Chapter 2
My Mother Has Been Possessed (2)
When I opened my eyes, I smelled the sweet smell of corn.
“Ugh, mother….”
Bonita reached up to rub her eyes in a daze, her heart sinking at the coldness of the seat next to her.
‘Maybe mother was just in a good mood yesterday.’
It was common for Aria to show her whims.
Of course, Bonita did not expect much from her mother, although yesterday she had been kinder and more affectionate than her previous whims.
After all, she should be grateful for being raised.
Being a small, fragile child was an absolute disadvantage in a cruel world. In desperate need of adult protection.
‘Let’s not hang on it.’
Bonnie decided to bite her little mouth, and she slowly got off the bed.
A chill rose in her as the soles of her feet touched the wooden floor. It was cold in the house without a fireplace.
“Uh.”
Bonita tidied up the blanket with clumsy but neat skills and walked toward the door with her short legs.
Squeak. The hinges of the old door creaked as her little white hand turned the knob. Bonita walked towards the kitchen to prepare breakfast as usual.
And then her eyes met Aria’s in the kitchen.
Aria’s pupils fluttered like dandelion seeds upon spotting Bonita in her pajamas. A variety of emotions crossed her blue eyes.
What stood out the most was relief and joy.
Bonita, who is sensitive to see the changes in people’s emotions, quickly realized that Aria was very happy. But she didn’t know the reason.
It wasn’t because she was a seven-year-old child. Even if she brought in a twenty-year-old adult, she wouldn’t be able to logically explain why Aria changed like this.
“Are you awake, my daughter?”
Aria’s voice trembled. Bonita was a little confused by her choked tone.
“… Yes. But, breakfast…”
Aria had been working late at night, so she was sleepy in the morning.
So Bonita would clean the house for her mother, who always woke up around noon, and then make a late breakfast with her small hands.
But her mother woke up this early. Moreover, when she lifted her tiptoes and slightly tilted her body to look, she saw that fragrant-smelling corn porridge was boiling in the kitchen.
“Did your mother prepare this?”
“What? Of course- wait.”
Aria, who was about to answer calmly, read the hidden context in Bonita’s question and suddenly narrowed her eyes.
“Daughter, do you usually prepare meals?”
Seeing her frighteningly transformed face, Bonita’s shoulders trembled.
Why are you asking such a question? Bonita replied in a hushed tone, feeling as if her mother had indeed become a different person.
“Breakfast and dinner…”
“Oh my God, how could you do such a harsh thing to such a small child!”
“Yes?”
Bonita retorted, widening her eyes. Her small fists were clenched tightly.
“I-I’m seven years old! It’s not small!”
“Oh, my daughter…”
Aria retorted, her head held high, and she looked down at the child with a complicated expression. After a brief confrontation, a callused but still beautiful hand cupped Bonita’s cheek.
Her kind words landed.
“Seven years old is still young.”
“B-but, mother said before that seven years old is enough to be an adult.”
“I? Oh my god. She’s like a crazy woman! Forget that all!”
“But-”
“Come on, you’re probably hungry, so let’s eat, and we can talk about that later. Okay?”
“Uh?”
Bonita’s legs dangled as she was lifted by Aria. Bonita let out a dumbfounded exclamation at her unfamiliar sensation. Aria chuckled.
Bonita quietly blinked her eyes at the transmitted vibration. Then, in the blink of an eye, Aria had Bonita sitting in front of the table.
“Wow!”
Bonita’s eyes watered as she discovered the wonderful freshly baked white bread. Next to her was even sweet corn porridge instead of the tasteless oatmeal she usually ate.
“I wanted to make something better for the first meal, but the ingredients weren’t that great. So I hurried out in the morning and came back.”
At Aria’s words, Bonita shook her head.
I’m not sure what you mean by “first meal,” but it was a sumptuous breakfast reserved for special occasions. Her mouth was full of saliva.
Bonita’s hand automatically went to the silverware, but she stopped when she saw Aria who wasn’t sitting down yet.
“Mom, don’t you eat it?”
“No, I’ll eat, it’s going to be a busy day.”
Busy day?
‘Are you trying to make me work?’
Bonita routine was monotonous.
She did the housework, cooked breakfast for her mother, and when her mother went out to work, she waited for her inside the house or did the grocery shopping.
And she prepared dinner just in time for her return.
Sometimes, if she didn’t come home until after midnight, she would eat dinner for two by herself and then go to sleep.
