눈발 (A Stray Goat), The Sequel

Chapter 01 / Yejoo

Flashback, 3 years ago (2012)

"God your protector, He protects you day and night, leading you like the sun in the day, and the moon in the night, His love surrounds you."

I could hear my mom singing in the background as she was in the kitchen. Her presence was always so sweet—a safe place for me. I would always leave my bedroom door open to hear her, as the sound of my mother being a busy body always brought me comfort. I stopped writing with my pencil for a moment and felt a grin as it crept into my face while I listened to the background sounds of my mother. I continue back to my math homework again.

"Yejoo-yah!" I hear her call out.

I stopped in my tracks of doing my homework. "Yes?!" I responded back.

"Pause your studies! Dinner is ready!"

"Be there in a sec!" I called out. I finished my last math problem and shut my textbook close. I get up from my bed and make my way over to the dining room. I could smell the taste of Japanese curry.

Mmmm. My favorite.

Just when I walked into the dining room, my father arrived home.

"Welcome home sweetie," my mother greeted, and they exchanged kisses.

"Hi honey," he held her waist and then placed his hand on my head, messing up my hair to greet me.

"Hi dad," I say, shaking my head from his hand.

He chuckled. "Hey kid."

"How was work today?" Mom gets out of his embrace as she continues to set up dinner.

"It wasn't too bad," he responded. My father heads to the kitchen to wash his hands, as I seat myself down on the floor to get ready to eat. "How's my princess?" I hear my dad say. "Was school good today?" I nodded in response.

"I made Yejoo's favorite tonight. Japanese curry!" She seats herself across from me, as dad makes his way to sit next to me.

I was getting excited to eat. "Eeeeeek," I squealed. "Japanese curry! Thank you so much mom! I'm going to eat well!" Just before I was about to dig in, mother hovered her hands over my bowl of rice.

"Wait!" she said sternly. I looked at her confused. I was about to whine because I wanted to eat. "We need to say grace before we eat."

"Oh!" I giggled. "Sorry! I just got so excited, I almost forgot!" We held our hands together, and closed our eyes.

Mom prays over our food, thanking God for everything, thanking God for providing father a job so that we could have a place to call home. She thanks Him again, thanking Him for our family. She prays for blessings and closes the prayer in Jesus' name.

I've always loved it when mom prayed. There was something about it that always brought me peace.

* * * * *

December 2015

I stared off into space as I could just feel the pain of my heart swelling up inside me.

I don't understand why I am seen in the wrong... I haven't done anything... father... he's innocent too. He didn't do anything...

People never change though. They only want to believe what they want to believe because they want to find someone to blame.

I remember mother's words telling me that even when the world seemed to be against you, you were to turn the other cheek. She said that it was what Jesus did... I never really understood what she meant by that though. Does she mean that we should let people trample over us, and we don't do anything?

Suddenly, it felt cold on my elbow. My jacket had a hole... I attempted to fix the stuffing in my jacket. All of a sudden, I heard the baby goat bleating. I snapped out of my angst, trying to listen for Ki's cry.

(a/n: Ki is the name of the goat. meaning of 'Ki' — 'the one who has arisen.')

I tried to follow Ki's cry. I could only hear it from a distance. Gradually, the sound of Ki's cry began to become more faint. I didn't know where the sound was coming from... I felt hopelessness overcome me.

No, I can't lose you... I can't... you're all I've got... you're my last piece of hope... you can't be gone... you can't disappear...