A Night Out
Even after they finished the picture book, time kept slipping by without a care.
They played a few rounds of board games, and he sat beside Yuna watching her draw in her sketchbook.
After a long stretch of play, he glanced at the clock and found it was already ten at night.
He was just thinking it was about time to get her washed up and put to bed when—
"Daaad."
Yuna suddenly tugged at his sleeve.
"I'm hungry."
Hungry?
This was the same kid who'd demolished a pork cutlet bigger than her own face earlier?
...Was the portion too small?
Or is she just growing?
Well, they did say kids got hungry the moment you turned your back.
"Let me see what we've got."
He opened the fridge.
"..."
Unfortunately, there wasn't much of anything useful inside.
There were side dishes, sure, but cooking up a proper meal at this hour felt like overkill. Thawing out one of the frozen soups for a late-night snack seemed like too much work, too.
A few containers of pre-portioned fruit caught his eye.
"Want some fruit?"
"..."
Yuna took one look at the plastic container of browned apple slices in his hand and pulled a sour face.
Yeah, no thanks.
"..."
Offering fruit to a kid who said she was hungry was a bit of a stretch, admittedly.
He closed the fridge and stood there thinking.
Ten o'clock. Ordering delivery at this hour was awkward, too...
"Hmm..."
A convenience store run would be perfect right about now.
When he was little, he'd sometimes tag along with his dad...
Actually, he didn't really have any particular childhood memory attached to this.
"Yuna."
"Ung?"
"Wanna go to the convenience store with Dad?"
"...The convenience store?"
Yuna blinked at him.
"Right now?"
"Yeah."
Her eyes slowly grew wider and wider.
"...!"
Then she shot up off the couch.
"I-I wanna go! I wanna go!"
That excited, huh?
Well, going out at ten on a weeknight wasn't exactly a common thing for a little kid. Normally he'd just put her to bed—but tomorrow was the weekend.
He stood up and grabbed his coat.
"Hurry up and get your jacket. Let's go before it gets any colder."
"Ung...!"
Yuna scampered over to the coat rack and wrestled the new puffy jacket they'd bought that afternoon off its hanger, huffing and puffing as she pulled it on.
The pink jacket hanging next to it swayed gently.
"Wearing the new one?"
"Ung. This one's way warmer."
Earlier she'd hung it up like it was too precious to touch, and now look at her.
She paused in front of the mirror to check herself over, then came scampering back with a satisfied little face and threw her arms around him.
Let's go, Dad.
With that, Yuna bounced on her toes and dashed for the front door.
An early winter night was cold as hell.
"...Hwah."
Yuna seemed fascinated by the white puffs of breath coming out of her mouth. She kept going haah— haah—, blowing out cloud after cloud.
"You cold?"
"I'm not cold!"
She answered bravely, gripping his hand tight. Her nose had gone bright red, but—well, she was cute, so that was fine.
Every time they passed an alley or a dark stretch of sidewalk, Yuna pressed a little closer against him, as if the evening streets made her nervous.
The walk to the convenience store took about five minutes. They passed a few scattered streetlamps, chatting about this and that, and before long the familiar storefront came into view.
"We're here."
"...!"
Yuna's steps quickened. She even started humming under her breath, giggling to herself.
Jingle.
The door swung open and a rush of warm air welcomed them inside. The clerk at the register offered a halfhearted greeting.
"Wooow..."
Yuna looked around the store with a soft little gasp of wonder.
Come on, you've been to a convenience store during the day before.
Does it just feel different at night?
"Go pick out whatever you want."
"...A-anything?"
"Yeah. Anything."
Except the wine over there.
Yuna glanced up at him for a moment, then carefully made her way between the shelves.
She stood in front of the snack aisle for a long time. Then in front of the ice cream freezer for a long time. Back and forth she went, unable to settle on a single thing.
"..."
Meanwhile, he headed for the ramen section and picked up two cup ramens—one mild.
Yuna can handle ramen, right?
He grabbed a couple of triangle kimbap, too. That was the default convenience-store combo, wasn't it?
"Yuna, come here a sec."
"H-huh?"
He held up a cup ramen for her to see.
"Do you know how to eat ramen?"
"I've had it with Mom!"
Good.
So what had she picked out, then?
"Alright, so what are you getting?"
"...This."
Yuna held out the hand she'd been hiding behind her back.
One tiny strawberry milk.
That's it?
That's all?
He frowned at the painfully modest haul, and Yuna fidgeted under his gaze, looking guilty.
"That's all you want?"
"...Ung. This is enough."
She clutched the strawberry milk in both hands as she answered.
He'd told her to pick whatever she wanted, and she'd come back with a single fifteen-hundred-won strawberry milk. She'd clearly chosen based on the price tag.
"..."
Kid's got no greed at all.
He shrugged and headed for the snack aisle.
"D-Dad?"
He grabbed a couple of the most eye-catching bags from the spot where Yuna had been hovering earlier.
