“I’m sorry for your loss,”

“They were good people,”

“Why did they have to go? They were so young,”

“My condolences,”

“If only I could turn back time, perhaps I could thank them while they were still alive,”

I only stood close to my aunt, my tears already dried up after three days of mourning over the death of my parents. Many people came, as the company our family owned had more than hundreds of workers and those weren’t even including their friends and our family members. Those string of sympathetic words had been redundant for these three days, and now I couldn’t help but feel sick of hearing them.

It wasn’t because most of them were insincere.

It was just because they made me feel regret.

I need not feel that emotion at this moment.

Turning back time? Good people? Too young of age? Those were some of the excuses they had made as they stepped in to pay their respects. Everyone knew. Every single person knew. But they were too cowardly to admit it out loud. Too scared to accept the fact. They were anything but brave at this point, because they couldn’t say it to my face. So they made up things to cover the truth. The terrifying reality. These people thought that just because I was of a young age, I could not comprehend or assess what was going on.

My parents.

Were dead.

Because of me.

It wasn’t that hard to figure it out though. I had clearly remembered what had happened that day. Specifically, three days back. Upon receiving the news of my parents’ death I had woken up to Aunt Haesoo crying beside my bed in the hospital. My gut had felt that certain loss, and when I was informed of the news I had not reacted for a good few seconds before the whole world collapsed onto me. Memories of the incident haunted my mind, and I couldn’t help but to feel remorse as I recalled them.

I was on my way back home school that day, my feet skipping lightly as I on a lollipop that windy evening. Just as I passed the crowded bus stop I caught sight of a man, probably a wealthy one as he was dressed neatly and clothed with an expensive-looking attire. He had a pair of shades on, so I couldn’t really take a good look at his face.  He smiled. I was in awe of his handsome smile for a while that I had stopped walking immediately. All that I managed to register was that glimpse of his teeth before a large black van halted beside me and I was pulled into it, my mouth covered by a piece of cloth and from then I knew I was abducted.

The ransom for me was 100 million won.

I was always kept blindfolded, they never revealed where we were until they had me secured tightly onto a chair, and just as they pulled the blindfold off I saw the same man in front of me, still with his shades on. I heard about the payment in the van, and my heart ached horribly as I heard the sound of my mother’s cries and my father’s voice shaking through the phone call. As my eyes had finally adjusted to the light, I looked straight into the face of the man standing in front of me.

“Scared, baby doll?”

Indeed, I was.

But I couldn’t show him I was.

I shouldn’t.

“Never. Not of someone like you,” I replied as firmly as I could, my tone attempting to tune in to a confident one as the words rolled of my tongue. He laughed, followed by the cackle of his men inside what seems to be an abandoned warehouse. He then took a strand of my hair, and tucked it behind my ear, making me flinch and grit my teeth at the contact. “No worries,” he said. “We’ll have so much fun even if your mummy and daddy can’t come for you, okay?” Laughter coming after that sentence.

Soon enough, the whirr of a car had been heard, and in came my father with his assistant Mr James who had a briefcase in hand. Our family was more than capable of paying that huge sum, but I somehow knew that this wasn’t a simple money-life ransom. And judging from the tightness on my father and Mr James’ face, they knew the fact as well. Just then my mother came into view, her heels clicking as she trailed behind the two men. As she waltzed into the warehouse, I had a bad feeling surging in my chest.

“Here. 100 million won. Now let my daughter go.” My father’s voice resonated in the large space, resulting a cackle from the man in front of me. “You do know the gist of this situation. Show m