From Wonso Pond by Kang Kyong-ae Page A

Wasn’t she asleep yet? At this time of night? He felt drawn by a faint hope of some kind and made his way over to the door, constantly looking over his shoulder to make sure that no one was there. He searched frantically for a crack in the door, but found nothing even the size of a pinhole.
    He put his ear to the door. Which one of them was still awake? Could Granny and Sonbi both still be up? Or maybe it was just Sonbi? But then again, maybe it was just Granny? Oh, if he could only figure out which one it was!
    Had anyone seen him? he panicked, turning back to the outhouse. But he thought he heard someone talking, and stood still again for a while.
    He didn’t catch any voices, but he did hear the faint sound of someone rummaging through a pile of clothes. He went inside the outhouse, wracking his brain over how he could find out who was awake in Granny’s room. For some reason he couldn’t shake off the feeling that it was Sonbi who was still up working.
    Sonbi—why did this name have such a soft, sweet ring to his ears? And that humble expression in those eyes of hers, which were always cast downward. And her face that seemed shrouded in mist. What he really wanted to do was throw open that door and march right inside. But that was simply out of the question. What am I doing here? Why
did I even come out outside? he thought. He regretted not having just dealt with the heat in his room.
    He quietly opened the outhouse door and peered outside. The paper door was still aglow. But just then a shadow flickered over the doorframe, as though someone had stood up, and the door quietly slid open. Sinch’ol felt faint. There was Sonbi, walking straight towards him! He didn’t know what to do, but he sprang to his feet. After calming himself, he stepped out of the outhouse. Sonbi was walking towards him, but froze at the sound of his footsteps, and looked up. Determined not to let this opportunity go by, Sinch’ol called to her as she turned back to her room.
    â€œHey, wait a minute. Wait a minute.”
    Sonbi had almost reached the door to her room when she stopped, hesitantly.
    â€œUm, could you get me a small bowl of cold water?” he asked.
    In the confusion of the moment, this was all he could think of, but it would do. Briefly, it seemed as though Sonbi was considering his request, but then she opened her door and stepped inside. Her affront registered throughout his entire body, and he felt like collapsing onto the ground. Why hadn’t he just kept quiet inside the outhouse until he could jump out and grab hold of her? he asked himself.
    â€œGrandma. Grandma,” Sonbi was waking up the old woman. Sinch’ol held his breath in order to better hear her. Waking Granny was no easy task, it seemed, for all she did was grunt in reply.
    â€œGrandma. . . The man from Seoul . . .”
    Sinch’ol only caught a few of Sonbi’s words. Perhaps Granny had woken, though, for now he could hear a rougher voice speaking.
    â€œJust go and get it. How am I supposed to see anything in the dark?”
    Sonbi murmured something to her once again.
    â€œOh, who cares, child. Just do it.”
    Sinch’ol had lost heart as soon as he’d heard that Granny was awake, but now that it seemed that Sonbi might appear in front of him with a bowl of water, his heart pounded uncontrollably. Another shadow flickered between the door casing, the door slid open and Sonbi came out. There she was, her head down, moving toward the kitchen. He thought it rather ridiculous that he was standing in front of the outhouse, so he followed her.
    As the dark inner quarters appeared before him, he peered inside to
see if anyone might have awoken. What if those glowing rubber shoes had transformed into a person! What if he heard the doors to the inner quarters open! Or what if Okchom herself were to come outside! His heart was now racing faster than ever.
    Having quietly opened the kitchen door, Sonbi