Chapter 1: The Sweet Scent of Dreams
A faint orange light from a small
lamp above the wooden counter shone down on a table full of trays of sweet
desserts. Sweet-colored sweet dumplings were neatly arranged. Khao Hom sat up
straight at one corner of the table. Her small hands gently held a bite-sized
sweet dumpling before carefully inserting the tip of the skewer. She closed her
eyes, inhaling the fragrant aroma of mashed beans mixed with jasmine water and
the scent of glazed gelatin. It was the smell of "home," the smell of "mother,"
and the smell of "every morning" she had grown up with.
"The sweet dumplings must be
perfectly round. The color must be sweet and soft, not too bright and blinding
like people these days like," her mother's voice rang out as her hands
carefully molded the small dumplings into the mold.
"Yes…" Khao Hom answered softly. She
didn't argue or say anything more, even though there were billions of sentences
in her mind that she wanted to say.
In the small kitchen, with only the
sound of water boiling gently from the steamer and her mother's grumbling, Khao
Hom felt like her heart was boiling, waiting to explode.
"Mom, I want to…"
"Let's talk about it when I get home
from school! Hurry up or you'll be late again,"
Mom cut her off as usual, her eyes
not even looking at her. Khao Hom pursed her lips tightly. Her hand that was
about to reach for the next piece of Look Chup stopped. She stood up, quickly
turned her back to the kitchen, and hurriedly ran to grab her school bag.
But before stepping out of the
house, she stopped, looked left and right, and opened the secret drawer under
the dining table. Inside was a small, cream-colored sketchbook. She picked it
up and hugged it to her chest.
Walking through a small alley filled
with the smell of bread, soup from a noodle shop, and the sound of old buses
passing by, Khao Hom stopped under a mango tree near the entrance of the alley
and slowly opened the notebook page by page.
The page she opened was a picture of
"Look Chup" that was not on a tray, but was floating in midair, surrounded by
shimmering light and angel wings made from pandan leaves.
She wrote under the picture: Look
Chup in the Magical World.
Khao Hom smiled slightly at the
corner of her mouth before closing the notebook and putting it back in her bag.
Her little secret, the dream she still didn't dare to say, the hope waiting for
the day it would bloom.
She continued walking to school.
Leave the fragrance of the new morning behind and always take "one world" with
you in your heart.
The announcement from the school
loudspeaker rang out along with the sound of birds chirping in the morning. The
activity area was covered with warm sunshine and the shadows of trees swaying
in the wind. Students in PE uniforms stood in rows scattered. The activity
teacher shouted her name on stage.
"Khao Hom, where are you, my child?
Come here quickly!"
Khao Hom was startled from her
thoughts while drawing something in a sketchbook hidden behind her textbook.
She quickly stuffed the notebook back in and hurriedly ran through the group of
friends to the small wooden stage in front of the golden shower tree.
"Khao Hom, I have good news to tell
you."
"Huh?"
"You passed the selection round of
the National Youth Art Camp Project!"
Khao Hom's eyes widened, her heart
beating so hard that it almost drowned out the surrounding sounds. She pursed
her lips in disbelief.
"Really, teacher? I… did I really
pass?"
"Really, the teacher sent your work
as you wrote on the application form. Your determination has proven itself to
the judges."
Several friends in the row below
applauded and cheered softly.
"You're great, Khao Hom!"
"That's great. Didn't you say you
didn't dare to apply?"
Khao Hom laughed, raising her hands
in a wai to thank the teacher. Her tears welled up slightly but she didn't let
them flow. She hid them behind her first bright smile in months.
Today…her whole world seemed to
brighten up.
When she arrived home in the
afternoon, Khao Hom opened the door with such force that the small bells in
front of the shop clinked together.
Her mother was stirring the filling
in front of the pot. When she saw her daughter rushing in, she immediately
frowned.
"Why did you come in so quickly? All
the sugar will spill!"
"Mom! I have something to tell you!"
"What else, Hom? Hurry up and tell
me so I don't miss anything."
Khao Hom took a deep breath,
stretched, and spoke in the strongest voice she had ever spoken.
"I've passed the national youth art
camp project, Mom! The teacher announced it in the middle of the field. My
friends congratulated me. I'm so happy...!"
The sound of the spatula hitting the
edge of the pot made a loud noise.
Mother immediately stopped her hand.
Turning to look at her with sharp eyes
"Art camp? Did I hear you
right?"
"Yes, Mom. I really want to go.
I know it's not about the shop, but...but it's my dream."
"A dream?!" Mom's voice
immediately rang out. "Can I eat my dream instead of rice or snacks, Hom?!
