Prelude: Mikel

“It’s snowing outside, Young Master. Why don’t you go and play?” Ms. Marney said to him with a smile.

“It’s boring.” he said, conflicted.

“Is it?” The woman laughed gently, “There are kids outside playing, master. Why don’t you say hi?” she unveiled the curtain and let the dim light of the winter in.

There were kids outside. That was why he pulled the curtain over.

“They won’t accept me.” He spoke the first excuse that came to his head.

“If you think they won’t, they forever will not accept you.”

“We are going to move again soon enough anyway, so why bother? It’s a waste.”

The woman patted him on the head and messed up his hair, “If you say so, master.” She then smiled, “What do you want to eat today?”

“I… don’t know… I don’t want to eat anything.”

“Hm… Egg and pork stew?” Ms. Marney grinned.

He widened his eyes, “Y… yes, please.”

The woman bowed. He then asked her if his parents would come home this winter. Marney only gave him a sad smile and said that perhaps next year they would.

It’s always next year. It had been next year for the past two years. His parents didn’t even bother to show up when they moved house half a year ago. It made him angry thinking about it.

Mikel let out a sigh and moved closer to the window to shut the curtain, but when he saw the kids playing in the snow outside, he hesitated and thought of what Marney just told him.

Some boys were hurling snow at each other, laughing and giggling. There were also two girls building what seems like a snow… mansion?

When the older of the two girls spotted him looking, she waved. That made Mikel retreated immediately as if he had been caught doing something bad.

He sat on the ground, confused and nervous.

What do I do? Should I pull the curtain over?

He took a breath and slowly edged himself closer to the window, feeling the pressure on his chest more and more the closer he was to it. When Mikel poked his head out again, the girls were gone. He tried to look around for them but only found the kids that were hurling snowballs laughing and cheering for something off to the side. Mikel couldn’t see what it was even if he tried.

Suddenly, he could hear knocking on the front door. Normally, Ms. Marney would be the one who answered, but she did not this time as the knocks continued on and on and on.

Annoyed, Mikel grabbed his fur coat and walked out of his room.

He opened the door, and it was those girls he saw earlier. Before he even knew, he slammed the door shut… Why are they here? is looking at someone playing a bad thing around here? Am I in trouble? No no no… surely it cannot be that silly… right?

The knocks came again… Wrong! Reluctantly, Mikel opened. The older girl was frowning at him, “That was rude.” She said.

Mikel looked away, “Ah… S… sorry. I… I didn’t mean….”

“I heard wealthy people are well mannered.”

“Ah… they do…” He paused for a while to let the embarrassment down, but it wouldn’t “My parents always…” He said, a bit too loudly, “They always tell me that I should behave… It’s just… I was… curious… yeah just a bit curious that’s all…” He found herself unable to look at the girl in the eyes, “Look, I… am sorry… ok? I didn’t… mean… to look…” The words just froze in his mouth, and his face felt hot.

The girl laughed.

All Mikel wanted to do was just cover his face and ran inside.

“You think I am calling you rude because you looked at us playing?” The girl said, still laughing, “I’m sorry. That’s too funny for me.” She wiped the tears away.

“Huh? What? You mean…”

“You shouldn’t slam the door on your guest’s face. That’s rude.” The girl said.

“Ah…” He was too nervous to even consider that… That was actually rather rude of him, “That’s…” He shook his head and looked down. Why am I like this? She is probably laughing at me. He could feel his face boiling.

The girl giggled, “I found you a friend Liss. He is just as shy as you. I’m Laila by the way.” She pointed behind her, “This is my sister, Lissandra.”

The little girl poked her head out to look at him for a second behind retreating to hide behind her sister again, “Come on now.” Laila turned around and carried her sister up by the arms, “Don’t be shy, Liss. Say hi.”

The little girl looked as if she was going to cry, but she didn’t and even managed to mutter a meek hello to him. Laila then put her down and gave Mikel a hand.

“You’re Mikel, right? Your mother wants us to invite you over to play, so let’s do!” The girl grinned, “Having a loving mother is so nice, don’t you think?”

“Mother? but my mother is not… Does my mother have black hair?”

The girl seemed surprised at that question, but she nodded regardless.

“Blue eyes? high nose?”

The girl nodded to all of his descriptions of Ms. Marney.

“That’s not my mother. That’s my caretaker.”

“Oh… You got a very loving caretaker, then. I think that’s as good as having a loving mother.” The girl smiled. She was pretty, very pretty.

“I… guess so…” Mikel had never thought about that as Ms. Marney had been with him for as long as he could remember. She was there for him more than his parents ever did.

The girl picked her sister up and put the little girl on her back. She then grabbed Mikel by the hand and pulled him both out into the snow, “Let’s play together.”

“You are going to drop her!” That was all he could say as he was being dragged away. Laila was surprisingly strong for someone who looked skinny even in her winter attire.

“Don’t worry. I am used to carrying Liss around as I do the chores.” The girl said with the prettiest of smiles.

Laila ended up asking him to come to the upcoming Kove Spring Festival, and he got very red when Ms. Marney asked if he thought the girl was pretty at dinner.