If there was anything Siyeon hated more than anything in this world, it was seeing people cry; especially if it was her fault. So as she watched her drunken father down the last couple drops of his third pint of Absolut for the night with angry tears streaming down his face, she was distraught. She couldn't help but flinch as he slammed the glass bottle on the table, obviously not caring about the shards that haphazardly scattered across the surface of the wooden table and living room floor.

 

"Wha-what the are you looking at?"He spat angrily, trying his best not to stumble over his words, but failing miserably. The young girl simply shrugged her shoulders and turned her head away from the man, not wanting to make him any more upset than he already was. Before she could register what was going on, he used whatever strength he had to stand up, stumbling in her direction, "Now, y-you answer me when I'm speaking to you!"

 

"N-nothing!"She shakily replied, looking down at her trembling hands to avoid his dark gaze.

 

"Tsk, I don't know what she ever saw in you." He shook his head in what seemed to be shame. "God, after you were born, you're all she ever talked about. 'Siyeon this, Siyeon that.' Disgusting." He continued to shake his head, taking a step back from the young girl who was still trembling against the wall. "Now, look where she's at! Dead!"He shouted, punching the wall right next to Siyeon's head. 

 

"I-I'm sorr-"She began, only to be cut off by the man in front of her .

 

"Shut up, I don't want to hear it." He still had tears streaming down his face as kneeled down on the floor, gripping his head in his hands. "God, I miss her." 

 

'So do I,'she wanted to say. God, did she miss her. There was nothing she wanted more than to have her mother back. To be able to see her smile and hear her voice again would be a dream. But no, she was stuck with the shell of a man still kneeling on the floor in front of her. The man who constantly reminded her that the death of her mother was her fault. The man who she used to look up to. 

 

She sighed heavily as she watched her father collapse entirely, curling himself into a tight knit ball on the floor. She walked over to the couch, carefully watching where she stepped in fear of the sharp shards of glass everywhere. She grabbed a blanket and carefully made her way back over to the man who was now snoring loudly from his uncomfortable spot on the floor and laid the blanket over his body. She studied his features, taking in how much more old and wrinkled he had started looking over the past 7 months, her mother's death, taking a toll on him. She didn't blame him for the way he felt. She blamed herself everyday for her mother's death. 

 

A single tear rolled down her cheek.

 

She blinked rapidly, trying her best to stop any others that threatened to spill from her eyes. She shook her head, roughly running her hands down her face. She didn't have the right to be upset. After all, she is the one at fault. 

