너는 최고야 ! [ You Are The Best ! ]

02. never give up on your children

"We'd have put her in an orphanage but it seems she's too. . . Damaged for that." The doctor sighed, tapping his pen against the clipboard in his hand. Currently he was having a conversation with the irresponsible mother of a hospitalized child. The little one seemed to have lost her memory, she was terrified to the point she'd burst into tears if anyone approached her.

Sayuri went near her daughter, but she screamed. She screamed and she cried, and the begged her to stay away. No one really thought Sayuri had the right to feel hurt, but she was definitely some type of heartbroken. Her own daughter didn't even recognize her. Her son said she deserved it. Now both of her kids were a lost cause.

Park Mio was taken from the family, they were clearly not capable of taking care of her. Sayuri was angry at the moment, and signed the document to give her up without a second thought. Now she regretted it with every fiber in her being, and her son would never let her outlive it; "you gave up on your only daughter. you're a pathetic excuse for a parent." He was such a cold, cold teenager. There was always some sort of hate in his eyes whenever they looked at one another.

There was an orphanage called the Sun Garden that would have been happy to take the girl, but given her mental state, they decided to keep her hospitalized. Instead the orphanage put her up for adoption and left her in the hospital to try and recover. If things looked up, then she'd join the orphanage with the other kids, or be adopted beforehand.

An old couple took interest in her. She was a little Korean girl that shared the same common last name as them. They didn't mind she wasn't. . . Normal. After some thought, they decided to visit her in the hospital one day.

"Here, I have a gift for you sweetie." A woman with black hair sat down on the chair beside the little girl's bed. Park Kimsun, or Kim for short. She handed over a plush toy. It was a soft yellow Pikachu. The little girl's eyes glittered, Kim was the only one she hadn't blatantly rejected asides from the doctors and nurses she saw every day. Mio hesitantly reached her hands out and took hold of the toy. She hugged onto it.

". . . Thank you very much." She muttered quietly, looking up at Kim. Her eyes. Her eyes were so sad, so empty. Unlike any other child she'd seen before, that was brimming with excitement. That was when Kim made her decision, she wanted to adopt this girl.

Kim never had a daughter and it seems this little one had never had a proper mother. That was a good enough reason, they'd fill the void in one another's hearts. Kim was already in her late fifties, so she didn't mind being referred to as 'halmeoni', for grandmother. Besides, she wanted to be as honest as possible with Mio. No, she wasn't going to pretend to be her birth mother, she'd tell her as soon as possible that was not the case. Mio was well aware she was adopted, but it didn't make her cry.

"This is your room!" Kim chirped happily, pushing open the bedroom door. It wasn't huge, but it wasn't small either. The bed was in the middle, to the left was a white desk and pink chair, as well as a glass door out to the balcony. To the right were some bookshelves, a closet and dresser. Most of the room was in pink, and the bed looked like it belonged to a real young princess. On top of the pillows were more stuffed toys.

Mio quietly stepped inside, looking around. Her fingers ran across the pink bed sheets, and she held onto one of the smaller pillows. It was really soft, so she started to cry. Tightly hugging onto the pillow, she sobbed for a while before turning to Kim and Jae. Then she bowed her head.

"Do you like it, Miyah?" Kim stepped over to her, kneeling down to her height. She smiled, patting the little girl's white hair. Mio nodded, wiping at her eyes frantically. "I'm glad. . . We'll get lots more stuff so you can decorate your room just the way you want, okay?"

There were a lot of times Mio didn't sleep well, so she knocked on Kim and Jae's door. Instead of letting her sleep in their room, they all went over to her room to sleep. The bed was big enough for the three of them anyway, so they put her in the middle. Jae would tell her one of the countless amounts of Korean folktales he knew until she and his wife fell asleep.

At one point, Mio had met one of the neighbor's dogs. It seemed to like her a lot, so Kim wanted to adopt a dog as well. They'd gotten a Pomeranian as a baby and named him Cho. He was Mio's first dog and she loved him endlessly.

Over time, they really did become a happy family.

Mio didn't really have any friends, so Kim and Jae had hoped she'd make some when she went to her knew school. Raimon was big, she was bound to end up talking to some people, even if it'd be scary. They were well aware of how skittish she was, she'd jump and flinch a lot at the simplest things.

"Introduce yourself."

"O-oh. . . Uhm, my name is Park Mio. I-I hope we can get along." She bowed her head a little too deeply.

Everyone was staring.

Everyone was staring.

"You'll sit in front of Kazemaru. Kazemaru raise your hand please." The teacher called out.

The teal haired boy hesitated, but ended up raising his hand. They locked eyes for a moment, but she immediately looked away.