Chapter 6: 5. Rosey

5. Rosey

“Rosey, why is our son outside?” Lucas asked in shock.

“I was…” Rosey couldn’t find the words for what had happened. It’s as if she broke the rules that her husband entrusted to her.

“I have no excuse…”

Rosey had a light tone that sounded soothing to hear. In her 30s, she gave off a more youthful look. She had wavy light brown hair reaching down to the mid-region of her back and wore a bone-white colored shirt with a dark brown dress reaching down to her ankles.

Rosey usually came across as a polite and respectful woman, but when encountering a lack of stability with money, she became someone Lucas was afraid of. One day, Lucas got hit in the stomach by returning with just 1 noble bronze coin, which wasn't enough to buy practically anything. She struck him so hard that he lay twitching like a broken person for half an hour. Eventually, she apologized by serving him food.

But when faults happen, Rosey would speak out the truth rather than hide it, especially towards Lucas. And the predicament that they were in right now was an example of her defeated manner yet being out front with it.

Without time wasted, Lucas hastily ran up the slightly elevated hill towards the house and immediately closed the door. He brought Josh inside, who naturally fell curious about what he saw.

“Papa,” he said in a high-pitched voice with underdeveloped speaking. “Outside, there’s big thing out there.”

“Yeah, I know, it’s okay,” Lucas overly worried while stroking Josh’s head.

Josh’s looks appeared to lean closer to his father than his mother. He had short black hair that barely covered his ears and wore a small white shirt tainted with hardened soil with brown pants, matching nearly what his father wore. Rosey, seeing Josh next to her husband, couldn’t help but imagine their son being a miniature version of Lucas. But the only thing that stood out about Josh was his red crimson eyes, something both didn’t possess.

Calm down, Lucas, he said to himself. We don’t want to lose composure like what happened before.

“Rosey, can you tell me what happened,” he asked while taking a steady breath.

“I… I was just out in the back grabbing some vegetables for lunch. I put him in the small box, like how I always did. I didn’t know he could leave out on his own now.” 

Rosey forgot three years had passed since giving birth to Josh. It was typically around that time frame when babies could grow quite considerably, which endowed greater strength that made Josh climb over the boxed play area where he mostly grew.

“So that’s how it went…” Lucas looked down from Rosey and faced Josh who began to wobble his head up and down in exhaustion.

He must be tired, he thought.

“I’m very sorry… Even when you said to keep him inside at all costs.” Rosey refused to look at Lucas from what she did.

“Don’t worry too much. Besides, it will be inevitable for him to step outside one day,” Lucas stood up and faced his wife, who still didn’t look at him.

Besides, my guts are saying that I shouldn’t upset you any more than how much I frustrate you with money, he shakingly added.

But this feeling of discomfort when Josh took his first step outside reminded Lucas once more of his past. Those voices that he heard from encountering the mercenaries resurfaced and became vivid. He remembered when his parents were still around with him and the girl he first loved, all being tossed away by a small mistake that he had made.

Lucas's conceptual idea of happiness was nothing but a blind path. If there was no light to guide him, he knows no road to such a destination. The only way to find this happiness was to keep on walking forward.

He dreamed of a place to live in tranquility and love, but this world will always have misfortune and grief. Like when walking blindly into a hole, nothing comes out unscathed.

Witnessing Josh exposed to the real-life world was as if Lucas had already fallen into a hole of uncertainty. From what he experienced, he feared that the same thing would happen once more. But at the same time, he refused to keep falling, not again.

Knowing that Rosey understood Lucas’s past and his circumstance, he gave her a warm smile.

“Thanks for worrying, but I believe we should approach this more maturely.”

Rosey hesitantly looked at Lucas in confusion. “Maturely?”

“All of this about keeping our child inside was too much. Eventually, he would step outside, and I think it’s important for him to be free and do whatever he wants to do.”

“But, what happens if…” Rosey couldn’t finish her sentence, but Lucas knew where she was coming from.

“And that’ll be our responsibility, Rosey.” Lucas placed Josh, who fell asleep, in his small boxed play area and continued talking.

“We have the strength to protect him… There is much to teach him and he’s still growing. I’m sure if we do our best in helping him grow, he can be strong enough to fight back. Back then, there wasn’t much I could do in my circumstance.”

Lucas, half of the time, had doubts about what he said. Occasionally, he didn’t even know what he was talking about. Despite his urge to stand back up and face his trials, he inevitably imagined people who were stronger than him that could take away his family once more.

