Accidentally become a father-Chapter 17: The Blank Space

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The space was blank.

We walked along the sidewalk toward the apartment.

The school form was still in my hand.

At the bottom of the second page was a small box.

Emergency contact other than guardian.

Other than guardian.

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Yuna walked half a step beside me.

"Yuna," I said.

"Yes?"

"If there’s an emergency at school, who do you think they should call besides me?"

Her footsteps slowed for a fraction of a second.

Then returned to normal.

"What kind of emergency?"

"Fainting. An accident. A fight. Or if you start crying."

"I’m not a crybaby."

"You never know."

She stared straight ahead.

The pedestrian light turned red.

We stopped.

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Traffic flowed past on the street in front of me.

"Can your parents be reached?"

She didn’t answer right away.

Usually, she was quick.

Not this time.

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The light turned green.

We crossed.

Halfway across the street, she said quietly,

"There is one person."

"Who?"

She gripped her bag straps a little tighter.

"Someone."

We reached the sidewalk on the other side.

"Your father?" I asked flatly.

She didn’t nod.

She didn’t shake her head.

"He... cares about me... probably," she finally said.

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Probably?

Who.

Her mother?

Her father?

Or

A relative.

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I looked at the form again.

The empty box didn’t look very big.

But it felt like a single point connecting far too many things.

"Do you have the number memorized?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Write it down later."

She gave a small nod.

We continued walking.

The afternoon breeze lightly stirred the hair resting on her forehead.

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I didn’t ask anything else.

Because the answer was already clear enough.

And for the first time since she arrived.

Maybe.

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I would be speaking directly with the person who orchestrated all of this.

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