“Avarice.”
“...”
“Avarice?”
“...ugh”
“Avarice!”
*Slap!*
“Huh? Wh-what?!”
A disheveled curly hear youth flew from under the cover of his bed to frantically look around.
A frown was prominent on his face as he was quite enjoying his dream.
However, a tan-looking middle-aged woman was staring down at him with a penetrating gaze from his bedside.
Seeing this woman the boy’s annoyed expression fell instantly and was replaced with fear.
“Mo-mom.”
“You're not up yet?! The snippers are still not fed and it’s already mid-day!”
The boy turn to look out his window to see that it was indeed around that time of the day.
“Hurry up and go do your chores.”
The woman was about to leave after saying that, but she paused to look at her son.
She saw that he was staring out the window with a strange expression on his face, and his eyes had dark bags underneath them.
Her once angry expression turned to worry, and she approached him before saying.
“Avarice, is everything alright? You seemed to not be getting enough sleep lately. I also heard a noise coming from your room at times in the night, what’s wrong?”
Avarice's strange expression fell from his face and he turned from the window to look at his mother.
With her being so close he can see the wrinkles at the corner of her eyes. She placed her hand on his forehead to further check on him and he felt the calluses on her palms.
He forced out a smile before saying.
“I’m fine mom, just a few bad dreams that’s all.”
Despite hearing his words his mother's expression was still filled with worry, as she said.
“If you don’t feel like doing the chores today, then-”
Avarice quickly cut her off before saying.
“No-no! Father is already busy with the farmland, and you're busy with the house and taking care of little Ajin. The least I can do is look after the animals.”
Avarice flipped over the covers while saying that and he rush to clean up himself.
His mother smiled at his back wondering how she got lucky with getting such a thoughtful son.
“Okay, I’ll leave you to it.”
Avarice was left alone as he brushed his teeth and washed his face. After finishing, he stared at the water that was left in the bucket.
He saw his reflection.
A boy with a light brown complexion and freckles, along with a bundle of black curly hair stared back at him.
Looking at the dark circles under his eyes, Avarice’s mind wandered back to the dreams he’d been having recently.
“I still don't know what that place is. It’s strange but it’s a lot better than this damn place. However-”
Avarice’s mumbles stop there and his face gained a tinge of dread.
His dream consisted of him growing up in another family and living a totally different but amazing life in another world, but that was cut short every time when he suddenly died.
But, the death in his dream felt so real he would actually feel like he was dying before crying out in fear and waking up.
Avarice took up a towel by the side and dry his face before leaving his room.
As he was about to exit the house his ears pick up on the floorboards creaking behind him.
A smile appeared on his lips as he pretended not to notice.
Just as he exited the house he quickly stepped to the side.
“Hah!”
“Huh?”
The little boy who had aimed his kick from behind at him saw that his perfectly timed attack had missed its target.
The youth then felt a hand latch onto his leg and he soon saw the world turn upside down, now the ground was up and the sky was down.
“Waahhh! Put me down, put me down.”
Avarice watched his little brother flailing around and he chuckled before saying.
“Who were you trying to sneak up on? Don’t you know I’m a powerful person, look how I easily caught you.”
Folding his hands, the little boy glared at Avarice before saying.
“You greedy butt, you took my allowance again! I want it back!”
Avarice grinned before he let go of the youth.
“Owch!”
His head let out a soft thud when it landed on the floorboards.
“How can you treat your little brother like this? You mean and greedy stilfer.”
Flicking his little brother’s forehead Avarice reprimanded.
“Who are you cursing at you little shit.”
Tears well up at the corner of the youth's eyes as he got up and yelled while he ran off.
“I’m going to hide it in another place so you never find it! You greedy stilfer!”
“Ajin! How dare you curse at your brother like that!”
Avarice smiled evilly when he heard his little brother’s cries of pain upon receiving a couple of slaps from their mother.
Leaving their two-story home, he walked to the back of their yard where the animals were kept.
He was late so they were a bit noisy from being kept waiting.
He first fed the snippets, that looked like chickens but with two heads and three legs. He also collected their eggs.
After, he moved from the well nearby to the bigger animal cages that looked similar to goats and cows but were quite different in appearance.
Avarice’s family was well off since his father was the Village Chief. They had a slightly bigger yard and a lot of varying animals than their neighbors. His father also owned farmland some distance away from their home as well.
“Whew.”
Avarice placed down the empty bucket next to the well and released a tired sigh.