 

~~~

 

Waking up in the morning after a night of hardly any sleep was always the worst part of Siyeon's day. She couldn't contain the loud groan she let out as she slammed her hand on the snooze button for the third time that morning, sick of repetitive beeping that came from the irritating alarm clock by her bed. 

 

Five more minutes, she thought.

 

A loud blaring of 'This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race' from Fall Out Boy is what woke her from her sleep as she jumped from her comfortable position and looked at her phone. 

 

'Minji <3' 

 

"Hello,"She answered in a deep, groggy voice, letting her best friend know that she had just woke up without her even asking.

 

"Siyeon! What the hell, you're so late!" Her best friend's frantic voice came bellowing through the speaker on her phone. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand by her bed and sighed loudly, seeing that she was indeed almost 2 hours late for school. 

 

"Sorry, Minji, I accidentally slept in…"

 

"Again,"The other girl replied in a slightly concerned voice. "You know, Mrs. Kang is going to be upset right? This is the third time this week." The younger girl groaned, already dreading the incoming scolding she's going to get from her teacher. 

 

"I know, I know. I'll be there as soon as I can though. I'll see you soon." All she got in response was quick "goodbye, love you,"from the girl before her phone beeped, signalling that the call had ended. She could already tell that today was going to be a long day. 

 

-

 

"Late again, Miss. Lee?"The lady at the front desk, Miss Son asked in a knowing tone as she looked up at the young girl, readjusting her glasses on the bridge of her nose. Miss Son was probably one of the most understanding people Siyeon had ever met, the woman always taking the time to make sure the student was okay instead of badgering her like most people would. Siyeon appreciated it. 

 

She grimaced as she ran a hand through her dark hair, "I'm sorry, I accidentally slept in… again." The woman sighed, writing a late pass for the girl. 

 

"Siyeon, this is beginning to get out of hand. Pretty soon, if it keeps happening, we're going to take it to the principal, and you know neither of us wants that." She gave the young girl a look that made her nervous, making her nod frantically in agreement. 

 

"Of course, ma'am. I'll work on it." Miss Son nodded, handing her the excused late pass, wordlessly sending her on her way. Siyeon turned, looking down at the pass, reading the words, 'family emergency' as the excuse before she accidentally bumped shoulders with someone she hadn't noticed was standing behind her. "Oh! I'm so sorry." Siyeon leaned down, helping the girl pick up her books that were now spread on the neatly, tiled floor. 

 

The girl gave her a small smile, finally meeting the dark haired girl's eyes, "It's fine, don't worry about it." She handed the girl her books, shooting her a smile. The girl was a lot shorter than Siyeon, forcing her to look up at her. Before either of them could say anything else, they were both interrupted by Miss Son, who was closely watching the interaction, "I suggest you get to class, Siyeon."

 

Said girl turned to the desk attendant, giving her a look of dismissal before turning back to the girl next to her who continued, "thanks, Siyeon."

 

"Uh, no problem…"She paused, not knowing the name of the stranger. "Bora."She cut in.

 

"...Bora."Siyeon repeated in a small voice, nodding her head as she tried to burn the name into her memory. Not wanting to hear from Miss Son again, she nodded her head in the direction of Bora, before hurriedly making her way to the classroom, only just remembering how late she was.

 

Knocking on the door, she grimaced in fear, hearing the click of Mrs. Kang's heels as she walked towards the door. As soon as the door opened, Mrs. Kang gave her an irritated look, "Nice of you to show up, Miss Lee." The student frowned as she passed the late pass to her math teacher. "Please go sit down, Siyeon." The dark haired girl nodded, keeping her eyes on the floor, quickly making her way to her seat right behind her best friend who was laughing at her pain.

 

"I thought she was going to explode when you knocked on the door. She looked so pissed off."Minji let out a short giggle before the younger girl lightly jabbed her in the back with her hand.

 

"Shut up!" Her best friend continued giggling as she messed with the younger girl. Siyeon couldn't help but zone out the rest of the class period, not paying attention to the constant droning of her teacher's voice as she went on and on about whatever chapter they were on in their Statistics book. 

 

She was too busy tapping on the table with her pen to notice that people were packing up their belongings. She didn't even hear the bell ring. "Come on, Si."Minji said, dragging her best friend out of the classroom by the sleeve of her shirt. 

 

The rest of the day went by rather smoothly despite the beginning. Classes, of course were as boring as ever to the girl. As she was making her way outside of the front gates of her high school, her phone vibrated, signifying that she had a text.

 

Dad: dont come home 

 

She rolled her eyes in irritation, angrily slipping her phone back into her pocket. It wasn't the first time this has happened to her. It just meant her father was drinking and didn't want to deal with her for the day. But just because she was used to it, didn't mean it was any less irritating. 

 

