Still singing Yuri a lullaby in the bed, I continued to recall. It was five months later that Krystal approached me. She pointed at me. “You.”

I looked on either side of and behind me then back to her and pointed at myself. “Me?”

She glared then narrowed her eyes. “Yes, you. Sunny Lee, stop pretending to be Myrtle.”

I shook my head. “I’m not.”

“Really?” she raised her eyebrows. “Then, why do you always wear bonnets?”

I huffed. “Excuse me, miss. But I, myself, am not pretending to be like Myrtle. This is who I am. I wear bonnets since—”

“Liar!” she spat. “Stop lying! And why do you always flirt around guys? Didn’t girls tell you already? Do not flirt around guys!”

That’s it, I thought. I had enough of all this.

I walked toward her and leaned in her ear. “If you’re in a high level, then, why are you bringing me down?” I leaned away and walked away from her, my shoulder brushing against hers in the process.

For how many school months, I managed to survive other people’s harshness and mistreatment toward me. Of course, there were some of my friends that stayed by my side. So far, I stood my ground.

Everyone knew I didn’t need people to protect me because I was tough, brave, and strong. But I tell you, peeps, not all strong people don’t usually or secretly mean there are no times they are weak; and I was one them. I once told Yuri that when I couldn’t handle it anymore, I’d just be quiet myself.

If people thought of me as a princess, then they’d misunderstood who I really was and what I was having through.

Come to think of it: I had many haters, had health problems almost always, had many friends mixed of true and untrue people, my family rarely reunited, and many more.

Even without knowing what kind of rumors were being made about me, with whispering and giggling, with pushing me, harshly, away… I still stood my ground.

I wondered: ‘Why do people hate other people?’, ‘Why do they discriminate against others?’, ‘Why do they step on weak people and win over them?’, ‘There must be people who aren’t like that but… where are those people now?

I had many painful memories: from myself to my family to my friends. But I endured them myself. So whatever you’re having through, think of this: after winning a volleyball game, they say, “Everybody did a great job! I am so proud of my team!”

But after losing a game, “I feel that we lost because of me. I’ll do better in the next game.” Whether it was the truth or not, it was how people overcome painful memories and painful experiences. I was one of them.

So don’t give up; stand up and fight!

Now that I thought about my health, a few minutes ago, I had told Yuri that as soon as it was still early, she—or rather, they—should find a replacement of me if I made it no more. ‘Cause if I were to not make it anymore, if I were to be lost in their sight, then, I didn’t want them to be longing for me (or something) to be with me again. Continuing to recall, I remembered it was already the last day of school.

Everyone wore casual clothes, spending the last time with friends. I was walking in the campus when my classmates, Kris and Henry, approached me.        Both boys made jokes and I just kept on laughing.

They were the silent types in the class but if you were close to them, sure, you’d find yourself rolling on the floor while laughing. A few minutes later, I said goodbye to them. Walking all alone off to somewhere, Tiffany, Sulli, and Jessica suddenly approached me.

Not again, I sighed, inwardly.

I was expecting that they’d threaten me again or something, instead, they apologized to me for everything they’ve done bad. After all those things they did, I still forgave them. The nice part was that they offered to treat me.

At first, I insisted, but eventually, agreed. We went out of the school and were in front of the highway and past the highway was the store we were going to. All of a sudden, someone pushed me into the highway.

I heard a loud horn so I turned my head to the side. Realizing it was a car, where Kris and Sulli were, my eyes widened. I was too shocked to react and knowing that perhaps it was my last day of living, I closed my eyes.

When I sensed something odd, my eyes snapped open. Suddenly, a blue-colored wind whirled around me. Its blue light brightened five times, making it seem daylight.

I suddenly felt my weight lift so I closed my eyes again. When I felt nothing, I slowly opened one of my eyes back. I gasped when I saw that I was like… over-seeing a highway.

With eyes, fully opened, which soon after widened, I stepped backwards, abruptly. Before I knew it, I fell backwards with a shattering sound of what seemed like a glass.

A searing pain shot through my back and my elbows. I slowly sat up and cringed when I felt a slightly searing sensation on my skin and heard sounds of what seemed like a broken glass. I slowly got up. What’s just happened?

I patted the tiny pieces of the glass off of my skin, gently and softly, cringing, slightly, in the process. Fortunately, I had just minor scratches and my elbows bled a tiny bit. Shallowly breathing, I slowly looked down—a mirror was broken beneath me.

Flashbacks of what happened in the first place ran through my head. I remembered it was the last day of school. I had this very evil plan for Sunny and soon, it started.

I then went to the overpass just to see how my friends were doing from up here. When I turned, I saw a full-length mirror. As soon as my fingers touched its surface, the mirror started to sink me in.

When I was sunk in, I was with Sunny’s best friend, Yuri.

