Once upon a time... there was this girl
Hana Im.
Her eyes.. they used to sparkle with so much hope, energy and life.
But somewhere in her life, the sparkle died, they were replaced with sorrow, fear and dullness.
Her smile.. her laughter.. they used to be so radiant, so sweet.
But somewhere in her life, it became dry and forced.. they barely exist anymore.
How did that happen?
Well..
Hana's first and only dream, her dream since young, was to become a singer. When she auditioned for a company and passed, she was beyond delighted. She was filled with hopes and expectations about her dream. But as time goes by, things changed. She could have debuted many many times, but the plan was either cancelled or delayed. Her path to becoming a singer became blurry, and the future seemed bleak. It felt as if she was running on a threadmill. No matter how fast she ran or how much she ran, she still ended up at the same place. Her skills became stagnant and she made no progress. She became less hopeful each day. When her hopes depleted, frustration and anger built up, and she always ended up quarrelling with her parents. She knew it was bad to do so, but she couldn't seem to control her emotions, and they ended up being thrown onto the wrong people at the wrong time.
"I will stay in the company tonight, don't bother about me." Were her last words, last phone call and last conversation with her dad.
"NO. ME AND YOUR MOM WILL FETCH YOU TONIG-" was the last sentence she heard from her dad. It wasn't even a complete sentence before she hung up on them. Whenever she looks back at this moment, she always ends up as a crying mess.
It was raining heavily, and her father was driving beyond the speed limit with her mother beside him. He was furious and angry at her, but it was because he cared for her well-being. Meanwhile she just found them annoying and troublesome.
.
.
.
For a whole month after her parent's death, she became a mess. She was lonely, scared and frightened at night. She blamed herself for her parent's death, she felt like she was a curse. She had no time for her trainee life as she continued wallowing in that self-blaming mindset, so she left the company and buried her dreams of becoming a singer, because each time she remembered that dream, she was reminded of her parents' death. She was diagnosed with depression, and had attempted suicide countless times. Because of her depression, she also quitted school. She couldn't remember the last time she slept, or smiled, or laughed, or went out of the house.
But this all changed when someone entered her life.
Kim Samuel.
He moved to the house next to hers coincidentally around a month after Hana's parent's death. Out of respect, when he first moved, he baked cookies and wanted to greet Hana. However he was shocked when he first saw her. Her eyes were swollen with tears staining her cheek. Her hair was dishevelled. The worst were her arms. They seemed torn up and cut. Out of kindness, Samuel decided to help Hana. At first Hana detested him, and found him bothersome. He was scolded by Hana many times, as she screamed and yelled at him for being a busy-body and digging into people's past. Of course Samuel was hurt, but he never blamed Hana a bit. He knew if he tried harder, he will be able to help Hana become more cheerful. Time and effort paid off eventually. Hana saw Samuel's sincerity and slowly, she started opening up to Samuel, revealing bit-by-bit, her dreams, her past as a trainee, and,though she was hesitant, even her family.
After Samuel knew about it, he was more determined to turn Hana back to the cheerful and bubbly self. Everyday after school for him, he would invite Hana over to his house or go over to Hana's house and he would listen to Hana's troubles and rants without feeling bored or tired. He would also tell Hana about how his day went, how his annoying math teacher would always pick on him to answer the toughest questions, how he got detention and escaped it. Even though it may sound boring and pointless to other people, Hana was very entertained and would often laugh at Samuel's silly jokes. And each time she did, Samuel's heart felt unexplainably warm and fluttery.
