Ember Rose
The three year old looked outside her window and watched as her parents were being held captive inside wooden boxes. She also looked over at her brothers who had composed stoic faces like usual but she could tell that tears were threatening to come out any second. She didn't understand why all her uncles and aunts were visiting them, though they barely visited or cared, and why were there so many people standing aside the wooden box that had her parents inside.
''Ari'' Cho-hee her housekeeper/caretaker called her.
''Yes momma? (a name she used for her caretaker)'' The little girl answered cutely, running towards her caretaker as fast as her little feet could carry her.
''Honey, what are you doing here?'' She asked Aera, being concerned, as she remembered tucking the little one in her bed.
"Momma, why are eomma and appa being held inside that box?" the little girl asked, completely ignoring the question her elder asked, not understanding what was happening at the moment.
Cho-hee looked at the girl sympathetically, she was finding it hard to come up with easy words that would explain to the little girl that her parents would not be returning and would remain inside the box.
"Honey they're sleeping.....sleeping for good and are at peace" she spoke, mumbling the next part but loud enough for her hear.
"But wh-"
"Ari-ah"
A voice spoke cutting the little girl's sentence in mid, she looked over to see her elder brother walking to her. The little one could clearly see tears forming in the eyes of her elder one as he came towards her and picked her up, cradling her close to his chest as if he feared she might disappear as well.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping hmm" he spoke, keeping his voice monotone.
"Oppa, where is eomma and appa, why are they sleeping without me? Eomma also told me we would read bedtime stories tonight..." she asked her brother, clearly confused.
"They...." He gulped trying to find words suitable for a 3 year old..."How about we talk about this in the morning hmm, it's getting late. Sleep with me tonight, and... I'll also tell you some bedtime stories. How does that sound?" he asked his sister, forcing a smile on his face.
"Okay oppa!" she agreed, momentarily forgetting about her parents and her questions.
The little one was excited, she couldn't be more happy then sleeping with her elder brother. Keeping his steps slow and measured he walked to his room with Aera still cradled against his chest. Placing her comfortably on his lap he started reading a book, minutes passed as he heard soft snores glancing down he saw his little sister sleeping, smiling, he kissed her forehead and laid her gently on the bed.
Gently extracting himself from her, he walked out of his room and watched as his younger brother talked to some of the guests, bidding them goodbye. Being the eldest one it was now his duty to keep his family together and take care of them.
He went over to the guests and bid everyone goodbye one by one. It was 2am by now and the only person left by now was one of his aunts ( his mother's best friend ) and the workers.
"Seojin, Suho come here" Areum called him and his brother.
They both reached her so she continued.
"You both should go to sleep now hmm, I'll take care of the rest"
"Thankyou Aunt" both the brothers said in unison, heading towards their rooms.
Seojin was about to lay on his bed, being tired and the only thing he wanted was to rest now.... But maybe it wasn't what his brother wanted as he barged in the room and from what he could tell, he looked worried.
"Hung, where is Aera!?" the younger one exclaimed looking frightened.
The elder placed a finger on his mouth as a sign to tell the younger one to be quiet.
"Shh.... She's sleeping with me" Seojin said, pointing to the bed.
"Oh... sorry. Didn't see her so got a little worried" he then came towards his elder brother and looked over at his little sister.
"Hyung, how are we going to explain it to her?" he asked, still looking at his sister a little worried.
"I don't know" Seojin said unsure, "Don't worry about that, you look tired go get some sleep"
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They all looked over at the person sitting in front of them.
"So Mrs. Park, according to you, you are now the legal guardian of the kids" The lawyer spoke looking at Areum . He wasn't asking her this, it was a statement that he knew as well.
"Yes, I am. Their mother wanted me to take care of the kids" she told the lawyer.
"I understand. According to their father Kim Hwan-tae 95% of his will is equally distributed among the three children and... according to the mother Kim Yun-hee you were made the guardian in case anything happens and I suppose it was for a situation like this" the lawyer told her.
"So you are trying to tell me that I've been made the legal guardian a long time before this?"
Areum was clearly confused on why the mother would make her the legal guardian of the kids before the accident. Did Yun-hee know anything about the accident? All these thoughts alone were making her more and more confused.
"Yes, and I suppose you weren't told this"
"No, I had no information about this"
"Well it looks like Mrs. Kim trusted you more than any of her blood related relatives"
"As you said 98% of Mr. Kim's wealth is distributed, what about the 2% wealth that is left, because it clearly is a huge sum of money" Mrs. Park asked the lawyer.
"Well.. this 2% of wealth is for the person who be taking care of the kids which for now is their grandmother, but you Mrs. Park will be incharge of taking care of the money"
"If you don't mind me asking, may I know how much is this 2% of money and for how long can it work"
"This money is around 91.78 million US dollars and if spent normally it will last around 6-7 years or maybe more for the three kids" the lawyers answered.
Mrs. Park gasped at the huge sum of money. Not like she had any less but it was surely 10 times more than she had.
The lawyer continued..
"Mrs. Park I know you have a kid of your own to take care of and you aren't living in the country for quite some time either, but I hope you can take care of the kids money, so that it won't be used wrongly, won't be problematic for you"
"Don't worry Mr. Lee, I'll try my best"
"Very well, I suppose my work here is done, I'll leave the rest to you then Mrs. Park" the lawyer stood up saying this.
Areum escorted the lawyer out and came back to the room. She then looked at the three younger ones who were now looking over at her.
"Aunty did the lawyer tell you why eomma and appa aren't coming back?" Aera asked the grown-up still confused about the fact that her parents were locked up in a box last night and weren't even returning.
"Aera, love, come here" Areum said slowly sitting down on the sofa and patted the space beside her.
The little girl came running towards the elder who just called her and sat beside her. Cutely wiggling her legs she looked over at her aunt.
"Aera, you remember how once I told you that a time comes when people leave us and they never return after that because they become stars"
Aera listened to her elder one with great focus, wondering what she was trying to tell her.
"Stars..... those shiny things in the sky" Aera cutely asked her aunt.
"Yes love, those shiny things.... So your parents are now one of those shiny things or you may call them stars" Areum answered, glancing at the little one, and couldn't help but think how innocent and adorable she was.
"So eomma and appa will never return just like grandpa?"
"Yes love, now they won't return, they are now in a better place and are much happier" Areum added tears threatening to come out.
"Aunty, why are you crying?" Aera asked the elder who looked unhappy and teary.
"No love, I'm not crying, I just miss your mother" Areum replied wiping away the tears that were still present in her eyes.