Chapter 2: 2

“What did you do to him?”

A customer came to the empty cafe, and the problem was it was an uninvited guest.

April sighed when she saw the woman screaming in front of the cafe staring daggers at her.

“Why are you sighing right now? You made this child sick.”

Behind the woman, Asher was standing with regret and helplessness on his face. It seemed that the little boy was the cause of the commotion that woke April up so early in the morning.

Since she first started eating with Asher a week ago, April had dined with him every day.

Initially, the child hesitated to come again, saying he didn’t have money even when she told him to visit again.

However, April told him that it was okay if he could bring flowers to put in the shop every day. The child picked up a bunch of flowers the next day.

Thanks to this, the fragrant scent of fresh flowers filled April’s small cafe every day.

It went on to continue for a week.

April was preparing breakfast to eat with Asher this morning when she heard a loud shout outside.

“You mean to say that Asher got a stomachache from eating my food?”

April rehashed the woman’s words in a way that made sense.

“Yes! You gave him food without my permission even though I’m his guardian. How are you going to take responsibility for this?”

April, who had been silently listening to the woman’s tirade, clucked her tongue at the absurdity of her words.

‘His guardian? I gave him food without her permission?’

Over the past week, April heard many stories from Asher. At first, the child was hesitant to open up, but he gradually opened up to her as they ate together.

Asher’s aunt raised him after his mother died from an infectious disease when he was only two years old. His aunt was the only family he had since he didn’t know who his father was.

His aunt didn’t abuse him, but she completely neglected him. She would leave the house early morning and come in late at night, leaving him a message to make his meal.

Of course, there was no way a five-year-old could properly feed himself alone. He was lucky enough to have bread and cheese, to eat, or else he would’ve starved to death.

Naturally, he didn’t know how to light a fire and cook warm meals for himself. Hence, he looked skinny enough for his bones to show.

It wasn’t just that.

The clothes he wore were also small for his age. In contrast, his aunt wore clean and new clothes.

April had her suspicions already but seeing it in person made things clear for her.

‘It looks like she thinks Asher is nothing but a nuisance.’

April wondered if the woman genuinely cared for Asher. She probably didn’t. She looked like someone who would get annoyed and leave a sick child unattended.

But why was the woman throwing false accusations at her? Contrary to her words, Asher didn’t look like he was in pain.

Instead, his face, which gained a little weight over the past week, looked good and healthy.

April inferred that there was only one reason why Asher’s aunt acted like that.

‘She must be here to extort money from me.’

April fed Asher breakfast, and now his aunt was acting like a guardian.

She tried to be patient, but she couldn’t hold in it longer anymore. But she knew that nothing good would come out if she lashed out at her. April’s anger soared, but she still managed to reply calmly.

“There was nothing wrong with the food. I use fresh ingredients every day.”

It was something that April was proud of. To maintain the freshness of her ingredients, she spent a lot of money to buy a refrigerator with cooling magic.

“Besides, I ate with Asher, and I didn’t get a stomachache.”

But the woman didn’t look convinced. Instead, she looked at her more brazenly this time.

“Do you think adults and children are the same? He said he has an upset stomach.”

Of course, a child’s stomach was different from an adult’s, but…

“Asher looks fine too.”

“Can’t you see that his face is pale?”

“Asher’s face has always been pale. You probably didn’t notice it since he was always covered in dirt, and he couldn’t wash his face properly.”

“I have to take him to the doctor, so you have to compensate me. You know we don’t have one here in town. I have to go to the next town. So pay me for the cost of the carriage and medicine. I can’t go to work today too, so give me my wage!”

April was right about Asher’s aunt wanting to extort money from her. She tried to say something, but she met Asher’s eyes and bit her lip.

Asher stood behind his aunt and mumbled, ‘I’m sorry.’ Then he bowed his head, clasped his hands, and wiggled his fingers.

April sighed a little as she looked at the child.

At first, April tried to be nice to the woman since her situation was also pitiful.

The woman was busy making a living, but she suddenly had to care for her younger sister’s child, whose father they didn’t know. April could sympathize with how hard it must have been.