But there were often days when Aria took Bonita to work, when she needed her help.
For example, she had to have a child by her side to help her sew.
‘I could stay with my mother all day!’
Bonita was in a good mood and swung her legs around on the chair.
Meanwhile, Aria, sitting on the chair, picked up the utensils.
“Let’s eat, daughter.”
“Yes, mother!”
As Bonita shouted with a flushed expression, Aria’s lips softened. She looked like she wanted to say something.
“Mother?”
“Well, you know.”
“Yes?”
“Not mother… No, no. Hurry up and eat. Before it cools down.”
“Yes!”
Bonita took a large spoonful of corn porridge and put it in her mouth. The savory and sweet taste of corn soup spread throughout her mouth. With her happy expression, Bonita’s gaze turned to the white bread.
It was freshly baked bread that was golden brown and soft, not hard.
Bonita, with all her excitement, picked up the bread and carefully tore it. Then, to her surprise, the soft bread split apart without a sound.
“!”
Bonita looked surprised as she dipped the bread into the soup. What happened next was an instant.
Aria, who was cutting bread with a knife, even stopped eating and looked at Bonita who was hungrily eating the bread with happy eyes.
‘Luke told me he was full just by looking at me eating.’
Her husband’s words, which she did not understand at the time, really touched her heart now.
It broke my heart that I had only just found this happiness. Aria bit the inside of her mouth tightly as the bitter past came to mind.
While her daughter lives in this old, narrow house, preparing meals alone, she couldn’t help but wonder how much she and her husband had…
“I really enjoyed the meal.”
Her cute voice brought Aria back from her dark past to a warm reality.
“Are you sure it’s enough? You can eat as much as you want.”
Bonita shook her head. In fact, she was already eating more than usual and her stomach felt like it was going to explode.
After studying Bonita’s face and seeing that the child was genuinely satisfied, Aria clapped her hands together and said,
“Then… Let’s go now!”
“Yes!”
*****
“Mo… Mother?”
“What’s wrong, daughter?”
At her sweet reply, Bonita gained some courage and asked, holding on to the hem of Aria’s skirt.
“Is this where you will be working today?”
Bonita’s question was valid.
Bonita, who of course thought she would be taken to the factory. But, Aria rummaged through her closet at home and exclaimed,
“This is ridiculous! I don’t have any clothes for her!”
Or,
“Damn it, how can you have so many clothes? She seems like a woman with no sensitivity whatsoever!”
She shouted, then took Bonita’s hand and called the carriage.
“Please go to the Champs-Élys Street!”
Bonita wondered if her mother really had the money to pay for the carriage, but she didn’t dare say it out loud for fear that she would be angry with her for ignoring her.
But she had no choice but to ask now.
“This is a shopping street that sells expensive clothes…”
Aria was dazzlingly beautiful, but other than that she was an unremarkable woman. Of course, she didn’t have any special skills, and she wasn’t qualified to work in a high-end store like this, let alone doing simple labor in a factory.
So, in the “cool” and “rational” judgment of seven-year-old Bonita, Aria didn’t necessarily come to work, but she came to buy something.
Of course, her mother would never buy something for herself on a street that sells such expensive clothes, so it must be something for her mother.
‘I have to stop her!’
It had been less than a month since she had nearly lost her entire fortune gambling. Bonita looked up at her mother with determined eyes.
Aria, who had no idea what Bonita was thinking, smiled.
“You’re right, Bonita. I’m here to buy your clothes.”
“Yes?!”
Bonita, intent on stopping her mother, hovered about three centimeters in the air above her. The child jumped up and stamped her feet and screamed.
“Oh, no!”
“Huh? Why?”
“I already have three sets of going out clothes!”
“It’s only three pieces.”
She didn’t seem to have any intention of listening to what Bonita said in the first place, so Aria lifted the child.
“Please get off…!”
“Are you uncomfortable?”
“Th-that’s not it.”
Bonita muttered in her arms.
After she got out of the carriage, she had walked for quite a while and her legs were hurting.
Moreover, unlike in the past when Aria held Bonita’s nape, she did not feel uncomfortable at all as she held the child tightly while thinking about how to hold the child comfortably.
On the contrary, Aria’s arms, which smelled like freshly baked bread, were warm and cozy.
Eventually, Bonita burrowed into Aria’s arms and began to get seriously worried.
‘Mother… could she have hurt her head?’
