Two months later;
"You didn't sleep again, did you?"
She could tell from the bags hanging beneath his eyes
With a heavy sigh, a skinny looking woman who seemed to be in her early thirties asked her son
She fixed her son's bottons with her lanky fingers and ran her fingers through his bangs which covered his forehand
The young lad mockingly gasped at her with an offended look
"Mom you watched me sleep how could you ask me such a question?"
That was how their mornings began and that day wasn't an exception
Hearing his mom's voice only motivated him to take a step futher
"You are so stubborn, just like your father"
She mumbled with a slight pout on her features
Her husband always had to work and search through the harsh cold weather to provide food, money or any thing enough to take his family through the day without starving disregarding his illness
This only gingered the young lad to keep pushing and push hard
"Hyung~"
In came little Felix with his tiny feet making tapping sounds on the hard concrete floor
Both his hands were suspended in the air awaiting his brother to sweep him off his feet
Instead, unlike the usual days, his mother quickly swayed him off his feet before his brother could reach him- welcoming a forced pout onto both their features
"Mom"
The young lad questioned with a slight scowl
" No, No and no. Not today you two little bunny babies. Can't you see your shirt?
He'll only form creases on it"
The woman questioned her son while she caressed the surfaces and the sharp edges of his properly ironed shirt
He wondered how and where his mother had the iron to iron the shirt that good
Because the last time he checked the iron they had, had been dismantled some years back
It made him remember how wonderful the woman was, she could do anything
He together with his younger siblings called her 'wonder woman' simply because certain times the things she did were just wonderful and unbelievable
She performed magic when all hope was lost
She was his wonder woman
It just made him chuckle
"And how did you do this, wonder woman?"
"You know what she always says 'I have my own ways' "
In came messy haired Nayeon with her index finger sticking out dramatically as she let her slurry words out
"Of course I have my own ways"
She said with a proud toothy smile adoring her lips which displayed her signature rabbit teeth
"Now hurry you're going to be late for your paper"
She hastily picked up the necessary stationaries such as his pen, pencil and earaser and grabbed his hands and said
"I'll escort you, let's go"
"You don't need to do this mom"
He pointed out while he followed the woman
"I want to okay,
Today is a very big day for you and I wish I could walk you through it but I can't, so this is the least I can do.
So don't stop me"
She said as they walked through the cold weather
The only thing shielding them was their thin pieces of clothen unlike the others they saw on their way
The government school was few kilometers away from their hut which they preferred to call a house
And he away had to walk to school where he would see rich people driving their kids to their private schools
He always had conflicted emotions when he saw them
He didn't know whether to be fascinated and happy to see lavish human length cars
Or to be sad and envious of people who were probably his age mates or even younger being driven in the comfort of such cars
Honestly, it sometimes made him question his existence
But he kept on reminding himself that it was all about the timing and patience
He knew his time was approaching
He could feel
He could feel it deep in his bones and the idea of winning the scholarship wasn't helping at all
At that point the plan was to win the scholarship, study in Seoul and make money for him and his family
And even if no one said it out loud, he knew they were all counting on him
So he couldn't afford to fail
"Hey"
He heard his mother say with a shaky voice beside him which made him turn his head to her
"Yes?"
He responded
"I don't want you to feel pressured in that hall"
She began
I know you wanna get this but don't pressure yourself too much just take it easy on yourself
In moments were you can't seem to grasp an answer for a question, don't panic, don't pressure your brain at all
Just calm down, take a deep breath to relax and read the question over and over again
If you still don't get it move to the next question
Don't waste your time trying to figure out what the answer is
Remember the clock is ticking
When you feel like you are done with the ones you can tackle, come back to the ones you couldn't and try to write something down
Don't let our situation bother you too much "
She paused
And hey, if you don't get it,
Well what do you think happens.... life still goes on man
Just breath, stay focused, answer the questions properly, leave no blank space and most importantly focus on your work
You can do it
I believe in you my son"
She said as she walked along side her son who was attentively listening to her
She knew very well how the younger had been hard on himself for the paper
She just didn't want him to fell pressured, that way the urge to impress might overwhelm him and he might do something really dumb
And dumb?
Dumb wasn't in her son's vocabulary
She could bet her life on her son's intelligence but at certain points and situations one needs to calm, free and relax the brain in order for it to function efficiently
And this case wasn't an exception
By the look on the woman's face the young lad could tell she was dead serious and she was not shitting him at all
Not that she had a fierce look on or anything
Psh, how could she have a fierce look with those cute eyes
But she rearly looked this serious with him
She was always jovial and just cheerful and with those cute doe eyes she perfectly rocked with her personality
Sometimes she was the reason why he got to see his father smile
In fact she made the whole family smile in such difficult situations
She just knew what to do and when to do it
She wasn't wonder woman for no reason
"Thanks wonder woman"
He said and engulfed her in a tight hug to which she returned
He wanted to just give her the world
"Now go home, you look like you'll turn into a pillar of ice in no second"
"Good luck, fighting!"
She said with both her hands forming fists in front of her face
"Fighting!"
Her son also followed her actions
In the examination hall
It had been approximately two minute and half since he had been handed his paper
He had taken his time to glance through the questions
He held his pen in his right hand and pressed it to his sheet with determined look on his face and an unbeatable posture
"For the family"
He whispered before digging in