༺Masterpiece༻

XVII :: With Me?

" Was it a waste of time or destined must?
How does a person ever really know?
Who's pain should dwell or absolutely rust?
Will it be forgotten or seen as low?

Was it a sign from above or a bust?
When will we see clearly in this thick haze?
Should the betrayed stay loyal or mistrust?
Will the truth be found or lost within days?

Was it really true love or just lust?
Is it forever or shattered to dust?"

⊱ ───ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ─── ⊰

"Mai! Guess what?" Seokjin squeaked in excitement. Mai dusted her hands, wiping the shade of blue on her brown apron.

"What?" She smiled at him, her cheeks blooming with colours. In her hands, she held onto a painting of a couple dancing through the rain. Seokjin eyed the canvas, flashing a quirky smirk at her. She followed his sight, a rush of blood in that beautifully painted face.

"Well, I am getting married!"

"What? Really!" She squealed. Seokjin nodded with overflowing excitement. The 40 year old man whistled to a love song, dancing to his own rhythm.

"Mai, will you be my maid of honour? I'll make Cheon Seok my best man!"

"Sure but doesn't the bride choose the maid of honour? How could I be if she chose someone else?" Mai shut her paint jar closed as she walked inside with Seokjin.

"Umm... The thing is that she's a fourteen year old." Seokjin hung his head low, his tongue pushing the insides of his left cheek.

"Fourteen? But, hyung, you're forty! You could easily be as old as her father."

"It's Ahyun, Mai. Her parents are selling her to the a Japanese conglomerate. The girl will be exploited her whole life if Ichira Saito marries her. He's 30 years older than me, do you believe that? Also, I'm 35." Seokjin had a speciality in his voice, it never rose when he spoke. Might be a result of his education and family but that was a thing Mai adored about him.

Ahyun was her best friend, a year younger than her. She belonged to the second most prosperous family in the whole of Busan, daughter of Min Ye Hyun. After the Japanese colonisation, Min had changed their name to Tawara. Ahyun was called Keiko Tawara by her superiors.

Ichira Saito was the provincial general of Busan, a man that often caused trouble with Seokjin and Master Kim. From what she used to hear the boy say, Saito was someone they wanted to kill. Saito's name was attached to several sensitive issues in their society, usually the exploitation of young women.

"How can they marry her off to that man who has a prostitution hotel three blocks away from residency?" Mai spoke with disbelief in her voice.

"Mai, the man that can change his name to lick the boots of the captors, can marry off his daughter to even Satan. No man will marry a woman once touched by a Japanese worm. I do not want to marry her but there's no other way that she lives." Seokjin closed his eyes, inhaling the bitter truth of colonisation. This wasn't the only time he had seen children being married off.

"I trust you, hyung."

⊱ ───ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ─── ⊰