“But what are we supposed to do?” Rosey asked. “I can only do things that won’t be much help for self-defense, and you are out there going to that tower.”

“Rosey, you are more of a fire user than I am. Unlike you, I can’t cast any fire no matter how hard I try. We also have books for him to read when he grows a little more. That way, he can understand more about this world. You have a lot of time, don’t you?”

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“Yes…But-”

“As parents, let’s at least do this much,” Lucas made his final decision while bowing his head down with hands on his sides.

Rosey was in a situation that brought her mind into a moment of tension. His bowing pose lit up a faint reminiscence of her past. Under a protected roof with doors closed and in the same position Lucas was making, she thought of the old times when she first met him.

“Alright, I get it! I’ll do what you’ll say, so stop bowing like that already,” she exclaimed with an embarrassed face.

“Thank you, Rosey,” Lucas said as if he knew that she would comply with his request without complications.

After he settled the situation, he remembered what he had come here for, the sole reason why Morgan permitted Lucas’s leave (at least it's what Lucas thought about).

“Oh, I almost forgot.”

With Rosey bewildered, Lucas slid one of his hands on his back where his bag was. 

“You asked why I came home early today. Well, the thing is, my group allowed me to since I had something to do. At least two of them did.”

Scavenging around the interior of his bag, he grabbed onto the familiar softness of cloth. Gently, he took it out and portrayed the neat dress in front of Rosey.

Standing back up straight, he said, “Rosey, happy birthday. This is for you.”

As he stretched his arm to bring the new dress towards Rosey, she backed off while staring down at what he held. With her hands awkwardly placed around her chest, she hesitantly reached them out to grab the dress. Lucas let go of it and handed it to Rosey, who looked at him with hopeful eyes. After a moment of trading eye contact, Lucas refused to look at her any longer. Both of their faces began to turn beet red.

“Well…” Lucas said with nervousness. “What do you think…?”

When Rosey held the dress, she unfolded it to reveal the dress in front of her. Like a medieval vintage dress of white and brown with a small cape covering the shoulder, the dress itself reached down, nearly touching the dirt floor.

“It’s…” Rosey thought for a bit and looked at Lucas. “It’s kind of generic. This is what I usually expect from a dress.”

Immediately, Lucas’s bright mood faded like a lit candle blown out. He looked at her with a smile that masked a layer of pain behind it. Internally, he was crying.

“I see,” he mustered. “So, I’m guessing it wasn’t that good then.”

That’s right, Lucas recalled. When it comes to money, she always gives off that strict attitude. And fashion and such were also the same as money in her eyes. What a letdown, and here I thought I got a good looking dress for once.

“Then if you want, I can return the dress and give you a better-”

But without a moment to react, Lucas felt a strong pull on his shirt, causing his upper body to lean forward. When he realized it, Rosey’s face was close to his. He felt something warm coming from his lip, a delicate feeling wrapped around with serenity.

As Rosey closed her eyes, she pulled on his shirt and pressed her lips onto his. He was too surprised to do anything but stare at her close face that was too focused on the intimate process taking place. And after a few seconds, she stopped pulling and stepped back with a joyous expression.

“Now, when did I say I hated it?” Rosey stared at Lucas intently, causing him to back off.

He couldn’t speak correctly from her sudden reaction. “Well- ah, didn’t you just say that it was generic? If you want, I can go back and… Um, get a new one...”

Lucas knew her personality as an honest type. Usually, when she confronted a situation, she would express her feelings straight up with no sign of bottling them. Though that defined her sincerity, her interests contributed just as much - money, to name a few.

He didn’t mind her being honest and sometimes hurtful when she didn’t intend to, but what caught him off guard the most was when she joked around. She rarely spoke with a light attitude - only at times when she felt incredibly cheerful.

Rosey couldn’t help but laugh from his embarrassed reaction.

“What’s with that pathetic look,” she said. “We’ve been doing this for a while, and you’re still acting like that?”

“I can’t help it,” Lucas replied. “To just do that all of a sudden, I can’t not be surprised…”

Rosey walked up and patted his head while holding onto the dress with her other arm.

“There, there. I know you worked hard for this. Thank you for the present! Since you bought this for me, I might as well wear it- Oh, and one last thing.”

She lowered her arms and turned around to walk away from Lucas, who seemed to await her unbeknown response. Rosey then turned her head back around with a noticeable smile peaking over her shoulders, aiming right at Lucas.

“Welcome home, darling.”

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