-Amy P.O.V. (Korean name-Kwon JiHyun)-

“Yah! JiHyunnie!” my mother called for me.

“Neh, eomma! I’m coming!” I called out as I ran out of the cold waters and hot sand when I finally made my way to my house located right in front of the small beach. Korea didn’t have many beaches, so I was glad to live right next to one.

“Please help your father with the boxes,” she directed and I did as followed for my weak mother. She was pregnant with my new sibling and couldn’t do much work around the house. I was a helpful 15-year-old girl who listened to any of my parent’s commands.  

            We were headed towards Seattle, Washington for a new job offer my father had. We had been studying our English ever since I was born, so I was already prepared.

My mother was also fine to go on the plane ride for she was only 3 months pregnant. I did anything possible to help.

“Let’s go!” my father cheered and I helped my mother get in the car as we made our way to the airport.

--

“We’re here!” my father screamed and carefully made a halt at a small petite house.

“This is our new home?” I questioned him and he nodded. I frowned at the gloomy sky and quiet neighborhood. There was no sun to welcome us or any soothing sounds like waves hitting the shore like when we were back at home. I helped my mom get into the house and settle onto the couch. “I’m going to help appa, do you need anything else?” my mom shook her head and I ran out to help my dad.

--

            A few months later, I had adjusted myself in my new house and school. I made a few friends and discovered that my American name was, Amy. My mother had told me that her and my father met each other in California, got married, and eventually had me. They named me first, Amy, but my grandmother insisted that I also had a traditional Korean name, Kwon JiHyun; although, my mother decided to name my new baby sister, Lauren Kwon.  She wanted us to have a new life in America and keep it plain and simple for our new family member.

            I was busy for the next few months as well. Lauren came home with us at last and I had to keep the house in order, get things for my mother, and help out with the baby of course. This meant no free time for me.

            After 4 years, everything was going fine until we got a call from my father’s work. The big engineering company he worked for had closed down after another popular company had taken over. He was desperate to find a new job, but there was no luck in that. Eventually, my grandmother back in Korea gave us a call saying that people are making big money just by fishing and selling it at local markets. My father just couldn’t say no, so we began to pack our things once again and move back to where we were before.

            I kept Lauren busy for she was in her terrible toddler age and couldn’t stay still. I entertained her with books, toys, and when I was really desperate for her to stay still, my own phone. I sacrificed my already destroyed phone and ended up having no phone at all. My mother promised to get me one when we had money, but I thought it would take a while.

--

            When we got back to Korea, we found out that we still had our old home from 3 years ago still available. I introduced Lauren to my favorite old home and she automatically fell in love with it. She loved the beach and the sand. I was surprised because my sister easily got bored of things and this time she always wanted to go out and play. I went to a public high school for a while and watched Lauren when I got back because my parents went off to go fishing and send them to local markets for pay. My main goal though was to search for a college to go to. I just turned 19 and I was on the move of getting myself into a college. I knew that my parents would have a hard time helping me pay for it, so I barely mentioned my college searching to them.  

Lauren and I found our escape on the beach and went there just as the sun would set. I would bring my homework to work on and then we’d play in the sand or stay in the water a little.

            One day, my parents were getting ready to leave for the sea and I just got home from school.

“Stay inside today, araseo?” my father told me as he buttoned up his rain coat.

“Wae?” I asked and picked up Lauren in my arms.

“There’s going to be a storm tonight. There’s nothing to worry about though, it’s just another small one, but my baby might be scared!” my father teased and squeezed my little sister’s cheeks.

“Haha, I will appa!” I agreed and gave him and my mother a hug as they headed out. “See you in the morning!” I yelled towards my parents and waved to them along with Lauren by my side.

“Let’s follow their orders, araseo?” I smiled at my cute 4 ½ year old sister and she stuck her tongue out at me.

“Anniya! I want to play!” she pouted and started to run off to the beach.

“Yah! Lauren! Come back here!” I chased after her and eventually caught her in my arms. “You’re not going anywhere, missy!” I shook my head at her and locked ourselves back in the house.

--

            During the night, all I could here was loud sounds of thunder and scared screams from Lauren. She ran into my arms every time it would strike and I would soothe her each time. She eventually ended up sleeping in my room with me and I didn’t mind at all.

--

“*Yawn!* Lauren, time to get up!” I quickly got up from my bed and shook Lauren who was lying right next to me still fast asleep. I glanced over at the digital clock at the side of my bed and saw that it was 7:45 A.M. I was glad because it was Saturday and I could spend the whole day playing with Lauren.

“Are we going to play today?” she slowly got up and I smiled.

