I suppose I should start at the beginning, to fully explain how I got here, sipping my coffee, watching the waves through the the large bay window of the suite I'm staying in with my new husband for our honeymoon.

Yes, the beginning sounds right.

I, as you probably already know, am Lim Ara. I was born in Anyang, South Korea. My parents were young, around 20, when I was born. They had been high school sweethearts, and they saw me as only a positive addition to their new marriage. Money was tight for the first few years, so they avoided any more kids for a good six more years. My first sibling, a little brother, Junwoo was born when I was six. He was followed four years later by Hyunjae, another little brother.

Life was great, with just the five of us. Then things got a little complicated. My dad lost his job five years after Hyunjae was born. He found another, although it did not pay nearly as well. Mom got pregnant again the following year, this time with Suyeon, finally, a little sister. The additional person to provide for created more stress on my parents' already strained marriage. Cracks that had formed from my dad losing his job were starting to widen.

Then, the unthinkable.

My dad was diagnosed with advanced leukemia. He was given four months to live. He defied the odds, he lived for another eight months. He died on August 2, 2008. I was 18 then, Junwoo was 12, Hyunjae was 8, and little Suyeon was just two.

His death broke my mom. She withdrew, stopped caring for us. We ran out of money. I was left to care for my siblings and find a job. I dropped out of Seoul National University, my dream school, after just one semester so I could find a full-time job.

I held the family together for about a year on my scanty pay-check. Dad had left some money, but his will stated that it was not to be used until the oldest, me, turned 35. So, my family and I managed to subsist on my barely-minimum-wage paycheck. My mom eventually seemed to get herself together. She found a job and helped to pay the bills.

She never did provide any care for any of her children again, though.

She committed suicide on July 28th, 2009.

Her death was a shock. How could a woman so carelessly abandon her four children? Leave them with nothing? I still don't know the answer.

I realized, after a couple of weeks, that I needed to keep it together. I was now responsible for three kids. I had to be both the breadwinner and the caregiver. I needed something with a heftier paycheck.

Law school, which had always been my dream, was now no longer an option. I turned to the next best thing: I went to beauty school. I studied fashion and the art of hairdressing. Not exactly my dream, but I had always had some interest in fashion. After I graduated, I began to search for a job. I found one working at a hair salon, but the pay was just not enough. I looked elsewhere and found every girls' dream job: JYP Entertainment needed another coordinator.

And that, is where I will start my story.

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