~~~~~~~~~~2 weeks later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 “Alex!  Hurry!” dad’s (Mr. Choi) voice yelled

“I’m coming!” I yelled while grabbing my bag and looked at the room that Donghae and I shared for the last 10 years, and waved good-bye. “You’ve been very kind to my brother and me” I thought, and quickly ran down the stairs. Once I got to the door, I put on my worn out black converse.

I ran out the door, and into Mr. Choi’s escalade.  I sat down next to Donghae, and closed the door.

“Drive” Mr. Choi instructed the driver, then looked back and stared at my bag, “Is that all you have?” he asked, I nodded,

“I’m usually at home getting the chores done, and I don’t really have any friends to go shopping with” I quietly said, Mr. Choi looked at me.

“Ah, I see…So, you know what to do right?” he questioned,

I nodded, “O-of course…When they ask me who I am, I just look at you confused then look at you.” I answered, he smiled,

“Good! Now Donghae! You are just going to be the normal person you are and just protect your sister, okay?” Mr. Choi asked, making an “Ok” sign,

“Right” Donghae smiled, and hugged me.

I smiled back at Donghae and gently pushed him away…

A new home…More people in my life…Great…Just…Wonderful…

I put my elbow at the car door, and stared at the passing scenery…

From Mokpo to Seoul…I can’t believe it…I can’t believe that I’m moving to a new home…The last one took me forever to get use to! I mean…It took me 2 years, TWO long years to finally accept Mr. Choi, and to talk to him! He actually thought I was deaf when we first met!

But that’s me…I won’t talk to anyone…

Why?

Simply because I don’t want to get close to them.

Why?

Getting close to someone has the same ending…That they’ll hurt you.

The only acception to that rule is my brother, Donghae… He’s been with me since I was born, though thick and thin, and he’s the reason why I’m living….

Because trust me… Without him, I would’ve killed myself long ago…

I wanted to run away, I wanted to hide from life. I wanted to die when my mother sold me…Up to this day, only Donghae and Mr. Choi have seen my true smile. However Mr. Choi has only seen it once…

That’s right, I don’t smile… Wanna know why?

Because I don’t deserve to…I don’t deserve to be happy, I don’t deserve anything…Especially when I have no reason to live.

My mother sold me…SOLD me when I was only 4. I have barely any memory of her. When I ask Donghae about her, his usual goofy smile disappears, and a saddened look comes upon his face. He would quietly say, “She was the kind of person that would leave us black and blue every night…She was the kind that would let any man harm us…She was the kind that would do anything to get rid of us…”

This made me wonder…

Why didn’t she kill us before we were born?

When I asked Donghae that, his reply would be, “Because…If she did that, then she would have a guilty conscious…She’s the kind of person who would be guilty if she was the one who killed the child, but when someone killed her own child, she would look the other way…”

I squeezed my bottom lips using my index finger and my thumb…

“Then…If someone sinned so much…Shouldn’t she deserve death?”

I gave out a sigh, and then slightly jumped when I felt a sudden weight on my shoulder. I turned my head around, just see Donghae’s head resting on my shoulder…I sighed in relief, and stared at Donghae…

I wonder…How can he smile?

Every single day, without fail…He would wake me up with a smile…When he’s around me he smiles…

How can he do that so easily?

He was closer to mom then I ever was…

He was with our parents longer than I ever was…

He had to go through so much more pain than I ever did…

How does he do it? How does he smile every day without fail? How can he pretend that his past was nothing?

Meanwhile…I barely spent any time with my parents…

Meanwhile…I remember some parts of my past…

Meanwhile…I still have the scars that my mother gave me…

Meanwhile…I took the hit harder…

I’m a selectively mute child.

It sounds weird, right? Especially at the “selectively” part.

But that’s me. I don’t speak to anyone…

Mr. Choi and Donghae are the only people that I’ll ever talk to…them and ONLY them…

“We’re here” Mr. Choi said, breaking my chain of thoughts.

 I looked up and we were there…The airport…

I nudged Donghae to wake up; he slowly opened his eyes and gave me his usual smile. He stretched his arms out and then jumped out of the car. I grabbed my bag, and hopped out of the car. My arms wrapped around my bag, my head resting on a part of it, this is it…

I ran up to Donghae to take hold of his hand, and squeezed it.

I sound like a child don’t I?

But hey, I’m only 5’4, so I could be mistaken for a normal kid…Maybe…Okay, probably not, but Koreans are pretty tall…

We walked into the airport, went through security, checking, and were now sitting on a bench, waiting for our plane to be called.

Donghae gently held my hand, and smiled at me, “It’ll be fine. Don’t worry okay?”

I smiled at him and nodded my head.

“Plane for Seoul gate 2, your plane is now boarding” the woman in the intercom said.

I looked at the large windows.

…Good bye Mokpo…Hello Seoul…