A Gaze Exploring the Softie
For the past few days, Haley had been studying Yohan—someone she had never once paid attention to before.
She simply felt like doing it. And what she discovered was that he possessed a truly peculiar way of thinking.
It felt as though he viewed the world itself through a positive lens, yet it was nothing like ordinary positivity.
Innocent positivity, maybe?
At her age she couldn’t quite pin it down with precision, but that was how it struck her.
On top of that, people constantly gathered around Yohan.
“Gio! Did you finish your homework?”
“Yeah.”
“Too bad. I was gonna show you mine.”
“Homework’s something you do yourself.”
There was the girl who cheerfully offered to let him copy her work of her own free will, of course.
“Gio! We playing soccer today? You opening the convent field?”
“Nope. The sisters are busy prepping for Mass, so it’s closed today.”
“Really? Then let’s do the futsal court.”
“Okay.”
And the kids who always flocked to him wanting to play soccer.
“Gio, sit with me today.”
“Okay.”
Even the fiery-tempered kid he’d once fought with approached him warmly, as if genuinely fond of him.
Why did people gather around him like that?
Was it because his mother was a nun and they felt a little intimidated?
No—intimidated didn’t fit. The way they treated Yohan was far too friendly for that.
It wasn’t fake, either. Everyone was sincere with him.
Is it because he’s nice?
He was a bit of a softie—almost foolishly so—but his personality was kind through and through.
It was the complete opposite of Haley herself, and maybe that was exactly why people felt so at ease around him.
Ugh…
In a countryside place like this with nothing going on, that kind of style must be popular.
Calling it “nothing,” though, was a stretch. Trigoria wasn’t exactly a backwater village. It was a peaceful, pleasant area full of freestanding houses.
But to Haley, who had been born and raised in comfort in a big city, this place was the boonies among boonies.
“What are you doing over there?”
At the familiar voice coming from behind her, Haley flinched and pushed off the wall she’d been leaning against by the front gate.
“Nothing. You just got here?”
“Yeah. What were you looking at?”
“I told you, nothing. Let’s go, Mom.”
“Hop in, then.”
In the passenger seat, Haley reached for the seatbelt under her mother’s nagging. Then, suddenly remembering something she’d heard a few days earlier, she asked,
“Mom. Can nuns get married?”
“Huh…? Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”
“Just answer. Can they get married and have kids?”
“Normally, no. Someone can become a nun after getting divorced or being widowed, but…”
“Really? Then how come this kid I know has a mom who’s a nun?”
“That can’t be right.”
“It’s true. His name’s Yohan, and he says his mom’s a nun.”
“Is that so…? Ah, that little black-haired boy?”
“Yeah. How do you know him?”
“I’ve seen him with a nun a few times when I come to pick you up. That nun’s his mother?”
“That’s what he said.”
“Strange… that shouldn’t be possible…”
Her mother’s thoroughly skeptical reaction made Haley’s brow twitch.
Did he lie to me?
To her? You’re dead.
With that resolve burning in her chest, Haley steeled herself for tomorrow.
While she was doing so, Yohan was being led toward the convent by Sister Caterina, friends in tow.
After reminding them to be careful, Caterina opened the soccer field gate, and the children charged off in a noisy rush.
Watching them with a fond smile, Caterina returned to her room and sat at her old desk.
This is a problem…
Worry clouded her face.
The reason was money—not living expenses, but the cost of sending Yohan to soccer camp.
Near the convent stood a training ground.
It was where the players of AS Roma—a professional club and one of the prestigious teams—did their training.
Every year, not long after Italian schools went on break, the club ran a camp there for children and teens.
Club coaches taught soccer, and the program could foster affection and admiration for the club while also serving as a social space—planting dreams in young kids.
It was a three-week camp, almost like a training retreat. For four years Caterina and the sisters had quietly sold Korean side dishes and the jams they already made—mostly to the Korean community—and had finally scraped together enough for the camp fee.
The problem was that they couldn’t cover the full three weeks.
The camp cost five hundred euros a week.
Three weeks meant fifteen hundred euros. For nuns of a poor religious order, that was an enormous sum.
So far they had fourteen hundred euros in hand.
At this rate, because of a mere hundred euros, Yohan would only be able to experience the camp through the second week.
Yohan had grown up so very well-behaved.
Any child that age would have plenty of things they wanted, yet even though the convent had never been able to give him much of anything properly, he had never once complained.
But deep down he must have wanted to enjoy events related to soccer.
The way he carefully watched every Roma match these days and analyzed them with his friends in his own way…
Lately his passion for the game had only grown stronger, so she desperately wanted to send him to this year’s camp—and let him complete the whole thing.
Thud!
A cheerful sound drifted in through the window.
[What the—! Gio! How’d you do that!?]
Judging by the astonished cry from one of Yohan’s friends, he must have pulled off an incredible shot.
She glanced through the clear glass and saw Yohan beaming, surrounded by his friends.
The sight steeled Caterina’s heart.
I’ll make it work somehow.
