Cicada Song
My mom just doesn't listen.
Before I took the civil service exam, I told her a million times not to make me any greasy food. The next thing I knew, she was making me drink chicken soup spiked with booze.
I got a DUI and couldn't pass the background check for the job.
But my dad and brother just told me I had to appreciate my mom's "good intentions."
Later, I begged her not to be careless with what she fed the baby.
She turned right around and fed my six-month-old daughter a whole grape.
My daughter choked to death on it, and my mom had the nerve to say she was just "too fragile."
Completely broken, I jumped from our apartment window, holding my daughter's lifeless body.
When I opened my eyes again, I swore I would make every single one of them—especially my mother—feel a little of that "good intention" for themselves.
My daughters cry snapped me back to the present.
Looking at the living, breathing baby in my arms, it finally hit me.
I'd been reborn.
In my last life, I had told my mom a million times that I was studying for the civil service exam and that she absolutely could not make me anything greasy.
But she turned right around and made me drink chicken soup spiked with booze.
Then she forced me to drive a relative home.
I got pulled over and ended up with a DUI on my record.
Because of that, I failed the background check for the government job.
I broke down, screaming at her, “Mom, why would you make me drink that? You knew there was alcohol in it, so why did you make me drive?!”
The moment she heard that, my mom threw a total fit, slapping her thigh and wailing. "I was just trying to help you build up your strength! That chicken-and-wine soup is the best thing for a woman!"
"Besides, how was I supposed to know they could detect a DUI from that?"
I was so furious I could have spit blood, but my dad and brother just thought I was making a big deal out of nothing.
"So you can't take the exam, big deal. It's not like you were guaranteed to pass anyway."
"Yeah, and look at how you're talking to Mom. She was just trying to help."
Later, my mom swore up and down that she would take care of my daughter so I could go back to work without worrying.
Instead, she waited until I was out of the house and fed my baby a whole grape.
My daughter choked to death.
I went insane, roaring at her, "I told you not to feed the baby things she can't eat! She's just a baby! Why don't you ever listen?!"
She just looked pathetic and said, "This is how I fed you and your brother when you were little, and you both turned out fine."
"I think the baby was just too fragile."
I was sobbing, screaming that my mom had to pay for what she'd done, but my dad just slapped me across the face.
"That's enough! Your mother was just trying to help you by watching the baby! Is it her fault things went wrong?"
"If you ask me, the baby was just unlucky!"
My brother stood there, just adding fuel to the fire. "Yeah, sis. Mom meant well. Besides, you're still young. You can always have another one, right?"
Their words shattered what was left of my sanity. I grabbed my daughters body, went to the high-rise window, and jumped.
Reborn in this new life, I will make every last one of them understand that kind of "good intention."