HI GUYS! I'M SO SORRY FOR THE FORMAT ERROR T-T Apparently these days doesn't allow you to immediately copy-paste from wattpad, so I had to re-upload my document via word file :))))))))) Anyways, sorry for the wait, and I hope you'll enjoy this prologue!
Qishan, Present time
"Now where did I put that extra sewing kit? It's supposed to be around here..." The black-haired woman grumbled as she rummaged through a wooden crate filled with an assortment of random objects: scrolls with children stories written on them, wooden miniatures of animals, paints, and some neatly folded baby clothes her children had outgrown.
By now, she has spent almost an hour inside the storage room searching for her spare needles, as her son apparently found her current set to be an essential material for his "invention" (his new porcupine toy) and refused to return them to her. When she told him he might accidentally injure himself while playing, her son only said: "then I'll just put some beads on the tip so the needles won't hurt me!" And she resigned herself to look for her spare set of needles in the storage.
While she is happy and proud of her son's creativity in being able to transform daily objects into his toys (saves her the money from having to constantly buy her children new toys), she is quite concerned with how both her children have the tendency to use dangerous objects as their toys. They definitely didn't inherit that trait from her. No, absolutely not.
But that aside, she needed her needles to work on her customers' orders, and thus the reason why she is hunting down her extra set of embroidery needles like a hungry wolf in search of a prey. And right now, she is reaching the end of her wits.
People say that having children meant you'd always end up with some kind of mess around the house, and while you're cleaning up, you're definitely prone to misplacing things here and there and end up never being able to find them when you need them. Or at least, that's what other mothers would say to her when they see her house being extremely clean and organized for a single mother who was raising two kids on her own, and five-year-olds at that.
Well, for one, her twins were relatively well-behaved for their age, only occasionally forgetting to clean up after themselves once they finished playing. And second, she has her younger brother helping her clean around the house (read: blackmailed him into it) whenever he drops by to see her and her twins— which was quite often— So no, her home doesn't look like a shipwreck at all. It's neater than most homes with young children, she'll have to admit, but there were still times where she finds herself frustrated by not being able to locate things when she needed them. And this was one of those occasions.
"I swear they're somewhere around here. I thought I labeled them when we cleaned the storage during spring cleaning," The woman muttered to herself as her hands found purchase on a small, dark green rectangular box, which made her pause her rambling. "Or maybe it's inside this box?"
The box was made of dark green velvet and had collected a generous amount of dust, indicating it's never been touched for quite a while. It felt quite light when she lifted it with her right hand, too. She couldn't remember what was inside the box, what with the surface being free of writing or description whatsoever. As she brought it near her right ear and shook it, dull, tiny clangs could be heard from the inside, invoking a sense of joy and anticipation within her at the possibility of her successfully attaining the object of her search at last.
Please, please, please let me be right! I really need to start working on Mrs. Meena's order! She mentally chanted as she opened the box's lid, closing both of her eyes for a bit of a suspense.
Only to find herself stunned at the sight that greeted her.
Instead of her embroidery needles, the raven head found herself face-to-face with acupuncture needles, an obsidian-colored Gua Sha[1], and a golden hairpin, and...
A round jade pendant.
It was light green in color, and was one-fifth of the size of her palm. The pendant had several orchids engraved on them, which grew darker in color towards the middle part of jade. The pendant was also connected to a silver chain, which remained pristine and clean over the years, and was in a fairly good condition despite being buried deep within the storage.
But instead of joy, she felt trepidation seep into her veins, and slowly spread across her body.
She thought she had gotten rid of this box a long time ago.
Suddenly it felt hard to breathe.
"Mommy?" At the sound of her daughter's voice, she immediately shut the box and placed it behind her back, away from her daughter's line of sight. The woman did her best to muster a smile as Chae-hwa[2], her daughter, entered the storage room with a blanket in her hand.
"Yes, darling? Why are you still awake at this hour?" She hoped her daughter didn't notice how her voice was slightly trembling.
