Chapter - 2 - A different path of life

"A new beginning, is like a new life....

It could be joyful, it could be depressing..

It could be beautiful, it could be ugly...

It could be calm and genuine, it could be unpleasant...

But...whatever it is...I'll have to live it."

The Sun, which looked like a glowing ball of fire, high up in the sky, and had it's rays penetrating through the green, Juicy and thick leaves of tall and slender, giant-like trees. As one could guess, it was fairly humid, or in other words, not the typical weather for working in the dense forest of Hanyang.

It was unlikely, for anybody to be spending long hours of working at the Namdaemun market, unless it was forced, let alone, work in the forest.

on a day like this, it was least expected for a young women to rush into the forest, with her husband, in search of wood, for their livestock.

"The weather doesn't count." She sternly said, while looking up at her husband, who would wrestle a bull, rather than accompanying her to the forest.

"But honey, i'm sick!" He uttered the words, which were later replaced by a fake cough.

he pulled her wrist, and brought it up, to his forehead, somewhat trying to claim that he was ill with a fever.

"Whatever, you're still coming with me." she said while almost dragging him out of the Hanok house.

Yes, they were a humorous yet admirable couple, until the husband had gotten on her bad side, for which, he would dare not protest.

A while later, they found themselves, amidst the forest consisting of a thousand trees, that would somewhat, stand as an obstacle, for the few visitors that came.

The wife made her way amidst the trees, and had finally found a tree, which would be content for them, and the works that were carried out.

She pulled out an axe, and hit the branch, severing it from the tree, with great force. she exhaled in a tiresome manner, and continued with the same action, of chopping down the branches.

"Is there....perhaps... a well nearby? I feel dehydrated." the husband said, lying on the ground like a dead person.

"I've been doing all the work, all this while, and you're the one who's dehydrated?" She said, rolling her eyes and shaking her head towards the end of the sentence.

"Leave it...i'll fetch water myself!" He retorted, while angrily stomping away, and disappearing at a distance.

He kept walking, not having the slightest idea, about how far he kept going. The only thing he cared about was for water that could suffice his thirst.

After walking an eternal path, he finally found an old well, with shrubs entangled all over it.

"This should do.." He said, as if he didn't even care whether the water was impure, or had made his condition worse.

What uplifted his mood was the fact that, there was a small sized wooden bucket kept near it.

He picked up the bucket, and sent it down the well, trying to fetch water...only if it even existed down the never ending hole.

The bucket had gone all the way down, but for a particular reason, it felt as if there was some kind of an obstruction, that didn't let it go any further.

After his attempts to move it down, terribly failed, he lost his patience and climed down the well, to examine what had gone wrong, as he was desperate to quench his thirst.

The deeper he went, an eerie feeling was caught up with him, that told him that it was probably not a good idea, to do this.

The exit of the well, now seemed like a small twinkling star to him.

He kept going, as it seemed peculiar to him, as of ,why the bucket would stop midway, like this.

He went deeper and deeper, until his foot touched something soft.

He looked down, and saw two small little hands, that seemed like that of an infant, whose body was hidden under a huge stash of weeds.

He quivered in fear, as he knew that something was terribly wrong, but he mustered up courage pushed away all the weeds, revealing a child, with closed eyes, seeming dead.

He wasn't thinking straight and was panicking. He wanted to scream out loud, but not even a word would come out of his trembling lips. He felt anxious and had a strong desire to leave, but he couldn't imagine himself leaving an infant in such a horrendous condition, even though the child might had been already dead...

he shook his thoughts away, and let his determined self hold the child in his arm, and climb up, with the help of the slightly pushed out bricks, up till the top.

It had been hours since he was gone, and now it had become a matter of concern, for his wife, who was done chopping down branches, almost an hour ago, and had been eagerly waiting for the return of her husband who had been away for a very long time.

The monotonous activity had drained all the energy from her body, but she, at the same time, was desperate to find the whereabouts of her husband, who had seemingly gone astray.

She called out his name, the farther she went...but to no avail.

Tears were rolling down her cheeks, as she felt the frustration and exasperation, of not hearing the childish yet confident voice of her husband, answering her afflicted shout.

The thought of him suffering made her lose her forbearance and had made her feel apprehensive, trembling in fear.

The husband on the other hand, tightly grasped on the dilapidated bricked edge of the well, trying to push himself out, at the same time, gripping the baby tightly, in his left arm.

He fell out of the well, and landed on his back...taking deep breaths of exhaustion, while holding his chest.

He slowly got up on his knees, and doddered his way, towards the nearby plants. He tried to search for medicinal plants, as he did have the minimal knowledge in ancient korean medicines.

As he kept searching, his leg got caught up in something. He had made an attempt to free himself, until he realised that the thorny creepers of a poisonous plant had tight gripped his leg and entangled around them, hence, moving hesitantly would just make things worse.

