Denise survived.
But the stroke affected her mobility and speech, and her recovery required months of rehabilitation, careful medical follow-up, and support at home.
Malik was still in school.
Their family had limited savings.
And Nia's fellowship funding didn't cover the cost of suddenly managing a household crisis thousands of miles away.
She returned to New York.
At first, she expected to stay only several weeks.
Then months.
Eventually, she withdrew from the remaining portion of her overseas program, promising herself she'd find a way to return to graduate study after her mother became more independent.
The promise slowly became difficult to keep.
Medical appointments filled the calendar.
Bills accumulated.
And translation positions that offered stable pay were harder to obtain than she'd expected.
She worked temporary jobs.
Tutored students in Korean.
Helped businesses with bilingual customer correspondence.
And accepted occasional assignments from a language-services agency.
Then a friend told her about an opening at Haneul.
The restaurant paid well.
The evening schedule allowed her to accompany Denise to daytime appointments.
And the manager appreciated employees who could communicate naturally with Korean-speaking guests.
Nia applied.
She got the job.
At first, she considered it temporary.
But temporary arrangements had a way of becoming permanent when a family depended on the next paycheck.
The months passed.
Her mother improved slowly.
Malik graduated and began working part-time while considering his future.
And Nia continued carrying trays through expensive dining rooms, keeping her Korean skills sharp by speaking with guests who rarely imagined that she understood more than their orders.
She thought of Soo-bin less often.
Not because the little girl was unimportant.
Because ordinary responsibilities had filled every available space in her life.
In Seoul, Han Min-jae received the emergency call while attending a business meeting.
At first, his assistant told him there had been a subway service disruption and that his daughter was safe with her aunt.
Then Ji-eun called personally.
Her voice was trembling.
She explained that she'd lost hold of Soo-bin's hand during the confusion.
For nearly twenty minutes, she couldn't find her.
Min-jae felt a terror he hadn't experienced since the night his wife died.
He ended the meeting immediately.
Within an hour, he was on his way to the medical facility where Soo-bin had been taken for assessment.
When he entered the room, she was sitting beside Ji-eun, wrapped in a blanket and holding her pink backpack.
She looked exhausted.
But she was safe.
Min-jae knelt beside her.
"Soo-bin."
The child looked up.
For a moment, her face crumpled.