𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐘 𝐁𝐎𝐘

| 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚞𝚎 |

yumeko woke up to crying. it was two in the morning and her first day of university was tomorrow. once up, the girl noticed the fire alarm going off and funnily enough she managed to blatantly ignore the alarm but woke up because of the screaming. she had finished the pre reading assignment, left clothes hanging over her chair ready to wear, and refrigerated her lunch. yet something always has to go wrong no matter how prepared she was. so instinctively, she bolted out of her room to check on her younger sibling who was curled up in the bed. her little sister, mina, looked up at her.

rushing downstairs, yumeko found her mother with a fire extinguisher taming the flames in the kitchen, "what's going on? should I call for help?"

her father turned around and spoke calmly, finally managing to turn off the fire alarm, "ah no, ahem, forgive me I got back late from work and was hungry so decided to make some food. everything is fine, I just, I burnt the food... so fire alarm..." he trailed off, scratching his neck sheepishly.

the poor girl couldn't even think of answer. she merely hummed at the head of the nishimura family, hideyoshi, and just went back to her younger sibling who still hadn't moved, "hey don't worry it was just some burnt food, let me read you a story it's best we try and sleep before tomorrow."

so she began reading. the nishimura family moved a week ago from japan to south korea for hideyoshi's work. the mother, nara, was a teacher and loved gardening; on the porch there were even  vegetables and herbs growing. their house was old, traditional in every aspect. the five of them barely fit but it was cozy enough for such a close knit family.

in japan they had a similar house, up in the mountains. hinata, the eldest child, stayed there on his own going to school whilst the rest of the family rented an apartment in tokyo.

in the week since they moved, yumeko had taken the liberty of exploring her neighbourhood. it was a quiet historic sector on the very outskirts of the bustling city. the neighbours were an old couple who invited them over for lunch on the second day. the nearest mini supermarket was a five minutes walk and there was a little park nearby, too. to be honest, it reminded her a lot of home. it had the same vibe. tomorrow was yumeko's first day at university. it was a very prestigious one, filled with young adults whose parents give them too much money. she had heard the rumours about the institution and to say she was worried was an understatement. it didn't help that in the middle of the night a mini fire broke out because her father is incapable of cooking.

now awake, she sat on her desk and flicked through her textbook one last time. yumeko was never popular, but nonetheless well liked and focussed on her studies. she never made any enemies nor got bullied at school but that only made her more anxious about going to a new place without knowing the dynamic. with a sigh, she packed away her things and got out her sketchbook. she started drawing the views from her old house in the mountains of japan. she always enjoyed the morning hikes with her mother, and skiing with her siblings in the afternoon before they moved three years prior. of course, the hot pot that hinata would cook up would always make up for the cold, snowy days.

at five in the morning, she finally found sleep. even if she knew it would only last for two hours until it was time to get up, leaving the half drawn mess of a landscape fall to the floor.