Hide and Seek with Seona
Jeong-woo turned around to find Seona, who had hidden herself so well, and the first thing that caught his eye was the lumpy comforter on the bed.
The pillow that should have been at the head of the bed was gone too, making it look like she had stuffed it inside the blanket as a decoy.
Well, well.
What should he do?
“Hmm… I wonder where Seona could have gone?”
Even as he spoke, his gaze never left the bed. The way it twitched little by little made it obvious just how tense she was.
“Wow, Seona hid really well this time!”
He walked around the house, but Jeong-woo’s eyes stayed glued to the bed.
If she stayed like that much longer, she would definitely run out of air.
He was curious what kind of reaction she would show.
“Maybe she’s under the bed?”
As he said that and his footsteps drew closer to the bed, he heard a sharp little gasp.
When Jeong-woo reached the bed, he casually rested one hand on the comforter and peered underneath.
“Nope, not here either. Where on earth could she be?”
What should he do?
Should he find her? Or pretend he couldn’t?
He pondered for a moment, but the answer came easier than expected.
Considering Seona’s personality, it was better to find her than to leave her hidden.
That way, she would start thinking about how to hide even better next time.
“Maybe I should check the room?”
When the sound of Jeong-woo getting up and heading toward the room reached her, Seona waited a moment to read the atmosphere before cautiously poking her head out.
“Huuah…”
Just as Jeong-woo had predicted, she was out of breath.
Between being so nervous and completely covered by the thick comforter, she was also overheating.
Her face was slightly flushed.
He could even hear her gulp, and every bit of Seona’s attention was fixed on the direction of the room.
“Not in the room either? Should I head back out?”
At the mention of coming back out, Seona quickly took a breath and dove back under the blanket.
Hehe. Seona hid so good!
Her plan to use the pillow as a decoy inside the comforter had been nearly perfect.
She had been genuinely startled earlier when her dad said he would check under the bed.
She had even felt his hand press down on the blanket.
She really thought she had been caught that time.
“Not here, and not in the room… Hmm.”
The closer her dad’s deductions came, the faster Seona’s heart began to race.
She was already hot from being under the blanket, and now her heart was pounding so hard that her slightly pink face turned bright red.
“Maybe…”
Her dad hadn’t announced his next destination.
The sound of his footsteps was steadily approaching the bed. Seona held her breath again with another tiny “Hup!”
“Found you!”
Jeong-woo scooped the entire bundle of comforter into his arms.
Sure enough, he could feel a small something inside.
Realizing she had been caught, Seona poked her head out from between the folds of the blanket.
“Uuu… Seona lost.”
“Haha. But you hid really well!”
“How did you know?”
“I came close to the bed and heard your little ‘Hup!’ sound.”
“Ahh! The sound gave me away!”
She looked genuinely disappointed.
It seemed she believed she wouldn’t have been caught if not for that sound.
But her disappointment didn’t last long.
Soon her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm as she declared, “Then this time Seona wants to be the seeker!”
“Shall we? I’ll count to thirty and you find me.”
“Th… thirty?”
At the word thirty, a question mark seemed to float above Seona’s head.
Right now, she could count all the way to ten very well.
In fact, being able to count to ten was largely thanks to having ten fingers.
“Then should we count only to ten?”
“Yes! Seona can only do ten!”
“Alright. But you have to count slowly, okay?”
“Okaaay. Sloooowly—”
Having answered, Seona immediately spun around, covered her eyes with both hands, and began counting.
“Oooone—”
“Oh.”
She had started right away.
Seona was quick to take advantage of any opening.
Where should he hide?
It was a little sorry to say to her, but the truth was Jeong-woo had already walked around the entire house earlier while looking for her and had found the perfect spot.
If I hide there I’d win, but since it’s the first game, maybe we should play fair?
It wasn’t a game about winning or losing anyway.
Jeong-woo moved quietly, muffling his footsteps, back to the exact place Seona had hidden.
The bed.
Because of his tall stature it would be obvious at first glance, but if he stretched out completely instead of curling up, he could hide fairly well.
He neatly folded his hands together and waited quietly, listening to Seona count.
“Seeeven—six—ah. After seven isn’t six.”
She was definitely supposed to count from one to ten, but by the time she finished it felt like she had counted all the way to thirty.
“Seona will find you now!”
With a determined little huff, Seona turned and began thoroughly searching the whole house.
Where could Daddy be hiding?
With her short legs, she toddled straight into the room and even opened the closet doors, meticulously hunting for any trace of her father.
She opened drawers too, and for some reason even lifted the basket on the floor to look inside.
“Where did he go?”
It seemed he wasn’t in this room.
Next she headed to the bathroom.
Standing on her tiptoes to turn on the light, Seona stepped inside and checked the bathtub and the sink.
“No way!”
With an expression that said she had realized something important, Seona marched straight to the toilet.
She lifted the closed lid, realized there was no way anyone could hide in there, and left the bathroom.
Once again standing on her tiptoes to turn off the light, she returned to the living room.
“Hiiing…”
It was hard.
But she didn’t give up.
