“i want banana flavor,” jisu knows that naeun is treating, she always does. even though he has someone else’s money in his pocket, the boy still likes the caring attention that the girl gives him and really has no qualms about letting other people pay for his ice cream. plus, sometimes jisu thinks that it just makes other people feel good when they do nice things for him. it’s their act of charity or something.
so far he’s been unusually quiet with naeun. not that the boy is always a chatterbox, but whatever conversation they’ve been having has been very one-sided. he’s not sure how to start to talk about what’s on his mind, even though he was the one to ask her if she wanted to get ice cream today. naeun is special, she’s different from his other friends, and not just because she’s one of the oldest people he’d consider a friend. she’s good. she protects him, drives away his bullies when she can. he calls her mom sometimes, a joke, but he really does think of her almost maternally.
“did you know that family registries are public documents?” he finally speaks o her after he’s gotten his frozen treat. everyone should know that tidbit of information though; the public records are the reason why there are so many kids in the group homes he grew up in; too many single mothers not wanting to tarnish their family names with children out of wedlock, now abandoned at churches and firehouses. “i looked up mine, on a whim. i didn’t expect to find anything. most of the kids don’t. but i did. so i went to find my family.”
jisu didn’t tell anyone before he did it. he didn’t want to hear any warnings about getting his hopes up, or words of caution about what he might find. he’s nearly seventeen, next year he ages out of the system entirely. it’s about time people started treating him like an adult. “they’re nice. except i have a brother, and they didn’t give him up. and he hates me.” glumly he stares at his ice cream, and waits for naeun to say something. he’s sure she will, and he’s sure that whatever it is will make him feel better.