Cutely rubbing her eyes, her daughter yawned as she sleepily mumbled her reply. "Uncle kept snoring loudly and I had to go to the bathroom, and when I went back to bed I noticed you weren't there..." The raven-haired woman silently cooed as her daughter made grabby hands at her, silently signaling her mother that she wanted to be picked up.
"I see. Mommy's sorry if she scared you, sweetheart, I needed to find my spare needles because your brother used my usual set on his new invention, and you know I can't work without my needles." She easily scooped her five-year-old daughter into her arms, and patted her several times until she felt the girl relax in her arms.
"Mm, you can't sew pretty plants without your needles, and I like seeing them. And we get money from it, so it's okay mommy. And I'm a big girl now, I'm just worried, not scared." Chae-hwa petulantly replied, tightening her arms around her mother's neck in attempt to close the already nonexistent gap between them.
"That's right, you're just worried, aren't you? Thank you for worrying about me, Chae, you're the bravest big girl I've ever met." The woman's lips remained smiling even as she gently brushed her daughter's back several times, her heart warming at her little girl's words. The fear she felt a while earlier easily dissipated into thin air.
Everything was fine. She was safe now. Her family was safe. She had a stable business and two happy children, and her brother was faring well in life too— that was all she needed to know. Nothing could harm them now.
She'd just have to get rid of those things in her storage soon. Her past must never threaten her children's safety and future.
She continued to repeat those words in her mind as she made her way back to the children's shared bedroom, where her angsty, teenage brother was snoring the night away with all his might.
"See? Uncle Juju is being really loud, I don't understand why Haru[3] can sleep beside him when he snores like that," The girl pouted as she pointed at the offender, who was only half-covered by the blanket. The rest of the fabric was hogged by her son, Haru, who was sleeping soundly beside his uncle.
"He's being quite loud isn't he? Maybe this will do the trick," With a snap of her fingers, the raven head had erected a transparent sphere that covered the entirety of her daughter's bed, blocking out any excessive noise which caused her to gasp in delight.
"Do you still hear him now?" Chae-hwa fervently shook her head as she curiously touched the sphere, which rippled under her fingertips.
"Not really, it's like I'm inside a bubble and I can see Uncle Juju right there but I can't hear him. Mommy, is this magic too? Like how Uncle Juju can fly in the air?" The woman shook her head at her child's excitement, the gleam in her eyes all-too-familiar to her. It reminded her of herself when she was her daughter's age.
"That's right, sweetheart. It's magic. If you've seen your uncle float in the air, that's because he's using magic too." The raven head patted the spot next to her on the bed, urging her daughter to lie down. "Come here, Chae-hwa, it's already way past your bedtime,"
"But mommy, I want to know more about magic!" The girl whined as she obediently lied down beside her, brows furrowing as her mother tucked the covers under her chin. "You never tell me anything about magic even though I can see the birds[4]. And Uncle Juju is a stingy old man who doesn't want to teach me even when I beg him to,"
That's because I don't know what kind of trouble you and your brother will get yourselves into if you both ever learn magic. Playing with sharp, and dangerous objects are already enough to make me grow premature grey hair.
"How about when you're older, hm? Your uncle Juju is a bit busy right now, and mommy still needs to tend to her business. Once I can hire some employees to help me at work, I'll have more time to teach you about magic myself." That caught the attention of her daughter, who immediately turned around to face her.
"You promise, mommy?" Chae-hwa raised her pinky as she stared at her mother earnestly, earning herself a chuckle from the older woman.
"I promise, my sweet, bright, little moon. Now, how about a story before you sleep?" This earned her an eager nod from her daughter, who snuggled closer in her embrace.
"Can you tell me Sinbad's story, please?"
"The chapter where Ja'far is a three-headed monster, dear? But you've listened to it a lot of times now, aren't you bored?"