“Of course! Come on! The storm is gone now, so we can play on the beach! But, we need to clear up all of your toys,” I told her and she nodded very slowly. “Let’s brush our teeth first, come on!” I took a hold of her hand and helped her brush her teeth carefully. As we finished up, I checked to see if my parents were home yet, but there was no sign of them. Suddenly, I heard a loud knock come from the front door. “Hmm… there’s someone at the door… stay here Lauren!” I put her aside and peeked through the hole in the door. There was some police officer standing outside and I quickly opened it. “Annyeonghaseyo, may I help you?” I asked him and he stood in front of me very seriously.

“Neh… I’m sorry to say, but your parents and their ship has gone missing overnight through the storm. I’m afraid you’re going to have to come with me.” The officer explained and directed me outside towards their car.

“W-w-w-what?! My parents?!? H-how did this happen????” I broke down into harsh yells and screams and the officer stared down towards the ground.

“I’m very sorry.” He said sincerely and I tried my best not to cry and scare Lauren. I couldn’t believe what was happening at the moment and I found myself thinking of my parents and how much I regret not telling them to go. I mentally yelled at myself and held in all of my tears.

“Eonnie! I cleaned up, now! Let’s go play!” she came running towards me and stared at the officer.

“Is she your sister?” he asked and stared at her with sad eyes. I nodded at him slowly and he held out a hand to me. “We must go to the police station now, please come with us, Miss.” He helped me get up on my feet and I carried Lauren into the police car with me.

“What are we doing?” Lauren asked innocently and I tried not to make anything seem scary to her.

“We’re going to visit the police station to thank them for all they do! Don’t you want to thank them for protecting us?” I smiled softly.

            Lauren and I waited in a waiting room as the officers went in a separate room to talk about “our fate”. I quietly prayed in my mind that they would keep me and Lauren together or if some kind of miracle would happen.

“You’re Kwon JiHyun, right?” this one sophisticated lady asked me. I nodded my head and she smiled. “Have you visited your grandmother recently?” she asked and before I could think of it, my grandmother turned up behind her and I ran up to hug her.

“Halmeoni (Grandmother)!” I hugged her tight and began to cry in her arms.

“JiHyun…. Kenchana. Everything will be fine,” she tried her best to cheer me up, but she began to cry as well.

“HALMEONI!” I could hear Lauren’s voice break into the conversation and I chuckled a bit.

“My Laurenie!” she let go of my hug and carefully lifted Lauren into her arms.

“Halmeoni, kenchana? I’ll take her… I don’t want you to hurt yourself,” I took Lauren from her and she smiled.

“I’ll be able to take them with me, correct?” my grandmother asked the lady who was practically “in charge” of us.

“Neh. We will try our best to help out by paying for any needs that you will need.” She said happily.

“I haven’t seen you in a while, my dear,” my grandmother commented as we sat inside of her car.

“I know… I almost forgot about you,” I said sadly and she chuckled.

“Don’t worry! We’ll all be fine! A family of three!” she smiled towards me and I looked at her confused. “Let’s try not to think about what has happened today, araseo? I know it’s a very sad day, but I don’t want you to be hurting anymore… let’s not think of it, araseo?”

I nodded very carefully and agreed to what my grandmother had said. “What about, harabeoji (grandfather)?” I remembered the last time I saw my grandparents was when I was 10 years old. My family always talked to them, but we never were able to pay them a visit.

“He… um…” she mumbled and rubbed her forehead. “He’s not here anymore, sweetie…” she frowned.

“What?! H-how come you never told us this?!?!” I screamed and she immediately stopped the car.

“Eonnie… you shouldn’t be like that!” Lauren said as she quickly collapsed her hands onto her ears to block the noise.

“I-I…. I was afraid to tell you…” Halmeoni said and tears began to form in her eyes. I began to get teary-eyed and I hid my face in my hands.

“What’s going on? Are we cursed or something?” I sobbed in my hands and my grandmother rubbed my back.

“Remember what I said? Don’t think about it…. I know we’ll miss them very dearly… but we can’t really change anything, JiHyun. I’m hurting a lot inside, too…. I didn’t want this to happen either, but we must stay strong and protect each other. We’re the last family now…” she whispered quietly to me so that Lauren could not hear. I cleared all of my tears and smiled at my caring grandmother. I was glad that I still had someone to lean on.

--

            As we got to halmeoni’s house, I got out of the car and hugged Lauren in my arms. She pushed me away and I chuckled.

“Eonnie! You’re squishing me!”

“Let’s go inside, girls!” Halmeoni smiled and I held Lauren’s hand as we went inside the small house. “I’m going to set up your beds and everything, and tomorrow we’ll go back to your house to collect your things,” she stated and I nodded.

“Why are we at halmeoni’s house?” Lauren tugged on my shirt and I bent down to her level.