There were still places she hadn’t checked.
With energetic steps, Seona approached the bed.
Just like her dad had done, she first looked underneath it.
Of course there was nothing there, but then she heard a sound from above the bed.
“Hup…!”
“Ah!”
Just as her thoughts were deepening, the sound of someone holding their breath made Seona’s face light up instantly.
“Found you!”
Repeating the exact words her dad had used, Seona threw herself onto the bed.
“Oof!”
“Daddy!”
Jeong-woo let out a grunt at the impact to his stomach, but it didn’t hurt.
He simply thought the little girl hugging him through a single layer of blanket was incredibly adorable.
“I found you!”
Jeong-woo wrapped the comforter around Seona.
She disappeared inside it, then poked only her head out again, beaming with a bright smile.
“Hehe. Seona found Daddy.”
“Whoa… You found me so well? I thought I hid pretty cleverly too.”
“Daddy made a sound too. Like ‘Huuup!’”
“Ah, I did? Seona is so smart! You used the exact same method Daddy did.”
“Hehe. Did I do good?”
“Yes. You did amazingly well.”
The games they had played since long ago were all ones that perfectly suited children’s tastes.
No one knew exactly when hide-and-seek was created, but it was a game that everyone knew.
Whether because hide-and-seek turned out to be far more fun than expected, a smile never left Seona’s face.
“Daddy.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you know any more games like this?”
“Like this? Games similar to hide-and-seek?”
“Yes.”
What other games would Seona enjoy?
Several came to mind.
Freeze tag, Red Light Green Light.
And escape games and more.
Jeong-woo kindly explained each one to Seona in detail.
How to play them.
Since there were different roles like the seeker and the hiders, just like in hide-and-seek, he explained all of that too.
As expected, Seona’s eyes sparkled.
Her already bright eyes shone even more, filled with anticipation for games that would be just as fun as hide-and-seek.
“Seona wants to try them!”
He couldn’t readily agree.
Games like freeze tag or Red Light Green Light required more people.
“Let’s do them later. They’re more fun with lots of people.”
“Okay. Seona understands.”
Seona nodded as if she understood.
She looked a little disappointed, but she was so admirable in moments like this.
She was already imagining everything in her head based on Jeong-woo’s explanations.
The first one was freeze tag. She imagined shouting “Freeze!” but there was no one to say “Tag!” back.
Because Daddy would be the seeker.
Red Light Green Light wasn’t much different.
All the games became too easy for the seeker when there were only two of them.
Someday, when more time passed, the day would come when they could play properly.
He didn’t know how many nights that would take, but it was the day Seona gained a small new goal.
After that, the father and daughter continued their lazy but happy time together.
They watched one more cartoon movie, and finished the rest of the fruit.
Why did time fly so fast on days like this?
Time was supposed to be fair to everyone, but to Jeong-woo and Seona it didn’t feel that way.
The speed seemed to be inversely proportional to their happiness, flowing so quickly it almost felt unfair.
Still, after spending a full, proper day at home for the first time in a long while, it felt less like they had played all day and more like they had truly rested.
The day that had been as sweet and fleeting as a dream passed, and a new one arrived.
Thanks to the rest at home, Jeong-woo woke up a little earlier than usual.
There was always one thing Jeong-woo did first thing after waking up.
He checked on Seona’s condition.
She always fell asleep nestled in his arms, and she preferred to sleep between his left arm and his side.
Sure enough, she was curled up tightly with her rabbit doll. Today she was sucking on her finger.
“What’s this? Why is she suddenly sucking her finger?”
Right on cue, he heard a little slurping sound. Jeong-woo let out a soft chuckle and carefully got out of bed.
Today was a special day in its own right.
Not because they had something particular planned, but because it had always been special.
It was Seona’s birthday, his wife’s birthday, and also the anniversary of her passing.
Jeong-woo first picked up the photo he had left on the table.
“We should do this together today too. A birthday party.”
He had always celebrated Seona’s birthday with his wife’s photo, but today they were planning to celebrate together at the restaurant, so he packed the photo first.
“There’s still plenty of time left.”
There were still more than two hours until they had to leave for the restaurant.
Thanks to yesterday’s deep rest, even though he had woken up early, it still felt too early.
If he started preparing to go out now, Seona would probably wake up, so it was hard to begin right away.
That didn’t mean there was nothing to do.
He didn’t know how many people would come today, but thanks to the small signboard advertisement he had put out yesterday, it was difficult to guess.
“The question is whether they even saw it…”
He thought for a moment, but the answer was already decided.
There were two possibilities: more people than expected would come but he wouldn’t be able to serve them food, or he would prepare plenty of food but no one would show up.
The latter was better than the former.
If people took the time to come to the restaurant and he couldn’t offer them anything, that would be poor manners.
“Then shall I prepare about ten servings?”
The thought that it might be a bit much kept nagging at him, but it felt better this way.
If there were leftovers, he and Seona could just eat them.
It was that simple.
The only downside would be a little disappointment.
But today was a day when he hoped there would be no disappointment at all, so he could only wish that many people would come.