"No! I like listening to how you tell the story, mommy. Even though the story is stupid, I like it when you tell the story. You're so busy working during the day, but that's okay, because I know you're working for me and Haru. And now I have you to myself, so how can I get bored, mommy?" A pang flashed through her chest at her daughter's words, along with the guilt spreading through her chest. She didn't mean to make her child feel neglected all this time.
"Is that so?" She smiled down at her daughter, pulling her closer in her arms. "Thank you for understanding, Chae-hwa, but you don't have to do that all the time, you know? I'll always be available for you and your brother to find, okay? I promise I'll spend more time with you and Haru once the shop settles down."
"Okay.." The girl yawned as she sleepily rubbed her eyes. "So can you please tell the story now? I'm going to fall asleep if you don't start..." The girl trailed off, trying to fight off the yawn that escaped her lips.
"Alright, alright. I'll start now, okay?" The woman cleared her throat as she pulled the sheets up to her waist, trying to fight off the memories that began to trickle into her mind as she began to spin the tale.
"Long, long ago, there was a young man named Sinbad..."
"And when Sinbad saw the monsters, he summoned his djinn..." At the sight of her daughter fast asleep, the woman immediately stopped her story-telling and heaved a sigh.
"Finally asleep, huh?" A gruff voice rang from the opposite bed, as the long-haired teen sat up from his bed, ruffling his long hair with his right hand while stifling a yawn with the other.
"Yeah. Chae-hwa said she couldn't sleep because you were snoring," She raised an eyebrow at her brother, who rolled his eyes in return and snorted.
"Yeah, right. The brat was out like a light when I put them to sleep, so that's a total lie." She scoffed at his explanation, lightly brushing her daughter's hair out of her face. "But are you okay though? You look kinda pale, you know."
"Do I? I guess I'm just tired from looking for my extra sewing kit around the storage room. Forget it, let's just sleep, okay? I need to work tomorrow, and you're definitely on babysitting duty while I work." Brushing off her brother's concern, she shook her head and lied back down beside Chae-hwa.
"Are you sure? If there's anyone bothering you then I can-"
"Nothing's wrong, and no one's bothering me. I'm perfectly fine, my dear Juju. Thank you for your concern, but it's unwarranted right now. So go back to sleep, okay?" She purposely used the nickname her children used to piss her younger brother off, waiting for him to retort like he usually would.
"But seriously, Ran. You need to tell me if anything's wrong, alright? I'll definitely help you out."
I know.
"You sister can perfectly protect herself just fine. A youngster like you are better off worrying about how to confess to your beloved little princess, no?"
"HEY- ugh!" Apparently, Judal received an unexpected from the still unconscious Haru, who was turning to sleep on his other side.
"Shush, you'll wake the kids. And you're not calling me 'nee-chan'[5] anymore, Juju?"
"Why would I-" Another kick to his lower back, once again courtesy of his nephew.
"Good night, little brother." She yawned, implying that the conversation was meant to end there.
"You know what, fine. I'll somehow make you tell me later. Now move aside, you little gremlin," The black-haired magi darkly muttered before gently repositioning his nephew on his side of the bed and lied down.
He fell back asleep not long after that.
But what's there to tell? Everything is in the past, and it will remain that way. This future is peaceful, and it will remain that way. It's fine if I am the only one who remembers the things that happened. It's fine..
With that last train of thought, the raven head fell into the clutches of sleep.
[1] Gua sha: It's a stone used to scrape people's skin in order to relieve muscle and joint pain
[2] Chae-hwa(彩花): It means colorful flower in Korean and Chinese. It can also be read as "Ayaka" in Japanese.
[3] Haru(陽): This name means "day" in Korean, but when read in Japanese I'd go with the meaning "sun".
[4] birds: Chae-hwa is referring to the rukh, which looks similar to birds in the magi universe.
[5] nee-chan: big sister in Japanese. It's usually used when you call your older sister or an older female who you are familiar with. It's less formal than "nee-san".
