My Unwanted Savior | 도 경수

3

Hye Mi wanted to hide away. I don't want it to happen again, She thought.

Primary School, Fourth Grade

"YAH! You ugly girl! Why are you running away? You scared?" The nine-year-old Laina teased. Hye Mi cowered behind a bush, covering her head with her scratched arms.

"Don't make us get the sharper branches!" Laina sing-songed. Tears waterfalled down Hye Mi's cheeks. This was not how she planned her life to be.

Suddenly she heard someone yelling, "YAH! LEAVE HYE MI ALONE! WHAT IF YOU WERE THE VICTIM? THE WORLD DOESN'T NEED PEOPLE LIKE YOU!"

Hye Mi slowly peaked through the trimmed bush. It was a boy, he looked furious.

"Whatcha going to do about it Junhong?" Laina smirked, swinging her branch around, along with four other bullies.

"Just watch." Junhong said, charging towards the boys and taking them down with no efforts.

Laina's eyes widened. "I-I didn't know you knew how to fight..."

"You don't know a lot about me." He coldly retorted.

"No go away." He smirked, slowly walking towards her.

Laina shreiked, not wanting to be taken down as well. Junhong didn't turn around, "You can come out now Hye Mi, I know you're still there."

Hye Mi sighed with defeat. She finally stood up, rubbing the small cuts on her nimble arms.

Junhong ran over to her, taking her hands. "Gwenchana? Did they do anything else to you? I swear when I get my hands on these-"

"I'm okay Junhong, thank you..." She shyly thanked.

Junhong grinned, "You know my name! Let's be friends!" He chirped, holding his hand out. Hye Mi looked at it with confusion, the word 'friends' boggled her mind.

Someone was finally accepting her. Hye Mi gave a small smile and gladly took it.

They talked for the rest of the recess, no one dared to come close or say assulting words to her for the rest of the day.

They agreed to meet up on the big tree for the next afternoon.

She sat there, waiting. But he never came.

Weeks past and he had never shown up to school again.

Hye Mi suddenly saw on T.V about of story of Choi Junhong.

"Tragic news! The Junhong corporation has gone down dramatically and the family has been found dead on the street with no food and no shelter. Please have a moment of silence to the late family of the Choi's."

Hye Mi broke down. The chance of her having a friend instantly went slim.

She walked into school, her head hanging low. She felt guilty for Junhong. No one even gave him food... If she knew, she would've drowned out her lungs just looking for him desperately.

"Aw~ where is your little friend Hye Mi? Oh right! He's gone! Forever..." Laina teased.

Hye Mi never forgot her words. Hye Mi felt that it was all her fault. That he had been tortured like that.

It had stuck with her up until today. And it hurts her more than anything.

Junhong was her first friend. The person she could actually trust. But that moment had not lasted for long.

She would always ask herself why people had hated her.

Why did everyone hate her?

What did she ever do?

Nothing.

She never did anything.

She was nothing but a target for years.

As Hye Mi turned towards her house someone punched her.

She held in her cries. "Think you're so tough? Tch, you look so pathetic that even Kyungsoo pities you. What a shame. Wouldn't want him to starve... Like someone from fourth grade." Laina snarled.

That hit Hye Mi. She closed her eyes in pain. All the memories coming back again.

"It's all your fault Hye Mi... If you hadn't lured him into your little stupid circle of yours he wouldn't have starved like those other hags out there. And who knows? Maybe you might be just one of them." Laina smirked before kicking Hye Mi hard in the stomach and walking away.

Hye Mi lied there, clutching her stomach. She closed her eyes. A warm tear fell out and onto the gray, stoned concrete.

It wasn't the physical pain she was hurt from, it was the moment Laina had brought up Junhong.

Suddenly she felt someone jerk her up to her feet. Her head stayed low. Hye Mi could not bring herself to look at the person's face.

"Hye Mi, gwenchana?" A soft voice said.

She knew perfectly who that was.

Kyungsoo.

Hye Mi quickly took her arm away from his grasp.

Before he could ask her again she had ran away swiftly home.

~*~*~

"Omo, come here Hye Mi." Jin quickly took her arm and led her towards the kitchen. Jin was used to seeing Hye Mi come home like this. It was always a daily thing for her to do, greet Hye Mi and nurse her wounds.

There had never been a day where Hye Mi didn't come home without being injured.

"What did that witch say this time?" Jin asked, gently patting Hye Mi's bruised cheek, making her squirm.

Hye Mi didn't answer. But that didn't surprise Jin. Hye Mi rarely talked at all. It was like she was so close to being mute.

But this was Hye Mi's life. And it had always been that way from the start. 

"Unnie..." 

Jin's eyes widened drastically. Hye Mi had never used such endearment towards her before. 

"N-Ne?" Jin quickly stammered. 

"Why do people hate me so much?"

Jin's patting slowed down. "You know what? It's their fault that they don't have a sense of vision. You want to know what I see?" Jin turned Hye Mi around to face the baby blue vanity. 

"I see a beautiful, strong woman who is a lot more better than what other people think. She's smart and perfect just the way she is. She may have imperfections, but that's what makes her whole." 

Hye Mi gave a small smile. that had almost touched her heart. But she was too deep in pain and hurt, that it became a sheild. 

All that darkness in her heart became a solid layer, a strong one at that. And so far, no one was able to break it. 

As she would think about the difficulties in her life, it would only become stronger, making her even more depressed and empty like she usually was. 

In conclusion, Hye Mi was falling in the abyss of pain. 

Worst of all, the light wasn't showing up anytime soon.