Chapter Text
It started two months out from Rumi's twelfth birthday.
The girl was buzzing as she walked quietly up to her mentor, but not in anticipation or excitement about possible birthday ideas.
No, she was nervous.
Terrified even.
The pit in her stomach only grew and grew as she approached Celine sitting up at the kitchen island, typing away on her computer doing who knows what.
"Celine?" Rumi's voice was quivering as she stopped an arms length away.
Celine didn't respond with words. She merely stopped her typing and turned her head to look at the shaking girl. Her expression was neutral at best and indifferent at worst.
"Its about my birthday. Can..." Rumi paused, she needed to be brave she told herself as she took a deep breath, "Can I get a dog?"
She looked down at the floor, refusing to meet Celine’s gaze as the words tumbled from her mouth. "For my birthday can I please get a dog?"
There was a pause. A breath.
Was Celine considering it?
All hope Rumi had was gone in an instant when Celine responded with a sharp "No."
"I promise I'll take care of it! I'll train it really well!"
"Rumi."
"And I'll walk it twice a day!"
"Rumi."
"And it can sleep in my room so you aren't bothered-"
"Rumi!" Celine slammed her laptop shut, causing the young girl to flinch away. "You are not getting a dog."
"But Celine I-"
"Let me rephrase." The older woman stood slowly, walking over to Rumi, looking down at her before kneeling to look her in the eye. "You can't get a dog," a pause, "because you're allergic."
Allergic? Rumi never remembered being allergic to dogs? It couldn't be animal fur right? They had a small herd of cows roaming the pastures and Rumi loved when she got to pat them. She had no bad reactions to them.
"But what about-" Rumi went to ask before Celine cut her off by raising her hand.
"And before you ask no cats either. You're allergic to them too."
Dogs AND cats? What did she mean? She could've sworn Celine had a cat once, she didn't remember much of the cat as she was very young at the time and he passed when she was around two or three years old. Kimchi was a beautiful white cat with orange tabby spots and the biggest green eyes. She's seen the photos to prove his existence and their harmony.
She remembers vividly the story Celine told her in one of her moments of happiness that Mi-Yeong, Rumi's mother, had named him when he was only a kitten. He earned his name when he managed to jump up onto the coffee table and knock over the entire bowl of kimchi they were having for lunch, getting it all in his fur.
She said they found a pregnant mother cat out on the streets while patrolling and Mi-Yeong couldn't help but rescue her. She'd always had an affinity for animals, Celine would say. Kimichi was the runt of the litter the mother cat had, and Celine got too attached to the furball to let him be given to someone else. So clearly Rumi had been around a cat before.
Celine couldn't be lying to her...
Could she?
"What about Kimchi?" The purple-haired girl asked, looking at her mentor with curious eyes.
"You were always sneezing around him. You couldn't remember, you were too young." She stated as fact, with a twinge of harshness underneath, "But when I took you to the doctor, it was confirmed as well as your dog allergy. It's dog and cat fur specifically that makes you sick."
"Okay." Rumi sounded defeated, she turned away from Celine and walked back to her room.
She knew best. It was very plain for a kids room. No colourful drawings on the wall, no bright furniture. The only significant thing was a few frames of her favourite finished puzzles, each having a high piece count then the last. She considered it normal. Normal for her.
Other than those few plain wooden frames, there were no signs of a normal childhood. But Rumi wasn't a normal child.
Not really.
Not in the eyes of her mother figure Celine, who she loved dearly and wished for her affection and approval. She tried to be brave but guessed fate had other plans.
—
One month out from Rumi's twelfth birthday and it hit her.
A grand idea! A foolproof plan! One she excitedly wrote down information about in her notebook.
She approached Celine again, like she had just a month prior, notebook tucked tightly against her chest as she walked with very little confidence.
"Celine?" Rumi asked, coming closer to her mentor, propping herself up across from where she sat at their small dinner table.
"Yes?" She raised her eyes from her laptop, and Rumi felt that familiar sense of dread creeping up her spine.
"I had a question about my birthday."
"Not this again." Celine pushed her laptop off to the side and rubbed her temples, it almost felt like the two were in a business meeting and Rumi had just brought up a project that would serve no purpose to boost the company. It certainly felt like that more often than not.
As if Rumi was nothing more than an employee under Celine. Less then. An after thought.
"You cannot have a dog or a cat, Rumi. That's final. I already told you that." She didn't even try to hide the annoyance in her voice.
"What about a bird?" Rumi asked, loosening her grip on her precious notebook.
"A bird?" Celine echoed.
"You said it was because of the fur. But birds don't have fur. And they can be really great companions." Rumi grew more confident with each word spoken, she slid the notebook across to Celine.
"Birds like those big parrots and such would be too much responsibility Rumi. Not to mention they live for, what? 80 years? That's a life long commitment."
"Not a parrot! A dove!" Rumi corrected, leaning forward to tap the open pages. "They're very friendly, good for first time owners. They can build close connections with their owners but aren't as high maintenance as parrots. Or as loud." She smiled.
For the first time in a while, Rumi felt good. Really really good.
