Title: Preserving Beauty
Author: nerdcanread
Site:AFF

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“Oops!”
“Seulgi!” said an old lady to a three years old young girl, who’s wearing a jumper and a white long sleeves shirt. It’s clearly evident that the girl was caught in the act spilling her gummies on the white clean carpet.
“Moowwwmmieee!” the young girl said cheerfully as she chewed the remaining gummies on her hands
“What are you doing?! Your candies are ruining our newly bought carpet! I told you to eat your candies at the dining table didn’t I?” Her mother was mad as she gave the child a lecture
“I'm sooowwwreeeyyy mowwwmmiiee...” the child said as she hangs her head lowly. The mother went to the child and picks her up.
“Next time, do not eat while you are on the carpet, okay? You do not want to ruin our beautiful carpet don’t you my little bear?” her mommy said as she kissed little Seulgi’s cheek
“I pwamishh not to eat in the carpet anymore...” Seulgi swore and raised her right hand

Starting from that day, Seulgi never eats on the carpet anymore.

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“Seulgi!...”
“BLAAAAG!” A vase was shattered on the floor and the little child’s finger got wounded.
“UNNNNGAAAAAHHH!!!” The child cried instantly
“Seulgi, I told you not to touch it!” the child’s mother said
“But mowwwmieee... It’s so beautiful!” little Seulgi said
“You can look but you cannot touch it, now you see, you touched it and it’s now broken... It’s no longer beautiful, you broke it!” mother said disappointedly
“I’m soowwwrryyy...” the child hang her head slowly and tugged her mother’s hand
“My child, some things are only meant to be adored using your eyes...” her mother said as she pats the little one’s head “Now, let’s heal that cut...”
‘Thanks, mowwmiee...”

‘Some things are only meant to be adored using your eyes...’ Seulgi remembered her mother’s word clearly

From that day, Seulgi only looks at her mother's newly bought vases. No vases were broken later on.

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“Whoa, look at this... So wonderful...”
“Kang Seulgi!...” said the homeroom teacher to a thirteen-year-old girl.
“Professor Son...”
“Stop right there... Do not touch the painting!” said the professor as she eyed on thirteen-year-old Seulgi’s hand that was way closer to an abstract painting
“B-But it’s beautiful!” Seulgi argued
“Haven’t you seen the rules written on the entrance of the museum?”
Seulgi sighed and recited the rule “Yeah... It says do not touch anything.”
“That’s right...”
“But why am I not allowed to touch anything?” Thirteen-year-old Seulgi whined
“To preserve its beauty.” the professor explained “Now let’s go, kid, we’re going to the planetarium!”
“Okay Professor Son...” Seulgi sighed and followed the professor

‘We’re not allowed to touch anything to preserve its beauty...’ Seulgi noted in her mind

She never touched anything on the museum anymore...

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“Seulgi!... Don’t write on the wall!” said the student council president, Yeri as she looked at the spray paint on Seulgi’s hand
“But I thought this was freedom wall?” asked the fifteen-year-old Seulgi
“Yes, it is a freedom wall. But you are only allowed to write on sticky notes and post it in there...”Yeri said
“Why is it called freedom wall anyway?” Seulgi scoffed
“Because it is the wall where people express their sentiments...”
“But I want to express my thoughts through this!” Seulgi pertained to the spray paint on her hand
“That’s not being expressive, that’s vandalism! You’ll ruin the wall if you do that.”
“But...”
“Seulgi, it is a freedom wall... However, even freedom itself has its own limitation, right?” Yeri remarked

Seulgi dropped her spray paint and looked at the wall as she was in a deep thought.

 ‘Even freedom itself has its limitation, right?  Those words kept repeating in her head

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“Miss! You're not allowed to throw this here...” said the man as he held a bag of chips in his hands
“O-Oh! I'm very sorry sir... I didn't throw it there in purpose. I just accidentally forgot about it and left it on my previous place” Seulgi bowed a lot in apology. Then the man saw a stone on Seulgi’s hand
“Is that stone from here?”
“Ah, yes sir. I would like to take it as a remembrance...”
“I’m sorry Miss. But the only thing you can take here are photos and the only thing you can leave here are your foot prints.”
“I'm really sorry sir...” Seulgi turn over the stone to the man
“it's okay... Just don’t do it next time. This is a heritage mountain. People work hard to preserve its natural scenery and its eternal beauty...” the man said and continued “ I do understand that this place is beautiful, however, just like this preserve flowers, trees and waterfalls in the mountain all we can do about it is look and adore it from afar or else we’ll misbalance the nature and ruined it. We just have to be thankful that we're blessed enough to see its beauty even from afar...”

“We just have to be thankful that we're blessed enough to see its beauty even from afar...” the man’s words were engraved on Seulgi’s memory

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“Seulgi!... Don’t pick the flowers!” the tour guide, Joy said as they were in a botanical garden
“I...I’m sorry... I just like it. I mean it’s pink and attractive.” Seulgi retracted her hands from the flower
“Those flowers are preserved... You can’t pick it just like that.”
“I’m sorry,” said the seventeen-year-old Seulgi
The tourist guide saw Seulgi sad so he did something about it “Do you have a camera?”
“Uhm, yes...I do have one.”
“Cool!...Let’s take a picture of you with those pink flowers!”
Seulgi raised her eyebrows in confusion

“If you cannot have it, at least we take a picture of it so you can look at it and engrave it in your memory...” Joy said

And Seulgi treasured that photo of her with her beloved pink flowers.

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Seulgi was twenty-one. She became immensely interested in photography. She started to bring her camera every time she travels to beautiful places and take pictures of beautiful things she cannot touch as for remembrance and engrave it in her memory. She traveled alone for the reason of she wanted to find herself and experience the beauty of the world. After a long day of excursion, she decided to find a place to eat.

“My, oh my! How come there are only fancy restaurants around here?” she said as she looked around “And it's all crowded!” she whined “Oh, well...I’m really hungry.” she entered a restaurant and saw how packed was it.

“Damn luck,” she muttered

A waiter welcomed her

“Good day Madame! A table for how many?”
“Uhm, one? Unless you want to include my shadow with me.” she jokingly said to the waiter but the waiter only raised his brows and looked at her indifferently. She gulped and continued to speak “Just kidding...” and laughed nervously
“Well Madame, are you willing to wait? You see Madame, the restaurant is quite packed today due to the numbers of tourist visiting...”
“Is there any way you can give me a table? I’m only one anyway and I’m really tired and hungry already.” Seulgi said frankly
“I’m very sorry Madame, as I said the restaurant is packed...”

“She can sit here!”

The waiter and Seulgi heard a voice and looked at her.

“But Madame, how about your date?” the waiter asked
“It’s okay, my date will not come.” the woman said as she beamed the two her eye smile.
“D-Do you mind?” Seulgi asked
“I wouldn’t offer if I do.”
“T-Thanks...”
Seulgi sits in front of the woman’s seat.

“W-Would you...uhm...”
“What is it?” the woman asked as she eyed the nervous Seulgi
“I-I would l-like to treat you... Since you w-were kind enough to offer your seat and u-uhm...”