"Hey, can I ask a question?"
A hushed frigid winterscape.
Around the weeping poise of a grand willow tree, a little girl beckons, as beneath basks a pair of childly figures sitting peacefully amongst the grazes of dry frosty airs.
"What is it?..."
Amidst the cold silence, a boy answers in hushed utters.
A few seconds passed.
The two of them, wearing nothing but ragged pieces of dirty cloth, did naught but to quietly watch as specks of winter fall gently amidst the scape's serenity.
The figures are siblings, warming themselves with each other's embrace, not able to do anything but to wait for the dead cold snow to settle.
"are we... ever going to be happy?" Sounding enervated, his sister breaks the cold silence.
The boy gazes upon the feeble sight of the little girl lying weakly on his shoulder who, in his powerlessness, is shivering painfully within the stretch of his very embrace.
His teeth gritted.
The girl's brother couldn't help but reminisce what he has long promised for the both of them.
"We will, Hya. We will."
Stroking his little sister's hair, her brother holds her tighter in his clasp, assiduously squeezing whatever hope that's left to give.
For he himself vowed that someday, he would provide the both of them a stern roof to live under, warm cozy clothes to wear, and enough food to not let them sleep another night with an empty stomach ever again.
"...Why do people lie?"
Held tight within the boy's also-shivering arms, the little girl asks in a soft, curious tone.
What she so happened to ask, for some reason, was a question so random, even for her brother.
Though puzzled by this, the boy, nevertheless, answered.
"All people tell lies, Hya. It's... just their nature."
"Everybody?" the girl asks curiously.
"mhm, everybody." He replies, patting her little head as he gives a faint warm smile.
"...why?"
The boy took a pause as he answered.
"well... when a person tells a lie, it's either for two reasons.
It can be for the sake of someone they care deeply about. Or, just...
A selfish act. One done merely just to fulfill what that person just deeply wants at that moment."
Though having a bit of difficulty with the sudden barrage of questions, her brother manages to properly transmit his thoughts.
". . ."
"Either way, lying is always bad. So you shouldn't do it okay, Hya?"
The young boy concluded, giving brotherly advice. However, her sister, Hyacinth, made no response.
"Hya?..."
Thinking she was asleep, her brother took off his ragged shirt and wrapped it around his precious sister, disregarding the fact that he himself is shivering from the freezing cold.
He strokes her hair gently once again as her sister then softly mutters.
"Aren't you... one of them?"
