i.
It's All Luck
"Have you took this tables order yet, DaHee?" Mrs. Cheng shouted across the restaurant.
"I'm sorry, I'll go right away!" I answered back from the kitchen.
I decided to work in a restaurant since two years ago. Or should I say, I decided to take up several jobs --including working in a restaurant -- for over two years now. I didn't have a choice, to be honest. It was all I could do, to survive.
It was the morning of Christmas Eve and I had to first go to milk delivery, like every other day. Then to come to this restaurant. Mrs. Cheng, the boss, was like no other evil disney characters. That's how I pictured her. However, all evil characters has a back up good man, and that's her husband. He's nice. I guess. But, I've been suspecting him for months now. That's all I can assume, that he has his eyes on the girls working in the restaurant. After the restaurant, theres a few cake delivery and surprises for couples. Christmas eve, I've got myself a present too.
Cake delivery isn't all for the morning. I then rush to pick up stuffed toys to bring home to work on at night. Then to a wedding ceremony to work as a waitress, then to a tutoring centre, to deliver lunch, of course. This was my morning, and I have almost lost count of how many meals that I've skipped, and the days I've caught a cold. I don't have very good clothes to wear, all I wear for this winter season is a baggy hoodie in the outside, a beanie, and a long sleeve in the inside.
My head was always light headed, and coffee was my work companion for as long as I've known it's works. I did take medicine, when I have time of course. And also short naps in the washroom sometimes. That is the only time I can relax myself. How amusing, isn't it? My life.
It was lunch time, and I had no time to waste, I had to go to the next destination, the mall. There was an event there today and I'm there to work on setting up and taking down. On the way there, I had to take a pill to make my head clearer, my cold was worse but I had no time to waste on this day that was full of good jobs to earn some money. I parked my bike in the staff area in the parking lot under the mall, and carefully walked towards the entrance. Not good. I'm loosing balance and my vision was blurred.
My phone rang. "Hello? This is DaHee!" I managed to sound fine, in case it was some boss.
"Yo, DaHeeee-yah, you like EXO a lot right? I heard that they are having a fan sign in this mall over there.. umm.. what's it again..oh yeah!------------"
I heard her, but my body could not last any longer, and collapsed right there, in the parking lot.
It was Christmas Eve, you remembered. Myomi called, you remembered. EXO was going to have a fan sign, you remembered. And you were about to go to work… in a mall… you remembered.
You're eyes widened and you looked around.
"Where am I?" you asked yourself and rubbed your temples. Your vision was very blurry and you are having a hard time straightening yourself up the bed. It felt like you just woke up from a lot of drinks the other night, but you don't recall drinking any. You lay back on bed, and instantly fell back asleep.
<:>
"Da…Hee-shi?" You heard a voice call out to you and you slowly opened your eyes.
A man that looked young was using a wet towel dabbing your forehead. You blinked several times, then shouted loudly.
"Who are you!! Why are you here in this room!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!! But … but, this is my room! And… andddd m- my name is Kyungsoo!" he shouted back at you.
You paused, "Kyungsoo? EXO D.O..?" you slowly asked, just to make sure even though you knew him well.
"Yes, EXO's D.O, Kyungsoo."
We paused. You looked around and saw a desk with a small CD shelf with different kinds of music, on the desk was several EXO cards, some gifts were scattered around the floor. Some comfortable house clothing was hung on the desk chair, then in the corner of your eyes you could see some posters and a few photos of EXO on the wall.
"Why am I here?" you finally asked.
"Get washed up and come out." was all he said.
<:>
You walked out of the strange room, hoping you could just slip out the door and never come back. All you had in mind was what trouble you caused D.O, and that you still had work to do.
No use. You couldn't sneak out, because right when you stepped out that door, 12 pairs of eyes were looking straight at you.
"Hey, your'e awake."
"Are you feeling better?"
"Do you know who I am?"
"How about me?"
"DaHee?"
Several questions shot at you and you just nodded and nodded.
"Where am I?"
Baekhyun motioned you to sit down on the floor with them.
"So you fainted," Suho started, "and.. we just arrived at the parking lot too, for the fan sign."
"We couldn't just leave you there, so we put you in our van first to rest, then went to our fan sign."
"Oh, you were on the phone with your friend, so we tried to explain everything. She told us you can't faint. You had work to do. You had somewhere to go at night too. Stuff like that."
