🏘 — the park

Subin sat on the bench a few feet away from the playground structure where Haemi played, the woman looked up every now and then, her brown eyes searching for her daughter until she heard Haemi's loud laughter, or her small frame came into her line of vision. With a snort she tilted her head back down to the book she was reading, Legends & Lattes, a short fantastical read that kept Subin on her toes with every turn of the page, but she was growing bored now—and cold. Subin dogeared the page she was on, and put the book down on the empty spot next to her before adjusting the black peacoat over her turtleneck and the matching scarf wrapped around her neck. The soft waves of her brown hair were topped with a beanie, and she crossed her dark wash jean covered legs, the heels of her rubber Chanel boots shaking as she tried to get feeling back into her feet.

Subin didn't know how other parents did it, or if Haemi gained a bionic power that allowed her to last hours in the cold. Even the other children's stanima were short-lived after 30 minutes of being chased, climbing monkey bars, and repeatedly going down the slide. Subin finally stood up from the wooden bench, a quiet groan leaving her lips as she stretched her arms out in front of her, but the sudden sound of a scream piercing the air made her stop midway and her feet automatically marched to the sound of where it was coming from. She ducked her head as she walked underneath the hanging bars and other objects of play until she heard Haemi angrily huff from a "cave" that was underneath the slide. The sight of her daughter's small fist clenching the arm of a stuffed bear that clearly wasn't hers made Subin's eyes go wide.

"Haemi, no!" She started to scold the girl. The other little girl held the opposite arm of the bear, clearly the owner of the precious toy, was pouting so hard her puffed up cheeks looked like they had been countlessly pricked, and her big eyes were holding back a river of tears and loud wails. "She said I couldn't have it." Whined Haemi, shocking her mother even further, Subin never had this problem with her daughter before. "That's because it's her toy, you have plenty of bears at home." Subin tried to gently explain to Haemi and grab her daughter's arm to let go of the stuffed animal, but the words of "But I want this one too" made the other girl burst out into loud cries. Instead of Haemi letting go of the toy, she saw her chance. The child gripped the arm of the bear even harder and snatched it from the girl before she scampered away as fast as she could in her little Mary Janes. Subin was /pissed/, she swore her daughter was angel on earth at times, but this moment soured the cake. The other child was left once Subin tore after Haemi, leaving her things on the bench, and the pages of her book flying in the wind.