The weather was strange that day...
pleasant, yet heavy.
The sky was painted with dark clouds,
the trees swayed beneath the weight of the storm to come,
and the damp air whispered of rain.
Wee and Lamai walked beside Suda,
their new companion who seemed to know the world itself.
Suda spoke with his usual excitement,
explaining everything about this place,
its cultures, its wonders, its stories.
But as they entered a vast garden,
something shifted.
Wee froze.
Her breath faltered.
An unfamiliar scent drifted in the air.....
no, not unfamiliar.
Familiar.
Painfully familiar.
Her heart throbbed, her body trembled,
as Suda led them further inside,
toward a tree he proudly introduced as the most special of all....
Miss Fate.
The moment Wee laid eyes upon it,
her entire world shattered.
Her feet turned to stone,
her body stiff as though bound in invisible chains.
And then.....like a storm breaking into her mind.....
visions flooded her.
Yim.
Grandmother's words.
Candles flickering in the night.
A strange pull inside her chest,
as if her soul was being dragged into the tree itself.
Her knees gave way,
and she collapsed to the ground.
Tears burst forth from her eyes,
flowing as though they no longer belonged to her,
as though her very soul had decided to weep without her permission.
And then...she lost all control.
She screamed,
she cried like one mourning the death of a loved one.
Her voice tore through the air,
raw, broken, desperate.
Suda and Lamai were struck with terror.
Suda, who had only just met her,
had never seen such madness before.
But Lamai...
Lamai knew her since childhood.
Never once, in all those years,
had she seen Wee like this.
Wee, who was always so strong.
So unshaken.
And yet here she was,
completely undone.
Her lips trembled,
her voice muttered again and again.....
a single name:
"Yim… Yim… Yim…"
Every time her eyes rose to the branches of Miss Fate,
her cries grew louder.
The tree's branches were heavy with paper slips,
swaying in the wind like whispers of forgotten souls.
The sight broke her completely.
Her sobs grew wild,
her voice cracked,
and then, at last....
her body gave up.
Wee collapsed into unconsciousness.
Lamai rushed forward, tears spilling down her own cheeks.
She grabbed her friend, shaking her,
screaming her name.....
"Wee!!"
Panic spread like wildfire.
The students nearby gathered quickly,
their faces pale with shock at the scene before them.
Without delay,
they carried Wee to the hospital.
Doctors worked swiftly,
checking her condition,
treating her body.
And then, at last,
one of them stepped out.
His words cut through Lamai like a blade.
"Her body is fine.
But her heart… she has suffered an emotional breakdown.
Triggered by some deep shock, some buried grief."
Lamai's ears rang.
Her chest tightened.
The words refused to settle.
Her strong, unshakable Wee…
reduced to this.
And all because of a single tree.
A tree named Miss Fate.