Yaku woke up in his small dorm room, hungry. There was a piece of bread next to his bed, and once he picked it up, it felt like the world stopped moving.
FLASHBACK
A small, skinny child no older than six asked his mom, "Bread for dinner again today…?"
"Sorry, Yaku, that's all momma can afford today," she answered, smiling while holding his cheeks.
"Momma, why do we not have money?" he asked.
"Sorry, baby, momma is trying her best," she answered, tears glossing her eyes.
Weeks later
"Momma, why are you crying?" he asked.
"N… nothing, baby. Go back to bed," she answered, holding back her cries.
"Are we gonna have bread for dinner again tomorrow?" he asked innocently, not reading the room.
"I'm sorry, baby. Just hold on a little longer," she answered.
The next day
"I DON'T WANT TO EAT BURNED BREAD ANYMORE!" six-year-old Yaku screamed, throwing the bread on the floor. He went to his bed, sleeping away from his mom.
His mom held back her cries with her hand as tears rolled down her face. She screamed in agony silently, cursing the day she was born in a poor village in the south.
Weeks go by
Yaku listened to his mom arguing with a man outside their one-room house.
"I told you I will never sell my body. I would rather die of hunger. I would rather eat dirt than defile myself," she screamed at the man trying to buy her body for prostitution.
At the time, Yaku didn't know what any of that meant.
"Momma, is this man hurting you? I will kill him," six-year-old Yaku told her when she went inside.
"No, baby, don't worry about it. Momma got some potatoes and salt today. It's not bread," she told Yaku as she hugged him tightly.
That was the last of her money. She needed to sell some flowers tomorrow to make ends meet.
Weeks later
His mom walked in at night with a black eye, holding two loaves of bread.
"Momma, your eyes… what happened?" Yaku asked.
"Nothing, baby. I just fell," she responded while feeding him bread.
After Yaku went to sleep, she sat alone under the candlelight, crying while holding her voice with her hand, her back shaking from how hard she cried.
5 hours earlier
"Flowers, flowers! Who wants to buy some flowers?" she shouted in the streets of the village, trying to sell some.
"Come on, Lumaera. Selling flowers won't get you any money. Just sleep with me. I'll buy all your flowers. Your brown hair is so beautiful, and your eyes are so warm and inviting. Your figure is also great. I'll pay you two silver coins," a nobleman who was staying in the village temporarily told her.
She ignored him and kept shouting her usual call to sell flowers. He got mad, punched her, and threw her to the ground, stomping on her flowers.
Someone at the bakery felt bad for her and gave her two burned loaves of bread.
Years later
An illness fell upon the whole village.
"Momma, please get up! Momma, please don't leave me!" Yaku screamed.
He ran to all the nearby villages, but no one would help. They even kicked him out, fearing he would transmit the illness.
His mom lay in her bed, barely able to breathe.
"Yaku… l… listen to me. You are strong. You are the light of my life. I'm sorry I couldn't see you grow into the man that would save us all…" Lumaera said in her last breaths.
He cried on her dead body for hours, begging her to come back to life.
"Please, momma, please! I'm begging you, come back to me!" His muffled screams echoed as he buried his face into her clothes.
Present day
The bread loaf made Yaku relive the death of his mother. Tears rolled down his eyes unconsciously as he bit the bread.
"This bread is delicious, Mom. Thank you."