“Cigarettes? What the hell is this, ByulHee?!” MinSeok bellowed as his voice resonated throughout the huge mansion, causing everyone to recoil in fear. ByulHee dared not to meet her father’s eyes, but she could see from the corner of her eyes that MinSeok’s face was bloodshot red, and he was shaking in anger, probably holding himself back from laying a hand on her.

“Since when have you started smoking, ByulHee? Huh?! I expected so much better from you! I have never known that you are this kind of girl! Is this what Chen taught you?!” MinSeok continued, slamming the cigarette box onto the floor as he stood there with arms akimbo, demanding answers from ByulHee.

The poor girl looked at the small box that was now on the floor, and she immediately knew how it ended up in her bag. She was sure that she didn’t even touch the damn thing, heck; she didn’t even want to be anywhere near it.

This must be the doings of one of MinJi’s friends, especially the ones who took her to the convenience store and made her watch as one of them stole a few boxes of cig.

“T-that isn’t mine!” ByulHee finally said, trying to keep her voice calm and steady. If she stuttered and at a loss of words, it would only convince her parents more that she was the one at fault.

“Then how come it was in your bag? The box can’t magically appear inside your bag now, can it?”

“Really, it doesn’t belong to me! It ... it’s ....” ByulHee’s answer trailed, unsure of how to continue. If she told them that it was because of MinJi’s friends, then her parents will ask her tons of questions about those kids, which ByulHee wasn’t ready to let them know.

Sure, they’ll probably help her, but that could be after they scolded her for not telling them about it sooner, right from the beginning. Besides, according to what she heard from JongIn, those kids came from well-known families, like her own. If she ratted them out, especially MinJi, who knew what the girl’s parents would do to her own parents.

“I ... I think someone accidentally dropped it in my bag by mistake.” ByulHee tried to come up with an alibi. “Just now when I was waiting for the bus at the bus stop, the person beside me was smoking. That explains why you can smell smoke coming from me. And we boarded the same bus; probably he accidentally dropped it in my bag, or put it in there on purpose.”

Great, ByulHee thought. Now she was lying to her parents. Just great. She had never lied to anyone before, not even Chen. And now she was being mendacious to her biological parents, the ones she hadn’t seen or known in years. She hadn’t even stayed with them for more than a few months, and things were already getting rough.

“Please, believe me.” ByulHee squeaked, looking at her parents with plea. “I really didn’t know how the cigarette box was in my bag, but really, it wasn’t mine.” She knew it was wrong not to let her parents know about MinJi and her friends, but somehow she was too scared to tell them. Words will get around and it will bring shame to the family. And the news about her being the daughter of MinSeok and MinYoung will be revealed too, which will add more trouble to the cause.

ByulHee was aware that her parents hadn’t let everyone know about her existence yet, and when it was time for them to reveal it, ByulHee didn’t want it to be in this kind of situation.

“Are you really telling us the truth?” Director Kim suddenly asked, after only watching at the side in amusement. “Then how about you were coming home late then? Your parents even called the school and they confirmed that there was no activity being held after the lessons.”

“I helped JongIn with his homework.” ByulHee quickly said, cursing herself now for telling another lie and for simply using JongIn’s name without his consent. “JongIn is my classmate, the one I’m recently acquainted with, and he needed help with one of today’s lesson so we stayed back at the library.”

“JongIn?” MinYoung asked, her voice sounded calm now and she looked rather relaxed. Somehow, by hearing the name caused her to be at ease all of a sudden. MinYoung turned to look at her husband, and gently held his arm. “Xiumin, isn’t JongIn the son of one of your friends? If I’m not mistaken, his name is JongHyun right?”

MinSeok slowly looked at his wife and nodded his head, after giving her question a quick thought. “Y-yes, he is. Now that you’ve mentioned it, JongHyun did say that his son is studying in the same school as ByulHee.” His eyes then shifted towards ByulHee, who tried to look as composed as possible, and he asked, “So you’re friends with JongIn?”

ByulHee nodded her head. “Yes, we’re seatmates. So ... you know his parents too?”

“Yes, we’re close friends. Were you really with him just now?”

“Yes.” Though she sounded a whole lot confident now, she still hoped that her parents wouldn’t call the boy just to simply confirm whether ByulHee was telling the truth. Well, she had a feeling that JongIn would help her but then he didn’t know the whole story, so there was a possibility that JongIn might say something else instead.

