Author’s note:

 

This chapter will focus on Taeyeon when she was in 1st grade at her primary school. (Korean age 8, Western age 7 – I used western age, anyway). The few tragedies that changed her life will slowly begin to unfold. (This chapter and the next one. You may skip if you want cuz no TaengSic in here. :D)

 

 

 

 

Author's POV:

 

 

Hayeon's eyes were filled with heavy tears as soon as she awakes from her sleep. Traumatize to even feel her own sister’s arms that were holding her closely. It forces to awake the older siblings who were lying on the empty floor together with her. She was in the middle between Taeyeon and Jiwoong because she heard them trying to hush her and tell her that they were around to protect her from any sort of evil, so she should not be frightened of anything. However, the darkness is too scary for her to take. Her tears won't stop that easily as she wished. She doesn’t understand why all of them need to stay in the dark room for too long. She was too young to understand anything. She wants her mother and father. She missed them. It feels forever since the last she saw them. Where are they and why they let them stay in the dark and cramped room?

 

Eventually, none of them were aware about how many days have passed. Because darkness is the only companion they have in their lives, recently. Their cries for a help not bring them any good news. No one was coming to rescue them for all the yell and screaming they’ve done. It seems pointless to draw attention when they knew it’s impossible to be heard by anybody.

 

They sweat a lot. Dehydrated. Mouth so dry. Their bodies are sore everywhere. Thirst and hunger for not having anything since they have been locked up by the four kidnappers. The thirst felt evident to the older brother and sister in the room more than the younger one. The concrete floor at least gave them a little coolness that their body needs so badly. The two older siblings tried once again to call for a help, taking turn to preserve a little energy they have left in their tiny frames. As usual, it only makes them becoming weaker and weaker.

 

"This won't do us any good." Eight year old Jiwoong complained tiredly while trying to catch his breath. He can't see his sister's face, but he knew Taeyeon was beside Hayeon since they first got into the place. Their position maintains since the beginning as both of them agree to protect Hayeon at all cost.

 

The pitch-dark room really makes them feel sick. They don't spot any single light coming from anywhere since the day they have been brought there. The kidnappers have stored them in a small secret underground room which was very cramped. The room has no proper ventilation. They actually heard a sound of fan from somewhere above in the left area of the room, but it didn't help much. The room still smells awful. They hardly could breathe if they use too much energy to scream.

 

When they first got into the place with one of the kidnappers, they only spot a single empty bucket. Because all of them have used it to pee and poop as what they have been told, so the room has a pretty nasty smell of their urine and feces. No other thing that they saw other than that on that day. A few hours ago, just before they fell asleep, both Jiwoong and Taeyeon have tried to search for a door handle with the wish they could escape from the place. Too bad, they can't find anything. The rub they did on the wall to search for the thing they want was really making them become more hopeless. The room was pretty empty like it was designated to make them trap and can't do anything other than waiting for the kidnappers again.

 

"We tried so many times to scream. I'm exhausted and I’m really scared, Taeyeon. Why it took so long for appa and umma to find us?" Jiwoong finally tried to speak with his sibling who was only a year younger than him. Hayeon already become quiet from her cries again. He heard how Taeyeon tried to comfort his two year old sister while he was screaming for a help. He knew Hayeon was thirsty like them. Hayeon kept on asking them when she can get a bottle of milk again. The only thing that she got was a comforting words from Taeyeon before she dozed off due to fatigue. He might be the oldest, but he wasn't the bravest among them. He tends to get panic easily. Furthermore, it has been too long they have been kept in the room. Having Taeyeon with him at least does help him. Taeyeon reminded him to stay calm with her imagination trick that she taught him whenever he begins to hyperventilate. "Why you brought Tiffany to our house the other night before they got us? Where is Tiffany? Is she perhaps got abducted like us?"

 

The thing that Jiwoong asked brings Taeyeon back to the week before they got kidnapped. It started from the beginning of spring when Tiffany became one of her friends, when she was at the bus station near to her school with Tiffany, and when they were together at her parents’ house. She was certain that Tiffany was saved. Her gut was telling her like that. She sacrificed herself to be taken by the kidnappers because she didn't want them to find Tiffany.

 

 

 

It was just like every other morning when their class was filled with lots of noisy kids running around or jumping around the classroom to play with each other. It was spring. The cold temperature now slowly bearable than the last a few months. They don’t need to wear thick winter apparel when they went out of the classroom anymore. She noticed, the floor heater has not been in their classroom too. It clearly tells her that they are basically free from the cold season.

