The Twenty-First Tale

Hyosung knew she had it coming. She wasn't dumb like what most people had presumptuously assumed her to be. Nope, she was the exact contrast of her false Miss Popular -like attitude.

It wasn't as if she was doing it for fame—and it wasn't as if she was doing it for attention...

Alright, maybe she was just a teeny weeny bit. But maybe it was because people tended to overlook a lot of things. She had her own personal reasons for doing so, and she had her own complicated life to go through, just like how normal people had their own.

School was her only opportunity of being recognised of her achievements and potential. She was praised, congratulated, respected, and even looked down upon many times. But she liked it—she didn't mind one bit—because it was the only place she didn't feel contemned upon.

At home, her family were complete strangers. Nobody talked to each other, and the atmosphere was always tense between them. Her father was mostly gone for work, only coming home once or twice every fortnight and leaving immediately then. Her siblings weren't any different; disappearing some times during the day. She didn't really care where they went. She assumed that none of her parents did either.

Now her mother... Hyosung was certain that she was having an affair with another man. She could assert that. She also didn't fail to notice the packet of pills she saw protruding from the living room's cabinet. Then again, she didn't really care.

Regardless, she could never neglect the aching feeling on the left side of her chest whenever she thought about her family.

It hurt even more when the one she loved so much, left her for another girl.

Hyosung could only let out a dry chuckle at how ironic her situation was, as if she was in a drama movie, only that she was the Miss Popular in the drama. Her boyfriend was the handsome nice Mr Popular guy, who gets his heart stolen by the unpopular ugly student who's secretly a beauty behind those big round nerdy glasses; and happened to have a deep crush on her handsome boyfriend for who knows how long.

She didn't blame the girl who took her boyfriend, and she didn't blame her boyfriend for leaving her and falling for the meek introverted girl. Hyosung knew it was her own fault for bullying and oppressing her in the first place (not adding to the fact that she had previously bullied and mistreated others).

To Hyosung, her life didn't make sense.

She gave a crooked smile at the mirror, only to see a miserable teenage girl with smeared heavy make-up and unkempt hair. 

But she supposed that her life did kind of make sense, since it was supposed to be messed up from the very beginning. Just like how she, and along with her dysfunctional family, was messed up.

Hyosung could only hope she'd hold on long enough not to take her own life away.