Chapter 3

IREOHNA!

IREOHNA!

IREOHNA!

A girl who was sleeping soundly a few moments ago stirred a little in her sleep after the alarm she set in her phone started ringing. “Just five minutes more,” she mumbled and covered herself with her soft flowery blankets. But her alarm just won’t stop waking her up.

IREOHNA!

She buried her head under her pillows, tightly covering her ears and hoping that it would somehow block the sound of the alarm. But…

IREOHNA!

She got up, grabbed her white flip-flop phone placed on top of a drawer and harshly pressed the stop button.

IREOH-

At last, there was silence except for the occasional chirping of the birds outside her room. Deciding she’d sleep for a few more minutes, she lied down again on the white futon. However she was not yet even half away in closing her eyes when her bedroom door slide open and her mother steps in.

“Hawook! Song Hawook!” her mother said. “Come on, wake up! Your father needs you now on the field! Wake up! Wake up!”

Her mother tied up the curtains and opened the windows letting the rays of the sun in the room. The sun’s rays hit Hawook’s eyes which caused her to fully wake up.

Without any complaints, she got up, folded her futon, took a shower and dressed up in her working clothes – boots, white shirt, her knitted gloves stuffed on one pocket of her jeans. She sat in front of the mirror and started combing her shoulder-length curly hair. But whatever she does to keep her hair in place, it still sticks out in different places.

Blowing a strand of hair in front of her face, she gives up. She stood up grabbed a straw hat and went out of her room. She was about to go out of their house when her mother started calling her.

“Hawook! Come here and have breakfast before you leave.”

She went right away with no objection and sat down in front of the table. Her eyes widened seeing the food prepared before her.

“Whoa… Mom, you prepared a lot of food today! Is there a special occasion? Is someone coming?” she asked taking a bite of a pickled radish.

“There’s no special occasion and there’s no one coming either,” her mother said as she scooped rice into her bowl. “I had sold a good amount of our goods yesterday in the market that’s why I decided to cook a lot.”

“Really?”

Her mother nodded. “And since you and your father are working in the fields today, you need to eat a lot to have energy.” She patted her daughter’s shoulder. “So what are you waiting for? Here eat.”

Hawook smiled at her mother and started eating heartily the foods she prepared. When she was done, she bid her mother goodbye who handed her the lunch she prepared for Hawook and her father. She took the bento wrapped in a piece of cloth and headed to the fields.

She runs on her way, carefully holding the bento so the food won’t spill. On her way to the fields, Hawook was greeted by some neighbors whom she greeted back with a big smile on her face. She continued to run passing by the Korean traditional houses. However, she stopped in front of a small kindergarten located on a corner of the street.

Hawook climb over the school’s wall and smiled at the sight she saw. Kids aged 3-5 are sitting on the wooden floor huddled together singing along to the Tadpole Song being played by their teacher on a shiny brown upright piano. She started bobbing her head up and down and sang along with them.

She smiled when they finished singing the song and continued to watch the children as they sing another round of the song. But this time she did not sing along with them. Instead, she just watched them feeling envious.  How she wished she could just sing instead of working in the fields. And how she wished she could play the piano as well.

But she can’t.

Heaving a deep sigh, Hawook climbed down the school walls and went on her way to the fields. Her father was planting onions when she arrived there and she did not waste any time helping him. Hawook was there to give her father a hand whenever she needs him. Whether it was to fetch a pail of water or to plow the plot, she happily and willingly helps him. And while she is doing all of this, she does what she loves the most – singing.

“Mr. Song, your daughter here has a very beautiful voice,” their neighbor who was planting vegetables with them said during their lunch break.

“I know right?” Hawook’s father replied. “I’m so grateful to have such a talented daughter like her.” He looked at her daughter, gave her a smile and patted her shoulders.

“Why don’t you send her to a music school then?”

 Hawook’s father cleared his throat while she stopped eating and chewed her food slowly.

“Music schools or performing arts school are expensive.”

Their neighbor chuckled. “That’s the only reason you’re not sending her to a performing arts or music school? Come on, you can get her a scholarship instead.”

Hawook’s father was about to reply but she barged in.

“Father is right. Sending me to those kinds of schools would cost a lot. Besides, it’s better if I stay here. Mom and dad could use another helping hand.”

Her father looked at her with a surprised look on his face. Their neighbor on the other hand was disappointed by her reply. He was expecting Hawook to defend herself and beg to her father to enroll her in a performing arts school. But she did not.

“Aigoo… You’re wasting your talent.”

The whole afternoon passed with Hawook and her father still planting and harvesting fruits and vegetables. They were done by four and rested before they clean up and go home. The sun was already casting its coral glow over the fields when Hawook and her father decided to go home.

They walk on their way home, singing a song together. They passed by the kindergarten school whose walls were climbed by Hawook this morning. Hawook stopped following her father and take a second look at the school.

“Father, would you go home first? I’ll be just passing a friend’s house.”

“Sure. Just make sure to come home by dinnertime, okay?”

Hawook nodded and bid her father goodbye. She watched him walk down the sunset-washed street and when he was no longer in sight, she climbed the school’s wall again, just like what she did this morning.

Hawook sat on top of the school’s walls near a tree. She looked at the school which was already closed by that time. The room where the kids were singing was empty, illuminated only by the remaining orange light casted by the setting sun.  And on a corner was the upright piano the teacher played with.

Hawook looked at the room longingly, remembering the scene at that place this morning. She started humming the tadpole song but stopped immediately.

She started asking herself some questions that bugged her ever since the lunch break this noon.

‘Did you give up on your dream? Didn’t you want to do that ever since? Why didn’t you defend yourself when he said it’s expensive? Why didn’t you beg? Why?’

But basing on the countless arguments she had with her parents regarding that matter, she already knows the answer to her questions.

However, a voice in her head won’t stop debating with her.

‘So you’re going to let your dream go? You’re not going to chase it anymore? What happened to the never-give-up-Hawook I know? The Hawook who always told herself, “Fighting!”? Huh? What?’

The answer?

Hawook doesn’t really know. 

[A/N]

Hello~! Another update! The female main character is finally introduced!

Song Hawook it is! It is still "you" although I decided to give "you" a name 

since it is easier this way. :) Weird name though, isn't it? 

Anyway hope you enjoy this update! :) And to those who subscribe, thank you! <3

*Gives you cookies* Don't forget to drop your comments! I would really appreciate it

if you do :)