When Lorelei woke up, she didn't see the man beside her. A surge of fear made her cling tighter to the stuffed animal in her arms. But fear wasn't the right word—what she truly felt was worry. Worried about being left alone again. Worried about being cast out again. She couldn't bear to go through that again. Not another time.
Suddenly, a sweet voice called her name.
"Lorelei! Here you go, dear."
She saw the man standing there, holding a plate of food as he offered it to her. She stared at him for a long moment, studying him. She wanted to ask why he was taking care of her. Why would he allow a monster like her into his home? But the words wouldn't come, so she stayed silent. He placed the plate in front of her and told her to eat. As was her habit, she ate hastily.
The man spoke again.
"Slow down, Lo. The food isn't going anywhere."
For the first time, someone had given her a nickname. Not one that inspired fear and hatred, but love and attention. All those bottled-up emotions—feelings she had suppressed ever since she was labeled a monster—resurfaced. She had accepted that she was treated differently, though no one had ever explained what she had supposedly done. For the first time since then, she cried. Tears of happiness. Someone still saw her as human.
By instinct, she understood him and began eating slowly, savoring what was left on her plate. When she finished, she handed it back.
"Thank you," the man said. "We say thank you when someone does something nice for us."
Lo repeated, her mouth still full of porridge.
"Th‑ank yOu."
When night came, the man read her one of the books she had picked from the shelves. She especially liked one with a pretty lady on the cover—a princess.
It was the story of a girl who did everything to be loved by her people, yet was still cast aside as she journeyed through life. She faced countless struggles and dangers to claim the throne, and in the end, she succeeded. The man explained what "princess" meant, and Lo repeated the word over and over.
Before she went to sleep, the man always sat on the edge of her bed, humming a tune she had memorized after hearing it every night since they met. He would knit while he hummed; she didn't know what he was making, but he seemed to enjoy it. Yet his eyes always looked distant, as if he were remembering something—or regretting something. Lorelei had noticed that from the very first day.
Every day, the man taught Lo new words as she grew accustomed to them. Slowly, she began speaking simple phrases—"I wAnt foOd, please." Her pronunciation wasn't perfect, but the man was proud of every small step she made.
She came to understand concepts like kindness, family, and hate. She also learned politeness. At the table, she had to eat slowly and not talk while chewing.
Lorelei only had one arm, so holding a fork while eating was difficult. Her fine motor skills weren't as developed as they should have been for her age. Since the man had started caring for her missing arm, the healing had been going well. The only time she felt pain was at night when he applied the ointment. Surprisingly, Lorelei didn't seem too bothered by her missing arm. To her, it meant fewer people would die because of her.
The man never asked about her past or how she had ended up in this forest. Lorelei thought maybe he already knew—about her, about everything. She had long noticed that he deliberately avoided any physical contact with her hand, yet he still gave her enough love for her to feel cherished. So it didn't matter. Every night before sleeping, the man would gently comb her hair in a soothing motion, humming the same tune he hummed while knitting. Sometimes Lo would hum along, kicking her feet in the air to distract herself as he combed her hair. For her, it was the best moment of the day—a moment she always looked forward to.
One night, when the stars filled the sky, the man asked Lo to follow him outside. They sat down on the ground. Lo followed his lead. As they lay there, gazing at the starry sky, the man handed her a small, beautifully wrapped box.
"Open this if you ever feel lonely, once I'm not here to protect you anymore. You know better than anyone what humans are truly like. You've seen their nature. You've felt it. They will harm you if they discover what you—only you—are capable of. So promise me, once I'm no longer here, that you will open it."
The girl softly whispered, "I proMisE."
Lorelei didn't understand what he meant by "no longer here." She was always with him. She thought this moment would last forever.
When a shooting star crossed the sky, the man said, "Look, Lo! A shooting star! Do you know what we do when we see one?"
Lorelei shook her head.
"When we see a shooting star, we make a wish. I wish to see Lorelei grow up into a beautiful and kind woman—even though you already are."
He chuckled and asked, "What is your wish, Lo?"
Lorelei repeated, "WIsh? What iS wisH?"
"A wish is something you desire to have or to do. Do you have one?"
Lorelei stayed quiet for a while, still thinking.
"WisH me... is stAy wiTh You."
She rested her head on the man's lap and smiled up at him. Seeing her, he smiled back and began to sing. For the first time, he sang the words behind the tune he always hummed.
"My hero, my hero, please don't you feel afraid,
For I the sun is still high, for you the stars are still here.
So find yourself a way, a way back to me.
I waited long, long ago. I slept, I dreamt, I cried so.
My hero, my hero, can you make it my reality?
Everything I do, everything I do—why don't you tell me who?
I don't know who I'm even waiting for..."
By the time he finished the song, Lorelei had already fallen asleep, clutching his clothes as tightly as she could—as if she were saying, Don't leave me.
How much she had grown in these past years, he thought.
He smiled, carried her back inside, laid her on the bed, and sat down in the chair—just as he had done every night for the past four years.
"My mother always did this with me," he said softly. "She's the one who taught me this lullaby. But she passed long ago, before you were even born. She was a kind woman. And so are you. I'm sure your future will be filled with happiness and joy. I pray for it. You've grown so much since the day I first met you. I'm proud of who you are, Lo. Don't ever forget that. As long as I'm here, they won't make you a weapon again. Not as long as I'm still walking this earth."