"...!"
Yuna's eyes went round as saucers as she stared at him.
Does this make me a pretty good dad?
"These are the ones you were looking at earlier, right?"
"...H-how did you know?"
"Dad knows everything."
She'd stood in front of them for ten whole minutes. It would've been weirder not to notice.
He piled the snacks into her arms, and Yuna looked back and forth between him and the bags with those huge round eyes. Then she squeezed them shut and broke into a little grin.
Funny way of smiling, that.
After paying, they claimed a spot at the eating counter by the window.
He poured hot water into the cup ramens and waited three minutes. They'd eat the ramen and kimbap now, and save Yuna's snacks for home later.
"Alright. Dig in."
Steam rose.
Yuna clumsily split a pair of wooden chopsticks, pinched up some noodles, blew on them with a hoo hoo, and tucked a modest little bite into her mouth, chewing carefully.
"Good?"
She nodded vigorously, still chewing away.
"Just watching you eat is filling me up."
"..."
Yuna squinted at him with a little frown.
What? I'm just saying.
"Ahem."
Eating out at night after so long really did make everything taste different.
With full stomachs, they stepped back out of the convenience store. A bag of strawberry jam cookies and snacks dangled from Yuna's hand.
"Whew, I'm stuffed."
He patted his belly, and Yuna patted hers right along with him. When he looked over at her, she beamed up at him with a bashful little smile.
"You didn't spill anything on your clothes earlier, did you?"
"Ung. I ate really carefully."
Mom trained her well.
The night streets on the way back were even quieter than before. The cold air didn't bite quite as hard against a body warmed by cup ramen.
"So hey, Dad—"
Yuna started chattering away, still holding his hand. Most of it was about the board game they'd played before heading out.
"Dad was way too good..."
I cheated half the time. You'll never know.
He was walking along the alley, offering the occasional halfhearted reply, when—
"..."
Across the street, someone was sitting in the playground.
A short dress. Pink hair...
...Pink Rose?
What?
Did she fight with her mom again?
There was no other reason a middle schooler would be sitting alone on a playground swing on a Friday night.
Pink Rose sat slumped on the swing like a wilted plant, every bit of tension drained from her body.
"..."
Sorry, Yuna—but for a moment, his eyes were completely stolen.
That kind of description was usually reserved for people who'd fallen in love. He had absolutely zero intention of that sort.
The reason she'd stolen his gaze was simply this:
"..."
Their eyes had met.
She looked up from the swing and saw him. Then her gaze shifted to Yuna, chattering away with her hand in his. He saw it clearly.
Should I say something?
"Dad?"
"Huh—yeah?"
But he turned his attention back to Yuna almost immediately.
Getting this worked up over one private conversation. Come on.
"What are we doing tomorrow?"
He toyed with Yuna's small, cold hand in his own.
"Hmm..."
Good question.
What should we do?
Yuna rustled her jacket and peered up at him.
Next Tuesday was the last day.
Once they got home, Yuna dozed off mid-toothbrushing.
The night out must have been that much fun.
He somehow managed to finish brushing her teeth and carried her to bed. She seemed to enjoy the sensation of being scooped up into the air—she grinned sleepily the whole way, then drifted right off.
The cookies would have to wait until tomorrow.
"..."
He wasn't tired yet, so he sat at the kitchen table and stared blankly out at the living room.
His eyes drifted to the photo on the table—Yuna and her mother together. The background was an elementary school, and from the banner hanging behind them, it looked like it had been taken at her entrance ceremony.
"Aigoo."
A picture-perfect happy mother and daughter.
He decided to believe that Yuna's mother had simply been worn out from parenting and taken a week-long trip to recharge.
He was chewing on one of those browned apple slices from the plastic container in the fridge when—
Bzzzt.
His phone buzzed.
At this hour, there was only one kind of call it could be.
"Hello?"
"Ah, yes. Sorry to call so late. You're the wedding guest proxy, correct?"
"Yes, that's right."
A booking inquiry.
For a second he considered stepping outside, but Yuna seemed properly dead to the world this time, so he took the call right there.
He was about to launch into the usual consultation script when—
"There's a ceremony next Tuesday during the day. We'd need you as a guest on the bride's side for about two hours..."
Yuna's mother's phone call suddenly came back to him.
What had she told him again?
The password. Where all the money was. The elementary school's location.
That Yuna remembered going to the arboretum with her dad. That she loved magical girls.
And that next Tuesday was the parent open class. Or had it been a school recital?
"...Hello? Can you hear me?"
"Ah—yes. Sorry about that."
Tuesday during the day.
That overlapped with the open class.
This wasn't even something he needed to—
"I don't think I can make that day. My daughter's got a parent open class..."
He shamelessly used Yuna as a shield.
The caller accepted it without any fuss. He added a few more apologetic words and hung up.
Click.
A rustling sound came from the bedroom.
Apparently he'd been talking too loud.