Professor Jung

Chapter 5

“I was born into a happy family as an only child. I had all the love in the world and constantly felt like I was at the top of the universe. All that changed when I was eight. My parents died in a car crash, leaving me alone. They were coming home from work, and I was alone at home. I didn’t know what to do when my aunt came to take me to the hospital.”

Hyejin clasped Wheein’s hand in her as she heard the teacher’s voice tremble slightly. Taking a deep breath, Wheein continued.

“After that, I went to live with my aunt and her family. It was happy at first, I lived with my cousins and they helped me over my parent’s sudden death. My aunt and uncle were really nice to me and treated me like their own too. Things weren’t that bad, until that is, my aunt was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. The doctor said she only had 5 months to live.”

Taking a quick pause, Wheein licked her lips and closed her eyes. “She died when I was 13, and my uncle was devastated. He believed I was the one who had jinxed her and was in a bad mood all the time. Since then, I never had a good day there. My cousins grew distant from me gradually and I decided I shouldn’t be a burden to them. But I couldn’t support myself at that age, so I turned to my grandmother for help and she took me in.”

She smiled fondly, reminiscing the time spent with her grandmother. 

“Hyejin-ssi, you know what happened?” she chuckled slightly, tears springing to her eyes. “People at school found out that the people who raised me all died and they started laughing at me and calling me a jinx. I had no friends.”

“Maybe what they said was true. My grandmother died of a cardiac arrest when I was 18 and left me all alone in the world again. That time, I was really alone. I had no place I could call home anymore.”

“So I studied my hardest to get a scholarship for university education and worked part-time to get by. I never had anyone to rely on after my grandmother’s departure.”

Sniffling, her voice cracked. “I can’t rely on or get close to anyone. They’ll die eventually, because of me. I bring disaster to the people I’m close to. I don’t want to do that. So I live alone without making friends. I don’t contact my relatives anymore.”

Tears rolled down Hyejin’s cheek as she felt the sorrow of her teacher. She turned and pulled Wheein into her arms. “It’s okay. It was all bound to be fate, Professor. Even without your appearance it would all have happened. It’s not your fault and will never be.” she soothed and rubbed her teacher’s back softly as let her cry into her chest. 

“I can’t Hyejin-ssi, I can’t.” she sobbed miserably. “It’s all my fault. I only bring bad luck.” she clutched onto Hyejin’s shirt as she let her tears flow freely, the way they do only when she is drunk and alone. She felt safe in those arms. She did not want to, but she did. 

Hyejin wiped her own tears and caressed Wheein’s long, black hair. It was just as soft as she had thought it to be. Then, she starts to speak.

“When I was ten, I experienced something similar to you. My parents also passed away in an accident. But it happened right before my eyes. I got out of the car to head into school but when I turned back there was a car coming from the other direction really fast and...and...the next thing I knew there was a loud crash and an explosion.”

Remembering the incident made her heart ache. “I couldn’t save them, there was nothing I could do. I was in shock, crying and shouting for them. They never survived the accident. It happened right before my eyes and I could never forget it.”

Listening to Hyejin’s story, Wheein started to be the one who comforted.

“I became an orphan, but I didn’t have anyone to rely on. So I was sent to the orphanage.” She broke into a small smile. “I met Byulyi unnie and Yongsun unnie there. We spent such happy times together. We were all kids without parents yet we all felt so lucky because our orphanage was such a loving orphanage. And we grew up together, fighting and protecting each other.”