A new day beckoned, the majestic ball of fire made its dramatic entrance, signalling the start of a brand new day. With its brilliant rays being cast across the land, an artist's masterpiece was created. The gentle morning breeze crooned softly outside the glass panes and the clanging of pots and pans against each other in the kitchen harmonised beatfifully as the usual morning music flitted into the room of the two sleeping children.

The bright lights of heaven smote on the glass windows; the kiss of the blinding morning woke the young girl up from a pleasant sweet sleep. Suji immediately jumped out of the warm cosy bed and sprang right into action, washing up in a record speed which wasn't usual for the nocturnally-active girl.

"Good morning, my dearest mummy!" The girl greeted her mother with a smile which seemed to momentarily light up the entire house.

"Suji! What's the occasion today?" Her mother was more than surprised to see her daughter up and about at what her daughter considered as an 'early hour of 7 in the morning'.

"Today is my first lesson!" She beamed brightly as she settled down at the table.

"With who?" Her mother got curious as she stopped her morning routine of housekeeping and sat down in front of the smiling seven-year-old.

"With the famous author Kim Myungsoo! He's our neighbour you know!" Suji took one last bite of the wholemeal sandwich.

"Really? How come I didn't know?" Her mother's eyes widened to infinty on hearing the news.

"You didn't ask!" The ever-playful girl stuck out her tongue at her mother as she made her way to the door with a spring in her steps. "Bye umma! I'll be back for lunch!"

The door closed with a click and the creaking of the fence signalled that the girl was well on her way to her first lesson with her life idol whom she has dreamt of meeting every single day.

DING DONG!

It was about time he had stopped trying to squeeze anything out of his empty brain — it was pointless. He got up from the comfortable chair and made his way to the door.

"Good morning, ajusshi!" The angelic voice of a young girl piped up as soon as he opened the door. He shifted his line of sight down a little, only to spot the overly-cheerful girl from yesterday.

A little irritated by her jubilance, he replied, "What are you doing here?"

"Yesterday you said that you would teach me how to write great stories!" She explained, still smiling.

He paused for a while, trying to recall what he said the previous day. He didn't remember mentioning that he would be her teacher. "I never did say that I would teach you. Writing is a complex pro—"

His words got cut off by a pair of watery doe eyes that were looking up at him. "Please?"

Being the compassionate young man he was, if he said no and made the girl cry, he would never forgive himself. "Okay, fine."

The girl blinked the tears out of her eyes as he stepped out of the door and led her to the vacant road that was just outside.

He began slowly. "Writing... it's a very complex thing to understand. It's an imaginative art, where words materialise imagination, like a piece of beautiful artwork of precise painted gingerly with a variant of colours."

All he was retuned with was a confused expression on the girl's face.

He paused, not knowing how to continue. For about ten seconds, there was absolute silence. He was in deep thought and she was just anticipating her now-mentor's wise words. Then very slowly, with a slow and marvellous grin spreading all over his face, he lifted his head from the ground and looked at the street ahead. The colour was rushing to his cheeks, and his eyes were wide open, shining with joy, and in the centre of each eye, right in the very centre, in the black pupil, a little spark of excitement was slowly dancing.

"Okay, look at the road in front. Tell me what do you see." He pointed at the path that consisted of gravel, mud and stones.

She glanced at the empty street and looked back at him. "Nothing."

"Are you sure? Look again and tell me what you see." He instructed her.

She squinted hard at the still-empty road, in an attempt to make out anything that could possibly count as 'something on the road'.

After a good minute of intense observation, she turned back to the world-famous author. "There's nothing on the road."

"Are you really sure that there's nothing else on the road?"

Irritated by his questions, she took one last glance at the road before bursting out, "There's really nothing on the road! It's empty!" She stomped her foot on the ground in frustration like a three-year-old would if he didn't get what he wanted.

"Okay, now tell me what you don't see." He calmly told her.

She looked at the road again. A dreamy expression started to spread across her face and the corners of her lips curled upwards till a huge smile was found on her face.

"Don't keep it to yourself, share it with me!" He prompted her.

"There's this really handsome guy, he's a prince and he's on a white chariot with golden wheels, heading towards here. And he's smiling at me and telling me to go with him and he..." Her voice unconsciously went a tone higher as she continued to narrate her Prince Charming's actions.

"That's it! You've got it already!" He snapped his fingers as soon as she finished.

"Huh?" She shot him a puzzled look.

"That's where stories come from! Stories come from what you don't see." He explained.

It was silent for a moment as she immersed herself into deep thought. "Ah! I see! Thank you seonsaengnim!" She did a two- saluted and bowed, before running off in the direction of her home.

"Whe—" Realising that she had no intent of turning back, he stopped mid-sentence, shook his head, before turning to go back into the house.

***
 

He stared at the blank Word document once again. Stories come from what you don't see. How did I even come up with such a statement? What the hell is wrong with me? What was I even thinking at that time?! He ruffled his hair once more, almost pulling it out in frustration.

DING DONG!

Irritated, he shuffled to the door and opened it, only to see the angelic expression that was carved onto the face of a seven-year-old.

He took the paper and read the work presented her.

Kai, a winsome young orphan, lived with his Aunt Gyuri and Uncle Jongshin on a hardscrabble farm in a town on the outskirts of town. Located beside their spartan little house was a small underground room, where they could go in case one of those mighty, house-crushing whirlwinds arose... 

...

Overlooking the messy handwriting and occasional grammatical errors, it was a decent piece of work. Correction, decent would be an understatement — it was an exceptional piece of work.

He looked back to the girl, who was busying herself with the dandelions that had somehow managed to sneak their way into the wild grass that lined the porch. He had wanted to call her, but he couldn't remember her name.

"Suzy!" He decided making up something would do, and fortunately, she responded to the made-up name.

"I don't know if you had help on this, but for a child like you, this is a marverllous piece of writing. You should continue to develop your skills an—"

"So you mean it's good? Does that mean I can become an author?" She cut him off in his sentence midway, obviously overly excited after getting praised by the world-famous author.

"Yes, and maybe. I could request for the publisher to read your work and maybe it'd work out, but for now I cannot guarantee you anything."

"Really? Thank you so much seonsaengnim! I will go back and write another one!"

She bowed once again before rushing off back home. This girl... comes and goes as she wishes. He sighed and shook her head closing the door and shuffling unenergetically back to his arm chair.

If only I could see things the way she did.

If only I could see as much as she didn't see.

He got up and drew the curtains open so that it revealed the peaceful scenery that was a mix of green and brown outside.

It suddenly felt like a light bulb had lighted up above his head. He sat down in front of the computer and started pouring out whatever came to his mind. He typed on and on endlessly, pausing occasionally to take a sip of water before going back.

That once dried up river, now had water flowing through it once again. It was slow, but sure.