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Biyoo is on her way home from her classes. Today, she learned something about her science classes. She's excited to talk about it with her parents.
As Biyoo is walking by, she sees some insects perching on flowers. Maybe they're eating or doing something with the pollen, Biyoo thinks.
As a child, Biyoo is just experiencing and getting aware of the wonders of the world. Especially things related to the circle of life or anything scientific. Obviously, her favorite subject is Science. And she has a particular interest with animals. She believes it's so fun to learn about many branches of science. You get to hypothesize things, and even discover and learn new things.
She's an elementary student. And today, her teacher introduced a new topic for Biology. She has some surface knowledge about it since one of her arents likes to read books and although a lot of it are fictions, some are educational. She remembers that one of his Papa mostly bought them for her because she also likes reading books, but books that aren't novels.
When she's near theirs house, she greets some of the old women—mostly grandmas—in the streets and bows. Her parents taught him well.
"Hello Biyoo. We haven't seen Dokja-ssi for a long time now, he's still not well?" One of the grannies asked her.
"He's getting there. Thank you for asking." Biyoo even smiled as she answered, showing the gap on her teeth.
"Aiyoo, that's good. Now go on, eat lots so that you'll grow even cuter." One of the grandmas added. Biyoo bowed again and waved goodbye to them.
The people in their neighborhood are kind and they don't even have prejudice that both of her parents are men. Biyoo is young but she can vaguely understand her parents' love. She grew up witnessing it and she knows it's real, regardless of their gender.
She opened their door and removed her shoes. She puts it nicely on the shoe rack. Her other papa would scold her if she doesn't tidy her things.
When inside, she sees her Papa preparing food. He's cutting onions.
"Papa, I'm here!" Biyoo said and hugged her father named Yoo Joonghyuk.
"Mn. Let me just finish cooking this, and we'll eat." Her Papa Joonghyuk even smiled at her. She nodded and told her father she will go to her Mama's room.
Her Mama is named Kim Dokja. As she slowly opens the bedroom door, she peeks her head and sees her Mama's eyes closed. The lights are closed and there's something stifling in the room that intrudes her nose but she can see her Papa there. He's still sleeping.
She whispered, "Mama, I'm home." Biyoo looked at her Mama for a minute before slowly closing the door. She's afraid she'll wake him up.
When she gets back to the kitchen, she sits on one of the stools and watches her father cook.
"Did your Mama wake up?" Her father is now checking the boiling food.
"Not really, she's still sleeping. Hey Papa, today we learned about decomposition in my science class!" Biyoo excitedly opened what she's been waiting to tell.
"Really? What about it?" Her father turned off the stove and prepared some food containers.
"It seems that when animals and plants die, they start to decay. It has different kinds of processes but in a way, they're all the same. My teacher didn't elaborate much today but she told us that even people rot or decay. Hey Papa, do we really rot? That's scary. Why do people rot?"
Curious as she is, Biyoo asked without holding back. She has some idea why, maybe it's also related to the dying part but as a child, it's still hard for her to grasp the concept of death.
"Mm. It really depends though. Sometimes a person rotting means it's because their body no longer helps, they can't use it anymore. But a person rots also because they have already crossed to the afterlife." Her father indifferently said.
Biyoo mutters to herself, trying to digest her father's words. She scratches the side of her eyebrow as she thinks.
"Oh!" Biyoo said as she raised her pointing finger. Her father looks at her while preparing two sets of plates and utensils.
"Is that why Mama is rotting on the bed?"