му ∂αяк вℓυє нєαят ❉ тнє gℓσяу

Ⴆυɾɳιɳɠ ԋҽαɾƚ

WINTER OF 2004

"Eomma, student government finished early, could you or Appa come and pick me up?"

Yi-jae was on the phone with her mother, standing in one of the empty school hallways and staring at the snowflakes dancing towards the ground outside.

"Ten minutes? Yeah, I can wait," Yi-jae nodded. "I'll wait in the library... I love you too."

Yi-jae hung up with a sigh. She should've accepted that offer to be dropped off by one of the student government students. Oh well, maybe next time.

Yi-jae began making her way to the library when she stopped. She heard something, coming from the girls' bathroom that was nearby.

Everyone else in her student government had gone home already; Yi-jae thought she was the only student still in the building.

Was a teacher crying?

No, the crying sounded young. All the teachers were in their mid-thirties, at the very least.

Yi-jae began walking towards the bathroom, where she found a girl with shoulder-length black hair and no coat. She was splashing cold water onto her arms, which was when Yi-jae saw what was also on her arms.

Giant burns... and multiple ones, all across both of her arms.

The girl saw Yi-jae in the mirror, and she flinched back with fear.

"It's okay," Yi-jae quickly said. "I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise. Do you need help?"

The girl stayed quiet, not knowing what to say.

"Did someone do that to you?" Yi-jae asked, referring to the burns. "I can get my mum to drop you off at the hospital-"

"I'm fine," the girl said. "I'll... I'll just get some ointment later..."

"No, that'll make the burn hurt even more," Yi-jae shook her head. "I'll go with you to the pharmacy if you want. I'll buy what you need as well."

"You don't have to do that," the girl replied.

"No, but what if I wanted to?" Yi-jae asked. "I want to help you."

The girl's eyes seemed to gleam with hope behind the tears forming in her eyes. Yi-jae then noticed the girl's name tag.

"Moon Dong-eun," Yi-jae read. "That's a pretty name. I'm Ka Yi-jae."

❉ ╤╤╤╤ ✿ ╧╧╧╧ ❉ ╤╤╤╤ ✿ ╧╧╧╧ ❉

Dong-eun ended up accepting Yi-jae's help.

Dong-eun clung onto Yi-jae's coat, which was wrapped around her to hide her burns. Yi-jae knew that Dong-eun didn't want to go to a hospital, so Yi-jae's mother seeing the burns wouldn't help. Dong-eun continued to wear the coat until the car parked outside the closest pharmacy.

The girls walked inside, where Yi-jae paid for two bottles of water, lotion, bandages and some painkillers.

They sat on a bench in a parking alley, sheltered from the snow, where Yi-jae washed Dong-eun's burns, placed the lotion onto each burn with gentle brushes and then applied the bandages on top. She then handed the remainder of the water in one of the bottles to Dong-eun, urging her to take a painkiller.

Noticing the time on her dark blue watch, Yi-jae went and bought them both some food: two instant noodle pots, two bottles of juice and two lollipops.

"Sorry, I have a thing for lollipops," Yi-jae apologised. "They've been my favourite since I was little."