..CHAPTER ONE..

Tun!

A pebble collided with sparkling and shining steel tableware spread across a small wooden table, making the owner of the shop- a rather petite and plump lady, eyes always furrowed in annoyance- look up with a glare. Her mean small eyes swept around the trifling market area of village Hokmo, narrowing at the minor gap between a butcher and vegetable stall, unaware that the trio menace she was trying to locate actually hid behind the other end of butcher’s shop, wheezing and panting due to suppressing their laughter so hard.

Once the grumpy lady gave up and went back to counting the silver coins she earned that morning, a boy- tall enough to be consider a man now, black haired, brown eyes and all teeth bare as he grinned- raised the slightly bigger pebble in his hand before taking aim of the petite woman’s head. The loud shriek that sounded around the market area confirmed that his target had been acquired.

“What are you nuisances up to now?” The butcher roared as he swept away the worn out drape serving as the backdrop of his shop and glared at the three laughing boys, all black haired teenagers. “Grumpy Lami, catch them!”

“That would be the cue for us to run, Jongin,” The fair skin lad among the three screamed, while the eldest amid the boys catch the wrist of one known as Jongin and hurled him out from their hiding place. The grumpy woman, with a hand on her throbbing head and curses leaving her thick lips wobbled toward them. The mischievous boys openly laughed at the plump lady before taking off in the direction of main village, their lean bodies making it easier for them to out run the angry crowd of market and occasionally slipping away from their outstretched hands.

“And to think that they are sons of the chief himself,” The plump lady, better known as the grumpy Lami, shouted after the guffawing and sprinting boys.

They ran and ran, carefully avoiding colliding with the villagers they met in their path before they found themselves in the main square of village Hokmo.

“That was epic!” Taemin, a petite but fully energetic lad, the eldest among the three siblings, cried with tear of happiness streaming down his face. “Did you see her face?”

“And she still wonders why everyone calls her grumpy?” Jongin, the darker skin between the sibling, orbs like melted chocolate, rasped as he double over the ground. “It’s most fun to , I swear.”

“But we got exposed,” Jimin, the youngest sibling with fairest skin, eyes hazel green, mumbled worriedly, giving a glance to his elder brothers. “What if grumpy Lami went to father to tell on us… or worse, what if she went to mother? She is gonna roast us alive, she warned us last time we put termite in Fin’s pants.”

“Oh, Jimin, you worry too much,” Jongin waved away his younger brother’s reasons to fear, dismissively. “And can you asks that friend of yours, Taehyung, to gets us some more of those termites? Little Toby needs to learn a bit of lesson.”

“Hey, don’t mess with Toby,” Taemin warned seriously, wiggling a finger at Jongin. “You know he is my fiancé’s little brother. How would I face Sally, huh?”

“You are so whipped,” Jongin teased his elder brother, making Jimin to chuckle and Taemin to shove the dark skin male in annoyance.

“Taemin!” A sudden shout of Village Chief’s elder son’s name made all three siblings to quickly look around themselves. It was near to nightfall since the sun was drowning behind the far away hills, the villagers were returning from their day work thus the main square was rather crowded, yet Taemin was able to make out the pretty brunet girl, with big beautiful eyes, coming toward them.

“Name the devil,” Jongin whistled under his breath while putting an arm around Jimin’s shoulder. “Now let’s watch the drama ‘Whipped Taemin’, shall we?”

Taemin darted another warning look before turning toward his soon to be wife, Sally. The girl smiled shyly as she neared the Chief’s son, fluttering her long eyelashes in a seductive manner. She started with scolding Taemin for wearing far too thin clothes considering the chilling air… even if it was the mid of June… while he gazed at her like a lovesick puppy. Jongin scoffed and gagged several times behind the couple, much to Jimin’s amusement.

“Oh, silly me,” Sally palmed her face with a pretended giggle. “Your mother told me to tell you she is looking for you… all three of you.”

“Huh?” Jimin jumped. “She already found out? We are dead!”

“No we are not,” Jongin knuckled his younger sibling, before draping his free arm around Taemin and mockingly dipping his head at the girl. “Now, if you will excuse us… we have scolding to heed, for Lord only knows what.”

