Episode 5 – Protection

“Catch the ball Taetae! I’m throwing it to you!”

*FACE SLAM*

“Ouch!” her scream pierced through the silent backyard like a gun shot. Stephanie quickly rushed to Taeyeon’s side and check on her. Soon, teachers and the other children appeared through the door that connects the indoor to the outdoor.

“Are you okay Taetae? Let me touch your nose and see if it’s flat!” Stephanie pinches her friend’s nose to see if it’s damaged or broken.

“ah ah! Stephanie. It’s very painful.” Streams of tears flowed down Taeyeon’s cheeks.

“What happened here? Stephanie what did you do to Taeyeon?” one of the teachers questioned Stephanie, suspecting that Stephanie was the one who injured the other girl. Stephanie was shocked to be questioned in this manner. She is too overwhelmed to answer the teacher’s question.

“It’s the ball Miss Kimmmm. We were playing the ballllll. I ran with my back facing mushroom andddd when I turned around, the ballll hit my face. It’s not her faulttttt. Don’t blame her.” Taeyeon answered on the behalf of Stephanie. She was trying her best to fight back her tears so that she could speak clearly to the teacher. She looked over to Stephanie; she is standing so still that someone might have hit an acupressure point that stops any human movement. For some reason, she felt that her mushroom was accused of something that she did not do and that she has the responsibility to protect and speak up for her.

“If that is the case, be very careful the next time. Come; let’s go wash your face.” Miss Kim said and held Taeyeon’s hand, pulling her in to the washroom. Taeyeon turned her head and look over her shoulder to find that her mushroom was still as steel.

Realizing that she was alone, again, Stephanie walked towards the swing and sat down. She was feeling down since she was being accused that she hurt her playmate when in actual fact, everything was just an accident. No one wanted this to happen. She didn’t cry because all the accidents with the other children made her strong and tearless. She swayed and swayed, thinking if her playmate’s nose was broken. After washing, Taeyeon quickly escaped the teacher’s clutch and went to the backyard to find her playmate. She was spacing out on the swing at the corner of the backyard. Taeyeon ran up to the other girl and stood still in front of her.

“Look at my nose! It’s still working!” Taeyeon commented while wrinkling and poking her nose. When it did not garner any attention from the other girl, she added with her volume upped.

“It is all good! You can feel it!” she grabbed her playmate’s index finger and started poking her own nose.

“See! It’s hard. AH CHOO!” Stephanie finally looked up to Taeyeon’s face.

“hahaha. It’s… ticklish” She can’t help but chuckled at the face in front of her.

“You are smiling! I’m happy. I’ve got sweets with me.” She fumbled through her pockets and opened her palm containing the sweets. To her surprise, there was only one.

“There is only one. “There was sadness in her tone. Although she wanted to eat it very badly, she opened the wrapper and popped the sweet into the other girl’s mouth.

“You can have it! I have plenty of them back home. Mommy says when someone is not talking; a sweet will make them talk. Mushroom, are you there?”

“I... am” Stephanie replied short, still spacing out with the sweet in her mouth.

“Welcome back! I will push you so you will get higher!” Taeyeon ran to Stephanie’s back and slightly pushed her back. She continued this routine until Stephanie was getting really high.

“Taetae! It’s too high here. I’m scared!” Stephanie yelled. Taeyeon stepped to the side and attempted to slow down the swing by pulling the chains the opposite way.

“I will stop it!”

“Why did you push me so hard for? you are so mean!”

“Mint?! (same pronunciation as mean) you tasted me before?! How do you know I’m mint like a peppermint?”

“YAH! I meant mean! M-E-A-N. not M-I-N-T.” Stephanie replied the other girl with a smack on the latter girl’s shoulder.

Soon, the other girl became the reason for the other girl to attend their childcare. They grew closer and bonded very well. Every day passed happily with laughter, without any tears; which are all past tense now. But sadly, things don’t always end beautifully.

“Taetae, I..I..”

“Yes mushroom?