Unloved To Loved | Daerin

Chapter 1

Haerin's life had never been easy. In fact she could compare her life to running up a slippery slope in a suit made of rubber
covered with soap suds.

Like most children growing up Haerin had been filled with potential only to amount to nothing due to circumstances. It was cruel, it was what she had been dealt.

The battles were uphill and she had been fighting tirelessly from her lower vantage point from the very day she came out screaming.

The carpark she frequented was desolate tonight. The overhead lights illuminated the area enough for Haerin to be able to heat up her dinner.

She emptied the contents of a canned soup into her small cooking pot.

The single burner camping gas cooktop not only heated her food but gave off enough heat for Haerin to keep her hands warm.

The Seoul weather was particularly unforgiving this winter. Haerin would know, she had been living out of her car the past year.

She had suffered for years at the hands of her abusive ex. Beaten, called every name under the sun. He had pimped her out countless times to make money.

She had driven hours away, running, scared for her life. She knew that if he had caught her, her miserable life would have come to a violent end.

Haerin had learned to take his beatings. Her jaw could take punches often she herself didn't know she could absorb.

Pain hardly phased her like a tiny piece of gravel rattling around in her shoe during a run, she would ignore it and keep going.

The soup in the pot started to bubble, Haerin turned off the stove and packed it away.

Hopping into the driver's seat of her car, she made sure to lock all four doors. Haerin had a habit of locking herself in safe places.

The soup, although average, warmed her from the inside out.

She relished her first and only meal of the day.

Haerin washed her pot out with some bottled water then started her engine.
She had a place to be tonight.

Haerin jumped out of her car, pulling her gym bag along with her. She could hear the muffled roars of the crowd inside. Soon she would be in the ring fighting for her weekly wage plus any bonuses. She really needed the bonuses tonight.

Haerin had been saving up to book a room at the motel for a couple of nights just to sleep properly and shower.

Haerin wrapped her own hands, a ritual
before she entered the ring. Her boss Joe would organise the fighters' opponents at the last minute.

Haerin wasn't idiotic, she knew Joe orchestrated the matches to her advantage in order to make the most money from bets.

Tonight Haerin must have had too many bets in her favour. She had been on a winning streak to be fair.

The Goliath type man eyeing her down from the other side of the cage was to ensure Haerin took a beating and lost her fight tonight.

The crowd's deafening roar erupted as Joe rang the bell with an evil smile.

Haerin had managed to dodge many heavy punches as she picked her time to throw her own in between. Most of her punches connected, she wouldn't go down without a good fight.

This infuriated her larger opponent, he lashed out in a frenzy of punch, kick combinations until Haerin had been backed up into the cage mesh with nowhere else to go.

The first punch to deal damage split open Haerin's left eyebrow.

The crowd cheered at the sight of Haerin's blood trickling from her wound, down her face to splatter on the floor.