➪Of sleepless nights and rare beauties|| SUNGTARO

𝐎𝐧𝐞

¹

Light footsteps and soft humming filled the house. Moving from one area to another, a man with shoulder-length blonde hair had a basket hanging off their right arm as he filled it with little trinkets wrapped in sheer white cloth and tied with a red silk ribbon. The trinkets varied from hand-carved animal figurines made of wood to beaded bracelets and necklaces. There were about ten in the basket.

The man's name was Nakamoto Yuta, a simple man who lived on the outskirts of a town in the Bae dukedom of the Araw Kingdom. He wasn't a lone man. He had his son who was peacefully sleeping in his room.

A loud 'cu' followed by a louder 'ckoo' resonated in the small house, startling Yuta who nearly dropped the wrapped bracelet he was about to place inside the basket.

“That darn clock,” he clicked his tongue, taking the basket off his arm and onto the floor. He turned to the cuckoo clock beside the fireplace, raising a clenched fist and shook it. He glared at the yellow canary that was making the loud sound, “better keep that beak of yours shut if you don't want to end up like the rest of you.” he threatened, the clenched fist unclenching before he pointed at the pile of broken clocks at the corner of the room.

The canary chirped before flapping its mechanical wind and hopped off its platform. It let out a loud metallic chirp, “your son is going to be late! Your son is going to be late!”

Yuta groaned, realising that the metallic bird was right. He rolled his eyes in contempt as the bird was now circling above his head, “yes, yes, I know. Be thankful you can talk or I would place you in a pile.”

The bird only ignored him, letting a loud metallic shriek as it followed Yuta to the bedroom.

Yuta pushed the ajar door and found his four-year-old son asleep. He shook his head. This kid, despite being told to wake up early, was asleep as a dead log. He shook his head.

The canary landed on his shoulder, "SHOULD I—"

“Will you shut your beak?” Yuta swore he would go deaf with the metal sound the canary would make every time it spoke. He gets that it would come with the bird seeing as it was made of metal. He just wished the bird wasn't as loud as it was.

He slowly approached his sleeping son. He kneeled on the floor, placing a gentle hand on top of the boy's hip before gently shaking him. “Taro-yah, wake up. It's time for school.”

Shotaro groaned, a loud grumble as he buried his face against his soft pillow. Yuta sighed, “Taro-yah.”

“sleepy~” the child whined, moving to say on his left side.

“But it's your first day of school.”

“Don't wanna~”

Yuta sighed. Last night Shotaro was so siked for his first day. He even refused to sleep early, afraid that he would be late for his first day. Well, at this rate he might be.

“Cuckoo! Shotaro wake up! It's almost school time!” the canary circled the sleeping boy, the sound of his metallic wings created an annoying squeak that made the child wince. “cu—”

“dada!” Shotaro rose from the bed, covering his ears with his hands. “make it stop!”

“cu—” Yuta raised his body to grab the bird, holding it tight as he used his other hand to pinch its beak shut.

“There,” he went back to kneeling on the floor. He smiled at his son, “It's school time. It's your first day. How are we feeling?”

“tired,” shotaro rubbed his eyes with his stubby arms, “Why do I have to go so early?”