village girl › nct 2018

37

MIN JAEYOUNG。

"mother!" i can see my self yell out loud as i see mrs kang walk into the house. mrs kang chuckles and reaches to lift me up.

"i told you not to wait for me."

"but i want you to read me my favorite story!"

"that's why i taught you how to read, jaeyoung-ah" she said and touched the tip of my nose. mrs kang carried me all the way to my room and laid me down.

she sat beside me and grabbed the story book, i always loved that tale.

it began with a little village girl who always ventures out to the forest. that village girl loved to run in the wind as the sun shone on her.

she was always by the field, alone, but she considers herself not lonely as she was with a field of flowers.

everyday she would sit somewhere in the flower field and read a book.

the village girl never had an friends, until one day. she met the princes of the royal family.

they were all handsome, nice, and friendly to the village girl. the village girl and the princes would meet often by the flower fields.

whenever they meet up, they would read stories to each other, eat cookies that the princes brought, play with each other, and run against the fresh breeze.

they were all happy, until one day.

"the end."

i looked at her confused, "huh?"

it would always be like that. mrs kang would always leave it as they were all happy, but i wanted to know more.

"are you sure, mother?" i frowned and sat up, i saw her grip tightly onto the story book.

the end has yet to come.

mrs kang patted my head, "i told you to stop calling me mother, jaeyoung. i'm not your real mother."

i pouted, "but–"

"your mother loved you, i'm sure of that."

i sighed and fell back onto the pillows, "but... then she wouldn't have left me."

"it's okay, jaeyoung. you'll meet your family some day."

"would i?" i sighed and stared at the story book in my hands.

i slowly opened it and re-read every single word. then i came to where mrs kang had stopped.

my heart dropped as i read every single paragraph.

the village girl was lured. they trapped her in the dungeons.

they left her alone with no light even.

i gulped and closed the book, throwing it away. "what the heck?" i could feel a thumping sensation as my breathing hitched, "no wonder mrs kang didn't continue reading it for me."

"what a cruel ending." i spat and put on my necktie.

"jaeyoung! you're gonna be late if you don't hurry up!" i flinched at hyori's loud voice and immediately headed out my room.

"finally, what took you so long?" hyori mutters and hands me my lunch. "i'm going to pick you up from school later, okay?"

her sentence made me confused, "what do you mean?"