“We’re going to have a sleepover!” I giggled and pinched her cheeks.

“Wae? I wanna go to our house to see eomma and appa!” she whined and I rubbed my forehead.

“E-eomma and appa won’t be there, Laurenie… t-they’re on a trip back to America! They told me that we have to stay with Halmeoni for a while until they get back…” I told her and she nodded. I was glad that I had come up with the scenario at the top of my head. “How about we make dinner for halmeoni?” I asked Lauren and she turned away from me and made her way to the small TV in the living room. I laughed as she directed herself to her favorite show, Pororo.

            I made my way to the kitchen and began to cook rice along with scrambled eggs and meat.

--

            Two months later, I had graduated from high school and was able to help my grandmother around the house more often. I never had the chance to look up colleges, so I almost forgot about it until my grandmother had mentioned it to me.

“Sweetie, I’m fine around the house with Lauren now. We have fun a lot, so why don’t you relax and find a college that you want to go to? I know you’re desperate to go… so let me watch Lauren! You work too hard!” she grinned and I gave her a huge hug.

“Halmeoni, you don’t know how much this means to me!” I smiled and hugged her tighter.

“Haha! I want you to go to college! Now go on!” she pat my back and sent me off to go on a search.

--

            A week later, I had found the perfect school to go to and I showed the paper to my grandmother. It was a school that focused on Business and Law. I wasn’t interested in that field at all although I knew that it was a perfect choice because many of those jobs paid a lot of money. It was beneficial that I went to that school and could help my family in money as well.

“Honey… I don’t think you’re interested in this, are you?” she frowned and my eyes widened. It was like she was reading my mind.

“What makes you think that?” I said nervously and she pushed the paper back to me.

“I have never in my life have heard you talk about money or stocks! That’s outrages! Do you think I am stupid?” she laughed and I laughed along with her nervously.

“Well… I know it pays a lot of money! So, I’ve decided to do that!” I told her and pushed the paper to her once again.

“Sweetie… you don’t have to worry about money! We are fine, aren’t we? You have to major in something you like… and I definitely know it’s not business and law. Late at night, I can hear you singing in your room… you have a beautiful voice, JiHyun. And I can hear how much fun you have when you sing. It makes me happy,” she smiled and I realized her point.

“Are you sure?” I asked her once again.

“I’m sure,” she replied and took the paper I had given to her and ripped it all up. “I’ll be proud of you no matter what!” I pulled her into a hug and ran off to find Lauren who was stuck watching Pororo.

“Did you hear that Lauren?! I’m going to go to an awesome college!” I danced in front of the TV and she bursted.

“Eonnie!!!! Move!!” she pushed me away and was brainwashed back into the kid TV show.

--

            A few weeks later, my grandmother and Lauren got into a car accident while she was coming home from the market. I was glad to hear the news that they were both okay, but the car was totaled. They both came home in a police car and I hugged the both of them.

“Oh! I’m glad you’re both okay!” I smiled and I noticed that my grandmother was not in a great mood. I understood how she felt and told her to get some rest. “Lauren, let’s not bother halmeoni today, araseo?”

“Mmm!” she nodded and I took her into her room to take a nap.

            As I was on my laptop, I overheard my grandmother talking to a friend on the phone. I could tell that something was not right.

“Everyone is fine… but I won’t be able to pay for the damage of the car. My money is slowly going down the drain…. I don’t know how to tell JiHyun… she’ll be devastated to hear that I won’t be able to help her pay for college… I’m heartbroken.” She sobbed and I fell apart.  “Thank you so much… I’ll come pick up the car tomorrow,” she thanked her friend over the phone and hung up. I was guessing that her friend was able to give her a spare car that they didn’t really use or something like that.  A few moments later, I heard a knock at my door and my grandmother slowly entered.

“Honey… I need to tell you something,” she said very sincerely and I stopped her from going on and feeling bad about the news she was going to give me.

“Wait! I need to tell you something first…” I stated and she allowed me to go on. “I decided that I don’t want to go to college… I was offered a job down at the coffee shop and I want to take in the business instead.” I told her and she looked at me confused.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Neh!” I gave her a fake smile and she gave me a hug.

“This will help us a lot…” she whispered in my ear and exited out of the room. I fell onto my bed and began to cry. I wanted to go to college so bad, but my family came first before me. “I guess I’m going to find a job at a coffee shop,” I slowly got myself up and began to search on the computer. No jobs were available except one coffee shop. It was found in the middle of Seoul and had a live mic or performance venue there. I decided to go for that and began to practice a song to sing the whole night for I was to start tomorrow at 10 A.M.

--

“Halmeoni! I’ll be going now!” I waved goodbye to her and entered the cab that was in front of the house. I gave him the address and the last few dollars I had in my savings.

