clouds | m.y.g

1

12 years ago--

"Halmeoni!" Jiwon cried out. (Halmeoni means grandma) 

"Wae our little baby?" her grandmother replied gently. 

"Can you teach me piano?" Jiwon hopped to the piano and patted the chair. 

"Alright." Jiwon's grandmother moved towards her slowly. They lived in a huge old villa in the countryside. 

Since Jiwon was five and had a small body both her and her grandmother could both it on the piano chair.  

She placed her small fingers on the piano and pressed a key. Ding! "Wah! So cool!" Jiwon giggled as she slid her finger across the black and white piano keys. 

Her grandma smiled down at her with a soft expression. "Our Jiwon is so talented!" 

"hehe. Halmeoni i love you!" Jiwon made a heart shape with her arms. "When I grow up, I'll be the best piano player in the world, and if I get a lot of money I'll buy you a lot of ginseng so you can live with me for a long time!" 

Her grandmother laughed. "Ok when you grow up and get money, make sure to do that for your precious Halmeoni." 

She put her old skinny fingers down on the keys and remembered the song that she had played at her mother's death bed. 

As she played her old body rocked back and forth and Jiwon sat there with her mouth open staring at her grandma. When she saw tears escape her grandmother's eyes, she felt sad too. 

"Halmeoni...why are you crying? Jiwon will be sad too." She said with tears in her eyes. She reached out her arms to reach her grandmother's skinny face and wiped away the big tear with her small thumb. Then she pulled her face down and gave her a kiss on her cheek. 

Jiwon's grandmother hugged Jiwon. "Don't worry Jiwon. Halmeoni will stay here next to you on this chair forever." 

"YAY!" Jiwon cheered with her arms up. 

Present time--

The bright sun shone in Jiwon's face as she picked the tomatoes from the Villa's garden. Her grandma was watching her at the fence sitting in her wheelchair. "I almost done!" Jiwon called out. She wiped the sweat off her forehead. 

Her grandma was getting weaker by the years and Jiwon's family stayed in the villa by the countryside to help her out. However, Jiwon's family decided that if the virus downtown got worse they would move to the city. 

Jiwon had never been to the city neither did she know about it because her private teacher who taught her in the villa never told her about anything. The only thing she knew was that there was a magical thing called technology that did not exist within villa grounds. 

Although Jiwon loved her family, she wanted freedom and she just couldn't get the guts to ask. She was already seventeen, but the farthest that she had ever gotten to was the beach with her grandmother when she was six. 

She plucked the last plump tomato from the vine and plopped it into her basket. She grabbed the handle with both hands and skipped cheerfully to her grandmother. 

"I'm done. I'm good." She said and turned her wheelchair around and pushed it into the house with the basket of tomatoes still on her grandmother's lap. 

They rolled into the kitchen and Jiwon took the basket and lay it on the counter. She put on her rubber gloves since the vinegar used to clean the tomato was not good for her skin. She turned on the faucet and she loved how the cold water felt on her rubber gloves because it reminded her of the beach.  

That night while they ate dinner Jiwon's brother chatted on and on about he and his friend went into the forest and saw a dog that was going crazy they shot him though they said. 

Jiwon just sat at the dinner table. She had no appetite. Her stomach hurt. She watched as her family slowly devoured the tomatoes she picked that day. Lucky them. She thought.