His gaze drifted to the red sky above to squint at the seven suns.
"Man it's hot."
He said while holding his shirt and pulling it away from his sweaty body, hoping to cool himself down somewhat.
Suddenly, two pairs of hands covered his eyes.
“Sulee, guess who it is.”
Avarice smiled as he gently removed the hands before he said.
“As far as I know, I only have one Leesu that would call me Sulee.”
Avarice turned to face a girl around his age that was smiling happily at him.
Giggling the girl went to hug him but Avarice quickly stop her and said.
“Wait! I’m completely soaked in sweat I’m not huggable right now.”
“Hmm, are you kissable then?”
The girl suddenly leaned forward and gave Avarice a quick peck on his lips.
She then laughed when she saw his slightly embarrassed reaction.
Smiling bitterly Avarice said.
“You always do these things Maivilin, what if someone sees us, it would be ten times as embarrassing.”
“Don’t worry, you and I-”
The girl called Maivilin was about to say that they were alone, but the voice of someone suddenly echoed out.
“Oh look at you two. You both can’t even wait for the wedding already up to these things.”
They turn to see Avarice’s mother coming up to them.
Avarice's bitter smile increased, and Maivilin's face turned red.
She embarrassingly lowered her head and twiddle her fingers.
“Hello, Mrs. Sin.”
She mumbled softly.
Chuckling, Avarice's mother spoke as she moved towards the well.
“Oh, you don’t need to be so embarrassed. The wedding between you two was decided by your fathers when you two were born. We didn’t even have to tell you two about it, you both fell in love naturally. That just means you two were fated to be together.”
Maivilin got more embarrassed but she still nodded her head.
He then Pinched Avarice’s short sleeve to get his attention.
Avarice turned to her to hear her say.
“Let’s go to our special spot.”
Seeing her current behavior, Avarice thought in his mind.
‘So cute.’
Avarice made a sound of agreement before he said.
“I’m just about finishing feeding the animals before we can go.”
“It’s fine, you need to spend time with your Leesu. I’ll finish up for you since nothing much is left to do from the looks of it.”
Avarice hesitated a bit at hearing his mother’s proposal, but the only thing left was to check the cages and replace one or two drippers so he eventually said.
“Okay, I’ll take a bath first then-”
Avarice was suddenly cut off by his mother.
“There’s a lake up that mountain, why don’t you two have some fun swimming? The day is quite hot.”
“Oh, but not too much fun.”
Avarice looked at his mother with a face that said why, while Maivilin's reaction was slow, but eventually, her eyes widen when she realized her implication.
The both of them walked away, an awkward atmosphere hung between them as they made their way out the front gate to the nearby mountain outside the Village.
Avarice was in the lead while Maivilin silently walked behind him.
After twisting and turning while walking up the mountain, they reached a secluded clearing, and Avarice can see a small waterfall along with a small lake up ahead.
Trying to dissolve the persisting weird atmosphere, Avarice turned around and said.
“Uhm...mom is just joking, we’re still...ahh...too young to be doing that kind of stuff so you don’t have to worry about me, you know, wanting that from you.”
The more Avarice spoke the more awkward he became.
Maivilin was his Leesu, but it wasn’t easy to talk about stuff like this with her. Even though she loved pulling those pranks when he wasn’t expecting it, anything further than that and she would become completely embarrassed.
The both of them reached the lake before Maivilin suddenly held his shirt from behind.
Avarice turned around and he saw Mavilin lift her head to look at him.
Seeing the look in her eyes, Avarice realized what she wanted him to do so he lowered his head a bit and planted a kiss on her lips.
After a moment, Avarice pulled away and Mavilin lowered back her head.
Her soft voice then echoed out.
“I want to wait until we’re married, is that alright?”
Avarice scratched the back of his head while he responded.
“Sure, if that’s what you want.”
‘I’ll just do what I’ve been doing until then.’
Despite his reassuring words to Mavilin, his thoughts were filled with a bit of…
“Don’t be too greedy Avarice.”
Mavilin suddenly said and Avarice scrunched up his face because of it.
“I’m not greedy. If I was, it would have led me to become lustful, self-center and selfish towards your feelings, but I’m not those things.”
Mavilin looked up at him before responding to his words.
“You're just good at hiding it and restraining yourself.”
Frown deepening at her words, Avarice asked.
“How did you come to that conclusion?”
Mavilin didn’t respond to his question and only look back down.
Avarice looked down as well, and he saw that a bulge was at his crotch.
“…”
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