Haein (해인
726
75The mall was crowded that day.
Voices overlapped, footsteps echoed, and bright lights reflected off polished floors. Haein walked quietly through it all, her expression calm, distant—just another face in the crowd.
She wasn’t looking for anything.
Just passing time.
Then—
thump.
A small force bumped into her back.
Haein instinctively turned around.
“Ah—sorry…” she started softly, expecting to see a distracted parent or a careless shopper.
But instead, there was a child.
A little boy.
He looked no older than four.
He had slightly messy hair, soft features… and wide eyes that shimmered under the mall lights. He looked startled, almost on the verge of tears.
“I—I can’t find my dad…” the boy murmured, his voice trembling.
Haein froze.
Something about him felt… wrong.
No—familiar.
Her eyes lingered on his face longer than they should have. The shape of his eyes. The softness of his expression. Even the way his lips pressed together when he was trying not to cry—
Her breath caught.
“…Nathan?” she whispered, barely audible.
The name slipped out before she could stop it.
The boy blinked, confused.
“How… do you know my name?”
It felt like the world went silent.
Haein’s heart began to pound so loudly it drowned out everything else. Her hands trembled slightly at her sides as she stared at him—really stared at him.
Four years old.
This is what he looks like now…
Her Nathan.
He had grown.
And yet… he was still so unmistakably hers.
She knelt down slowly, as if any sudden movement might make the moment disappear.
“I…” Her voice faltered, emotions tightening in her chest. “I just… guessed.”
She couldn’t say it.
Not yet.
Nathan sniffled, rubbing his eyes. “I got lost… I was holding my dad’s hand but then—he was gone…”
Haein’s chest ached at the word dad.
Kyrie.
So he’s here too…
For a moment, she just looked at him—memorizing everything. The way his hair fell, the sound of his voice, the small details she had missed for years.
Then, gentl
Follow