On the beach, Isak carried is leather shoes in his hands. He walked steadily, not feeling any trace of illness within his tall, gaunt frame. He didn't feel strong, but he felt better than he'd been.
"Thank you," he said. without looking in her direction. His pale face shone in the morning light. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.
Yangjin glanced at the smiling young man. He possessed an innocence, she supposed, a kind of childlike wholeness that couldn't be hidden. She wanted to protect him.
"You have been so kind."
"She dismissed this with a wave, not knowing what to do his gratitude. Yangjin was miserable. She had no time for this walk, and being outside made the dull weight in her heart take a definable shape; it pressed against her from the inside.
"May I ask you something?"
"Hmm?"
"Is your daughter all right?"
Yangjin didn't answer. As they were walking toward the other end of the beach, she'd been feeling as if hse were somewhere else, thouigh she couldn't say where exactly. This place didn't feel like the beach behind her house, just a few paces from her backyard. Being with the young pastor was disorienting, yet his unexpected question broke the gauzy spell. What had he noticed for himi to ask about Sunja?" Soon, her risign belly would be obvious, but she didn't look very different now. What would the pastor think of this? Did it matter?
"She's pregnant." She said this, and she knew it would be okay to tell him.
"It must be difficult for her with her husband away."
"She doesn't have a husband."
It wouldn't have been unusual for him to think that the child's father worked in Japan in a mine or a factory.
"Is the man. . . ?
"She didn't say anything." Sunja had told her that the man was already married and had children. Yangjin didn't know anything else. She couldn't thell the pastor, however; it was too shameful.
The woman looked hopeless. The lodgers brought Isak newspapers to read aloud for them, and lately, every story was a sad one. He felt an overwhelming sense of brokenness in the people. The country had been under the colonial goovernment for over two decades, and no one could see an end in sight. It felt like everyone had given up. The country had been under the colonial government for over two decades, and no one could see an end in sight. It felt like everyone had given up.