Strange it was because even though I hadn’t met Yuri in person—that time when we were out—we acted like we knew each other very well.

I looked around and then realized I was at the overpass. There was only me in there. Leaning my back, I was in deep thoughts, thinking of possibilities as to what’d happened to me.

After a while, a somehow possible realization hit me: if on 'my' first day of school, a group of girls had approached 'me', 'I' was called the duplication of Myrtle, a few people in the school did terrible things to 'me', and such, I could only guess—I was put in Sunny’s shoes.

This full-length mirror was there in the first place, coming just to sink me in and put me in Sunny’s shoes just so I’d know what she was having through, how she felt, what she thought, who she really was, and it was here to teach me a lesson.

A sigh, full of remorse, escaped my lips.

A sheepish smile crept up my face. All this time, the things I did to Sunny—I didn’t even know that I went too far. I always made bad moves to her without thinking how she’d feel and think.

Not once did I ever think of being in her shoes. I was too harsh and evil to not realize that the things I’d done to her had pained her. Knowing the fact my real family left me, yes, I was in so much pain and didn't know how to handle it. As days passed by, I became into a worse person, for I took out my pain and anger on people.

But… I learned my lesson.

I flinched when the broken mirror glowed with a bright, blue light. Its broken pieces came into life, hovering over the frame and connecting to one another.

Soon after, the mirror was complete, but soon vanished into thin air.

Perhaps, the mirror vanished because it’s done its job, I thought. I looked around—I smiled when soft winds passed by me. Thank you. I learned my lesson. Whoever you are, thank you. I’m gonna say to Sunny that I’m—wait up, with wide eyes, I looked at my sides before pacing forward. From up here, I saw Tiffany, Jessica, Victoria, and... Sunny.

Remembering my dark plan for Sunny, I dashed off to the side and down the marble stairs. Now outside, I was only a few meters away from them. I shouted, “Wait!”

But they didn’t hear me. Inhaling, I dashed off to them. My heart was beating in a rapid pace when I saw my friends let Sunny lead them to the store from in front. I knew what they were going to do.

As I ran, I saw Taemin and Sulli in the car. On the other hand, my girls were ready to push Sunny off to the highway, where she’d be hit by Taemin's car. And instantly, my friends really did push Sunny.

Taemin honked his car, frantically. Fortunately, I was already in Tiffany’s side for which, I’d frantically pulled Sunny back.

Victoria, Jessica, and Tiffany stared at me, shocked. Our heads snapped to the highway and saw that Taemin's car had passed us. Sulli’s head turned to us with the same expression as our other friends as the car she was in was going away.

We broke eye contacts when Sunny released herself from me. With eyes widened, she looked pale. She slowly turned to the side and stared at my friends in disbelief.

I cleared my throat and hesitantly, I gripped her wrist. After gathering my guts up, not one of them had the time to react because I’d already ran with Sunny off to the overpass. She was dead silent while I gathered again the guts to speak.

I looked down. “I’m so sorry, Sunny.”

The shorter flinched. “E-eh?”

I chuckled, sheepishly. “Didn’t expect me to do this, huh?” I looked up at her and cleared my throat. “Sunny Lee, I’m sorry for everything. For hiding your bags, writing colorful words on your things, bashing you, everything.

“About my friends pushing you, it was my plan, for I wanted to get you out of everyone’s life. I know, I’m very cruel and cold. I am insecure and envious of you that I even planned of causing you to be hit by a car, which was Taemin's.

“I truly and sincerely am sorry. I always did bad things to you without thinking of what you’d feel and think. Because of me, your freshman year was ruined.”

A tear escaped my eye. I wiped it away and sniffed, my lips curling up into a very sheepish and ashamed smile. “But now that I learned my lesson, from now on, I’ll show everyone the new side of me. I-it’s okay if you won’t forgive me be—”

“I forgive you,” Sunny interrupted.

Silence hung between us.

“W-what?” I asked in disbelief.

The latter smiled. “I forgive you, Krystal Jung. I thank you also.”

“E-eh?” I blinked. “F-for what?”

Sunny sighed, happily, and lowered her head with a smile. “Because of every bad thing, I was able to stand up and become strong.”

I lowered my head down, tears now streaming down my cheeks as I sniffed. I was happy because she forgave me and at the same time, ashamed of myself. Sunny was really a kind person.

She was about to come closer to me but I did it before she could instead.

I wrapped my arms around her and I sobbed. In her ear, I shakily whispered, “Thank You.”

Started when I heard that Sunny and the other boys I liked were close, I was very jealous. Because of jealousy and doing a move without thinking first of why she was like that, I bashed her. Because of judging her by the looks, my impression of her was negative.

If I weren’t put into her shoes, I wouldn’t know that they were acting very close to one another because the truth was they were close friends in the first place.

So one thing: never bash people for something they’d done you didn’t like without thinking of facts about why they did that.

