Chereads / Along The Sidewalk / Chapter 3 - Bewitching Voice

Chapter 3 - Bewitching Voice

David walks near to the girl and the woman but before they could notice him coming towards them he ended up observing the things on one of the stalls along the sidewalk. From the corner of his eye, he watches the three of them. The girl carrying the kid was playing with him; strangling her nose against his while he giggled and pulled on her braid. The mother of the kid watches them both with affection and it made him smile.

"Gomab seubnida." The woman croaks out in a foreign language and bows her head in front of the girl with tearful eyes.

"Oh no! No need to thank me. I was just teaching the person the thing he should have done himself." The girl smiles at the woman. "Neo gwaenchanh ni?" She asks the woman with concern and she nods her head happily, wiping away her tears.

"Why did you lie about him hitting my child?" The woman asks.

"Just so he would give up and let go of you two but then I realized that things might go wrong for both of you later when I leave so I had to make another lie."

"Another lie?"

"Yeah... I don't live at the end-street house, just happen to be a passerby who like everyone knows about the fact of the rich family living there." The girl shrugs and David stares at her for a while till the man at the stall declares the price of the bracelet in his hands that he had picked up earlier while peeking at the girl and the woman. David looks at the guy owning the stall and gives a confused smile.

"It's a lucky charm. Give it to your best person." The man says. David pays him and when he turns back, he finds that the child is in his mother's arms while the girl was nowhere in sight.

David runs towards the mother and asks her about the girl. She tells him that she went straight. Before David could follow on her instruction, the mother of the child stops him and gives him a hair pony band. David looks at it confusedly.

"My child took it out of her braid. You think you could give it back to her?" The woman clears David's confusion and he nods his head in approval, holding the hair band in his hand with a smile.

David follows the woman's guide and soon finds her walking toward the bridge which was across the street. David watches her from across the street while she skipped her way, towards an old man who was sitting at the edge of the bridge against the sidewalk. He was sitting on a black sheet with a bowl in front of him. He was a beggar.

The girl crouched beside the old beggar and whispers something in his ear, the beggar smiles and nodes in response while giving space for her to sit on his sheet. The girl sits on it and takes out a flute from her small bag that was hanging across her shoulder.

The girl works with her hands magically on the flute and produces sweet sound, the sound that mesmerized David. David crosses the street and stands near to the beggar and the girl. Listening to the sound of the flute, more people gather around. As she plays the music David could feel the Goosebumps rising through his skin. She stops playing it and curves her mouth to say something...

In a town far away

There lived a young girl

She had no parents

She had no one

She lived life on her own

She again plays the flute, dancing her fingers like a pro across the flute.

She wasn't a beauty

She wasn't so rich

But a soul so pure

A mind couldn't resist...

David like others was engrossed with her singing that was synced with the flute music. He couldn't move an inch. The sound of her voice bewitched him.

Yet she daydreamed about a prince

The one who would take her

Where everyone happily lived

But ohhh, never did she know

The world wasn't the place

To grant her every wish

When she walked out her home

People made fun of her dreams

Saying; not a girl like you can become a castle's queen

But she made a choice

One that would make everything right

She stopped singing and playing the flute. There were more than ten people now, waiting for her to continue but she puts her flute down.

"What choice did she make?" A little girl from the crowd asks her and she smiles looking at her.

"For that, you have to come again tomorrow, you pretty girl." She answers her.

"But why can't you tell it right now?" The girl asks with worrisome written all over her face.

"Now we wouldn't want to rush things, good things come with patience and if we want her to have a happy ending let's be patient then. Okay?" The little girl nods her head with a shy smile.

The girl stands up and removes her hat and bows in front of the crowd. Everyone cheers and applause her and she smiles back at everyone. One after the other person comes towards the old beggar and fills his bowl with money. The old beggar prays for the young girl before she turns to leave.

David comes in front of her and she hits his chest and almost falls when David acts on his reflexes and catches her, supporting her through her waist. She blinks her eyes at David and he clears his throat after she straightens up, a little awkwardly.