*~Past~*

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Before going back to their house, the officers brought us back to my house to pick up my belongings. I was still freaked out by the huge butterfly symbol that I saw in my parents room, so I did not dare to enter the house. I told Auntie Yuri that I only wanted my clothes and nothing else from the house.

Deep inside my young heart, I was very angry at my parents for leaving me behind. Even though I did not mind following Auntie Yuri, who seemed like a nice person, I felt abandoned. Thus, I did not want any of the toys, or other things that my parents bought me. I only wanted my clothes as I thought I would need clothes to wear.

After picking up my stuff, I followed Ryeowook and Auntie Yuri back to their house. I had not slept the previous night, and fell asleep about halfway through the journey. Ryeowook, who informed me that we had reached, woke me up. I stepped out of the car, and found myself in front of a house. Although the house was smaller than my own house, it had a beautiful garden. The house was painted a bright yellow, and was two storeys tall.

Auntie Yuri walked up behind me and said gently, “Yonni, welcome to my house. This will be your home from now on okay?” I turned back to look at her and nodded slightly. I was given a quick introduction of the house, and was taken to my temporary room, which used to be Ryeowook bedroom. They had an extra room, but it was being used as a study room, so I was to sleep in Ryeowook’s room until Auntie Yuri set up the room.

It was around 12 noon when I reached Auntie Yuri house, and we were the only people in the house. Auntie Yuri told me that her other son was about 10 years old, and was currently in school. I would meet him when he got back at around one o’clock. Ryeowook took me on a tour around the neighbourhood, and when we got back, Heechul was already sitting at the dining table.

In truth, we did not have good first impressions on each other. When I first saw him, he only smiled to Ryeowook, but scowled at me, despite my cheerful greetings. That is Heechul for you. He does not take well to strangers, but is extremely good and protective towards his own family members. He still acts this way even up till now. Anyway, back to the first time I met Heechul.

“Hello,” I greeted Heechul, “My name is Yonni.”

“Hmph,” he grunted, scowling at me. “Heechul! Don’t be rude! Yonni said hi, shouldn’t you say hi too?” Auntie Yuri scolded him. He glared at me, and greeted me unwillingly, “Hi,” He then turned his attention to Ryeowook, “Ryeowook ah, come on! I’ll play soccer with you!”

“Can I play too?” I asked hopefully, wanting to join in.

He simply looked at me and answered flatly, “No,” and ran out of the door, dragging Ryeowook behind him. I started tearing up, and was thinking to myself, “What a meanie! Hmph. Who wants to play soccer anyway?” I swallowed back my tears, ran upstairs back to my room, and played with the teddy bear that Ryeowook gave me by myself.

That night, I met Auntie Yuri’s husband, Uncle Kim as well. He was a rough looking man with messy black hair. His face was covered in untidy stubble, and he smelt horrible. Overall, he looked like a baddie. I remembered he did not like the idea of me staying with them. At the dinner table, he was scolding Auntie Yuri throughout the whole dinner, “What? We barely have enough to eat and you’re keeping this little orphan?” They ended up quarrelling and Uncle Kim left the house in a puff, throwing me a dirty look.

Over the next few days, nothing much changed. Heechul and Uncle Kim still hated me, Auntie Yuri and Ryeowook still treated me very well. I had grown used to taking the teddy that Ryeowook gave me everywhere I went, and that pissed Heechul off even more. According to him, he gave that teddy to his little brother, not to a “tomato-faced scarecrow”, (that was Heechul’s nickname for me). Trying to get into Heechul’s good shoes, I returned the bear to Ryeowook but he refused to take it back. Heechul got angrier when Auntie Yuri ignored his repeated demands to make Ryeowook take back the teddy bear.

Then one day, the relationship between Heechul and me changed. It was about three months after I moved in to stay at Auntie Yuri’s place. I had started going to the town’s elementary school, and was placed one academic year above Ryeowook due to my outstanding performance in the placing examination. I was passing by the teachers' staffroom one day when I heard Heechul's voice coming from within. I peeped in through the windows, and saw that the discipline master, Mr Lee, was reprimanding him.

“Kim Heechul, what do you have to say with regards to this?” Mr Lee asked sternly. Heechul merely looked down at his shoes. “YAH!… Kim Heechul! Look at me, I’m not printed on your shoes, am I?” shouted Mr Lee. I flinched. Mr Lee was well known in our school for his trumpet like voice, Heechul’s ears must be hurting now.

“I want you to clean up the school court plus the school hall! On top of that, by tomorrow morning, I want you to write 100 lines of ‘I will never tear up my classmate’s stuff again’! On accord of your good academic performance, if you are able to finish everything that I asked you to do, I will not inform your mother.”

“But Sir, Marcus Song insulted me first! Shouldn’t he be punished as well?” Heechul piped up indignantly. “Nonsense, why would Marcus Song insult you? Everybody knows that Marcus has very good manners. Why would he insult you if you do not provoke him first?”

“But Sir….” Heechul was interrupted by Mr Lee, who bellowed, “KIM HEECHUL! WHY ARE YOU SHIRKING YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES WHEN YOU HAVE DONE SOMETHING WRONG? I AM GOING TO CALL YOUR MOTHER IF YOU KEEP LYING AND REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR MISTAKE!”

Heechul did not even hesitate before shouting back at Mr Lee, “YAH! I know I was wrong in tearing up his books, but he insulted me first! I will accept my punishment, but Marcus Song must be punished as well!”

