“H-hm?”

Adam’s words shut the child’s mouth. And she looked puzzled.

“I’m not curious about your name at all. Don’t even try to know my name.”

Adam drew the line quickly.

“Well… how do I say it?”

“You don’t have to say it.”

It’s not like we’re seeing each other twice anyway.

Adam had no intention of giving his name. The same was true of the opposition. If she even knows his name, she will definitely get into trouble.

Adam stared at a child much smaller than him.

The child was really small. The only thing big was her eyes. Maybe she’s younger than him.

‘She’s a total kid.’

Adam snorted at a girl who couldn’t buy food alone.

In the eyes of adults, they would have looked like any other children. There was no adult in the slum who would look at children with such warm eyes.

The poor, who had nothing, were wary of strangers so that they wouldn’t lose even their only life.

‘She’s wary, too.’

The next day, Adam…

The next day, he visited the child.

And every time, the child waited for her father firmly.

The man who could hardly be called a parent.

Nevertheless, when she sees her owner just because he gave birth and raised her, he can’t believe she’s waiting endlessly like a stupid dog wagging its tail.

Maybe that’s why it bothered him more. Looks like it overlaps his past where she wanted Marie to come to her senses.

A being who pursues an impossible dream evokes affection in the viewer.

“When are you going to give up?”

“Give up on what?”

“Waiting for him.”

“Oh, you mean my dad? Dad’ll be back in a minute. He said it would take a little longer this time!”

He’s glad he didn’t find her body here. Adam didn’t bother to say this thought.

However, the child seemed to know what was going on in Adam’s head. And mumbled an excuse in a disheartened voice.

“My dad is an omega, but he says it’s hard to live in Korea. That’s why I’m here. It’s much better here…….”

Adam snorted at the thought of the child’s father.

“And for you?”

“Me? I….”

“It’s terrible to stay here. Isn’t it?”

Asked Adam, laughing like a devil.

He wanted to bully the child. Rather, it was in the hope that she to acknowledge the reality. If he admitted it, he would have been harsh.

“It’s better for me to have a hard time than for my dad.”

However, the child’s mouth unexpectedly gave an adult answer.

“I can’t live without my dad.”

But the subsequent weak sound scratched Adam’s nerves.

I can’t live alone.

“All you can do is wait stupidly because you say such weak things. That man…!”

The sentence that the man was trying to sell her came to the top of his throat.

“That man….”

But he couldn’t say it out loud.

He knew better than anyone else what it felt like to be abandoned by one’s own parents. And the child in front of him didn’t even look strong enough to handle the fact.

She looks small and fragile like a broken butterfly when touched.

“Never mind. Wait like a fool.”

Adam turned his head.

Then the child held on Adam’s fingertips. Adam listened to the child’s voice, feeling the warmth spreading through his fingertips.

“Dad will definitely come back. You come to see me every day, too.”

I can’t believe it.….

Adam was somehow drained by the naive answer. Adam shook off the child’s hand.

“It has nothing to do with me coming.”

“Is that so?”

The child grinned as she continued her words.

“But it’s similar.”

“?”

“My father and you are a precious family to me.”

They don’t even know each other’s names.

How did they get involved like this?

He felt like an invisible rope was tied to the child and himself. Maybe that’s why he keeps coming back to her. Like a magnet.

“What do you mean?”

“In Korea, people who eat together are called family. Family. We’re the same as family.”

“…….”

“So we’re a family, too.”

The child clenched his tender fists. It was funny, but Adam said nothing.

“Go back to Korea!”

“Yes! Go back to your country!”

The next day, orphans in the slum surrounded the child and pointed their fingers.

Adam grabbed the orphan by the collar and threw him away. And warned the other orphans in a ferocious voice.