♦ Jin Ae ♦

I closed my eyes as I tried to remember what had happened and why I was here, in an orphanage. I had a mother, father AND older brother, I was pretty sure that I wasn't an orphan. There was a nagging feeling that told me my family abandoned me, but I didn't want to think that. The other children in the orphanage would tell me that my family abandoned me, but I won't have any of it.

I tried telling myself that they'd be back for me. They will, right?

But once again, the nagging feeling returned. It's been two years since I last saw them, they would have noticed that by now. I mean, what kind of parents won't notice their child go missing. Not mine, I hope.

A girl albeit older than me said that they must’ve had enough of me because they left me here, in a place where I don’t even speak the language. It’s like abandoning a child, but just multiplying it by a hundred fold.

I was a bit glad that the owner of the orphanage actually knew English and that I wasn’t the only child who knew how to speak the language. The girl’s name was Hannah, I think. But she doesn’t go by that name anymore. She goes by the name that her adoptive parents gave her, Lee Seohee. Yet, she lets me call her Hannah since I have a hard time with Korean words and names.

She’s already adopted, but she comes here because she really liked the old lady running this place. Who wouldn’t? That old woman practically had rainbows and butterflies trailing behind her, she was just that cheerful.

I keep referring to her as Mrs. Park. She has two children namely; Park Yura and Park Chanyeol. Yura was a nice and happy-go-lucky girl just like her brother, but she did not look like a maniac. Chanyeol on the other hand, he has a lot of friends here in the orphanage, me being one of them. But there was this flaw in him that made me run for cover the first time Mrs. Park introduced us two, his smile.

A lot of girls would die for his smile, but truthfully. His smile reminded me of a maniac or a at some extent, but after a few meetings I realized that his smile was really contagious and I really liked it.

Only problem was: communication. The two of us has problems with communicating, but that doesn’t stop us from playing with each other and sometimes acting like complete clowns.

Now, let’s go back to my problem.

When I first came here the other children paid no attention to me. That is until they learned that I wasn’t Korean. It wasn’t their first time having a foreigner in the orphanage since they had a French-Korean girl in here named Minjee De Valierre. But it was their first time having a Chinese-Canadian in this place.

Of course, I had the spotlight because of that. That is until they learned that I can’t speak Korean, that’s when they decided to leave me alone.

Minjee and I started off wrong. She asked me if my parents were dead or if they abandoned me, I told her it was none of the above since they would come back for me. She grew mad at that statement and we started arguing if my parents really did abandon me or not.

I had the upper hand while we were arguing. But the tables turned when she said something that remained in my head up until now.

But after that, we learned to become friends even if we did fight a lot. We were still friends. Well, I was persistent about having a friend so I followed her around two days after our argument and kept on telling her that I wanted to be friends.

It went on for about a week until she grew tired of me following her around. Yes, I did follow her around, but not to the extent where I’m dubbed to be a stalker.

Because in my book, waiting o