All day long, just scribbling, drawing, and drawing, it won't make us sell a
single thing!"
"Mom...I'm not going to abandon
the shop. I just want..."
"Enough! Enough!"
"Mom is already tired. Do I
still have to listen to you rambling?! Mom taught me to earn a living, to study
hard, not to have empty dreams like this!"
Khao Hom's voice, which was once
just a deep breath, gradually turned into a trembling voice.
"Have you ever listened to me?
What do I want to do? I don't live only because of snacks. I live because I
have a dream!"
Mom paused, as if she had been hit
with words she didn't expect to hear.
"Do you dare to raise your
voice at me, Hom?"
"Because you never listen to
me! I...I just want you to be proud of who I am. Not just what I do for the
shop!"
Silence… not even the sound of
boiling water in the pot. Mother stared at Khao Hom's face for a long time
before slowly putting down the spatula and turning away.
"If you choose to follow your
dreams, don't expect to have a place in this kitchen anymore."
Mother walked past her. The wooden
door behind the house was closed quietly, but it echoed in Khao Hom's heart
more than any shout.
The girl stood there still, her
hands gripping the sketchbook so tightly that her nails dug into her flesh.
Tears slowly welled up in her face. It was hot… like the boiler this morning,
but it hurt even more.
"I just… want Mom to understand,"
she whispered to herself, her voice full of trembling.
In the kitchen, where the faint
smell of sweetmeats still lingered, Khao Hom stood still, as if her heart was
about to break and hit the floor… silent.
The night crept in quietly. The
light from the neighboring house shone through the wooden window as a The lines
were swaying, but inside the kitchen behind Khao Hom's house, it was completely
silent and dark. There was no sound of talking, no noise disturbing the
dessert, not even the sound of her mother's breathing that she was so familiar
with.
Khao Hom walked back into the
kitchen softly. The wooden board under her feet creaked tiredly as if it
reflected her heart. The sweet smell of crushed peanuts and coconut milk still
lingered, as if the smell was intentionally left behind to remind her of
something she was about to lose.
"...So quiet."
Khao Hom's voice spoke to herself so
softly that it almost disappeared into the darkness. She slowly sank down to
sit at the same small wooden table, the table where she used to sit and make
Luk Chup alongside her mother all the time.
But tonight was different.
Her hands trembled slightly when she
took out the sketchbook she had hidden. She lightly stroked the cover before
opening it to the page she had drawn this morning. It was a picture of
"Luk Chup in the Magical World." Luk Chup was shiny and multi-colored.
It was not a fruit, but a legendary little animal. Some had wings, some had
horns, and some had a soft light emitting from their bodies. Behind them was a
candy castle, a river flowing like clear syrup. And the sky filled with rainbow
cotton candy.
Khao Hom smiled faintly.
"If such a world really exists…it
would be great."
She looked up at the tray of
unfinished sweetmeats at the end of the table. The multi-colored sweetmeats
were arranged on green banana leaves. Drops of coated sugar reflected the
moonlight that came through the window slightly.
In the dim light, those sweetmeats
looked…strange. It was like they were shining from within. Or was it just a
hallucination from exhaustion?
"I'll try one…it's probably fine."
Khao Hom reached out and picked up a
piece of sweetmeats. It was a small pink-purple fruit. It looked ordinary, but
its surface was shiny as if it was covered in magical sugar coating.
As soon as her fingertips touched
it…
A flash!
A soft pastel light quietly exploded
from the sweetmeats. It wasn't blinding, but it was filled with a "feeling". It
was warm and sweet, like the smile of someone she had been searching for. A
strange sweet smell floated throughout the kitchen. The smell of flower syrup,
jasmine, pandan leaves, the smell of memories she never knew she had.
"Ah…ah!?"
Khao Hom's voice trembled. She
looked around. The air began to shake. Rainbow light swept through the air like
floating cotton candy. She felt a pull... from within the candied fruit.
"What happened... Is this a
dream?"
A sweet voice sounded around her,
like a child laughing softly, whispering in her ear.
"Welcome... Princess of
Sweetness. Our world has been waiting for you for a long time..."
She looked left and right, but there
was no one but those lights. The kitchen floor began to change colors, the
tiles became candy patterns, the brass pot became a giant chocolate pot, the
wooden walls became thick wafers.
"No... This is..."
The candy-colored light shimmered
around her, and before Khao Hom could react, her body was sucked into the
light. The weight of the world disappeared. The sweet voice sounded again.
"Welcome to... Khan, Ma,
Phop."
Whoosh!
The light broke like a lump of sugar
melting into warm tea, and Khao Hom's body disappeared from the kitchen in an
instant, leaving only the tray of candied fruit still sitting there quietly.