Chapter Three-

“And just where were you young lady?! You need to do the chores!” Maerin yelled as soon as Kami and Kai stepped into the house. Her hands were on her hips as she stared down at Kami, completely ignoring that Kai had come home late as well.

Kami bit her lip and was about to speak but before she could say anything Kai spoke up. “She was with me eomma, it’s alright, I can help her with the chores so that they get done on time.”

Maerin’s eyes widened and she shook her head frantically. “Oh no Kai dear! You need to go to your room and do your homework. I’m sure Kami-sshi can handle the chores by herself, there’s really not much to do.”

Kai was about to talk back to his mother but Kami nudged him lightly, signaling to him that it was alright. Kai sighed. “Alright,” he grumbled and walked up the stairs to his room.

Kami turned back to face Maerin to see her staring right back. Kami gulped.

“Young lady, get to work right now. I’ll save you a beating since Kai dear says you were with him, but I will not be so lenient if you do not finish before going to bed.”

“Ne eomeoni,” Kami said and headed straight to the pantry to get started on the laundry.

Maerin shook her head as she watched the girl leave. “I swear, if her of a mother was still raising her she would never be wife material, at least with me raising her she has a chance of getting a husband.”

Kami held back her tears as she overheard her step-mother’s words. It was just too much, dealing with this day in and day out. Especially when deep down inside she felt like she was missing something in her life, and she somehow knew that it wasn’t parental affection that she was missing. That just made Kami feel even worse about herself since it wasn’t necessarily her parents that she craved for. Sure, she missed them desperately, but there was just a gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach screaming at her that she was missing something. So she cried as she did the laundry, as she did the dishes, as she swept the floors, silent tears in hatred of her incomplete and unappreciative self.

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She stood there as the wind blew through her tangled mess of brown hair and whipped it around her face. When she pulled her hair away from her face and looked to the ground in front of her a disturbingly familiar figure lied on the grass face down. The figure lied in a puddle of what she could only imagine was its own blood. She went to take a step toward the male on the ground, to check to see if he still had any signs of life, until a spine chilling voice stopped her in her tracks.

“It’s your turn now.”

Her head snapped up away from the figure on the ground and she looked around at her surroundings in confusion, her mind blank even as her eyes landed on the man smiling sinisterly in front of her. Her body starte