Quintet #1

Yuna

“Happily ever after is so once upon a time.”

The woman slams the book shut with a thud and addresses her auburn hair backwards, before placing it flat above the drawer right next to the bed. She glares at the girl cuddled beneath the coverlet and snorts.

“Fairytales don't exist, baby. They are farcical stories fabricated to dupe poor girls like you into believing that this world is truly a beautiful and magical place where everything can come true. How foolish.”

The little girl tucked into bed pulled the blanket higher, till her nose was hidden beneath the sheet. With bright eyes that twinkled like stellars in the night sky, she fixed her gaze on the woman.

“Listen clearly,” the woman lowered her voice to that of a hiss, “Every thing in life, you have to fight for it. Get it? A good future? With lots of riches? All those have to come at a price. You have to fight for all those things. Nothing is free in this world. This world is as cruel as it can get. If you are going to keep dreaming about a Prince Charming coming to whisk you away to a beautiful castle, then you can dream on.”

The little girl hurled the blanket over her entire face now, trying to conceal the droplets of tears forming around her eyes.

The woman breathed sharply.

“You better sleep tight, because you have to work tomorrow, Jasmine.”

It was only when the door was closed did the girl let her sobs be heard. Outside her window, the snowflakes continued to fall, dragging the length of her despair and loneliness.

**

In my dreams, I always pictured a faceless young Prince, riding a snow-like white horse, his back straight, his complexion flawless with an exuberant grin hanging on his lips. He would hold out his hand to me, beckoning, a mesmerizing future shining behind him ; a future with the person you love the most, waiting in the distance.

Foolish you would say, but I love to dream. It is my only way of escaping reality.

Yet, fairytales never exist in this world. Even if Princes were to exist, they will choose a pretty Princess. Which of the Princesses in all the disney fairytales were not delightful, were not captivating?

Who am I?

I am just another of them. I am no one special, no one outstanding. I am not blessed with a pulchritudinous countenance, and neither am I blessed with stupefying talents that will leave jaws hanging. I was just another of those plain Jane, one of the millions here on this planet, living out an utterly common life just because you have to, and perhaps, now and then, contemplating the meaning behind my life.

Everyone wants to feel that you are, in someway, special. That your very existence in this world is something the world cannot do without, and you want to have something about yourselves that makes you stand out of the crowd, that gives you color amongst the prevailing black and white.

This is pathetic. I am pathetic. That is why I dream.

“Yuna!”

I blinked, surprised to be ended of my reveries. I had not even realized that my most dreadful Maths lessons was over. The classroom was now half-empty, with most of my classmates streaming out the classroom door, headed for the canteen for their break. I looked down at my desk almost dazedly, and found my worksheet to be completely empty.

“Pfft.” I made a noise, right as my friend slammed her two hands onto my desk.

“Hey, don't ignore me like that! I know you were spacing out the whole time! But let's go for recess already! I'm starving!” Charmaine, one of my closest peers in school, urged.

I looked up at the girl with her dishevelled black hair that she was always too lazy to properly tie.

“Fine, fine,” I stood from my seat reluctantly, right as she grabbed my arm, her nails piercing into my skin. I wanted to wince, but this movement of hers has already became a mundane in my life. “But no, don't scream to me about EXO.” It wasn't that I didn't like EXO, but once Charmaine starts, she rambles on and on and we can totally forget about eating.

Charmaine shot me a withering glower. “No, seriously. You have to listen to this.”

Seeing how she was so adamant, I relented. “Okay, so what's up?”

“Did you know they are having a Fans Appreciation Event?” her voice went up a few decibels, clearly unable to hide her excitement.

I was befuddled. “A Fans Appreciation Event? So they are having a... performance for the fans or something?”

Charmaine's expression shifted into annoyance. “Come on, you like EXO too, don't you ever surf the net?” She rolled her eyes before continuing,

“They are going to pick 8 lucky fans out of all those who sign up for it, and they are going to make a variety show out of it.”

**