"And that was the story of Jack and the beanstalk," I smiled as I closed the book. I settled the book on the bedside table and returned to the little ones. "How was that for a bedtime story?" I asked as I looked at them from the top bunk to the pull-a-bed on the floor.
Because of my sisters' unplanned pregnancies, I gave up my room for the kids. However, we couldn't afford separate beds so we bought a double-decker bed with a pull-a-bed underneath. Thankfully, my nieces and nephees never complained. Especially, when they always enjoyed having each other around.
"Is the beanstalk true, Auntie?" Yeonghee, the youngest of the bunch, asked. "And is there really a giant's castle in the sky?"
"Hm, well, other than Jack, no one has attempted to try again," I replied as I tucked them in one by one. I continued, "And after he cut down the beanstalk, no one knew where the magic beans are. No one even knows what he did with them.
Yeonseok, the eldest, shared the top bunk with Ahra. Sunmi and Chiwon shared the middle bunk. And since Yeonghee was the youngest, she had the pull-a-bed all to herself. Jaeyun gave birth to the two boys whilst Narae was a mother of three lovely girls.
Chiwon answered, "When I grow up, I will go on an adventure and find those beans! Then, I will climb up the beanstalk and get some gold from the giant's castle."
"Oh, really?" I giggled as I sat beside him. "And what will you do with all those gold?"
The young boy thought for a second before he replied, "I will buy a bigger house and I will help you and Grandma with paying for the bills. That way, you won't have to work too much anymore. You can always stay at home and play with us."
I became speechless after whay Chiwon said. I let out a smile and tucked him in once again. "Let's talk about it some other time. Right now, it's time for you all to get some sleep," I replied.
"Thank you for tucking us in again, Auntie," Sunmi said.
"It's always a delight for me to see you all before sleeping. Now, close those eyes and I will see you tomorrow," I replied as I stood from the bed. When I reached the door, I turned around and said, "Good night and sweet dreams, guys."
"Good night, Auntie Mingyu!"
"Sweet dreams!"
My smile widened as I heard their adorable greetings. I stared at them for a while before I finally stepped out of the room. Slowly, I closed the door behind me and headed to my room.
It wasn't an easy task to take care of five kids. But even though the children were a lot of responsibility, they never failed to brighten up my day. It would always come as a surprise for me whenever they would express their concerns. What Chiwon said a while ago was a perfect example.
For quite some time, they complained that I wasn't around that much when I looked for a new job. But after I explained to them why I had to, they understood right away. And for Chiwon to say something like that, I was relieved that the kids had a sense of maturity at such a young age. However, it also broke my heart that they had those sort of thoughts when they shouldn't have.
I could only wish that their mothers would have the same level of maturity and would act as proper parents for the kids.
They need their mothers.
---*---*---*---
I sighed as I put the contracts away. I read them all quite quickly and already had some kind of understanding as to what the company was about. I turned to my alarm clock.
Ten-thirty in the evening.
At this point, I should be sleeping. But because of the coffee I drank, I would need to wait for the caffeine to wear off. I looked to my left and caught sight of my sketchbook. I grabbed it, as well as a pencil from my pencil holder and doodled.
It has been a while since I last used my sketchbook. Back at my previous job, I would work longer hours just to meet a certain amount at the end of every month. There even came a time where I did that for one whole month. And that landed me in a hospital. That was when my mother told me to find a better job as she couldn't handle me being hospitalized for overworking. Thankfully, my new job was a blessing. Perhaps, this time around, I would have more time for the things I treasured the most.
After a good thirty minutes, I was in the middle of drawing a lotus pond when my phone vibrated. I opened it and saw that it was a notification of a voicemail. It was from Dad. I played it as I continued with what I was drawing.
Hello, love! How was your day? I bet you've been working hard again. Don't forget to take care of yourself. Health is a luxury that we cannot afford to lose. Have more patience with your mom and sisters. I'll call you again tomorrow. Always remember that Dad is very proud of you in everything that you do. Sleep well, darling. Don't stay up too late. I love you.
After the beep, I closed my phone and put it down. A gentle smile slowly grew on my face as I kept my dad in mind whilst I drew. In this chaotic world that I lived in, only Dad's words were able to calm my mind. He was always the sound of reason and hope in my everyday life. And his simple voice messages always helped me progress in anything that I would do. His distance from me was never a hindrance for him to express his love for me. And for that, I would always be grateful for a father like him.
I miss you, Dad. I thought to myself as I put the pencil down. I miss you more than you know. And I hope that one day, I'll be able to see you again.
I kissed my fingers and pressed it lightly onto the lotus drawing, which was almost finished. In every drawing, every doodle, it was dedicated to Dad.
Always.
