faraway | purinz

track 001

TRACK 001

blessing in disguise

NEW YORK CITY, UNITED STATES ♥ SEPTEMBER 14TH

Yunjin first met Chaewon in kindergarten. 

Well, in reality, since Chaewon was a year older, she was in first grade. Yunjin had just started kindergarten in the States, and Chaewon was there too. For what reason, Chaewon had never said, but Yunjin had always suspected it had something to do with Chaewon's parents; flighty people with dreams bigger than their bank accounts. Chaewon's parents were never home, which enabled the two; it was also how Chaewon got close to Yunjin's mother.

Yunjin remembered the day vividly. It had been a sunny New York morning- or at least, as sunny as New York mornings could get- and she had walked towards the big elementary school wearing a flannel dress and black Converse. Her style had always floated towards grunge, and Yunjin's mother sometimes liked to joke that she was born wrapped in black flannel with seven silver piercings.

(Which she wasn't, obviously, but Yunjin did, in fact, have seven silver piercings. One on her lip, three on her left ear, three on her right ear.)

Little Yunjin had kept a strong hold of her backpack and brushed back her hair. Her hair had been long, dark brown then, and Chaewon had liked it that way, so she had kept it brown even into high school, when all of her rockstar friends dyed their hair various shades. Now it was bright, eye-catching ginger, and cut shorter. The silver piercings just added to the allure, Yunjin thought.

The building had seemed big, but then again, to a four-year-old everything seemed huge. Other children streamed into the building, wishing goodbye to their nervous parents. Yunjin had hugged her mother's legs and waddled towards the school, trailed by a call of "I love you! Have a good day!"

Somewhere along the way, a teacher had taken little Yunjin's hand and led her into a classroom. Other kids sat there, clustered in a circle, and some gave her strange looks. Yunjin ignored them all and sat down at the edge of the circle.

The teacher began to take attendance, calling out names Yunjin didn't recognize. She hummed to herself, taking in her surroundings. Motivational posters and rainbows pasted on the wall. A board next to her head. Bookcases lining the walls. A fuzzy rainbow carpet on the floor. A desk with a mug a few feet away. It was the typical kindergarten classroom.

"Jennifer Huh!"

"Here," little Yunjin called out, and the teacher marked her on the sheet. However, her name had prompted snorts from the boy next to her.

"Huh? Huh? Jennifer Huhhhhh..." the little boy giggled, and Yunjin's stomach turned. Her last name wasn't American like theirs, but at least she wasn't going by her Korean name. That would prompt even worse teasing.

But this little boy, with his stupid floppy blond hair and eyes squeezed shut, made four-year-old Yunjin mad.

"Shut up," she said loudly, and the kids around her gasped.

"Jennifer!" the teacher said angrily, and in hindsight, Yunjin would feel bad for making her mad. The teacher was probably overworked and anxious, but in that moment Yunjin was furious at the boy, and crossed her arms. "Go to the time-out chair, right now!"