He kept himself calm, and reached the thorny and poisonous creepers, and tore them apart, which let out a pungent smell, as he slowly freed himself, from the thorny plant.

He moved aback carelessly, but winced in pain as he felt a thorn pierce through his skin which led to him, tripping over a thick mass.

luckily, he was immune to such injuries, and got up, looking down, just to experience another round of viewing a traumatic scene, of a dead man lying on the ground with thorns pierced through his leg.

The round of events taking place one after another, made him go crazy and he let out a loud scream, falling backwards, on the ground filled with creepers, gasping for breath.

The wife on hearing this loud scream, led her to the thought that it might have been that of her husband's. This thought, hence, fastened her pace, and had made her scream his name out even louder.

He heard his wife, and finally felt relieved as her scream was nearing them.

He got himself together, and stood up, holding the child at the same time and seeing a running figure, which was that of his wife, nearing them.

He took a few deep breaths, and gasped, trying to calm himself down, before answering his wife.

"Look....honey...I don't know whether you'll be able to process everything, when I tell you what happened, but right now.....we must save this child's life, as I can still feel her breathing." He said handing over the child to her.

"But-" Her sentence was cut off, as he held her wrist and rushed her through the forest.

"I'll explain everything....upon our return." He said, while suddenly starting to run, but at the same time, guiding the way out of the forest.

As soon as they had gotten out of the maze-like forest, He straight away rushed to the village physician's house, who was probably one of the best in Hanyang.

Even though he wasn't an imperial physician, he was the best for the poor peasants and workers, who could not offer proper treatment due to the huge amount of money they were charged.

The husband, ran towards his door, and banged on the door, eagerly waiting for his response as soon as possible.

He rushed towards his door, and opened it, to see the exhausted and anxious faces of the couple.

"Oh..hello there...What brings you here...?" His said, with exitement at the start...which had reduced on seeing their pitiful faces.

"I don't have time to explain, but you need to save this infant's life!" He said placing both of his hands on his shoulder.

The physician quickly took the baby inside, and lied the child down on the bed. He crushed and grinded some herbs and pushed it down the throat of the child.

The husband was still in a trance, along with the wife, who wasn't able to process things.

Everything had happened too quickly...

A while later, the physician had came out of the room, with an expression of ease, which somewhat made the couple feel a little more relieved.

"The child is fine...but you'll have to be a little more careful with her.....from now on..." The doctor said.

"Her?" The wife thought, as she unknowingly felt joy to know that it was a girl.

The physician walked to the husband, and bent down to whisper something in his ear, to which the father responded with an astonished expression.

The wife on the other hand, picked up the child in her arms, and walked out the door, feeling a little easy, as everything seemed normal again due to the daily crowd of people and the chitter-chatter of the workers, along with the sun's rays striking the surface like a ray of gold.

The husband followed her out, and turned towards the child with a grin, but it was soon replaced with a sullen expression as if, he just realised something wrong.

"What happened now?" she asked, making an annoyed poker face.

"The answer to that...is something you should know too." He said, rolling his eyes at her.

"What? you forgot something at the physician's house again?" she asked, in a slightly annoyed tone.

"No silly! Don't you realise, that we don't know this child's parents! She's basically an abandoned child! or else why would someone leave this cute girl in a well?!" He retorted in the fastest way possible, to which the wife was unable to answer, as she didn't understand a word.

"Wh-what?" she questioned, widening her eyes in confusion.

The husband didn't bother to reply, but looked away in annoyance, thinking about what he could do to aid this type of situation.

He knew that if this child's parents were not found, they would be left with no other choice...but to keep the girl...

He hesitated to make the statement, as this entire situation was too overwhelming for them.

He couldn't help it, but had to say it..

He took a deep breath, a turned towards his wife.

"The only thing we could do is....To keep this child..." He said, with a straight and emotionless expression.

He didn't allow the wife to respond nor react, to the words he had just uttered.

"Look...this child is basically homeless...she was seemingly abandoned, but we were on to her rescue....However, how on earth will she survive this enormously cruel world, without someone who can stand as a parent figure for her....and guard her...?" He said, turning towards the child and looking into her eyes in sorrow.

"You mean....we'll have to become....her parents?" she asked with a despondent expression.

"I mean...do we have another choice?....And also, you said that you wanted someone to make us feel proud, and carry on our family tree, so here we have it! we should consider this as a boon....not a bane." He said, with an asymetric smile, while patting his wife's shoulder.

"Lets be it then." She said in a strong-willed tone, while meeting her eyes with her husband.

Her husband's face lit up, with a flabbergastic expression, as he didn't expect his wife, to agree to his concern.

"Your life starts from here, my child." She said, while flashing a confident smile at the child, or now, rather, her daughter.

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