A text from a stranger [SEVENTEEN HOSHI]

D A T A 3

Happiness.

What is happiness?

Happiness is the state of being happy. Happiness is something people need.

What is the feeling of happiness?

You usually feel the feeling of happiness after achieving something you wished for. After you do something good. After you help people do something. You usually sense someone is happy when the person is smiling, their teeth showing sincerity. If wrinkles appear, if their eyes turn from a full moon into a crescent. You also feel happy when the people you love, and care so much is feeling happy.

Is there the feeling of happiness in Kang Miera's current situation?

The police pulled Mrs.Kang out of the house, and into the police car. Miera's mother's scream filled her ears.

"HOW DARE YOU? I RAISED YOU, AND I TOOK CARE OF YOU! I SUFFERED YEARS BECAUSE OF YOU! I DIDNT LEFT YOU IN THE STREETS, ALTHOUGH YOU WERE USELESS TO ME! I STILL FEEDED YOU, AND I HAD TO WORK AND PAY FOR YOUR EDUCATION! AND THIS IS HOW YOU PAY ME BACK? THIS IS HOW YOU THANK ME?"

Guilty.

Is Miera feeling guilty?

Is she guilty for leaving her mother and let her go in prison? Her mother that always pull her hair, her mother who told her to work at a café and wear short dresses? Her mother who was careless? Careless to the point that she had sex with someone and was pregnant with Miera in her belly?

And also her mother who didn't throw her out, who worked while Miera was in her stomach, kicking her? Her mother who paid for her classes, her tuitions, her supplies, her food, her clothes and her shelter? Her mother who raised her nice and pretty? Her mother who was just a careless teenage girl trying so hard to find her husband? Her mother who suffered years of her life after teenage years?

What is she truly feeling?

A mixture of happiness and guiltiness?

Happy that her mother is finally in prison for abusing her, and guilty because she never paid back everything her mother did for her?

"Miera." A hand.

She saw it. A hand was pulling her out of her deep thoughts. A hand was saving her from all the unanswered questions.

"It's alright. Everything's gonna be okay. We're all here for you."

Was it alright? Was it really okay?

"Miera, look at us. At me."

Miera's eyes raised and she made eye contact. Their gaze locked. Miera stared into Soonyoung's eyes, and she can see herself in his eyes.

"Everything's okay. Me, and even my friends are here for you. You're not alone. We'll take care of you."

"It's — it's not that." Miera finally speak. Her whole body was shaking, and she couldn't stare into Soonyoung's eyes anymore.

"My mother did everything for me. I- I did n-nothing to repay her. I just disobeyed her. I-I-I'm useless."

"You're not —"

"Don't take my mother away from me!"