One continued after another.
"She couldn't pick you up, because she's in Korea, and we couldn't leave you there, so we brought you to Korea."
"Good, thing you're Korean and had a passport. Or else what could we do."
"Yeah, so we used your plane ticket, the one you prepared to UK, and switched it with one back to Korea. Good thing you had every ID and all the stuff need on you. It all went smoothly, don't worry."
"Hold on, please, slow down..! You said, you used my ticket to UK to switch with one back to Korea??" You cut in asking.
"We did." Sehun replied arrogantly while using his smartphone.
"Why did you do that?! I was going to go… I was going to go.." you couldn't say it, something in your throat blocked it. You're memories flashed back, and tears slowly dripped down your cheeks.
"We're sorry, but that's all we could do. Myomi, was here and we thought if we brought you here it would be the best idea to contact her and bring you to her. It's okay. Are you sad because you couldn't go to UK and find your boyfriend or someone?" Kai asked sillily.
"What do you guys know!" you shouted "What do you guys know." you repeated again softly
"She's crazy" Sehun whispered.
You couldn't do anything at that time. Everything was mixed up.
"Why are you in Taiwan working, by the way. You're Korean right? Why aren't you here? Where's your parents?" Chanyeol curiously asked.
"I don't have parent's."
"What do you mean? Everyone has parent's." Luhan said.
You paused.
"They went to a mountain like every weekend. And didn't come back. That day there was also a mud slide, there was no bodies found." You replied.
"So, they might still be alive?" Lay asked.
"I don't know." was all you could say.
"How long ago was this?" Kris said like he understood your pain.
"2-3 years ago."
"Do you have any siblings?" D.O asked.
"I have an older brother." You murmured. "Sorry, but can I leave now?" Reality was hitting you like crazy.
They were quiet, like the sudden creature they were curious about told them to back off.
"Well, if you mean to go back to Taiwan, then you'll need a plane ticket." the manager who entered said to you.
You dropped back down to the floor. Reality. You had no money, no place to live. Myomi was a famous plastic surgeons daughter and was living in a luxurious house. So, what can you do now? You can't go and ask her to keep you in her house, you can't repay such a big debt.
"You can always stay here with us, for now. We won't mind." Luhan kindly offered.
"Yeah right, we have no room at all." Sehun coldly added.
"It's okay, I guess it was just luck to finally meet EXO on Christmas eve. I should go back to my den, to where I belong. I'm very sorry that I've bothered you guys. " You smiled, bowed and waved goodbye to them and left their dorm.
<:>
Where can you go now? Your stomach grumbled, but food was out of your range, out of what you could worry about right now. You walked to a nearby park and sat on the swing.
You already forgot the tingly small warmth people could give. You hated this place. Korea. It gave you the memories of your family. The happy moments when everyone was together. That is why you couldn't dare step ground in Korea again, you feared that you can not handle your emotions well. You're relatives was a big help in the beginning, but when they found out that you wanted to go to medical school like your brother, there was no hope they would support. No relatives wanted to help anymore. You hated your parents for leaving you and your brother just like that.
Your throat still hurts and your body shivered from time to time. A snow flake appeared in front of you. You remembered, snow. The happy moment flowed in you once again. And you murmured to yourself again how much you hate Korea.
Winter was your favorite season, mainly because of the snow. It always brought you hope. But now it brought pain in you. You had to think of a plan immediately to get out of Korea, this place you hated so much. But you couldn't do anything for now, so you thought you should just leave the troubles behind, and sleep for now. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day to deal with the problems, you said to yourself before you fell asleep on the swing.
"DaHee, DaHee.." you heard a voice call softly
"Appa?" you tried to see clearly. You saw a man, an angel. It must be dad you thought. You hugged him by the waist and the tears can't help but fall. That tingly feeling you felt as you hugged him. The warm arms that hugged you back. It felt like a miracle on Christmas Eve.
"Yes, I'm here to take you back." was all you heard then you fell into his arms.
Again, you remembered. The warms arms, the soft voice. It must be dad overall. You slowly opened your eyes to find yourself in another room. It should be a dream you told yourself, like any other dream.
You walked out the door, just to see the familiar couches and the familiar scent of men. You're back, in EXO's dorm.
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