6 Song Jae's Uncle.

An hour later Lee Min-Ki came into the room to feed and change me, the moment he saw my bruised face he gasped in horror.

"Oh my god who did this to you!" he shouted as he picked me up. As he held me I began crying at the top of my lungs.

"Was it that old bat!?"Min-Ki hissed, he looked pretty pissed off, a dark murderous expression had formed on his face, he was so mad that his grip on me had become quite tight and I could feel his heavy breath on my face.

I felt surprised by this strong reaction. Min-ki had only been looking after me for a day but he'd gotten attached rather quickly, or was this normal?

Just then Kim Bora popped up behind Min-Ki, "Why are you yelling, what happened!?"

Min-Ki showed her my face and the purple wound that was swelling on my cheek. "The head maid hit the young master! How could someone do that to a baby!"

"You hold him, I'm going to give that old bitch a piece of my mind!" He gently put me in Bora's arms and was about to march off, but Bora grabbed his collar.

"No Min-Ki stop! You can't!"

"What do you mean I can't!" He snarled.

"She's the Head Maid, your boss remember! She manages all the staff in this estate. If you go yell at her you'll get fired, and everyone knows that if you get fired from working at a KangMung residence you get blacklisted. You won't be able to find another job in the service and hospitality industry in South Korea ever again if she fires you!"

Her tone became more gentle, "Don't you need this job? You told me that your older sister just gave birth and her husband lost his job recently, right? You're the only provider for your family, aren't you? Didn't you tell me just yesterday how this job saved you, are you really going to jeopardise that?"

"That's one thing, this is a whole other story! She hit a baby, it's wrong." Min-Ki argued, "She could have killed him, do you know how fragile kids are at this age. He's only a few months older than my nephew. Imagine if someone had slapped my little Song Jae like that. She needs to be told off."

"Oh gosh just stop and use your head!" Bora hit his back, "Even if you went out there and yelled like crazy at her, nothing will happen. They're not going to fire her, heck they might not even discipline her. She's worked for the Kang family for decades and she grew up with Kang Seung. She's probably been encouraged to make life here uncomfortable for Kang Ho. Not to mention there is no CCTV in this room if you just go and accuse her with no evidence you'll look like a fool, and she can easily twist the story and make it out as if you hit him, and then you'll be the one in trouble."

"So please, calm down. If you get fired then that means I'll be the only person left caring for Kang Ho and no one else will help me if she hits him again."

With those words, Lee Min-Ki appeared to calm down. He still looked mad, but he didn't argue anymore. Instead, he breathed deeply, steadying himself and said, "I'll get a first aid kit and I'll get one of the house doctors as well, if he's really hurt we'll go to the hospital."

Kim Bora sighed with relief at his words.

Before he left Lee Min-Ki gave me a small smile, "I'll be back soon."

Once he was gone Kim Bora gave me a warm bottle of milk and began telling me a story about a big-hungry caterpillar, but I barely heard her. My brain was buzzing.

Lee Min-Ki had mentioned his nephew and then said "Song Jae". I told you before, but I don't believe in coincidences. Lee Min-Ki's nephew Song-Jae had to be the protagonist of 'Overcoming Obstacles.'

Had this been mentioned in the novel? I tried thinking back and then remembered a small line about Kang Ho's back story.

"Kang Ho was treated like an unwanted pest by his family, as a child the only ones who looked out for him were two attendants, however eventually one quit and the other died in a traffic accident, leaving him all alone."

The novel also mentioned that Song Jae had an Uncle, his mother's younger twin brother.

Song Jae's maternal Grandparents had wracked up a lot of debt before they died, leaving his Mother and Uncle pinching for pennies, and doing all kinds of work to make ends meet. The situation got a bit better when Song Jae's Mother met his Dad. But after they get married and Song Jae was born his Dad became redundant and Song Jae's mother was too weak after the child-birth to go straight into work. His Uncle was the sole breadwinner for the family at that time. They struggled for a bit but things became better when that Uncle got a job at a large corporation.

However, Song Jae's family didn't seem to have much luck. One rainy night on his way home from work Song Jae's uncle got into a traffic accident and died.

In the novel the writer hadn't even bothered to write the name of Song Jae's uncle, he had just been a side character who was mentioned in passing, yet he was such a big connection between the antagonist and protagonist.

From the very start, Song Jae and I were connected, like fate, both influencing each other's life before we had even met. It seemed no matter what I did, I would be linked to this person.

I wondered what this all meant in the grand scheme of things. If the novel had been complete I might have known.

Soon Lee Min-ki came back with a first aid kit and a Doctor.

The Doctor gently held my face with gloved hands, she moved my neck around slowly and flashed a light in my eyes before sighing with relief.

"He was hit on the cheek and not the head thankfully. There aren't any signs of a concussion and he seems quite alert. His neck is also fine, with no signs of a strain or anything broken. The bruise on the other hand is a nasty one it will take a few days to go down. He'll likely be very uncomfortable while sleeping... Since he's over 5 months it should be okay to give him some ibuprofen."

She went into her bag and brought out a liquid medicine, on the label it read 'ibuprofen for ages 3 months plus'. She dabbed some on a spoon and gave it to me, it tasted like melted sweets. She then gave the medicine bottle to Bora, "Give this to him once a day or anytime he appears in extreme pain."

The Doctor then got out a cold ice pack, she pressed it gently against my face, "Keep an ice pack on him until the swelling goes down."

She gave some extra ice packs to Lee Min-Ki, "That's all I can do, if there are any complications then make sure to call me straight away, you know where I'm based. And also, it's best if this doesn't get out. Madame Kang instructed me to make sure that these type of incidents involving Kang Ho, stay within the estate."

"But that's just—"

"Wrong, yeah I know" The Doctor shrugged, "but if things like this got out about KangMung then losing your job is the least of your worries, act smart and think wisely."

She looked at me curiously, her bright eyes hidden behind those thick-rimmed glasses, analysed me up and down, "He's very well behaved, I've seen children older than him weeping while getting treated over a small scratch. I've never seen a baby so calm before."

"He was crying earlier" Bora explained, "he's probably just tired now."

"Hmm, Is that so... well I'm off."

"Thank you!" Bora and Min-Ki chanted. They bowed deeply towards the Doctor whilst she left.