 

Because her seat was located in the center of the classroom, so she could easily witness how kids in her age were enjoying themselves to the fullest. Front and back has no different with kids playing with artificial flower decorations. They truly welcomed the cherry blossom season. It was the best season that she loved as well. Spring is always wondrous to her because she was born nearly to spring. Her mother told her numerous of flowers bursting into bloom across the country during spring. She loves flowers. All types of flower, especially roses. The scent of roses that her father gave to her mother during their 9th wedding anniversary was truly wonderful.

 

She could still smell them whenever she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her imagination is always playing an important role like what her father always told her. That’s why she could imagine them until now. It brought her a bright smile. She wondered if she likes the flower because she has smelt the same scent from one of the students in her class or she just truly likes it because it reminds her how happy her mother was to receive the flower from her charming father.

 

"What are you smiling at, class leader-nim?" Sunny’s voice killed her imagination about the scent of the flower that her father gave to her mother just a few weeks ago during their wedding anniversary who also happened to fall on her birthday. "I saw you smile and smile and smile at the new transferred student from a distance before I enter this class. You are so bold right now, Taeyeonie." She stated with a teasing grin, getting the wrong idea to Taeyeon’s daydreaming. She thought Taeyeon was looking at the new transferred kid from the U.S who sat three tables ahead of them and on the right corner of their class when actually that wasn’t the case at all. "Do you really like her that a lot?"

 

Taeyeon took her textbook out clumsily from her schoolbag upon realizing Tiffany was smiling beautifully at her. Suddenly, she was so nervous by what she sees. Perhaps, the American girl's eyesmile is so eye-catching to even look from a far. She remembered that she can't blink her eyes when she happened to make eye contact with her last time. Her eyesmile is really one of a kind. She has never encountered butterfly playing on her stomach. But that day, she did. It’s so blissful to feel that for the first time. Seeing the crescent moon shape that Tiffany created whenever she smiles has truly made a wonder to herself that day. Tiffany was all over her mind, even after she went home. She can't get rid the greatest eyesmile image that she had seen from Tiffany on that day. She thought that she had even seen Tiffany’s eyesmile while she’s asleep.

 

The bell ringing so loudly, a sign of their first class was about to begin. She tried not to pay too much attention to Sunny’s childish statements who took a seat beside her after that.

 

Sunny was living across from their house. She wasn’t only her classmate, but she also happens to be her neighbour. They live in the same housing area. Basically, her mother said they were best friend and very close since babies. Indeed, they were really close. Sunny always sleeps over at her house whenever her parents went outstation. Sometimes, they do take a shower together because they think it was fine. What she has on her body, Sunny has it too. She knew everything about Sunny like how Sunny knew everything about her. They always do their homework together. When it’s time to play, they will always play together. They share all types of toys together. Sometimes they play in Sunny’s house, and sometimes in her house. When they argue or disagree with something, they will try to make up before bedtime. They were basically like a twin. They even got into the same school, same class, and sitting next to each other. Therefore, she hopes Sunny will know how she dislikes her whenever she teases her like this. What happen to Sunny for keeping on since the day she approached and showed their school cafeteria to the beautiful kid from L.A? She was doing it for a courtesy or just as a sense of responsibility that she carries as a class leader. What Sunny said makes her feel uneasy.

 

Did she like Tiffany? Maybe she does… she actually really loves to see her eyesmile. And that was pretty it.

 

"Taeyeonie, don’t you think that she looked pretty cute the other day when she dropped her ice-cream and cried for it?? I secretly laugh with Yuri and Hyoyeon to see her. I would not cry for an ice-cream. That’s so stupid! She acts like a kindergarten kid by crying like that." Sunny blurted out her a week ago memory while taking out her English textbook and pencil. She only realized Taeyeon was giving her a sharp stare when she’s done putting her textbook on the table to search for her best friend’s amazing different eye color that everyone always admire. She once brags to her mother to say how lucky she is when she got the chance to see Taeyeon's beautiful eyes always. How she wished she got eyes like her best friend. She really wanted to be Taeyeon’s twin for real. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

 

"You should not ridicule other kid in this class. You are not a bully, Soonkyu-ya. We have an agreement on that with Yuri and Hyoyeon. We against bully together since we were in the kindergarten. I don’t want to be your best friend anymore if you become one of them." Taeyeon reminded strictly, but still in her soft voic