Chapter One

Age: 18

At school, Iseul was never one to be bullied like some students were.  No, she was the one that was mostly ignored and forgotten; and she liked it that way.  Being ignored meant that no one bothered her.  It meant that no one wanted to get close to her, to get to know her.  She was glad for this fact because then it meant that no one would want to learn about her home life; meaning no one knew about her sick mother. 

While she wasn’t necessarily embarrassed about her mother, it was a touchy subject within their family.  Mention it to her dad and he would get eerily calm, saying nothing before walking away to drink himself into a stupor.  Mention it to Iseul, and you would get almost the same results, except you might get a fist to the face before she went to have a cigarette.

Iseul had started smoking as soon as she found out about her mother – buying the cigarettes illegally and starting off smoking at least a half a pack a day.  It calmed her down and gave her something to do.  Which, in her situation, she needed something to do at all times.  Whenever she was home, she was either cleaning the already spotless house, or working on her homework.  Her mind always had to be occupied, or it would lead to bad things.

One day, about a week after classes had started again, Iseul was working after school at the diner when six very attractive boys came in.  Seeing as how the diner was a seat yourself one, they looked around briefly before heading towards her section.  Sighing, she hurriedly placed down the order of her current table before heading over to theirs with a fake smile plastered on her face. 

Notebook in hand, she asked for their drink orders, “What can I get you guys to drink?” One of the handsome boys, on the shorter side with pale, round cheeks and beautifully shaped dark brown eyes answered her first. 

“I’ll just have water, please,” he said with a warm smile, showing off his gums slightly.  He ran a hand through his short, messy blonde hair after giving her his order.

“Water.”

“I’ll have sweet tea, please!”

“Water, please.”

“Unsweet tea for me.”

“Same as him,” the last one said, pointing to the one that said sweet tea.  The one being pointed at smiled, and Iseul noticed a dimple on his cheek.  It was cute, she figured. 

“I’ll be right back with your orders.” With a quick bow, she hurried away to fill their orders. The drink fountains weren’t that far away, so she was able to overhear the group’s conversation.

“Oh~ Minseokie