“I believe we know too,” Taemin retorted, a bit angry at being dragged away from his fiancée so unceremoniously.

“No we don’t,” Jongin argued back seriously. “We had been in the school all day long,” Jongin said slowly, moving his hands around to make his brothers get the gist of where he was going with it. “We had devoted our whole day to education, I am hundred percent sure we might never need… but we never went to the market, okay?”

“Like she will buy that,” Taemin slapped the other’s head playfully.

The bickering duo, with an innocent lamb trailing behind them, entered the largest hut in the village; at first glance it was obvious that the hut- or more like several huts joined together- represented the house of someone important. Their voices toned down as soon as they noticed a lean figure, hands planted on hips and lips thinned in anger, standing at the entrance.

“Mother-” Taemin started but stop short when the lady raised a lean finger to make him shut up. She looked at her three sons, who shrank considerably under her dark penetrating glare, before a loathing stare was fixed on Jongin.

“Where were you?” The lady hardly opened her lips, but her words were received loudly and clearly. All their plans of deceiving the lady came to a skidding stop; they kept mum with heads down in shame. “Did you three go out of the village area?” Three heads shook vigorously in reply. “Good… I hope you heard what your father said about the wild wolf in the wood, last night. The hunters are looking for it but self-safety is important. It’s a good thing your father got the villagers to build wooden perimeter around the village a few years back, so make sure none of you step a single toe out of that boundary, understand?”

“Yes,” the three boys muttered quickly.

“Your father thinks it’s better if you don’t stay out late either,” The lady kept saying, voice strained with fatigue. “Especially Jongin, since he is the biggest menace out of you all.”

Jongin pouted deeply but didn’t dare argue with his mother.

“Now, I know what you three did in the market today,” The Mother said, her nostrils flaring slightly. “But we shall deal with that later tonight, in front of your father… I think it’s high time you receive a well deserve punishment.” Jimin whimpered softly, earning a nudge in ribs from Jongin. “For now, Taemin and Jimin, you two run along… Jongin come with me to my room, I have something important to talk to you about.”

Jongin silently begged his brothers to not leave him with their scary mother, but Taemin and Jimin could only shrug and give him encouraging fist pump while gesturing for him to go after their mother.

It was eerily silent inside the room. The woman sat herself on her wooden bed while patting the space beside her for Jongin to take. Jongin was used to taking scolding with his brothers so it didn’t seemed that difficult most of the time, but being alone with his mother had him trembling in fear.

“Some guests would be arriving to our village, a month from now,” The mother said somberly. “I want you to be on your best behavior when they are here.”

“Oh,” Jongin exhaled the breath he had no idea he was holding until then. “Who are they, mother?”

“A distant relative of mine,” The lady enlightened her son, but Jongin noticed how she avoided direct eye contact with him. “They are coming here from north side, so I don’t want their journey to go to waste. I am gonna be honest with you, Jongin, they are coming here with an intention.” Jongin frowned in confusion but didn’t interrupt his mother. “I have decided to marry you off in that family.”

“W-What…?” Jongin mumbled in shock, shiver running down his body. “Marriage? North side? But it’s so far away… if you married me to north side, I would hardly come here, mother.”

“These kinds of things happen, Jongin,” His mother retorted coldly. “I came here from other village as well… even if not as far as north side, but I hardly went to my maternal home. You would grow to love your new family and I am sure you won’t even miss much of back home.”

“B-But… can’t you find someone from our own village?” Jongin asked desperately. “Like you did for Taemin?”

“No,” His mother said decidedly. “I am doing what I think would be best for you. Moreover, stop going to waterfall for bath from now on… it’s dangerous to be out with the wild wolf roaming the grounds of forest freely… and since you would be marrying a man, so start taking scented baths, it appeals to men more than some wild pine smell.”

“Would you marry off Jimin to some far off place as well?” Jongin questioned in a small voice. “Or is it me you hate the most?”

“I don’t hate you,” His mother deadpanned, manner as cold as before. “You are a child and you don’t understand the sensitivity of situation. As for Jimin, I shall see what I have to do when the time comes.”

Hot tears prickled at Jongin’s eyes but he kept his resolve to not cry as he ran from his mother’s room to his own small hut behind their house. He dodged his worrie