ENTHRALL° s.th

003

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DAEGU
MIDDAY
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✧──────✦ "jaehwa, get up! we have to go supply shopping!" mina yelled as she knocked on the door. the pounding was giving her a headache.

"i'm coming, i'm coming." she yelled back. jaehwa pulled the blankets off and went to the bathroom to get ready. she ended up wearing a pair of shorts and a jacket from an old competition.

their grandmother handed a list to them filled with words ranging from green onions to post it notes. mina pulled jaehwa out of the flat, and put her phone in front of the latter's face. on it were directions to the nearest grocery and stationary stores. she nodded and pushed it out of her vision.

she would continue the directions in her head until they reached the stationary store. mina entered through the door first, and led jaehwa around to find the supplies on the list. around the store, they saw people around their age and she made mental notes about who to avoid.

they walked up to the checkout and put their items on the counter. the slow beeping noise of the scanner went on for a few minutes until the cashier told them the total. mina handed him a small stack of bills to cover the cost.

jaehwa now carried the bag as they walked to the grocery store. halfway there, they heard two voices in an alleyway. the two walked past and jaehwa let her curiosity get the better of her, so she tried to discreetly slow her pace and look over.

a tall boy with longer brown hair lifted his leg up above his head, and forced it downwards onto the smaller boy's shoulder in front of him. screw the boy on the ground, that was the move she had wanted to learn after the championships.

mina noticed her sister wasn't by her side anymore, and turned around to see her sister looking down the alley. she raised her voice a little to call her over. that caused the boy to turn around and make eye contact with jaehwa.

the boy furrowed his eyebrows at the blankly staring girl. once she got called away by someone else, he turned his attention back to the guy on the ground.

"do you have 500 won?"

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once they got back into the safety of their new home, they set the bags in the kitchen. mina and jaehwa picked through the school supplies and evenly separated them.

after organizing everything, she sat on the desk chair. jaehwa stood up and walked over to the picture on the dresser. she plucked it off its former spot and nearly slammed it on to the desk.

jaehwa pulled out her mirror, her dull scissors from middle school, and the trash can. she deserved a positive change once in a while.

snip. snip. snip.

she stopped herself from cutting any shorter now that it was just under her shoulders. she nearly cut bangs too, until she remembered how hard they were to keep up in head gear without falling out.

jaehwa set the scissors back into their place in the drawer and paused once she realized that she wasn't going to wear head gear again. but bangs were still too itchy for her.

to make sure she had all the excess hair off, she grabbed a clean towel and made her way to the shower. jaehwa checked to see if the water was warm enough and stepped in. she washed her top half and moved onto her legs. but once she got to her knee, her movement halted.

that scar really was the most disgusting thing she'd seen. she gently washed over it and moved onto the rest of her leg. jaehwa couldn't rub the feeling of tough skin off, so she scrubbed it harder and harder every few seconds trying to wipe it off. by the time she realized what she was doing, she dropped the cloth and rinsed off the blood from the now raw skin.

her slightly shaking hands reached to turn off the water that nearly left red welts on her back from the rising temperature. she stepped out into her colder room and dried off her hair at the desk.

the girl she saw looking back really looked insane. now jaehwa understood what mulan meant when she asked who the girl staring back at her was.

she was fine. she was going to be fine. she just needed some more time.

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THE NEXT MORNING
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jaehwa opened her door to see mina and her grandmother sitting at the table. she sat and ate all of her favorite dishes while mina stood up and began to walk away. her grandmother handed her two packed lunches and jaehwa stuffed them into her bag.

"have a good first day girls!" their grandmother yelled out.

"you too!" they called back.

jaehwa was surprised when her sister put her phone in her jacket pocket. was she actually going to talk to her? just as she was about to say something, a girl walked up to mina.

"hey mina! it's been so long!" the mystery girl squealed.

"aera! i was wondering where you were!" mina said back just as enthusiastic. aera dragged her away while mina bid her farewell.

that left jaehwa standing still. how big was mina's circle of friends to know someone in each district? she bit the inside of her cheek and continued the walk to school. it wasn't until a few minutes later that she realized she didn't have the directions to the school. the girl hoped that the pack of students could lead her there. she had nearly walked past the gate because she was stuck in her own thoughts.

a teacher greeted her as she entered the office. mina was already there talking with her teacher about homework and things like that.

"park jaehwa, from seoul, huh?" the man asked.

"yes," she responded not knowing what else to say.

"alright, the bell is about to ring, so let's get you introduced to your class. i'm your home room teacher." she nodded and followed him up the stairs slowly, making sure that her skirt didn't ride up.

it wasn't until she was up the stairs, that she noticed her bag was extremely light. the textbooks. she didn't have her textbooks. she bought them at the store, she walked back to her grandmother's, and set them on the desk. they were still at the house.

jaehwa pinched herself as a self-punishment for being stupid. so much for starting to try in school. she'd just sleep today, and then be serious starting tomorrow.

"good morning guys! today we have a new student coming from seoul." the class clapped a little bit and all she wanted to do was sit down. "introduce yourself."

"hi, i'm park jaehwa. i hope we get along." she scanned the classroom and saw a few empty seats in the back. walking down in between the desks, she sat in the seat closest to the window. a few whispers could be heard. whatever that meant, it didn't seem good.

it wasn't until the sudden slam of the door made her understand. her gaze moved to the right and made visual contact with a torso, then her neck craned upwards to see a familiar face.