Okay so….
The crying earlier? Completely strategic. Totally planned from the beginning.
I nodded to myself, sitting across the table from the scary noona and beside Ahjussi, both hands folded very calmly in my lap. It was all a plan. A very smart plan made by a very smart 9 year old.
Then Ahjussi raised his hand and put it on my head, and started patting, and I… maybe forgot about the plan for a second.
"You okay?" he asked, voice gentle. "And— thank you for lending us your apartment. Where are yo—" He stopped. Looked at the noona across the table.
She shook her head, just slightly.
Ahjussi was about to ask me about my parents didn't he? I knew it, I'm not dumb. "My parents got eaten by the Sporeheads," I said, looking at the table. "Yesterday. At night."
The patting kept going, steady and unhurried.
I took a breath. Looked up at the scary noona, with definitely not teary eyes, and nodded to myself once, very composed. Good. That was fine. Everything was fine.
Ahem.
