“Today I’ll open the door.”

Without even listening to the wet nurse’s reply, Young left the room in quick little steps. Walking down the hallway leading to the entrance, he suddenly recalled an old memory. He had been very young, but he still remembered that day clearly. The garden shining with moisture, the cold, soft feel of the earth against his bare feet, the slipping field of vision, Jian’s cold hand running to him and grabbing him, and. Han’s strange expression as he looked at him from a little distance away.

‘Young, you’re not hurt, are you?’

The distance he kept, even though he had come up to Young, as if there were a line drawn between them. Such scenes remained deeply in Young’s memory.

And after that day, Young could no longer see Han and Jian in the garden in front of the annex. The family dinners the four of them had shared once a week also disappeared. Young could no longer go to the main building. Young did not know why, but he did not ask why either. In any case, he had no attachment to or longing for his family. Since he had never experienced it, he did not know from the beginning. Rather, the wet nurse seemed to be the one who was more hurt.

‘Young master has had, since birth... a sort of aura that makes people a little wary. It doesn’t mean anything bad. But... people are often afraid of what they don’t know.’

The wet nurse would pat little Young and tell him things he did not understand. Young liked that, and buried his face in the wet nurse’s arms and clung to her. Then his heart felt at ease. Young only needed the wet nurse.

For him, Jian’s periodic visits were a great stimulus.

The first time he heard about it was a few days after the year had begun. It was right after Korean class ended, and as soon as the teacher left, the wet nurse came in to tidy the room. It was something she always did, but that day her hands seemed awkward somehow. She paused after stacking the books, and for no reason at all, swept away the dust once more.

“Young master.”

The wet nurse’s voice calling him was half a tone lower than usual. Young put down his pencil and lifted his head.

“Today... a guest will be coming.”

“A guest?”

Guests who came to the house were usually adults. Elders or his father’s acquaintances. But most of them came and went through the main building, and almost never came as far as the annex.

“Someone around Young master’s age... though a little older, I suppose.”

The wet nurse trailed off at the end. Young rolled the fragments of those words around in his head.

“Could it be...”

Young asked cautiously.

“Han hyung?”

The wet nurse’s face stiffened for a moment. She did not answer right away, and gathered the books on the desk into one place.

“It’s not Han young master.”

“Then who is it?”

“Do you remember Young master Jian? Han young master’s friend.”

The wet nurse chose her words as carefully as possible. Young’s fingers softly rubbed the edge of the desk. The spring rain when he was five, wet earth, the slipping field of vision, the cold hand and warm eyes. Between those fragments, the name ‘Seo Jian’ took shape, after a very long time.

“That... hyung is coming?”

“Yes.”

The wet nurse gave a short nod.

“He’ll be coming often from now on. About once a week... every Wednesday.”

“Why?”

Young wanted to know the reason. Young, who had usually let everything pass and accepted it as it was, was curious about that alone. But the wet nurse could not answer that question directly. The family’s circumstances, the contract between the wolf clan and the fox clan, the words protection and imprinting. They were too complicated, and too dark, to explain all of it to a child.

“...The adults said it seems like Young master spends too much time alone.”

Instead, the wet nurse said it a little indirectly.

“So... they said they needed someone to stay with Young master. And that it would be good if that person were Young master Jian.”

Young did not fully understand the explanation, but he could tell one thing for sure. He’s coming to me. He’s coming because of me. Just that fact made some part of his chest quietly tremble.

“They said people are wary of me.”

When Young said it casually, the wet nurse was briefly flustered.

“That... Young master, you remember that?”

Young had not forgotten the words the wet nurse had once carefully told him. The fact that people did not understand him somehow felt oddly reassuring. Because then, he thought, these unfamiliar feelings he was having might not be wrong after all.

“People are wary of me... is that hyung okay with it?”

Young’s question was innocent, but a very subtle expectation was mixed into it. The wet nurse read that subtlety and pretended not to.

“Young master Jian is, from the very beginning... someone who has a little connection with Young master.”

The wet nurse chose her words as gently as possible.

“He’s the one who ran to catch Young master first when you slipped... and he’s also someone who watched over Young master beside Han young master since you were little. So, it’ll be fine. Probably.”