The dark haired girl was brought out of her thoughts by a small, almost timid voice, "Hey, are you okay?" The girl shot her head in the direction of the voice to find Bora staring at her with a concerned expression. When the taller girl didn't answer right away, the newcomer continued speaking, "I didn't mean to intrude or anything, you just looked upset, sorry…" she trailed off and cleared . 

 

Siyeon sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "It's fine, don't worry about it,"She said, repeating what the shorter one had said when they ran into each other earlier that day. "And yeah…  I'm fine,"She continued, realizing she didn't answer her original question.

  

"Are you sure?"The shorter girl pressed on, but immediately stopped as she noticed the look on the dark haired girl's face. 

 

"I'm sure, Bora. I'm just tired,"She said, trying to convince the girl. 

 

"Hey uh, it's fine if you don't want to but did you want to hangout or something?"The smaller girl randomly asked after a moment of silence in a small tone, making Siyeon tilt her head in confusion at Bora's timid voice. "It's just, I'm new and I guess it would nice to have a friend arou-" 

 

"Bora stop, yes I'll hangout with you." The taller girl laughed at the girl's relieved expression. "Did you think I wouldn't want to?"

 

"No."She simply replied before continuing, "You're just really intimidating." 

 

Bora's response made the dark haired girl laugh out loud, "I am not, but I'm glad you think so. What did you want to do?"

 

"Anything,"She shrugged, following the taller girl as she began walking down the sidewalk, dodging the random students that were standing in the way. "Surprise me, maybe? I don't know anything about this town."

 

"Alright, follow me,"Siyeon responded as she started leading the smaller girl to one of her favorite spots in the city. On the way there, they asked each other random questions, taking the opportunity to get to know each other. 

 

"What's your favorite thing to do?"Siyeon asked as she made her way into a seemingly abandoned park, walking past plenty of vacant benches and sitting on one under a large, eerie looking oak tree. 

 

"I've always loved dancing,"Bora responded as she looked around the park, noticing the torn down state of the park. "It's very calming to me." She turned to look at the younger girl who was staring at her with a very interested look on her face. "What about you?"

 

"Uh, I play the piano,"she mumbled as she looked down at the ground, kicking around the surrounding dirt and leaves in an odd pattern that Bora couldn't pinpoint. "Well, I used to. I kind of just write a lot now."

 

"Why don't you play the piano anymore?"The smaller girl asked, genuinely interested, leaning closer to Siyeon. 

 

The dark haired girl shifted uncomfortably, scratching the back of her neck, "no particular reason. It just isn't really for me." 

 

After that, they sat in relative silence, the only noises being birds and the sound of Siyeon’s absentminded humming. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable, in fact, this is the most comfortable the younger of the two had been with a person other than her best friend. They sat there for some time, silently watching as the sun begins to set, simply enjoying the company of one another. 

 

As it started getting dark, Siyeon finally stopped her humming and turned to the smaller girl, “we should really get going, I don’t want you walking home alone in the dark.”

 

Bora smiled, standing up from her spot on the bench, “Are you going to walk home? How charming,”She giggled softly, already dropping the idea that the younger girl was intimidating. “I don’t know why I thought you were intimidating, you’re like a puppy.”

 

Siyeon dropped her smile, trying to make herself look scary to the smaller, “please, if anything, I’m like a wolf.” Bora shook her head at the dark haired girl, clearly not buying it. “But yes, I am going to walk you home, so please, lead the way.” 

 

Bora nodded, walking in the direction of her new home, “And how are you getting home?”

 

‘Walking,”She simply replied, immediately noticing the look of displeasure on the shorter girl’s face. “I’ll be fine, I can protect myself.” Siyeon stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jacket, speeding up to catch up with Bora. 

 

“You can always stay over…”She trailed off, not wanting to cross any boundaries, but not liking the idea of the girl walking home alone while it was dark outside. 

 

Siyeon shook her head, “I promise I’ll be okay, Bora.” The protectiveness of the older girl shocked Siyeon. Most people would simply just let her go. 

 

Suddenly, Bora stopped walking and nodded her head in the direction of the house they were standing in front of, “This is me. You know, the offer still stands.”

 

“Bora, I’ll be fine.”Siyeon couldn’t help but smile at the shorter girl, her protective manner slightly reminding her of how her mother used to be. She immediately shook the thought away, not wanting to think about that at the moment. “Go inside, I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”

 

Bora sighed and nodded, but not before taking out a pen from her bag and quickly grabbing Siyeon’s hand to write something on her palm. As soon as she was done, she gave the taller girl a bright smile, “Text me when you get home, then. If I don’t get a text within the next hour, I’m going to call the police and get a whole squad to find you, hounds and all.” Instead of giving Siyeon a chance to respond, she ran to the front door of her house, excitedly waving to the girl and went inside. She couldn’t contain the small smile that spread across her face as she began her trek toward her own home. 

 

Bora was certainly something.