268 – EP.SIDE Scenery outside the window
***
A girl wearing relatively light clothes walked down the hallway.
Every time she moved her feet, her wood creaked.
The sound the tree made clearly showed that the house was old, but the girl did not feel uncomfortable or shabby.
On the contrary, I found peace in this old house.
The time was night, and the faintly burning candle light illuminated her path.
She walked down the hallway, sweeping the wall with her free hand.
The feel of the bare wall was conveyed to the girl through her fingers.
She patrolled the house, passing the candle here and there.
And she stood in front of the room.
– Kiik
She opened the door carefully, fearing that the person sleeping inside would wake up.
I enter the room quietly and tiptoeing.
A girl younger than her was sleeping in bed, breathing softly.
The girl, who had been watching the blanket rising and falling regularly for a while, lifted the blanket that had fallen to her chest up to her neck.
The season stopped in the middle of summer, but the nights were still cold.
After confirming that her child was sleeping well, the girl smiled and left her room.
She then walked down the hallway again. There was a creaking sound in the tree again.
The girl stood in front of the room at the end of the hallway, the room with the largest door in the house.
She knocked lightly on the door, and there was a light knocking sound.
But there was no particular reaction in the room.
The girl knocked on the door again, but when there was no response, she opened her door carefully, as if she was used to it.
The entire room was dark.
The image of an adult sitting in front of her desk appeared in the girl’s eyes.
“Teacher, aren’t you asleep yet? It’s late.”
As the girl closed the door and came in, the person sitting in front of her desk slowly raised his head.
“Ah, it’s already time….”
The person called ‘teacher’ looked at the girl with blank eyes for a moment, then shook her head as if she had woken up.
The girl looked at her teacher’s desk. She was far from the teacher with a tidy personality.
The girl said, gathering up her scattered papers and organizing them neatly.
“Now that I think about it, the reply to the written interview was due tomorrow. I know it took quite a long time, but you don’t seem like a teacher.”
“That’s right, I can’t get my hands on it.”
The teacher touched her grimy fountain pen with her thumb for no reason.
“Are we being asked rude questions again?”
The girl snorted as she remembered the reporters harassing her teacher.
She seemed ready to go to the newspaper office and threaten them at any moment.
“That’s not the case this time.”
The teacher leaned against her back and made her stretch.
She must have been sitting for a long time, and it felt like all her muscles were screaming.
The girl picked up her questionnaire. She
It hasn’t been long since she learned to read, but was it because she was smarter than her peers? She was read without interruption.
“These are surprisingly normal questions.”
Unlike the previous day’s magazine, which only asked about her teacher’s personal details, this time the questions were quite specialized and pointed.
“It’s just that there are a lot of questions that remind me of old times.”
The teacher took her questionnaire back from the girl.
The teacher picked up the cooled tea cup, stood up from her seat, and turned her body toward her window.
The girl looked at the back of her teacher.
It had already been three years since she lived in this mansion together.
For three years, she and her younger brother were able to confidently say that they lived a life without any shortcomings.
Warm bread, stew, and clean clothes.
The teacher picked up the scruffy children, washed them, clothed them, and even taught them.
Perhaps the affection I received from my teacher was more than the affection I received from my parents, whom I no longer remember.
However, although she received many things from her teacher, there were also things that the girl had never received.
It was the teacher’s laugh.
On rare occasions, the corners of the mouth drew a slightly curved line,
The teacher had never seen her eyes curve like crescent moons or smile so toothily.
She always thought that the girl’s teacher was lonely.
Although she had a gentle face, the teacher did not smile.
“The night is deep. Now go in and sleep.”
The teacher said, still not taking his eyes off the scenery outside the window.
It was probably a euphemism for wanting to be alone, and the clever girl did not know what it meant.
“Yes. Teacher, don’t stay up late either.”
The girl greeted politely and grabbed the doorknob.
“Teacher, please close the window when you sleep. Even though it is summer, you may catch a cold because of the cold wind at night.”
The girl who opened the door halfway turned around and said in her old age.
“Thank you for your concern. Go to sleep quickly.”
“Yes.”
Once the door closed, the teacher was alone in the study.
The teacher’s eyes were still looking out the window.
A bunch of drunken people were staggering around the village.
I could see some houses with their lights still on.
“It’s summer….”
The teacher opened her mouth as she looked at the vivid summer night scenery.
The teacher overlaid her own memories on the scenery outside her window.
A precious memory that is now distant, of tying up a coat and leaving footprints on her snowy street.
Square.
Campfire.
Flame.
Dance.
Memories, the precious memories she had stored away in her dresser, unfolded before her eyes as if they had happened yesterday.
Again, a single tear flowed down her cheek.
“It’s still winter for me.”
With deep longing and sadness, the teacher sobbed on the spot.