Circumstances weren’t ideal, but she decided she would gather that hundred euros no matter what.
No—she would gather it.
“Turtle.”
Haley’s sharp voice called him by that rather humiliating nickname she had recently taken to using.
Yohan turned his head and answered with the same vacant eyes as always.
“Yeah.”
“Follow me.”
“You gonna buy me ice cream?”
“Depends.”
“Okay.”
Yohan obediently trailed after Haley as she led him to a slightly secluded spot near the school store and crossed her arms.
The familiar pose he saw every time. Yohan stayed quiet, waiting to hear what complaint she would spit out today.
“Hey.”
“Yeah.”
“Why’d you lie to me?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. You.”
“What lie?”
“Last time you told me your mom was a nun.”
“That’s right.”
“But nuns can’t get married.”
“Yeah.”
Yohan’s completely unfazed reply left Haley momentarily speechless.
“…What did you just say?”
“About what?”
“No… you said your mom’s a nun. So your mom got married, right?”
“She didn’t.”
“She had you without getting married?”
“No.”
“What… are you messing with me right now? Then how can a nun be a mom!?”
“Why can’t she?”
The way Yohan looked at her as if she were the strange one sent Haley’s thoughts spinning all over again.
Something felt off about the whole conversation. She calmly tried to organize her thoughts, then something clicked and her eyes went wide.
“Ah…! Adoption? Wait, but can nuns even adopt?”
“They can’t.”
“Then what is it…! Explain properly. How can a nun be a mom?”
“Because that’s how I think of her.”
“Huh…?”
“I have four moms.”
“…What!?”
“My birth parents who lived in Korea passed away, and the sisters brought me here.”
Every time Yohan dropped another bombshell, Haley’s mouth had fallen open in blank shock. Now her eyes finally settled.
Whoosh—!
Her arm shot up in an instant.
Yohan leaned his head back just a little, and Haley let out a long simultaneous snort and sigh as if trying to swallow her anger.
Then she glared at him.
“Then you should’ve said that from the start…! Why’d you have to confuse people!?”
“Sorry. But you didn’t ask…”
“Haa… Fine. It might be a sensitive topic, so I guess I should be the understanding one.”
“……”
“What, you’re not gonna say thank you?”
“Huh…? Do I have to?”
“You made me misunderstand, but I took the high road and understood your situation, so gratitude is the least you can do.”
“Is that how it works? Thanks.”
“You’re sincerely grateful, right?”
“Of course.”
“Good. I’ll buy you an ice cream, so follow me.”
“Weren’t you already gonna buy me one?”
“I said it depended.”
“Oh, right. Okay.”
Yohan trotted after Haley. He was a little shorter than her.
Overall he was on the small side.
Whether it was because of that, or because of his pure, innocent behavior, Haley felt a strange protective instinct rising toward him.
From that day on, even if not constantly, Haley called for Yohan every so often.
The reason a girl who firmly believed everyone around here reeked of country bumpkin still chose to spend so much time with him was that, oddly enough, she was drawn to him.
Like a magnet. But she never thought of it as anything grand like fate or love.
She just told herself it was a way to kill time—a friend… no, more like a subordinate—to pass the days in this boring countryside.
Quite a bit of time passed.
Around the time the spring days that were warm by day and chilly by night were nearly over, Yohan finished another ordinary school day and walked home with Sister Caterina.
At the convent’s front gate he spotted a nun in her fifties standing there and ran straight to her.
“Mother Superior!”
Mother Superior Melissa Romani.
Like Caterina, she had once been saved by Yohan’s father, Mateo Lee. Seeing the boy’s pure, kind manner—so different from kids these days—she smiled with quiet fondness.
“Yohan come?”
“Yes!”
“You study hard?”
“Yes!”
“Good boy. I have gift for Yohan.”
In far more broken Korean than Caterina’s, Melissa held out two items she had been hiding behind her back.
Yohan took them without thinking, then his eyes went huge at the children’s jersey in his left hand.
“Huh…?”
It was the jersey he had wanted so badly—the one with Lorenzo Lucca’s surname and the number 10 on the back.
His pupils trembled as if an earthquake had struck.
Seeing that, Melissa told him not to be surprised yet and pointed to his right hand.
“Look that too?”
Yohan’s gaze moved unconsciously to his right hand.
In it was a crisp document.
And the words written at the very top of that document were—
Club Camp Participation Confirmation
It was a confirmation certificate for the soccer camp AS Roma ran for children aged eight to ten and under.
Gulp.
The moment he read those words, Yohan’s Adam’s apple bobbed hard.
“Th-this… is for me…?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Wow…! Wow…!!”
Unable even to let out a proper cheer of joy, he could only keep gasping in wonder. Then, just like a four-year-old receiving his very first present, he started bouncing up and down right where he stood.
Caterina and Melissa could only stare in astonishment.
From their first meeting until this very moment, Yohan had never once shown such an intense reaction.
He had always known the convent’s circumstances and held himself back, but deep down he was still just a boy with plenty of things he liked and plenty of things he wanted to do—no different from any other child.