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"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”

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I stared at the mirror, pushing my wooly grey hat over my head. Running my fingers through my long, blackish-brown hair, I wrapped a knit scarf around my neck, and buttoned my black coat jacket. Staring at my reflection, I turned to the right, and saw a flawless face, with big brown eyes, pale skin, and pink lips. I generally never used any kind of facial makeup except for the occasional lip balm to cure my bad case of chapped lips, and my trusty tube of concealer. 

And then I turn to the left.

A raging red scar crosses my left cheek, and it’s shaped in the form of tree branches. It spreads from my left eye to my mouth, and no matter how much I tried using the concealer to cover it, nothing worked. The makeup would wear off in about an hour, and the ugly red lines would show up, a contrast to my wintry skin. I gave up using skin products after that, and no kind of laser surgery would ever help it. 

Was it a curse? It was forever etched on my face.

I hated going outdoors and seeing people constantly whisper about my face. Yes, it looked like I’d been punched in face, and made me look more monstrous than the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. It also did wonders for my self-esteem-Before she died, my mother was always nagging about how I’d never had a boyfriend, but I knew why: because I was ugly.

Something so simple, and yet my umma couldn’t even wrap her head around that fact. Sighing in agreement to those thoughts, my phone suddenly vibrated, and I pulled it out of my pocket, reading the text.

Yah, chingggguuu~

Where are you? I MISS U ^^

Are you coming to my photoshoot yet?

Hurry up or I will be sad !!!

I am waiting ♥

Saranghae!

-your y best friend :D

I smiled.

Time to go out.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

I stopped by the convenience store first, stopping by to grab something for my best friend after his job. He was probably going to be tired and hungry, and I decided to look for his favourite food-spicy ramen. Entering the pre-cooked section, I searched amongst some Korean dishes, such as ddukbokki, bibimbap, and black bean noodles, until I found it. Inhaling its sharp scent, I motioned for the cook to spoon some into a bowl for me. 

Reaching into my wallet, a couple of girls to my left stood by and stared at me. 

“Oh my God.”

“Why doesn’t she cover herself up with makeup?”

“Is she trying to tell others she’s ugly? Or does she not know yet?”

“I hate girls who don’t try to make themselves look beautiful.”

“I know, right? All that potential is wasted on her.”

Seething, I brushed my long hair tucked behind my ears and let it loose, so that it covered my face. The cook looked at me sympathetically as he slapped a price sticker on the Styrofoam lid, and I quickly grabbed the container and paid.

It wasn’t like I didn’t try to be beautiful.

For other girls, maybe they could become gorgeous under the makeup wand. Maybe they could fret over clothes, and never have to go through problems other than “which nail polish goes better with this outfit?” But I couldn’t. Because when people saw me, they didn’t remember me as just your average girl. They remembered me as the girl with the ugly scar on her face, the girl who would never get a boyfriend.To make my point, as I was walking away from the food aisles, I saw tons of magazines with blow-ups of beautiful, gorgeous, flawless girls and men. Grabbing one of them, I looked painfully through the pages, entrapped by just how angelic and stunning the people looked. One male caught my eye-he had brownish-black hair that reached to his ears, and the face of an angel. Tall, with a good physique, he looked amazing. I bet he’d never had to deal with any remarks about his looks. If any of them were made at all, they’d probably be compliments.

How was it possible that some people were just so attractive, and then others were like me?

Feeling hurt again, I walked out the door, the little of what confidence I had completely gone. I was heading towards a photoshoot, making my mood feel even worse knowing that I would come across even more models and celebrities. 

I will be as beautiful as them one day, too, I promised, as I walked to the shoot location.