694 A Dream Without Hope

This was the story of a little boy that had happened a long, time ago.

He was nine in that year. His father was the chief technical supervisor of a large company while his mother was a writer who worked at home. He also had a sister who was four years younger than he was, and the four lived at a small nation in the middle of the continent, their lives peaceful and untroubled.

His father was tolerant but often busy, just as his mother was always home but strict. Although his five-year-old sister was usually clever sensible, she would occasionally stir trouble in the family. The boy's life was not exactly perfect, but certainly not pitiable—it was simply normal, with an ordinary family and ordinary happiness.

But something always troubled the boy, and that was the expectations his parents, teachers, even classmates and playmates held toward him.

—What do you want to be in the future?

What are you interested in?