The room sank into silence – complete and absolute. It was a bit awkward between them all of a sudden, until MinYoung broke the stillness. “Go up and change, ByulHee. Dinner will be ready in a few.”

ByulHee nodded, before turning away. As she was just about a few steps up the stairs, she turned to her parents and timidly asked, as she suddenly remembered something, “Can I call daddy tonight?”

MinSeok and MinYoung looked at each other for a moment after hearing her question, as if having a silent conversation between them and MinSeok answered, “No, not tonight. You’ll call him later.”

ByulHee wanted to question on why she can’t call Chen that night, as it had been days since the last she talked to him, but seeing the look on MinSeok and MinYoung’s faces, ByulHee just obeyed. The two of them were already extremely livid with her earlier, and probably this wasn’t the right time to make such request.

Though she ached to talk to Chen again, in the end, she just turned and walked up the steps to her room quickly. She closed the door and straight away went to her bed, before slumping down on it and began to cry.

She missed talking to Chen, and she missed seeing her daddy again. After years of living with only Chen, it really shocked her when MinSeok and MinYoung scolded and shouted at her just now. Chen had never done that to her and every conflict that they had will be solved calmly and peacefully.

ByulHee knew that her parents were just worried, since she got home a bit late, and she couldn’t blame them for being skeptical towards her especially when they found the cigarette box inside her bag. And she was no better. She even lied to her parents just because she was afraid to tell them the truth.

She had a hard day, for many things happened in one day itself, and her brain was starting to feel tired. She began regretting for everything that had happened. She regretted why she even agreed to follow her parents in the first place. This place was much different from her home back then.

If she never agreed to follow them, she wouldn’t be in this situation.

She never had to adjust to this new life, which was extremely dissimilar from her old one.

She wouldn’t have had to deal with HeeJun and her grandmother, who despised her the minute they saw her.

She wouldn’t have to try to fit in, to feel like she belonged here in this house, in this family.

Nobody would ever anticipate so much from her. Back then, when she was with Chen, no one expected her to do anything.

If she never approved to come, she never had to leave Chen. Now, not only was she far from him, she was also distant from the memories she had with her late mother. She had to leave all that behind just because of this choice she made.

If she never left, she would still be close to Chen. She would still feel the presence of her mother though she wasn’t there anymore. She could somehow imagine herself seeing SuBin again, through the hallways of the library, or the kitchen at their little house. Sometimes, she thought she could feel her right before she fell asleep, her mother’s lips on her forehead.

Now, she herself was no longer sure if she made the right decision or not by coming here. A big part of her told her that she already made a mistake, and now it was too late to mend it. She came here because Chen wanted her to. He’d told her that she needed to give her real parents a chance, to get to know her and a chance for ByulHee herself to fully understand the reason why they left her in the first place.

It was for her. They left her with Chen because they hoped that they could prepare everything for ByulHee, everything beyond what she could imagine. ByulHee appreciated it, all their sacrifices for her in giving her the best for her life.

But she wasn’t happy. She wasn’t happy when they took her away from Chen. Her figure might be here, but her heart and soul were back at their small village, yearning to come back home. Her heart was screaming every single day to get back to where she belonged.

ByulHee sighed as she threw her gaze out the window. Tears began cascading down her cheeks, as she looked up at the stars, bright as diamonds against the black sky. There was no sound that could be heard in the room other than her own tears. ByulHee kept crying, as old memories began to embrace her like a cloak.

During dinner, ByulHee ate so little that MinYoung thought she almost didn’t eat anything at all. However, she refused to coerce the girl to eat if she didn’t have the appetite. She could see tears stains of her face but just decided to shrug it off. Asking ByulHee too much questions might not be the right move, considering their previous episode.

ByulHee excused herself from the dining table and retreated to her room. Since it was a Saturday tomorrow, ByulHee decided to leave her homework be for a while as there was no rush in finishing them. She wasn’t in her right mind to complete any of the school works given and even if she tried, she doubted that she could finish them without any mistake.

Instead, ByulHee decided to regroup and calm her head as she sat down on the balcony, blankets wrapping her little frame. The cool evening breeze soothed her as they brushed against her cheeks, and she inhaled the calm air in.

Somehow, the sight of the night sky managed to keep her tranquil and eased her troubled mind. It was as if the blinking stars were assuring her that she wasn’t alone, and the nigh