The light emitting from the lamp on the shuttered old table was the only source of light the thin skinnyĀ boy hadĀ
He sat on the weak wooden kitchen stool with an unbeatable posture
The few textbooks and workbooks he borrowed from his mates from school were opened agar with his eyes searching for answers nonstop
His eyes had turned red and heavy from keeping them open for so longĀ
Both his waist and wrist were aching and hurting both from sitting in a fixed position for so long or moving rapidly to scribble
His lips were partially red and swollen from bitting to draw blood from them for so longĀ
He sucked them to prevent them from splitting because of the harsh temperature
His skin was covered in goosebumps due to how cold the night wasĀ
His legs were knitted in hopes to magically produce at least the minimum calorie of heat for his body
He mentally refused to get his thin cloth he used to sleep since he covered his sleeping and then shivering mother with itĀ
But his mind was determinedĀ
His right hand never stopped scribbling
His eyes never stopped screaching
His brain never stopped racing
And whenever the thought of having a wink of sleep crossed his mind, he looked over his shoulders to regard his familyĀ
Both his parents warmly cuddle on a thin cloth lay beneath them on the hard concrete floor
His two younger siblings curled up in little balls with a single thin cloth covering them on the already flattened mattressĀ
Ā
It gingered him do more
To keep pushing
To keep pushing until his parents had a bedroom of their own where they could do all their frickles fracklesĀ
Until his younger siblings could sleep confrotably on a huge and soft bed with a warm and soft duvet shielding them from theĀ cold and harsh weatherĀ
Until his family quit having body pains from sleeping on the hard floor which they already stopped complaining about
Until he could see his father genuinely smile againĀ
Then, he would rest
Then, he would consider the act of take a winkĀ of sleep
But not now
He turned back with a much more determined look
To ace that paper two month away
He knew there was no space for failure at that point in his life
He had to get that scholarship by crook or hook
He understood that the opportunity was a one time thing, since never in the history of Busan community college has such a well-known and reputable school such as The Seoul University himself offered a scholarship to them
He knew he couldn't afford to failĀ
He had to do it for his familyĀ
For his parents, for his siblings and for himselfĀ
He dug-in with frowned eyebrows again- after all there was a ray of hopeĀ