Autumn

1. "Gaeul-ah, don't worry."

The sun was shining brighter than ever but the temperature still felt cold. 15°C with sun rays blinding your vision as you attempt to walk around the village. The wind was softly blowing onto the trees. A leaf fell onto a girl's head. She grabbed it and looked at it in her right hand. She looked at the leaf for a good few minutes as if she had a connection to it. She decided to put it in her pocket and walked back home.

Her feet were sliding across the ground. Cracking noises and rough sand noises filled her walk back home. The village had no real floors that were made of concrete. The ground was full of dirt and sand. Some patches of gravel here and there. People's homes and shops were allocated using rocks to make a pathway. The girl walked down the rock pathway that lead to her home. It sounded like the rocks were cracking with every step she took. A carriage with people in it that was being pulled by a horse flew past her and the wind almost knocked her over. She is not so strong and can be easily knocked over like a piece of paper.

The girl entered a castle after walking on the pathway that lead to it. She entered the castle and started walking to the thrones while looking down.

"Gaeul-ah, change your shoes. You're getting the floors all dirty with your dusty shoes. Our servants had just polished the floors too," The Queen of the village said to the girl.

"Sorry, eomma. I'm just not feeling so good right now," Gaeul said to her mother.

The Queen got off her throne and walked towards Gaeul.

"Gaeul, is anything wrong?" She asked as she lifted Gaeul's head with her hand under her chin.

"I'm just worried to have lots of responsibilities. I have three younger siblings and it is already hard to be an elder sister. I'm worried about how hard it would be if I have to take over as Queen of the village when you're gone," Gaeul said as a tear rolled down her left cheek.

"Gaeul-ah, don't worry. I won't be going anywhere anytime soon. When it's your time to be the Queen, you would already be old enough to know what to do. Now, let's clean up your mess and you can go play with your sisters in the garden while supper is being made," Her mother said while wiping the tear of Gaeul's cheek.

Gaeul smiled and wiped her tears. She changed her shoes and grabbed a broom to clean up the dirt on the floor of the castle. She could not get rid of the dirt stain so one of the servants that happened to be there volunteered to clean it up for her. Gaeul put back the broom in the cleaning closet and went to the garden. The second daughter of the family, her first sister, was playing running around with her second sister chasing her. Her second sister ran behind her to hide.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" Gaeul asked while laughing.

"Yujin is going to catch me! Protect me!" Wonyoung yelled.

"You want to win so badly that you're using me to not get caught?" Gaeul asked while rubbing Wonyoung's head.

"Wonyoung never won in the other rounds so she is cheating to win now!" Yujin yelled.

"I'm not cheating!" Wonyoung yelled.

"Hey, calm down. Cheating is fine in a game like this. Now, run before she catches you!" Gaeul said as she pushed Wonyoung to the side.

Wonyoung screamed when she saw Yujin running at her direction and ran off. Yujin followed her and screamed out of joy.

Gaeul went to the tree in the middle of the garden and sat down in front of it. Her back was resting on the tree. She looked to her right and saw her third sister attempting to play the guitar.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Gaeul asked out of curiosity.

"I have been trying to learn how to play the guitar by myself. I really love music and I think that I can be a great musician when I grow up," Jiwon replied.

Leaves were falling from the tree and one of it landed on Jiwon's head. Gaeul picked it from her head and threw it on the ground. She then fixed her hair by rubbing on it once.

"Hey, I know how to play the guitar. I can teach you if you want," Gaeul said.

"Unnie, can you please teach me? I really want to be good at playing the guitar," Jiwon asked as she held out the guitar to Gaeul.

"Sure, it's quite simple," Gaeul said as she grabbed the guitar and adjusted her sitting position.

Jiwon watched as Gaeul taught her the basic chords. She was sat cross-legged on the grass and her arms were grabbed onto her legs near her ankles. She watched with wide open eyes as Gaeul taught her different melodies.

"There. It's that simple. Now, you give it a try," Gaeul said as she handed the guitar back to Jiwon.

Jiwon managed to play one of the melodies that Gaeul taught her but it was not perfect. She looked down in sadness.

"Hey, that was good for a first timer like you. You'll be able to play it perfectly with a lot of practice. You can do it," Gaeul said as she rubbed Jiwon's head.

"Thank you, unnie," Jiwon replied.

Yujin and Wonyoung walked to them after playing tag. They were slowly walking towards them with breathing heavily. Wonyoung was limping a little.

"You guys look like you ran ten miles," Gaeul said.

"Tag is a very tiring game," Yujin said as she sat down next to them.

"I agree. I'm sweating puddles," Wonyoung said and sat down next to them.

"Gaeul unnie just taught me how to play the guitar! I'm not really good at it yet though," Jiwon said.

"You'll get there eventually, kiddo," Gaeul said.

The four of them continued to talk about things that had happened in their lives. Some were funny and bursts of laughter could be heard while others were quite serious. Either way, they had a great time chatting together in the garden next to the tree.