“Umma! Where are you taking me? I don’t want to go! I want appa! I WANT APPA!” a 10-year old Lee Mihye whined as she stamped her feet rebelliously, resisting as her mother, or should I say, stepmother, pulled her out of the Busan General Hospital.

Mrs. Lee scowled as she yanked her stepdaughter’s hand roughly, practically dragging her along the streets of Busan with one hand. In her other hand, she was cradling another 10-year old, Lee Jihye, her real daughter.

“I DON’T WANT TO GO! I DON’T WANT TO GO! I WANT APPA!” Mihye yelled as she tugged at Mrs. Lee’s arm stubbornly, bawling her eyes out. “I WANT-“

Mrs. Lee cut Mihye off by giving her a fierce slap on the cheek that hurt like hell. In fact, the impact was so great it had caused Mihye to chomp down on the insides of her cheek, causing it to bleed. The taste of blood instantly filled . Being like any normal 10-year old girl, she started to cry even louder.

“SHUT UP!” Mrs. Lee let out a scream in frustration, effectively shutting her up. “HE’S DEAD! YOUR FATHER AND MY HUSBAND IS DEAD! DIDN’T YOU HEAR ANYTHING THE DOCTOR SAID? DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND SIMPLE KOREAN? HE’S DEAD! YOU’LL NEVER SEE HIM AGAIN! NEVER!”

“D…d…dead…” Mihye muttered to herself as she let herself be dragged along by her stepmother. “D…d…dead? No…no…appa wouldn’t die…appa said…appa promised that he would fetch me today…Appa never breaks his promises…”

Mrs. Lee wasn’t lying though. It was true. It was all true.

3 hours ago, Mr. Lee had left work early. It was Mihye’s birthday, and he had promised to specially fetch her home from school and bring her out to celebrate. And being a man of his word, he was well on his way to Mihye’s elementary school to fetch his precious daughter. Everything was going perfectly, besides the part where Mr. Lee was running slightly late.

In his hurry to fetch Mihye on time, Mr. Lee decided to take the short cut. But who knew, that of all days, the old, frail tree planted at the side of the small road would choose to collapse. And who knew that it would choose to collapse right at the moment when a happy, humming Mr. Lee was driving past it.

It was a sickening and a pitiful sight. The tree, being so old , was of a considerable weight. It completely crushed the car, and the driver in it. To make things worse, the road was so deserted that it was only until a full hour later when people discovered an unconscious Mr. Lee being crushed under the tree, unable to escape. Of course, he was immediately being sent to the hospital for treatment, but by then, it was all too late. He was gone.

Back at the Lee’s residence, Mrs. Lee had mixed feelings.

On one hand, she was positively b with pure bliss. Because according to the will Mr. Lee had left behind, she was to inherit everything that was originally his. That included his car, his house, his shares, his entire fortune…well, you get the picture. Basically, Mrs. Lee was set for life, thanks to her late husband.

However, there was a catch. She was to inherit his daughter, Lee Mihye, as well…

Mrs. Lee let out another sigh. That was the problem. According to her ex-husband’s will, Lee Mihye was to be her daughter. She was to raise her, along with her real daughter, Lee Jihye. And she had absolutely no intention of doing so. She had never liked the enthusiastic, bubbly little girl, only putting up with her because of her husband. Now that he was gone, Mrs. Lee refused to raise Lee Mihye as her own. They weren’t even blood related! Why should she take care of that freeloading, spoilt brat? But did she even have a choice?

Let’s see…She frowned, thinking hard. How do I get rid of her? How do I make sure she never ever comes back?

She couldn’t kill her, heck no. Not because she couldn’t bear to do so, oh no, but because she was afraid of the severe consequences that would come along if she were to be discovered. She couldn’t possibly take that risk of ruining her life just like that. And certainly no one would be willing to adopt her. Even if there was a willing party, the law simply wouldn’t allow for it, because of Mr. Lee’s will which stated specifically that she was to be Mihye’s new caregiver.

Why is it so freaking hard? Mrs. Lee let out a menacing growl in frustration. If only I could send her far, far away and leave her there, making sure that she would never be able to find me again…if only…

Eureka

A small grin crept up to her face. She got it. She had thought of the perfect plan. And she would execute it that very night.

Mihye cried herself to sleep that night. Yes, happy, lovable and cheerful Lee Mihye cried herself to sleep that night. The news of her father’s sudden death was a huge slap in Mihye’s face, and to think it came on her birthday, of all days. It was too much for her to stomach. She still couldn’t face the cruel reality that her father was gone – her caring, loving, funny, adorable father who loved her like no father had ever loved his daughter before. Her father who pampered her, who treated her like his little princess, who took up the role of both father and mother in her upbringing, due to the death of her birth mother when she was only three, he was gone.

Finally, after about one whole hour of sobbing, Mihye fell asleep. She was totally drained out from all the crying, and she was exhausted. As soon as the sobbing stopped, Mrs. Lee entered the room, carrying little Mihye up as gently as she could, careful not to wake her up.

She then proceeded to creep out of the house stealthily, and found her way to the delivery truck that parked outside her house every night. As usual, the back of the truck was unlocked. The driver was an old ahjussi, and he never remembered to lock the door. In fact, he was so muddleheaded that he didn’t even notice Mrs. Lee meddling with the back of his truck as he started the engine and prepared to drive away.

Perfect. She smirked as she opened the door and tucked the sleeping Mihye into one of the boxes at the back of the truck. She shut the doors and quickly sneaked away, checking around to make sure that no one had noticed her.

Too bad she shut the doors too violently, and that caused Mihye to wake up.

“Mmmm?” Mihye murmured as she opened her eyes groggily. As soon as she realized she was in a foreign place, her senses immediately pricked up and she instantly became alert. She crawled up and tried to make her way out of the dark, musty truck, but by the time she did so, the truck had already started to move. The doors swung open due to the sudden motion of the truck, exposing a smirking Mrs. Lee to the terrified, confused Mihye.

“Umma!” She started to scream, wanting to get off the truck but not daring to since it was already moving. She looked towards her stepmother with pleading eyes, expecting her stepmother to save her. “Umma! Umma! Help me! HELP ME!” She shrieked, waving her hands towards her stepmother wildly, trying to catch her attention.

But much to her utter dismay and shock, instead of helping her, her stepmother sent a wave towards her and smiled deviously…

…before turning her back and walking away.

“Umma…” A torn, heartbroken Mihye whimpered in shock as the truck picked up speed and started to move even faster, further and further away from the place where she used to call home.

“Umma…” 

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Hello my lovely readers! 

As promised, I present to you the first chapter of my new fanfic! Thankyou for those who gave this story a chance and subscribed to it even before I published the first chapter. Thankyou for giving this fanfiction a chance, and I promise you won't regret it(: 

So anyway, what did you guys think of the first chapter? If you could drop a short comment just to let me know that you're there, silently reading this story, I would really REALLY appreciate it(: 

Thank you all once again for the support and love! See you again next Sunday!