SIGNAL || TWICE

🕰Five🕰

Jihyo ran to safety, which was behind a Chinese restaurant. Hair matted to her face, she pulled her friend, Mina, beside her as they plopped to the ground. They tried catching their breaths as they listened to the sounds of social workers running past them. Jihyo peeked around to make sure they had all passed before truly relaxing.

"How long are we going to keep doing this?" Mina asked, pushing her dark hair from her forehead.

Jihyo looked at the slightly younger girl. They had met at the orphanage they were both sent to, after their parents died; Jihyo's parents were in a car accident, while Mina's were in a plane crash coming from Japan. Mina had been the only survivor, surprisingly, and gained a lot of attention from it. Attention was the last thing Mina wanted and needed. She wanted her parents back.

Jihyo had been at the orphanage for five years, since she was two. She kept to herself, only talking to another orphan that was older than her: Jungyeon. The two had been close ever since Jihyo arrived, whether the younger liked it or not. Jihyo looked up to Jungyeon, and wouldn't leave her side ever since. She was taught secrets about the orphanage, and how previous children escaped successfully, and then told Jihyo a plan of how they would escape.

But the day before their long-awaited escape, Jungyeon got adopted, leaving the younger Korean alone. Jihyo hated being alone, and she never realized that until almost a year passed after her only friend left. She had felt so lonely that she would grab Jungyeon's map of the orphanage that she left behind and study the plan the older had to escape. Jihyo was going to escape so she could find Jungyeon, the only person she could trust in this cruel world.

Then Mina came and took Jungyeon's previous bed. Jihyo resented her at first; she took Jungyeon's spot, but now Jihyo had company. As Jihyo spent more time with Mina, warming up to her, she realizes she must be the next Jungyeon. She must protect Mina and teach her the ways of the orphanage. She must be the one to escape the orphanage with her.

And she did.

And now, as a seven-year-old Jihyo looked at Mina, she realizes she cannot be seen as weak in front of her. Now that they were out of the place they hated so much, they didn't know where to go. But Jungyeon wouldn't have dared showed her weakness in front of Jihyo, or anybody else for that matter. And neither would Jihyo.

"Until we're free, Mina-ah," Jihyo replied, standing up.

They were tired, hungry, and in need of a shelter. Jihyo had no idea where they would rest, but she could try to beg the owners of the restaurant to spare some food.

"Stay here, Minie," Jihyo instructed. "And stay hidden. No matter what, don't reveal yourself. Okay?"

Mina nodded obediently, then Jihyo snuck around the corner. There were two trash bins lined up against the side of the building, and Jihyo used the one closest to her for cover. She lingered there for a moment before scurrying to the next one without a noise.

Suddenly, a small gasp was heard, and Jihyo whirled around to locate the source of the noise. A small, Chinese girl sat in the space between the two trash bins, looking up at Jihyo with a sad yet scared expression.

"Mama...Baba*..." she whimpered, looking up at the window Jihyo hadn't noticed before. (Maybe it was because she was short.)

Jihyo got close to the window before standing on her tiptoes to look inside. It was like the inside of any other resutarant, with a dining area, and behind the counter, and the kitchen. Jihyo looked until she saw an older couple behind the counter of the empty restaurant, who had to be the owners. Another Chinese girl sat on the counter in front of them, grinning from ear-to-ear as the couple praised her.