Mr Lee raised one of his eyebrows and asked, “Do you have any witness? Kim Heechul, you are getting from bad to worse. You even learnt to lie to run away from your mistake? I’m going to call your mother.” I panicked. Auntie Yuri was very strict towards Heechul, if she knew that Heechul had burnt his classmate’s stuff on purpose, she would probably kill him. Without much thinking, I burst into the room and said, “I saw!”

Both Mr Lee and Heechul turned to look at me. I saw Heechul’s eyes widened a little bit when he saw me standing there. Then he turned and looked away. Mr Lee however, was staring at me and asking, “Who are you?”

“I’m An Yonni from Class 2 Spring,” I replied simply, holding my hands tightly behind my back. This was the first time I ever lied to anybody. “What did you see?” Mr Lee asked suspiciously. Heechul looked at me nervously. “I… I saw that Marcus insulting Heechul,” I stammered a little in my nervousness. Damn!

“What did Marcus say?” Mr Lee asked again, looking at Heechul this time round, making sure that he wasn’t passing me any hints. My mind whirled for an answer, “I wasn’t close enough to hear, but Marcus pushed Kim Heechul and said something to him very tauntingly.” I held my breath as Mr Lee looked from me to Heechul, trying to decide if he should believe us.

“In this case I’ll talk to Marcus,” He said after a while. I let out my breath in relief. “An Yonni, you just moved into Heechul’s house right? If I find out that you are lying to help him, you will be punished as well, understand?” I nodded. “Kim Heechul, go clean the court now. An Yonni, go back to your class.”

Heechul and I exited the staffroom together. When we are outside, he turned to look at me as if wanting to say something. However, he turned and walked away without a second word, not even a word of thanks. I shook my head. It was so tough to get into his good side. I then wondered why I actually lied to help Heechul. Then it hit me, even though Heechul was horrible towards me, I have began to treat Auntie Yuri and her family like my own family. I had already came to terms with the fact that my parents had abandoned me, and was determined to lead a normal life with the family I have now. In my heart, I really believed that Heechul would not lie. He may be a big bully, but I remembered that he always faced up to his punishments at home after bullying me.

As I walked back to class, I passed by the school court and saw Heechul all alone in that huge court, holding a broom. I looked across the court and thought, “This place is huge! How is Heechul going to finish cleaning it by himself?” I decided to help him out. I ran over to the supplies shed, took out another broom, and started cleaning another corner of the court.

Heechul saw me after a while and ran over. “YAH! Tomato-faced Scarecrow! What are you doing? Go back to class!” I ignored him and continued sweeping the court. He got angry and snatched my broom from me, throwing it to the side. “Don’t be a busybody! Go back to class!” he repeated himself impatiently. I threw him a look, walked over to pick up the broom, returned to the same spot and resumed sweeping. He got angrier, threw my broom away again, and gave me a shove towards the classroom.

I lost my balance and fell to the ground. The rough floor scraped my knees slightly and caused me an abrasion. I heard Heechul gasping in surprise, and guessed that he did not mean to push me that hard. I bit back my tears and stood up again. I limped over to the broom and picked it up again. Once again, I walked back to the same spot and resumed sweeping. He left me alone this time round, and went to clean an area near to mine.

Maybe it was just me, but I felt the tense relationship between the two of us loosened up a bit as we stood there in the court, sweeping underneath the hot sun. After we cleaned up the court, I followed Heechul up to the school hall and assisted him as well. This time, he did not try to stop me. By the time we finished cleaning up the place, it was almost the end of school. I looked at the big clock in the hall and said to Heechul, “You better go and report to Mr Lee,” Heechul nodded and ran off.

I slowly made my way back to my classroom that was on the third storey. My hurt knee hindered my progress, as it was quite painful. When I finally reached the classroom, it was already empty. I limped over to my table and carried my heavy school bag left the room with my teddy bear in my arms. I then went down the stairs with much difficulty and pain.

Just as I reached the ground floor, a boy who suddenly appeared out from nowhere cut off my path. I looked at him. He was a little bit taller than I was, but was quite large-sized. He looked at me from head to toe and asked, “Are you An Yonni?”

I nodded, “Who are you?”

“How dare you tell on me? You caused me to be punished by Mr Lee! I’m going to kill you!” He said menacingly, closing in on me. Feeling threatened, I turned and ran away. However, my hurt knee did not allow me to run fast, and he soon caught up with me.

I held on dearly to my teddy bear as I slowly backed away from him. I was scared and wanted to be as far away from him as possible. However, I was forced into the corner, and was soon against the wall. I guessed he was the Marcus that had insulted Heechul, and knowing I was the person who told on him, wanted to seek revenge on me.

Marcus sneered at me, “Run! With no one to help you now, I’ll see who will tell on me!” Teardrops were starting to form in my eyes. He reached out and snatched my teddy from me. I dashed forward, wanting to get it back. He held it high above my head. “Give it back to me! That’s mine!” I shouted, jumping up to grab my bear. Sadly, Marcus was taller than I was thus I could not reach the teddy no matter how many times I jumped. He then gave me hard push and I fell back against the wall. I hit the wall hard and lost my balance, falling to the ground.

Before I could get back onto my feet, Marcus tore hard at the teddy and tossed it back at me. My precious friend had been ripped into half. I started screaming and crying at the same time, holding on to the torn teddy in grief. Marcus stood gloating over me. His joy did not last for long.

“YAH! MARCUS SONG! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SISTER?!” came Heechul’s voice.