prologue
Prologue
She had never believed in fairy tales.
Perhaps that was because her own childhood had never felt like one.
When she was young, her parents divorced. Her father slowly became a stranger, appearing less and less until she eventually stopped expecting him to come back.
She grew up without ever knowing what it felt like to receive a father's love.
Her mother tried her best to hide her struggles, always smiling whenever her daughter was around. But she could see the exhaustion in her eyes.
So, as she grew older, she became determined to help her.
She studied hard, worked whenever she could, and learned to take care of herself. She didn't have time for childish dreams or stories about magical kingdoms and handsome princes.
Fantasy novels were especially annoying to her.
“What's so interesting about people falling into books?” she would always ask whenever her best friend talked about them.
Her friend would laugh.
“You just don't understand because you've never read a good one.”
One afternoon, her friend suddenly grabbed her arm.
“Come with me to the bookstore!”
She frowned. “Again?”
“Yes! There's a novel I really want to buy.”
“I don't like fantasy.”
“You don't have to like it. Just come with me,I will buy you food.”
With a reluctant sigh, she followed.
She had no idea that the book waiting for them inside that bookstore would completely change her life.
Because sometimes, the stories we refuse to believe in...
Are the ones that find us.