42. Old Woman and Her Grandson

It was already dark outside as their car still drove slowly between the densely populated housing estates directed by the old woman. After going through many small alleys, they finally arrived in front of a small, old-fashioned house with a poorly maintained yard. Mr. Kwak and Jason got out and helped the old woman to walk. Meanwhile, Ashley, carrying a plastic bag of medicine, followed behind them with a slight limp. 

Behind the three people, Ashley peeked out. In front of the main door, Ashley caught a silhouette of a small child sitting curled up alone in the darkness. And as they all slowly walked into the house, the child stood on tiptoe and cried out loudly, “Grandma!”

“Geez... why don't you turn on the light!” the old woman yelled back and tapped the boy who was her grandson on the shoulder.

The boy immediately rushed over and began to shed tears. “Grandmother, why did you take so long to come home? Who are these uncles?” The little boy whined and cried even harder. His thin, dry body hugged the old woman's legs.

“We should go inside first. So your grandmother can sit down and rest, okay,” Mr. Kwak interjected.

Then they carefully entered the house.

“Be quiet. Stop crying,” the woman warned her grandson who was still clinging and sobbing.

Mr. Kwak scanned the house in one sweep of his eyes. Once inside they were already in the cramped and chairless living room. And next to it, without a partition, they could see the existence of a very simple kitchen. In addition, there were two doors that open on one side of the wall. From where they were, without needing to look inside, they could clearly see what other rooms were behind the two doors.

The one in front of the kitchen was exactly the bathroom, and the room closest to the front room was a room with a single closet and several piles of bedding.

“Ma'am, do you want to rest here or in the room? Let me help you so you don't have to move a lot.”

The woman quickly shook her head with a frown. “Just here. That is my grandson's room.”

“Then, sit here for a while. I—” Mr. Kwak hesitantly pointed towards another room known to be the woman's grandson's room. “I will get some bedding for you.”

The woman nodded. Mr. Kwak was then busy helping to arrange the bedding so that the old woman could rest there right away. Meanwhile, that old woman waited as she sat leaning against the wall with slightly gasping from the pain of her wound.

The woman's grandson stepped back and kept his distance from the grandmother as he saw Mr. Kwak struggling to lay out the bedding that took up quite a bit of space. It was only natural that he might be confused at the moment as he saw his grandmother's injured condition and there were many strangers suddenly coming to his house.

Ashley, who saw the little boy looking confused, walked over to him. She approached the little boy and said something that could explain what was currently happening.

“Hello. What's your name?” Ashley asked softly. 

But the little boy moved backwards until his back hit the wall behind him—looks frightened.

Ashley responded by staying where she was. Instead of trying to get physically closer to the boy, she tried to approach him by calming him down with words first. “My name is Ashley. I, and these uncles, are not bad people. Just now, something caused your grandmother to fall and get hurt. We drove here because we wanted to help. Later, after we go home, can you help take care of her by yourself?”

On the way back, the old woman had told me a little about her life. That she only lived alone with her little grandson. Her daughter had died of illness, and her son-in-law had gone somewhere and left no word.

The little boy blinked and nodded hesitantly.

“Can you?” Ashley asked again. And the boy nodded again for the second time. “Wow, you're a great kid.” She praised. “I heard... it's your birthday, right?”

The boy's watery eyes rounded, not daring to answer anything.

“It was your grandmother who told me that her most beloved grandson is having a birthday today.”

The child's face became sad. His eyes were getting wet with tears. The difference was that this time, he tried his hardest not to cry like before.

“Grandmother said she would come home early and make me seaweed soup. But...” this time she couldn't hold back her sadness, so his sobs that had been successfully held back, now came out in tears.

Ashley came over and patted his back gently. She was a little upset as she remembered the incident this afternoon. About how those naughty boys played tricks on the old woman to lose her money. “I'm sorry. You're a good kid. There, there.”

Then in the middle of his sobbing, his small stomach made a very loud noise. Making him instantly exchange glances with Ashley. Embarrassed to be caught starving, the little boy lowered his face and his body puckered even more.

“You haven't eaten yet?” the boy shook his head weakly after Ashley asked. “Want me to make food for you?” Ashley suddenly had an idea. Although she was not that good at cooking, she had taken various cooking and baking courses in the past. “Let's go.” Without intending to wait for the boy's approval, Ashley reached out her hand to take the boy by the hand and led him into the kitchen.

There, she looked around to see what she could find in the kitchen. She opened the kitchen cabinets one by one, but there was nothing there except cooking utensils and tableware. Then she moved on to the refrigerator, but it wasn't much different there either. There were only two bottles of water and a side dish that was just a few bites away. There were absolutely no ingredients that could be used for cooking.

“What are you doing?” Suddenly Jason was behind them and whispered.

Ashley replied, “They haven't eaten yet. I wanted to make something, but there's nothing here.”

Jason's forehead automatically furrowed, “You don't have to bother. Let Mr. Kwak buy it.” He then walked back to the front and told Mr. Kwak who had finished helping the old woman lie down on the bed.

Ashley and the little boy followed behind. As Jason and Mr. Kwak went out of the house, Ashley intended to catch up with them to deliver a message that she had not been able to tell Jason before.

“You stay here with your grandmother, okay?” Ashley then turned to her grandmother, ”Grandma, I'm going out for a while.”

But the old woman immediately grabbed Ashley's hand, “Young lady, tell those men not to buy food for us. We still have food. Really, there's no need to bother. I've already troubled you a lot today.”

“Grandma,” Ashley tried to soothe, ”It's okay. Please just let them. At least accept it for your grandson. After all, today is his birthday. Please, Grandma?”

The old woman finally relented after looking at her grandson's sad face beside her.

Afterwards, Ashley rushed out to meet Mr. Kwak and Jason.

“Could you please buy some seaweed soup and maybe a cake for the boy?”

“Of course, Miss. Leave everything to me,” Mr. Kwak answered with confidence.

The man then quickly drove off in the car and disappeared into the dark residential street.