Suddenly, at someone's call, I came back to my senses. "Nishi, Nishi, wake up! How long will you sleep?" Hearing my mother's voice, I opened my eyes. So it was a dream. I looked around while rubbing my eyes. "What kind of girl sleeps until ten in the morning? When I was young, I had to wake up at dawn and do all the household chores, and my daughter won't even leave her bed even when it's ten o'clock. What a lazy girl!" Mom's daily routine is waking me up and scolding me. I've gotten used to it now, so I don't answer back anymore. Mom scolded me for a while and then left. I got up to brush my teeth. Thinking about the dream made me feel sad. I often have such dreams. Even if not in reality, thinking that I'm a princess in the dream world feels quite good...
I was sitting on the sofa watching TV and having breakfast. Mom was sitting in front of me, glancing at me from the corner of her eye. Sometimes it seemed like she wanted to say something but couldn't. After quite some time, Mom said, "So have you really quit college? Won't you study anymore? Then it's not right to spend time at home like this. Should I arrange for you—" I stopped Mom and said, "Mom, please, I can't always explain everything to you. I had no desire to quit college. I was forced to. I couldn't bear it anymore. I was suffocating. And I can't get married now..."