She didn’t know when she started to not feeling awkward about holding hands. She looked at Maru’s back who was walking ahead. Although they sometimes walked side by side, there were many times when Maru walked ahead of her like this. She remembered the days where she went to Daehak-ro holding her father’s hands when she was young. She had to look upwards to see her dad’s back, and the sun shined on her face. The sensation of the hand that firmly gripped her hand felt vivid again.

At first, she felt embarrassed doing that and immediately walked up and walked next to him, but these days, she walked behind him comfortably. Maru walked without hesitation as he walked ahead while holding her hand, and while she relied on those steps, she was relieved of any worries she had. The worries that haunted her disappeared completely for that moment.

“Why are there so many people even though today’s a Sunday?”

“Because there are many people that go to work on a Sunday as well.”

“Really?”

“Mrs. Lee went to work as well. The subway was actually in a good condition. If it was Monday morning, we wouldn’t have been able to get off that easily.”

“Mrs. Lee?”

“My mom.”

They walked out of the station and walked along the streets. They saw the school far ahead of them on a hill. They had to walk up a gentle slope in order to get there. The four-lane road that headed up to the school was empty....