"I'll have everything prepared for your appointment with Mr. Nam. Should there be additional confirmation needed, I'll give you a call straight away," I explained to a client who was on the other end of the line."Thank you so much, Miss Ryuk. Thank you for taking care of my appointment," the client replied."No need to thank me, sir. I'm only doing my job. Have a nice day," I ended the call and typed in additional information onto my document file. It has been a week since my first day of working here. And thankfully, I was able to adjust in no time. With the help of Mr. Kim and Soyoung's informative advices, I didn't struggle that much.I wasn't overworked as well and that was such a big blessing. Back at my previous job, I had to work extra hours. However, my additional efforts weren't properly compensated so I w
I sighed as I turned back to Soyoung."That was a good one, Mingyu," Soyoung said as she composed herself. "That, she couldn't deny. She only entered this company because she's interested in our boss."She chuckled as I grabbed my utensils. I replied, "She may have stopped bothering me during working hours. But she will compensate for it during lunch." I looked directly at Soyoung and asked, "Doesn't she have any other hobbies? Other than to bother me and make me feel like I'm a worthless piece of trash?"Soyoung shrugged and said, "So far, degrading other people is the only hobby that I know she's good at." She took a bite from her chicken and added, "At least, we know she's good at something other than being an absolute pain."We shared a brief laugh together before we
Mr. Kim closed the door behind me, which caused me to hold my breath. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. So, I remained standing in the middle of the room. There was nothing to hear around us but silence.And of course, the sound of how hard my heart pounded onto my chest.I did my very best to keep myself standing up. By the manner of how hard my heart beated, it was enough to make me dizzy. And it didn't help that I returned to panic mode. Breathing became a struggle once again. I looked all over the room in an attempt to distract myself from… well, myself.Without looking, Mr. Nam finally broke the agonizing silence as he said, "Please take a seat, Miss Ryuk." He briefly gestured to the chair across him before he flipped onto the next page.I bowed briefl
My eyes widened at his sudden question. My cheeks burned once more. My ears rang as I panicked. "Oh, um, please don't mind that, Mr. Nam. That was a mistake on my end," I replied as quickly as possible."That only means you had a reason to stare. You can tell me," he insisted.I stared at him as I hoped that he would change his mind. But to my dismay, it seemed that he wasn't about to give up on this conversation.He added, "Miss Ryuk, I'm not mad if you stared at me. I just want to know the reason why. Everybody has their reasons when they do something. Even if it was as odd as staring at somebody."I stood frozen and contemplated on what to do. Should I really tell him what I was thinking when I stared at him a while ago? Wouldn't that be a weird way to start my connec
"Oh, wow, I didn't know that something still scares you," she said, sarcastically.I sighed as I returned to my laptop. "What do you want now, Minju?""I'm surprised at how brave you are to even look at Mr. Nam directly. A low life like you don't even have the right to be in the same room as him," she replied."Minju, I didn't force myself onto Mr. Nam. I didn't ask to be called into his office," I answered, still not bothering to look at her. I continued, "And the only reason why he talked to me is because I'm a new employee. Most managers and bosses do that to make their newbies comfortable.""Your courage to talk back to me is getting bigger as the day passes," she chuckled. She leaned closer to me and whispered, "Perhaps, you have forgotten your place here. Don't for
There was silence on the other end of the line for a bit. And I couldn't blame them for that. I mean, if I was in the Mail Department and someone asked me to pick-up three piles of paperwork, I would indeed hesitate.I quickly added, "If it's too much, I understand. You can just pick up one pile today and get the rest tomorrow.""No, Miss Ryuk, it's no big deal. I was just surprised at the amount of paperwork that you have," the man immediately answered. "Don't worry, Miss Ryuk, we'll be there right away."I sighed out of relief and said, "Thank you, good sir. I'll wait for you." And with that, the line ended. I laid back onto my chair and looked out to the window. Somehow, I was relaxed as I saw the night sky. The crescent moon smiled beautifully at me as the stars twinkled
Mama screamed before I could even put the speaker close to my ear. I closed my eyes as I kept my phone at a distance from my face. She continued, "Don't you know what time it is?! It's already nine-fifteen pm and you have no news on what time you're going to be home. My client is already furious that I didn't arrive on time. Do you know how much money your overtime is costing me?!"Slowly, I put my phone onto my ear and replied, "Mama, I'm still at work. But I'm almost finished. I'm just waiting for the Mail Department to pick up all the contracts I finished today.""Instead of waiting, why don't you just leave it there and come home already?!" she shouted again and I moved my phone away once more. "Your sisters are already gone and I'm left with the kids! And I still need to take care of other people's children. Don't you know how exhausting this is?!"
I froze as I heard that question. The very question that I wanted to avoid the most. If I said that Minju left me to do her work for her, he might scold me. And that might lead to another unwanted discourse with the floor's Queen Bee.On the other hand, if I lied to Mr. Nam that I had a lot of so-called paperwork from our clients, he might still check all the camera footage. There, he would definitely see what happened today. And I might anger him if I lied because Mr. Kim did say that they would never tolerate lying."Well, Miss Ryuk?" he asked again, which removed me from my ocean of thoughts.Frantic, I looked around the room in search of an answer. And then finally, I said, "I had a lot of paperwork today, Mr. Nam." I looked a