06

anxiety

'Mi-jinnie!'

She cried; her voice carrying itself through the home with the likeness of the regular ice cream truck; cheery, colourful, but most recognizably, carrying an air of promise.

It was later in the day that I had discovered it was the weekend. Or more accurately, a Saturday. A day where Mijin could have as many pink cupcakes as she liked. Could sit in front of the television for as long as she pleased. Could inspect her colour pens, her dresses, her plastic shoes, her mother's freshly-painted lilac nails, the cracks underneath her bedroom window, and the steel giant outside as many times as she wished.

I, however, found no interest in her weekend rituals, as I liked to call them. While Mijin attended to her odd interests, I instead found contentment lingering in her incredibly small, narrow bedroom. How they'd managed to fit a single bed in here, I'd never understand. Yet I was comfortable in the measly confines; my mind drifting farther and farther away from the gnawing anxiety of needing to return to the park bench. At this point, it had vanished, almost... almost.

I had, in fact, contemplated returning to the bench – revisiting the only thing I'd known at some point – when Hayoung had twisted open the rattling bronze knob to her daughter's bedroom impetuously, stopping the thought in its tracks.

Mijin had been relatively engrossed with inspecting the red sweater with childish white stars on it; all the while grotesquely exercising her lung capacity thanks to her unforgiving sinus; and I could barely stand a second more watching her. The night had been long enough. Why did I stay anyway? I should have left the moment I was given the chance.

However, the moment I was prepared to rise to my feet was when the little girl's mother almost sent me into mini cardiac arrest. Mijin had noticed my restless fidgeting, and was about to address it with open and hands out beside her as if she were floating aimlessly in space when Hayoung arrived.

And boy, did she arrive. With flawlessly-applied makeup – eyebrows thick, eyeliner equally so, and lips a fresh pink – sunny hair tousled over the right side of her face and down her back, and sporting a champagne top with long sleeves that was tucked into the front of her tight jeans. She smiled; cheeks rising animatedly and narrow white teeth bared.

‘Look at what I found.’

She waved something about between her pale purple fingertips and Mijin bounded towards her excitably. ‘Momma, what’s that?’

She hummed, watching as her daughter took the page in her chubby hands and squashed it under her stubby fingers. ‘It’s a map.’

‘Huh?’

‘To find treasure!’

I couldn’t quite decipher the incredibly smug look on Hayoung’s face, but it was suspicious enough for me to notice almost as soon as she came rushing into the room. Mijin’s excitement, however, was what stopped me from looking any deeper into my observation. She turned, spinning on her heel with her open hair twirling around her like a billowing curtain, and her lips revealing uneven teeth that instead of irking me, did quite the opposite.

‘Mister Blue, have you ever been on a treasure hunt? Huh? Huh?’

I undoubtedly expected it. There was simply no way of escaping. Mijin would have none of my protests or even the terribly distasteful look I offered her when she resorted to tempting me into accepting the idea with something called ‘soft serve’ and ‘raspberries’.

‘Leave me alone, will you? I’m not going.’

‘But ah—jussiiiii…!’

She pleaded, even as her mother returned from packing whatever essentials they needed for their trip into the woods looking for treasure. I could only imagine it would be an incredibly taxing expedition. Not to mention messy and full of those little creatures with tens of legs. Of brutal sunlight and merciless sweating and the urge to return to a very far away bench… even the thought of how cumbersome it appeared in my mind made me cringe.

‘No way.’

‘Ahjussi.’

‘Nope.’

‘Ahjussi.’

‘Not convinced.’

‘Ahjussi!’

‘Bunny buns,’ Hayoung’s voice sounded from the foyer as she peeked into the room; her hands on her knees as she leaned forward attentively. ‘Maybe Mister Blue’s tired and wants to stay home, hmm?’

Tired. The idea was somewhat amusing, considering exhaustion was something I never physically experienced as far as I could remember. Or at least even if I did, it was very unlike Mijin’s droopy eyes, swaying little head, and loose fingers as she climbed into the mountain of duvets on her bed and silently wished me a good night before leaving to whoever-knows-where.

Despite my refusals and threats to leave the home however when she disregarded her mother’s intervention and continued to pester me, I was given no choice but to concede. And thus, the treasure hunt began.

Trailing behind the awfully bubbly pair, I – after little to no scrutiny – noted they looked like mirrors skipping side by side. They held hands. Their hair bounced behind them with each sprightly step up the gravelly gray pavement. Their clothes caught pockets of air as they proceeded forth, and a sickly white sky offered hidden sunlight behind threatening clouds. Glass windows on either side of us shuddered and crackled in the building wind and there was not another soul i