Suddenly, Sunny glowed with a bright light, dimly. I let go of her and my eyes widened. Her skin was glowing and sparkling; her hair, long and curly, flew, gracefully.

The corners of her red lips curled up into a soft and warm smile. Just like her sparkling skin, her eyes were sparkling. She had a very odd aura around her and I just couldn’t make it out.

“Krystal,” she whispered, softly. “I am a goddess and I came down to earth.”

I stood there, not knowing how to react.

I wasn’t certain if I was dreaming again. But there was something in her that proved this was happening in reality. “W-why?” those words came out as an unintentional whisper.

I was speechless; I didn’t know what to do, for there was a goddess before my eyes.

She cupped my cheek. “You came too far, sweetie.”

Instantly, I lowered my head. I knew what she was talking about. My tears streamed down as I nodded, ruefully whispering, “I know.”

She lifted my chin up. “You came too far because your negative feelings won over you. Krystal, don’t let them do so. The more you think of negative things, the more those things win over you and without realizing it, you’re already hurting people.

“Remember: yes, you may have hurt people, but karma is always around. So that means: in the end, you’ll also end up getting hurt; you're the one to face the consequences. Just like right now.

“Sweetie, don’t be insecure. You have to remember that you are unique; there is no one like you. There may be twins out there, who look alike; but so far, they are not always the same.

“Everyone has difference. So don’t compare yourself to anyone. Because, like I said, you are unique.

“People are neither machines nor toys. They are not built by factories. That’s why they are special and complicated.

“People’s usefulness, the colors of their hearts, and the scent, the pressure points and their weaknesses that hurts from the slightest touch… they’re all different for everyone so one must look for a long while just to be able to barely get an outline of who they are.

“There are many reasons why I came here as a fake human and let everyone do anything he/she wanted to do to me. Father had told me that people these days are getting cold and cruel. So he gave me a mission, which was to teach them a lesson.

“And so I did. However, there was only one person left I needed to teach a lesson, which was you. From the start, you were a bad person.

“But what you think of why so… is wrong. Your parents, who left you, are the cause of those acts and attitudes of yours; meaning, you weren't a bad person in the beginning. Krystal, Father had given you this life.

“Your life has a long journey… and this is just the beginning of your chaptered-story so don’t you worry your pretty mind. As soon as you were born, Father had decided to challenge you, for he saw something in you. It was a challenge, which you had to face.

“When he made your family leave you, he’d expected that you’d transform into a bad person. With many downs so far because of your negative attitudes and actions, he was expecting that you’d realize, you have to change into a good person. But you had something in mind.

“Instead, you turned into a worse person. You hurt many people so far. And that’s when I realized: you went too far.

“On the day you met Sunny Lee, I’d already possessed her. I’d known that she’d be one your victims. So by possessing her, I’d be able to know what you’re going to do to her.

“Your guess of the purpose of the mirror was right. I sent it here to teach you a lesson. It had you fast-forwarded to Sunny’s possible future if you hadn't saved her.

"On that time, Sunny will hang out with one of her closest friends, Yuri. Sunny will reminisce what happened to her during her freshman year, which is now. The reminiscence will let you know how much pain she’d endured and what her thoughts and feelings were.

“So the mirror brought you thenceforth to let you know what Sunny really felt, thought, and who she really is. By that, you learned your lesson, am I right?”

I nodded.

“Well, now that you did, I guess my job here is done. But remember, this is just the beginning of your journey. Father had planned many things for you.

“You made many mistakes, yes. But I tell you, Krystal, it is okay to commit mistakes. The purpose of the committing of mistakes is for you to learn, so learn from your mistakes."

I went silent for a moment as I processed everything she said before a new question popped out of my mind. "Who are you really and what are you doing here?"

The goddess laughed from her heart. "As you probably know, I'm a goddess having been living in the human world as a typical human girl for thousands of years now to teach some humans some lessons. I've been going with different names and physical appearances."

This time, the goddess glowed with a very bright yet, very soft light. My eyes squinted, and before I knew it, everything went back to normal.

Starting that day, I changed into a positive me. After the quite long and heart-breaking challenge, I had learned and realized many things. More importantly, after the last day of my challenge, I learned my lesson.

Don’t do unto others you don’t want them to do to you and don’t judge a book by its cover; open them up first.

Edited Author's Note 15/10/31:

Phew! Since this was quite long for me (a couple of years back), I divided Lesson Learned into 2 parts. The part where Krystal said about the volleyball game, I got it from Flower Boy Next Door: Episode 10.

For some personal reasons, I decided to delete some (unecessary) information about some of the characters here. This unni of mine experienced all the bullying here, but don't worry, she's alright now! For those who already read this, it's up to you guys if you want to re-read this.

Thank you also to those who subscribed and commented on my story!