Of course, that didn’t justify the woman’s neglect of Asher. It was just that April understood why she had done such a thing to him.

Still, April tried not to get involved with Asher’s relationship with his aunt. It was because she thought it was none of her business.

‘The concept of neglect here is different from that in Korea. In Korea, neglecting a child is considered abuse, but they tolerate it here.’

Asher’s aunt left him bread to eat, so it could be said that she didn’t leave him completely unattended.

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April would be the strange person in this situation if she got angry over this. So all she could do was give Asher a healthy meal every day.

However, if Asher’s aunt didn’t change her ways, April could no longer overlook her behavior.

“There’s something I’ve always wanted to ask Asher’s guardian if I ever met them.”

“What is it?”

“It seems like he’s not eating properly at home. Why is that?”

The woman’s eyes widened fiercely.

“Are you saying that I’m starving this child? I’ve never done such a thing. I always leave bread for him to eat every day!”

April didn’t answer the woman’s question. The answer was glaringly obvious, and the woman knew it very well than she did.

“Look at Asher’s clothes. They’re too old and small for his size. When did you even buy those clothes? Do you even care about him growing up?”

The woman’s face turned red in anger.

“What do you know anyway? Do you even know how difficult it is to raise a child?”

“…..”

“How can I buy new clothes for each season when I’m busy working to put food on the table? Of course, you wouldn’t know since you opened a cafe in a place like this. You must be living a dream.”

The woman’s voice rose, and the people began to flock one by one.

“What’s going on?”

“Sarah? What happened? What are you doing here?”

April bit her lip in embarrassment.

‘What do I do?’

The village was small, so the villagers naturally knew each other, and April was a strange foreigner in their eyes.

April knew that the villagers would side with this woman named Sarah whether her claims were valid or not.

It was already difficult to run a cafe in this small town, and if she were to create a conflict with one of the villagers here…

She didn’t even want to imagine the consequences and how it would affect her business.

Sarah spread her arms confidently as if she had just thought of a grand idea.

“Our Asher had an upset stomach after eating the food she made in her cafe.”

People began to gossip and murmur with each other.

“Oh my god, is that true?”

“How does she even procure her ingredients?”

“I’m glad I didn’t go to her cafe, but my daughter wanted to go there once, and I’m sure it would’ve been a disaster had I allowed her.”

People still sided with Sarah even if they didn’t know whether she was telling the truth or not.

April was upset. She could be blamed that it was her fault for giving food to the child without the consent of his guardian.

However, she couldn’t stand the accusation that the child had an upset stomach due to the food she gave him.

“I….”

April was about to explain her side when Asher, who was standing behind Sarah a while ago, mustered up his courage and stepped forward.

“Big sister April didn’t do anything wrong!”

All eyes focused on Asher, and he shrugged his body in embarrassment, but he still defended April against their false accusations.

Of course, his voice lowered slightly than before.

“I don’t have a stomachache! My aunt is lying. I was hungry, so big sister April made food for me.”

“Asher!”

As soon as Sarah shouted, Asher’s voice grew even quieter.

“Big sister April’s food is very delicious.”

The villagers looked at Asher and Sarah alternately with confused expressions on their faces. Even to them, Asher looked fine, and he didn’t show any signs that he was in pain.

On the contrary, his face looked somewhat healthier now that he had gained a little weight over the past week.

The villagers didn’t know that Sarah neglected Asher, and no one wanted to take April’s side openly. So they defended Sarah to the end.

“Well, she still shouldn’t have fed the child without his guardian’s permission.”

“Besides, how can she just give the child food for free? She must have given food to Asher so she could extort money from Sarah.”

“That’s right.”

“Really?”

April roughly swept her bangs away. Now that this incident had happened, there was no chance for her to get close to the villagers anymore.

Then all she had left was to say what she wanted to tell from the beginning.

“If you open your eyes, you would see how Asher is being neglected and mistreated. I gave him food because he was starving. Do I deserve to get criticized for doing such a thing?”

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