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Haseul was crying, holding a small Vivi in her arms.
“Why are you sad mama?” Vivi asked.
Haseul could not bring her tears to a stop, only getting as far as sobbing. It took a long while before she could answer the little girl.
“I’m not sad. Everything will be okay,” Haseul smiled.
— Two weeks earlier —
Vivi came stomping down the stairs, head held between her hands.
“My head hurts,” she said, looking with big eyes at Haseul.
Haseul took her temperature only to find it was nothing out of the ordinary. However Haseul couldn’t resist the doe eyed girl.
It might have been an early sickness or just an excuse, she thought. At the same time Haseul knew how she had been when she was younger, sometimes just needing a break. So she decided to take care of Vivi at home.
They had eaten cut up fruits, cuddled together on the sofa and watched anything the young girl's heart desired.
They were in the middle of watching ‘Frozen’ when Vivi paused.
“I want to watch ‘Roses are red, Violets are blue,’” she said.
Haseul knew it was her favorite program because she never missed it and so they watched it together. It was about an innocent and beautiful violet meeting a prickly and somewhat drawnaback rose.
As the program was ending and the two flowers were becoming friends Vivi had yawned and said “You can be the violet mama, and I will be the rose!”
Vivi laid down in her mother’s lap, immediately dozing off, exhausted yet satisfied. Haseul looked down at the girl and smiled, even if the girl couldn’t see it.
— One week earlier —
Haseul came home one evening, work keeping her for longer than she would have liked. The sick little girl was sitting on the sofa, watching her favorite program. She had been at home for almost one week, but seeing the girl again brought a smile to Haseul’s lips.
“Time for your favorite, baked sweet potato!” Haseul announced.
Vivi did not answer, remaining silent and still, so Haseul hurried over to her.
As Haseul came into Vivi’s view, Vivi looked up slowly.
“I’m scared.”
A worrying feeling grew inside of Haseul.
— One day before —
Needles pricked Vivi’s skin over and over again. Haseul could see it was painful and said “When this is over we are going home and on the way we are getting ice cream.”
Vivi only nodded as an answer.
When all the tests were done, Vivi and Haseul were left alone. Haseul brought out a coloring book for Vivi but the girl’s eyelids were falling heavily. The mother looked at the girl sleeping peacefully, wishing her dreams would be filled with joy.
The coloring book never got filled with color.
A knock on the door interrupted them during the night. It was one of the doctors, asking Haseul to come with her into the corridor. Haseul went into the corridor where her worry got replaced with hopelessness, like thorns, inflicting physical pain in her stomach.
She was walking back into Vivi’s room, everything feeling worse.
— The day —
Haseul was crying, holding a small Vivi in her arms.
“Why are you sad mama?” Vivi asked.
Haseul could not bring her tears to a stop, only getting as far as sobbing. It took a long while before she could answer the little girl.
“I’m not sad. Everything will be okay,” Haseul smiled, trying to comfort them both, but her smile couldn’t hide the lies.
Vivi gave her a weak smile, “I know you are lying.”
This brought Haseul back to tears and she felt as if all the emotions would overwhelm her.
“But why me?” A tear escaped Vivi’s eyes as well.
Haseul didn’t know the answer, wishing she could do anything to stop it. But she couldn’t.
“I think that, if all of us are flowers and Death is picking us, he would choose the prettiest little blossom he could.”
“But I want to be a thorny rose!” Vivi answered, smiling as brightly as she could. The mother smiled back at her little girl through the tears and hugged her tightly.
As Haseul held the girl she looked towards the window. Outside she saw a thorny rose bush, from it a beautiful pink rose was growing.