Her Name | pjm

September .C h a p t e r T w o.

Throughout the whole ride to university I kept smiling. Holding my luggage and staring through the tinted window of our jeep, I kept thinking that I'm finally free. Not that there was anything wrong with my brother, he was incredibly nice to me. The twins and everyone also were extremely good to me, but I never had any privacy, I never had any friends. I never had the chance to experiment of who I am and who I want to be, what path I should choose in life, never had the chance to taste my independence. My parents died when I was around ten and Dan happened to find me in the middle of the street. Apparently, I ran away from the cops, as I thought they were lying to me about my parents, and was stumbling around town late at night trying to find my way back home. Dan took me to his father and explained the situation. His dad contacted the police and fished all of the information out. I didn't have any other family and was sure to be sent to the orphanage. Dan begged his father to allow me to stay with them, and in soon time his father gave in. He pulled some strings and deleted me off the public records, making it look like my parents were a childless couple. This way, he included me into the registry of his own family and that's how I started to live with them. Of course, I don't remember any of that. Dan told me that he took me to see a doctor to try and pull some information out of my mind, but all of it was for nothing, as the trauma was simply too heavy for a ten year old child and I blocked it completely. My first memory is sitting at the dinner table with Dan and his dad (who later instructed me to call him Father too), eating noodles and watching cartoons while the men discussed business.

"Do you even know how to drive?" "Oh I'M SORRY, let me be responsible for the driving of others too!" The twins shook me from my thoughts. I should really be used to their bickering by now, yet it still makes me giggle. These two could never hold a proper conversation without starting to nag at each other for the smallest things. I've known them since I was twelve. They too, similarly as I, were brought in by Dan as lost children. They were a couple of years older and were introduced to Fathers business instantly. I never knew much of what they were doing, except for the bits and pieces of overheard information. I know that Father was not a law abiding citizen. I was never too sure what felonies he was up to, but it mainly had to do with guns. I've collected this information by accident, when I sleepwalked into our basement when I was fourteen, and found many men with black suits and many guns in suitcases placed on the table in front of them. Father was leading a very important deal that night, and I almost ruined it. Luckily, I was not found out. Smilingly, I remember how Dan pulled me out of there and scolded me for being a stupid stupid little brat. He made me promise to never tell Father about it and in turn he promised that he would keep it a secret too. 

I checked my watch - I still had a lot of time. I looked out the window again, we were standing at the intersection, waiting for the light to turn green. There was a flower shop at the corner, and white daffodils were on display. A sombre feeling came over me. Daffodils were the main flowers at Fathers funeral. He passed away when I was fifteen, Dan was absolutely heartbroken. He and Father never acted too fondly towards each other, however, anyone could have told that they were a strong unit with intense respect and strong familial love for each other.

I never really knew how Father died. I was told he suffered a heart attack due to stress and overworking, yet that never sat quite right with me. I was familiar with the fact that many of such businessmen, or more so their enemies, would suffer so called heart attacks. However, I never dared to ask Dan either. I knew that the subject is as taboo as any other regarding his business, and I never pried into the latter either. Soon after Fathers death, Dan overtook his position and continued the family business. I never understood why he didn't start anew, why he didn't choose a better path for himself. Maybe it was because he didn't know anything else, maybe he felt that he was too dirty to come clean now. Nevertheless, it was a path that he chose and I was not going to question him about it. Dan provided me with everything a growing child could need. We moved soon after my addition to the family, Dan enrolled me into a private school, I received a great education. I had a weekly allowance for any activities that I would like. The only thing I never had were girlfriends. Since the business was too risky for a stranger to get entangled in, I always kept my distance from people. Surely, I had somewhat of friends in school, but I could never go out with them alone or bring them home. Yu-jun and Ye-jun would always accompany me everywhere, even to school. Dan talked to the teachers and came up with some lie about me being a politicians daughter, therefore the security. In a way, the twins were the closest thing I had to friends. They would play with me when I was younger, go out with me when I was older. They taught me many things, and surely not always good ones. I did not know any other girl of twenty years old that would know how to pick locks or shoot guns, but they told me that this was vital information and that everyone should know it.

"You dimwit, can't you see the stop sign? Did you put your contacts inside out? Jesus Christ!" Ye-jun yelled at Yu-jun. The twin just shrugged his shoulders and smiled. Once again ripped from my thoughts I decided to butt into the conversation before Ye-jun ignited a bigger argument. I peeked my head through the middle. "How much longer until we reach the campus? I have a class at ten, but I still want to take my luggage to my room. " Yu-jun smirked. "Oh, aren't we an eager one? I still can't believe you talked Dan into allowing this. I thought you'd be living with us until you grew old." Yu-jun finished with a sad note. Ye-jun kept nodding his head. "That's true. I also thought that this will never work out. I can't lie, I'm very impressed, bunny." I frowned at the nickname. Yu-jun gave it to me when I was much younger, because every time they would scare me I would jump up a few feet. "Well, I guess I'm just that good at persuading." I answered triumphantly. The twins knew of my plan long ago. I started devising it as soon as I was accepted to the university. We moved to be closer to the campus, but also because Dan wanted to expand his business here. As soon as I saw that they are taking applications for housing, I asked the twins help, as I in no way I could have kept this from them. They were stuck to me as glue every day, I had to make them my accomplices. "We will be there soon, we should arrive about thirty minutes to ten. I wanted to give you some more time to accustom yourself with the room before running to classes - hence, the missed stop sign and bumpy ride." Yu-jun explained. While Ye-jun was mimicking his brother with funny facial expressions, I leaned back to the seat and inhaled harshly. I couldn't believe that I was starting a new page of my life. I couldn't believe that I will become independent, live alone on campus and will also have a girl roommate! Fingers crossed she is a nice girl and I will finally have a friend.