Chapter 2: Gossips & Wishes

  Hwayang was just on his way home from the farm. He wasn’t empty handed, though. On the dusty pathway, he rolled a wooden wheelbarrow filled with crops and vegetables. But sitting with those grains was his seven-year-old younger brother, Jooyang.

“Go faster, Hwayang!” Jooyang exclaimed cheerfully as he whipped a long vine of wheat around.

“Are you sure?” Hwayang teasingly asked. “You might get scared.”

“Come on, Hwayang Hyung! Please!”

Hwayang chuckled, then held on to the handles tightly. “Alright, you asked for it.”

In a quick dash, he pushed the wheelbarrow hard and ran at a fast pace. Jooyang held on to the side for support, but the exciting smile on his face never vanished. Hwayang laughed along with him as the they enjoyed their little drive.

Although Hwayang was panting like a mad dog, he still had the strength to pick Jooyang up and off of the wheelbarrow when they arrived at their front door.

“Go tell Mom that we got the crops and vegetables,” Hwayang ordered as he went to organize the greeneries.

“Okay,” Jooyang said with a smile.

Then, he vanished in the house.

While Hwayang was busy placing the crops and vegetables back in order after falling and spreading around from the run home, he heard some girls not too far away talking.

“Have you heard?” one of them asked. “The Crown Prince has found his Princess.”

“Really?” another one said. “Wow, she’s so lucky.”

“How I wish to have royal blood,” a different one responded. “Do you know how many beautiful hanboks I could own and wear? Goodness, just thinking about it is heaven.”

Hwayang smirked listening to them as he continued organizing the veggies. Girls like them made him want to laugh because they sounded so carelessly desperate. Not just that, but it also made them sound stupid to him. Like they only want the title for the name and image, not the responsibility.

“No way,” the first girl said. “If it was me, I would befriend his sister.”

“The Crown Princess?”

“Why?”

She smiled. “Because you idiot, if I befriend her, then it’s just a step or two closer to get to the Crown Prince. I’m not stupid.”

Hwayang softly chuckled, thinking otherwise. He was careful not to let them know that he was unintentionally eavesdropping.

“But isn’t she intelligent?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that she’s really smart.”

Hwayang heard a scoff. “If she’s smart, then I must be dumb for befriending her just to get close to her brother.”

Jooyang came out of the house with a middle-aged woman trailing after him.

Hwayang instantly wiped the smile off of his face, then rushed to organize the crops and vegetables.

“Wow, you guys picked out a lot,” his mother observed.

“Thanks, Mom!” Jooyang smiled.

Hwayang nudged the little guy’s head. “What work did you do, you squirt?” he jokingly threw. “All you did was complain about when we were coming home.”

“