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Prologue

"You are Gaeun right ?"

___She looked up from her hands, her gaze met with an older woman's dark eyes. She noticed that the woman had strands of hair loosing from her messy bun, playing along with the wind and teasing her face. Her wrinkles also increased when she smiled. An older man appeared behind her, smiling as well as she shifted her gaze on him. He had more visible wrinkles than the woman and gray hair sheepishly hiding within the black hair, yet he hadn't lost his juvenile charisma. She thought that he must have been handsome when he was younger.

"I am your aunt, your mother's sister. And this is my husband, your uncle. You will be living with us from now on, is it alright ?"

___Her attention drifted back to the woman. She had kneeled to her eye level, tenderly taking her hand in her warm palms and reassuringly nodding her chin. 'It's alright.' She could hear her say.

___She hesitantly looked back at the man who was still standing prominently. His eyes changed to crescent moon again, approving with his wife and gently held her a considerate hand.

___She finally smiled.

"Let's go, auntie, uncle."

___She took their hand and got down from the bed, wearing her new pink laced boots.

___Following them through the cold corridors, she felt uncomfortable stares following her back, although all she looked at was the pair of hand securingly holding her. They halted a while, talking to another older man in white, the kind of man she's seen everyday around her. She tightened her grip, hiding behind her aunt's back. She didn't like them.

___Soon enough, they started to walk again and didn't stop until they crossed a tall metallic door. Her field of view was suddenly blinded and she had to cover her eyes from the aggressive lights. However, warm sun rays were caressing her skin, as if welcoming her to the new world. Her lips almost touched her ears as she enjoyed the foreign and fresh sight, and she had to hold herself back from running into this new world, keeping the pleasure for later.

"Get in, Gaeun-ah."

___She entered in an enclosed and stuffy weird shaped conveyance with wheels, her eyes caught with the complicated mechanism inside. She also found the strange seats uncomfortable.

"It's okay, you will get used to this."

___The woman sat beside her and pulled a band of cloth around her waist, then buckling it somewhere between the seats. She quickly imitated her, pulling the same band of cloth around her and putting the metallic part in the red tool underneath her. She was surprised to see the band staying still after a faint clicking sound, and proudly grinned to the woman who watched her all along. She smiled back and lightly patted her head.

___Suddenly, she got alarmed when the conveyance moved on its own and tightly grabbed the woman's arm as she looked outside the glasses. The scenery was swiftly changing and moving along with them. Her eyes rounded in amazement and her chest was fluttering in a mixture of nervousness and excitement. Then, she looked back a the white tall building, getting farther and farther away, and promised herself not to ever come back in there.

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