            Once I got there, I entered the shop and met with the manager. He called me into his office and I sat down quietly.

“Annyeonghaseyo, I’m Kwon JiHyun. I’m here for the open mic performances today,”

“Ah, yes. Your scheduled time is at 10:30 A.M. which is in about an hour.” He told me and handed me an envelope.

“What is this?” I took it from his hands and he smiled.

“It’s just a small amount of pay. I just wanted to thank you for coming in today. Nobody really has the guts to perform here for they forget or are too shy to. We’ve been looking for someone to perform for a month now, but no one came. I’m glad that you have taken this to consideration, so I’d like to thank you with a small gift. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must get back to work, so you may either practice in hear or you can leave and come back at 10:20,” he explained and left the room.

            I opened the envelope and saw 50,000 (about 50 U.S. dollars) won placed nicely inside. I grinned widely at the sight and placed the money into my purse. I decided to stay inside the office and practice my songs over and over again. A few minutes later, I was scheduled to go perform. I made my way onto the medium sized stage and began to set up. I saw that there were approximately 4 people in the shop and I looked a bit disappointed. I thought that this job wouldn’t pay much now since no one really came, but I was glad to have the opportunity to earn some money. Before I knew it, people began to pile into the shop and my frown turned upside down.

“Annyeonghaseyo, my name is Kwon JiHyun, and I’ll be singing a few songs today. First I’ll be singing an acoustic version of ‘Girls Generation’s Genie,” I smiled brightly and everyone started to clap. I nodded towards the guitar player that helped accompany me and started to sing.

--

“Kamsahamnida!” I thanked all of the people who had the patience to listen to me and my 5 song choices and jumped off the stage.

“Great job Ms. Kwon,” the coffee shop manager who I had talked to earlier complimented me and handed me a warm cup of coffee. “You’re free to order anything you’d like for free here from now until you get a record deal,” he winked at me and walked off. I smiled and watched as he left the room.

“Uhmm... Excuse me?” I turned around to see a young woman around her 40’s grinning widely at me. She was dressed in a very sophisticated dress whilst holding onto a suitcase.

“Oh, annyeonghaseyo!” I greeted her, bowing formally.

“Kwon JiHyun, right?”

“Neh!” I answered confidently and she chuckled.

“I would just like to personally compliment on your performance; it was wonderful,”

“Oh! Kamsahamnida!” I gave her the brightest smile and placed my coffee on a nearby table.

“I’m sorry! I’m Park SooMin, I’m the head of K-ARTS or Korea National University of Arts here in Seoul,”

“K-K-ARTS?!” I gasped in amazement and automatically straightened my hair out, trying to make myself look professional and presentable. I heard of K-ARTS before, it’s supposed to be one of the Top University’s here in Seoul. It was always my dream to become one of the students there.

“Neh,” she chuckled softly. “I was just wondering if you’d like to join us at the University, you would be a great addition,” curved up into a questionable smile and I nodded my head vigorously.

“Of course!!” I literally screamed but kept most of my emotions in. “Although...” my mind quickly churned back into reality... I had no money to enroll into an upper school like that. “M-mianhamnida... I can’t actually afford it,” I spoke quietly as my heart slowly sank.

“Actually...” she spoke very slowly as she pulled something out of her suitcase. “I’m inviting you there. I would really like you to represent our school... so I’m allowing you this scholarship,” she motioned the packet towards me and I approached it with shaky hands.

“J-jeongmal?” my voice shook as I received the papers.

“You start tomorrow,” with that, she swiftly left out the door. I stood in my place, staring at the pieces of paper that were attached in a single packet. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. After all I’ve been through; I’ve been given the opportunity of a lifetime.

 -End Chapter 1-

Characters!

·         Kwon JiHyun (Amy Kwon): (fictional character) Kwon JiHyun is a very active, kind, and talented girl. Being already 20 years old, she has taken full responsibility of her actions, and is putting her family first before her. Even though she’s not the richest person in town, she is happy with whatever she has. As a big sister and a granddaughter, she’s smart and takes care of her small family. (Picture: Model from Yesstyle: Click)

 

 

 

·         Lauren Kwon: (real name: Lauren Lunde from MBLAQ’s Hello Baby) Lauren is a cute, playful, and smart baby. She has both inner and outer beauty. Being a child without her parents, she is able to cope well with her sister and grandmother.

 

 

-Author’s Note-

Hello everybody! Here is my third story, My Super Family! It’s based on a fictional girl character, her little sister, Lauren, and boy group, MBLAQ!! Woot woot! Please tell me what you guys think! If I should continue or not and such! I really love your support and all of the feedback you guys give me! Thank you thank you!