She saw Celine look over the information sheet she had made all by herself. It had a list of items the bird would need with the prices written next to them, what special foods the bird would be able to eat, when the bird would sleep, it even had a floor plan of Rumi's room drawn at the bottom with a square marked off in red ink.
She had prepared for this. She had researched. She was proud of her efforts. She had a list of potential names categorised by gender. She had even found reputable local dove breeders with excellent reviews, and for a reasonable price she might add.
Celine kept rereading the page. Over and over, as if maybe she looked hard enough, she would find something to criticise, find a loophole or something.
But she couldn't.
"Okay." Celine sighed after a moment of silence. Rumi audibly gasped, went to speak but Celine cut her off, "I will consider it. Do not get your hopes up with this Rumi. Even if a dove isn’t as loud or doesn't live as long as a parrot or other pet, it is still a big responsibility."
"Yes Celine." Rumi nodded, trying to seem serious but failing. She couldn't contain her smile as she grabbed her notebook and skipped merrily to her room.
Despite Celine warning her to not get excited, she couldn't help it!
She had already seen a breeder advertise his latest dove clutch, all hand raised and properly socialised, and had picked one out that really caught her eye.
She was mostly a regular grayish brown, broken up by vibrant splashes of white on her face, chest and right wing. The blotches of snowy feathers trailing off into wispy patterns like rivers spidering down a mountainside. Bright and wide eyes that spoke to her like no other living creature did.
She was a gorgeous bird that had a regal posture, and the video of her receiving scratches on the back of her head was constantly replayed by Rumi on their computer in the study.
Despite not being promised anything, Rumi let her mind wander to the possibilities. She jumped around her room excitedly, shuffling backwards and forwards while thinking of what to do next.
The purple-haired girl ran to Celine’s study quickly, grabbing some brightly coloured tape from one of the drawers. She raced back to her room and began marking out where her doves cage would go.
She'd specifically picked a cage that had wheel attachments so if she pleased, she could move it, but the place it would stay most of the time was right next to her desk. So it could watch her practice her English or refine basic fighting moves Celine had taught her.
Maybe the bird might even wish to learn.
No that's silly.
—
One week out from Rumi’s twelfth birthday, Celine came to her.
She carried a small envelope behind her back as she fiddled with the door knob.
Rumi was sitting cross-legged in her swiveling chair, she was laser focused on the puzzle that was scattered across her usually clean desk. The rim was complete so she was working her way inwards. The image was that of a serene landscape, a windmill poised atop a small hill, overlooking fields of brightly coloured flowers.
“Rumi.” Celine called, placing her hand on the little girl's shoulder, peering at the puzzle but not touching so as to not ruin her carefully paced pieces.
Rumi hummed to acknowledge her, not looking up. This was a new puzzle, with even more pieces than her previous ones that hung proudly on her wall, complete and held together by the glass of the front of the frames.
Celine smiled slightly at Rumi’s concentration on finishing the puzzle. She had brought her three new ones that sat wrapped high in the closet of the study, all of them were significantly more complex than any of her previous puzzles, but that’s just what Rumi would want.
A true challenge.
She leaned forward, placing the envelope gently on top of her working hands. The action caused Rumi to freeze, looking between the crisp lines of the envelope and Celine’s seemingly content smile.
She carefully reached for the flap to open it, her curiosity was running wild behind her eyes.
Inside was a piece of paper.
A printed out email.
Between Celine and a man named Seo-Joon.
Why does that name sound familiar?
She read through the email, unblinking and scanning each word until she saw it. A confirmation from Celine and a thankful message from Seo-Joon… for purchasing… one of his… female doves?
The breeder.
“You left the tabs of the breeders page open. I saw the one you picked out. She’s very pretty.” Celine said quietly, stroking Rumi’s soft hair and smiling at the girl's shocked expression.
“You mean?”
“Yes. She’s yours.” The older woman leaned down to place a delicate kiss on the top of her head, “Make sure you take good care of her, Rumi.”
Rumi didn’t know what to say.
She couldn’t speak. She wouldn’t. For the fear that her voice would shake uncontrollably like her shoulders currently were. The tears she tried desperately to keep from falling just weren’t cooperating with her.
The purple-haired girl swivelled in her chair quickly and before she could comprehend what she was doing, she launched herself at Celine, hugging her with such force she might’ve cracked a rib. She rubbed her face into Celine’s shirt, sniffling as she felt Celine’s hands come to rest on her shoulders to steady her.
“Thank you mom.” Rumi hiccuped.
Mom?
Celine’s hands stilled instantly, lifting up to hover above her shoulders.
Rumi lifted her head so quickly she almost got whiplash, her tears immediately ceased and she practically pushed herself away from Celine, bowing deeply.
“Celine! Thank you Celine!” She corrected herself, begging that Celine would just walk away from this very awkward moment she ruined. It was all her fault. “I’m sorry.” She whispered.
“Well…” Celine started, “I am glad you like your gift.”
A beat of silence and Celine pivoted on her heels, powerwalking out of the room. Rumi heard her walk down the hallway and slam her bedroom door shut.
She screwed up. She always screws things up.
She looked at the taped off section of her floor, dragging her feet as she stood in the center of it, before sinking to the floor, arms around her knees as she folded in on herself.
Why does she have to ruin everything she touches?