"Alright, kids, next week each of you will bring your favorite flower to school. This is for environmental activities as well as training you on how to take care of plants on your own."
The teacher clapped her hands a few times, signaling that the class could disperse and do as they wanted from that moment on.
February 22, 10 years ago.
Cupid quickly ran outside, watching some insects crawling on the branches of the trees in the schoolyard. When he peeled off the black beetle and brought it close to his mouth, someone suddenly called out, stopping him in his tracks:
"Hey!"
"Huh?"
"Don't eat it! If it's poisonous, you'll die!"
"But…what if it's not poisonous?"
"Uh…" The boy held the stuffed seal in his hand, paused, thought about something then said: "We have to cook it to get rid of the poison!"
"Uhm…you're right." Cupid stood up, his other hand brushing off his dirty pants: "The kitchen is nearby so…we…can go cook it there, right?"
"Sure do! But, are we allowed to go into the kitchen? It's not lunchtime yet so…"
Cupid looked back at the bug in his hand then turned to look at the boy with the other hand holding a stuffed seal: "So this can be considered as a snack before lunch?"
"Huh? Do you get snacks before lunch at home?"
Cupid shook his head back and forth: "No. But my parents told me to go to the fridge and get whatever I want there, my parents often buy snacks and put them in there."
"W…why does it sound like your parents are kind of irresponsible…" he hugged the seal tightly, his face slightly irritated but then he nodded: "Maybe it's okay to eat it before lunch…I wonder what the bug will taste like when cooked?"
Cupid looked down at the bug in his hand and sighed, "No…"
"No…?"
"No…this isn't enough. If you want to eat, I'll have to catch more bugs. One isn't enough for both of us."
"C…can't we just cut it in half?" The boy looked sadly at the bug that was wriggling its eight legs as if trying to find a way to escape Cupid's hand.
"Then…it's too small, you might not be able to taste it…well, you can just hold this one…oh, I'll find a box to put it in."
Cupid ran into the classroom, rummaged through a toy pot, and ran out to catch some more bugs with the boy and the stuffed seal in his hand.
After enthusiastically filling the whole pot with bugs, the bell rang signaling lunchtime.
"Uh…oh no! We can't have a snack for lunch anymore…" The boy with a stuffed seal suddenly realized.
"Then let's eat it…after lunch, maybe?" Cupid ask
"Uhm! That's fine." The boy nodded.
"Cupid…!" Suddenly a familiar voice called out from somewhere: "Nova…! Where did you two going… oh, so you're hiding in the garden…"
Seeing the two children sitting in the middle of a toy pot filled with black bugs, their teacher asked loudly: "W…what are you two doing! Go back to the dining room quickly! It's lunchtime, if you don't eat, the other kids will eat all the food."
Cupid panicked, quickly holding the pot of bugs with both hands, handing it straight to the teacher: "Can you keep it for us? We plan to cook them and eat them after lunch."
"Huh?! You two doing to do…what now?"
"Eat it." Cupid repeated, thinking that she hadn't heard what Cupid had said before.
"That's right! We were going to eat before lunch but…it was already lunchtime, so we left it for dinner." Nova said sadly.
The two boys handed their teacher a pot full of bugs and left to eat lunch, but before they could leave, the teacher called out to them.
"Can we…talk about this first?"
So the two of them were forced to listen to the teacher's lecture for half an hour about not to catching bugs for cooking, don't eating anything bad or playing games like this anymore. If they were discovered, they would be grounded and not allowed to go outside to play for a while.
But even after all that lecture, little Cupid was like water off a duck's back. A few days later, he was still busy catching bugs, of course this time he wouldn't be foolish enough to put them in his mouth, but he was caught by the teacher.
While being grounded in class, Cupid sat in the corner of the classroom, hugging his legs. Just silently looking down at the floor.
Suddenly a stuffed seal fell on Cupid's head, causing him to raise his head and look through the nearby window.
Someone's head appeared.
"Uhm!" A pair of small hands grabbed the window frame, then the eyes popped out: "So you're here."
"Mr.Seal? Is that you?" Cupid tilted his head and asked, he only remembered the seal that the other kid was holding, but couldn't remember his name.
"Sea... Y... right! It's your friend seal here!" Nova didn't expect that one day he would be called that, but it was like music to his ear because the seal was the sea animal he liked the most among all the animals.
Cupid quickly pushed the stuffed seal closer to the window when he saw Nova trying to push him in.
However, Nova slipped and fell onto Cupid.
"It…it hurts…!" Nova fell to the side, rubbing his leg.
"Why did you jump in here? Go play with your friends out there would be nicer than in here right?" Cupid wasn't angry, but he wasn't good at making friends, so he was used to being alone most of the time.
"Uh…I don't know. Is it more fun to play with you?"
"Fun?"
"Uh, like, if I play with other friends, they don't…like my questions…"
"You're just asking them some questions, right? Why would they hate you for that?" Cupid frowned in confusion.
"I don't know either…and some friends even said…I…should share my seal with them. But I won't! My grandpa bought it for me! I have to cherish it!"
"Why…? Whatever your family buys for you, do you have to cherish all of it?"
"No…but my grandpa…his health isn't very well. So I want grandpa to be happy, he buys things for me so I cherish them so he knows…he's happy."
"So that's how it is…" Cupid pulled the stuffed seal closer to Nova: "Then cherish it more. What's its name?"
"Uh? I…haven't named it yet!"
The two boys looked at each other, looking down at the stuffed seal. Cupid then turned his eyes to the alphabet board stuck on the wall. He pointed so that Nova would turn to look at him too.
"B…E…L?" Pointing at the blue letters, Cupid asked, "Can we called this seal, Bel?"
"Uhm…yes! Bel!"
"Bel."
The two children then took turns patting the seal's head until the bell rang signaling mealtime.