during his first visit to the orphanage last year.
Unlike the other children who had approached him with curiosity, she had quietly sat alone in a corner.
Perhaps that was why she had caught his eye.
But there was another reason he remembered her.
“She really does look alike.”
She reminded him of the rabbit his school in America had kept.
Her pale skin.
Round cheeks.
The small black beauty mark beneath one eye.
Her large, clear eyes.
She looked exactly like that rabbit, which had been so beloved by the principal that it had even become the school’s mascot.
Even her small frame swimming inside an oversized school uniform resembled it.
I’m sure she was much smaller before.
Whatever had happened over the past year, she had grown so much he barely recognized her.
The baby fat on her face remained, but her arms and legs had noticeably lengthened, and the once-loose uniform now fit her perfectly.
She still looked young in Doheon’s eyes, but unlike before, she no longer seemed like a little child.
“…Haa.”
Apparently finished crying, the girl raised a hand and rubbed her eyes.
Sniffling quietly, she wiped away her tears one by one.
She brushed the tears from her cheeks.
Then wiped away the droplets gathered beneath her chin with the back of her hand.
The tears glistened briefly in the sunlight.
She inhaled deeply…
Then exhaled.
Again.
And again.
Whether she was merely calming her breathing…
Or trying to accept that she had been abandoned once more…
At the time, Doheon didn’t know.
“…Let’s go.”
Muttering softly, Yunkyung finally tore her gaze away from the tree.
At the same time, she turned toward where Doheon was standing.
“…”
“…!”
Yunkyung’s shoulders flinched violently.
She had never expected anyone else to be here.
She certainly hadn’t expected it to be Doheon.
“Uh…”
I didn’t hear any footsteps.
Was it because I was crying?
Wait… was he watching me cry?
Why?
Above her reddened eyes, her large pupils darted around anxiously, unable to hide her embarrassment.
At that moment, Doheon had the strange feeling that Yunkyung’s frozen time had only just begun moving again.
It was strange.
Time flowed.
It wasn’t something that could ever stop.
“…”
Without saying a word, Doheon simply stared at her.
Seeing her from the front…
She really did look exactly like the rabbit from his school.
He had no idea that the intensity of his gaze alone was enough to make someone uncomfortable.
The burden of that discomfort belonged entirely to Yunkyung.
It would have been nice if he had said something.
Instead, he only kept staring.
Even after she awkwardly touched her face, wondering if something was stuck on it, his eyes never left her.
Yunkyung suddenly found herself unable to breathe—
But for an entirely different reason than before.
“Why aren’t you saying anything…?”
Unable to endure the silence any longer, the words slipped out before she could stop them.
“…Ah.”
“Right, they said you couldn’t speak Korean.”
Only then did Yunkyung remember.
Doheon couldn’t speak Korean.
Now that she knew the reason, his behavior made a little more sense.
Just as she gave him an awkward smile, Doheon—who had kept his distance until now—started walking toward her.
“Huh?”
Blinking, Yunkyung cautiously watched him.
Her face clearly asked,
Why is he coming over here?
She wore every emotion plainly on her face.
Taking long strides, Doheon stopped just one step away from her.
Yunkyung’s frightened expression reminded him so much of a startled rabbit that he almost laughed despite the situation.
“Uh…”
“What kind of tree is this?”
Yunkyung, who had been avoiding his gaze, immediately looked up.
The unfamiliar English caught her attention—
But even more than that…
It was Doheon’s voice.
If she had closed her eyes while listening, she never would have guessed he was still in high school.
His voice was deep and solid, as steady as the ground beneath their feet.
“You don’t know?”
Still staring blankly at his lips, Yunkyung snapped back to her senses when he spoke again.
“Uh… I think you asked what kind of tree it is…”
“Cherry blossoms?”
“Cherry blossoms? If you mean cherry blossoms…”
She shook her head.
“No. It’s an apricot tree. But… what’s ‘apricot’ in English?”
She tried shaping the fruit with her hands.
She tried explaining its color and size in broken English.
But seeing Doheon’s expression remain completely blank, she sighed deeply in disappointment.
“You lived in America for a long time, right? But you’re still Korean, aren’t you? If you’re Korean, why can’t you speak Korean?”
“If you’re going to live in Korea, you should know Korean.”
Thinking he couldn’t understand a word she was saying, Yunkyung puffed out her cheeks and muttered under her breath.
“An apricot is just an apricot.”
Every time she pronounced the word, her lips rounded into the shape of the fruit itself.
It was unexpectedly cute.
“But at least I answered your question. If you didn’t understand…”
“…Apricot.”
Following after her pronunciation, Doheon slowly repeated the name of the fruit.
“…Huh?”
Yunkyung’s eyes widened.
Then, the corners of her eyes curved gently into crescents.
“That’s right! Apricot!”
She nodded enthusiastically with a bright smile.
“Apricot tree.”
She deliberately pronounced each syllable slowly so Doheon could memorize it.
Just moments ago she had been silently shedding tears.
Now she smiled so brightly that her neat white teeth showed.
If not for the lingering redness around her eyes, no one would have believed she had been crying only moments earlier.
Doheon looked at the girl before him.
More precisely…
He looked into her eyes.
A trace of moisture still lingered there.
The sadness had already passed, leaving behind eyes the color of ripe apricots.
As though the fruit itself had taken root inside them.
Slowly, Doheon’s gaze drifted downward.
Kim Yunkyung
On the white name tag, pale like an apricot blossom, three black characters were neatly printed.
