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“Here’s your paycheck, Doyeon. Don’t spend too much,” the manager said before turning back to her staff in training. Doyeon smiled as she hurried home with the paycheck in hand. Maybe we don’t have to just stick to eating eggs, kimchi and rice anymore after this! She goes through a narrow alley, thinking that she’ll get home faster than going the original route home. Her smile never left her face as she ran home happily. She barged into her house and found her mother cooking rice again.

“Mom, I got my paycheck today!” Doyeon said as she stepped inside their house, taking off her shoes and replaces them with slippers. “Tonight, we’ll eat a little bit more. How about... I buy us some fish?” she asked as she stood beside her mother.

“Yah, don’t worry about dinner. We’re perfectly fine with rice, eggs and kimchi! Save your money for college,” her mother said as she poked her daughter’s forehead back.

“That’s only three years away. With this money, it’ll be harder for me to get into a good college,” Doyeon said with a pout.

“Save your money for yourself, okay?” her mother said, making Doyeon pout more.

Doyeon heaved a sigh, “Fine.”

“Go study. Don’t you have a test tomorrow?” her mother asked.

“Yeah... I’ll be in my room,” she told her mother before shuffling into her room. Doyeon pulled out her books from the shelves, and settled down at her desk.

Doyeon’s plans for herself at that moment was to make her parents proud of her, end high school nicely, and get into a good college without a fee. Most importantly, to change her family’s status from poor to rich, or at least average. Whatever it takes to make her family happier, she’ll do it. Even if the family started off their young lives as a poor family, they still managed to get Doyeon into a school. But that may have been one of their worst ideas for sending their child off to a school filled with students that had more money than her, but aren’t on the status of rich. Doyeon always ends up coming home from school with large piles of homework, and another pile of secrets that she hides from her parents about her days at school. Too afraid that she would worry them, she kept the bullying inside, not letting anyone of her family members find out. Having her was enough to worry about. The girl had no friends, or any close friend to be around, that’s how bad her social life was. No one in school stood up for the girl, no one sat next to her or wanted to be with her. Sometimes, Doyeon wants to know how the bullier would feel if she did the same back to them. But she knew she was weak and it was hard to stand up for herself. But every night she would come home, finding her parents waiting for her with a warm smile on their faces makes her forget all of the harassment at school.

She was smart, hard-working, and just plain different, but what made her life hard for her was the continuous arguments at home. Every night, whether she’s in the shower, studying, outside watering the plants, or even trying to go to sleep, she would hear her parents argue about their bills and needs. Her mother tried to hide her money from her father. Her father ends up wanting to find the money to spend on useless things. At least they weren’t on the physical fighting stage, that would have driven Doyeon crazy. A fight between her mother and father would be impossible to stop. Her mother always ended up shutting before letting out hurtful words towards her father who would become angry because of her sudden stops, and he would kick doors and empty baskets instead. Doyeon tried her best to avoid the crazy arguments, and always hid in her bedroom to keep herself safe from the dangerous family.

The girl suddenly snapped out of her thoughts when she heard yelling and the sound of doors being kicked outside her bedroom door. She sighed before plugging her ears with headphones. If only... ‘If only’ was always something that Doyeon thought about. She wondered if her words would change if the family went from poor to rich. If only we had the money for dad’s useless things, for school and food, we wouldn’t be endlessly arguing. She rested her chin on the palm of her hand that was propped onto the table. “But would having money change anything?”

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Doyeon hugged her books close to her chest as she entered her classroom. She hung her head high and avoids the stares and laughs behind her as she slowly seated herself at her desk. At home, Doyeon is the child that every parent would want; smart, timid, and hardworking. At school, she’s the same, but smiles a lot more than at home. Sure, she’s quiet and too shy, which made her an easy target to fool, but no one really knew how this girl felt, no one even bothered to ask or think about it too. But she just continues to smile whenever the insults come, and she hides all her insults back towards them behind her smiles. Every day at lunch, she would hide herself on the school rooftop, nibbling on a sandwich or whatever she could afford that day, while her classmates would be eating their average or luxurious meals in the classroom, while waving their cell phones around for the latest school gossips. No one knew that Doyeon was always on the rooftop, but it wasn’t like anyone was looking for her either, which she was fine about. She didn’t mind that she was being the one that’s bullied, or left out, or alone. She only worried about her future and what life had in store for her, but it seemed like the people around her didn’t agree.

That day the teacher was late for class, and their excuse was scolding a student, aka a rich jerk who was the son of another rich jerk. The teacher called the student to step in, and in came a boy with light brown hair with a sly grin on his face. He silently walked to his desk and sat down, high-fiving his friends that sat around him. Doyeon sighed as she watched the boy. It must be nice to be rich... She turned her attention towards the teacher and pulled out her notebook.

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How’s the first chapter? sorry. I haven’t been in a writing mood lately. that’s why the character descriptions . lol. I won’t be able to update often on this story due to school. k.