The word ‘watched over’ felt strange to Young.

“Me?”

The wet nurse laughed. That laugh was a little lonely, but warm.

“There's no one in this house who doesn't see young master. Only... it doesn't show well on their faces.”

Young never understood what that meant to the end. Only, the fact that ‘someone was watching him’ was not as bad as he had thought.

That afternoon, after class ended, Young sat by the window earlier than usual. It was not because he had made up his mind to wait, it just happened that way. Small sounds coming from the main building beyond the garden, the length of shadows changing as the sun tilted, the footsteps of the servants in the hallway. And a little later, he heard the sound of a car coming from the front gate. Young was holding his breath without even realizing it.

And then, when Jian finally appeared in front of the annex entrance, Young was surprised twice. One was that he had grown much taller than Young had imagined. The ten-year-old child he remembered from before had been a presence that could stand side by side with Han from any direction, and beside him, he had remained as someone slightly smaller and thinner than Han.

Jian, seen again after several years, was completely different. His shoulders had broadened, and the sinews on his wrists and the backs of his hands were faintly visible. Even his voice had lowered.

“Hello, Young.”

The low voice fell over the air. Young knew he should greet him politely, but for a moment he only moved his lips. A sensation that had rushed in like a comet stirred up the inside of his chest.

‘...Who is he?’

He clearly knew, clearly knew this person, but he was not the same as the one he had known before. The image of “Seo Jian” stored in his head was torn away all at once, then layered over again with the real person standing before him.

“You’ve gotten... a lot taller.”

In the end, that was all he could barely say. Jian laughed. It was a somewhat embarrassed laugh.

“You’ve gotten a lot taller too.”

Young found that strangely odd. His height, his body, were still not that big. But Jian’s gaze clearly held the recognition that ‘time has passed.’

‘Have I... changed too?’

Young did not know when or how he had changed. Only, the fact that Jian remembered him made his heart stir. The wet nurse standing nearby said quietly.

“Would the two of you like to go inside and talk? I’ll prepare tea.”

At those words, Jian went in first and looked back at Young.

“Let’s go in together.”

It was a very ordinary line, but Young felt each word of it touch his body.

Together.

Let’s go in.

It seemed like it had been a long time since someone said something like that to him. No, maybe not since the wet nurse.

When they sat facing each other in the reception room, Young did not know where to look. The teacup on the table, the clock hanging on the wall, outside the window, and Jian again. There were too many places to put his eyes. Even choosing one was difficult.

“Do you remember?”

Jian spoke first.

“Back then... when you slipped on a rainy day.”

Young knitted his brows for a moment. That scene was so clear it had not been forgotten. Dirt and hands, the feeling of falling.

“A little.”

When Young answered briefly, Jian let out a small breath of relief.

“Good. I was worried you might not remember anything.”

“Why would you worry about that?”

When Young asked back, Jian trailed off.

“...Well, just. It’d be kind of stupid if I was the only one who remembered.”

Somehow, that stabbed at Young. The part about ‘if I was the only one who remembered’ stayed in his mind.

‘Then hyung too, kept...’

The sentence after that failed to take shape and crumbled somewhere. The wet nurse brought tea, and a brief silence settled between the two of them. Young lightly tapped the teacup twice with the teaspoon, then carefully drank the tea.

“Why do you do that?”

It was nothing much, but Jian asked out of curiosity.

“Hm?”

“Tapping the teacup.”

“Just... because the wet nurse does it...”

At the unexpected question, Young’s face reddened slightly. He had thought everyone did it, but apparently not.

“That’s cute.”

At that sight, Jian grinned and tapped his own teacup twice with the teaspoon before drinking his tea.

“Did you hear why I’m coming?”

Jian’s question was unexpected. Young honestly shook his head.

“No.”

“Just... from now on, about once a week, we’re supposed to spend time together.”

Jian explained as simply as possible.

“They say you spend a lot of time alone. So... the adults thought it would be good if I came instead.”

The moment the word ‘adults’ came up, Young’s shoulders stiffened very slightly.

“Do you hate it?”

Jian’s question was asked casually, but to Young it felt too direct. After thinking for a moment, Young shook his head.