chapter one     

[INDENT] Eunmi stared blankly at the piano keys and sighed as another tear trickled down her cheek. She missed her father. She missed the smell of coffee on his clothes as she hugged and kissed him before he set off for work. She longed for her mother as well. Eunmi's father told Eunmi how beautiful her mother was and how Eunmi looked almost exactly like her. Eunmi inherited her mother's long brown hair, her big eyes, and her dazzling smile. Eunmi was also slender, petite, and delicate like her. Although Eunmi has never met her, she knew her mother would be a wonderful mother.

[INDENT] But Eunmi's father had moved on from her mother. After ten years of raising Eunmi as a single dad, he remarried to a co-worker from the real estate agency he worked at. Eunmi despised her; she was nothing compared to Eunmi's mother. When she first met her step-mother, she looked at Eunmi as if Eunmi had horns growing out of her head. Of course, the unfamiliar woman was the one who looked similar to the devil; she had long, luscious black hair and thin lips that she always put hot red lipstick on. It wasn't too difficult to see that she seduced my poor father with her glamorous looks and disgustingly voluptuous body.

[INDENT] Like the stepmother in the classic fairytale "Cinderella," she hated Eunmi. She hated that Eunmi's dad loved his daughter much more than her own son Eunhyuk, who was five years older than Eunhyuk. She devised a plan to make Eunmi's father love her and Eunhyuk more than Eunmi. She often took them out of town (without Eunmi, of course). She also transformed Eunmi's father into a work-a-holic; she made him work extra long hours not just for separating father and daughter for long periods of time up to the point Eunmi could barely see him at home, but for the money as well.

[INDENT] Eunmi's family moved into a huge mansion that was recently built during that time. Luckily, Eunmi got a decent room and didn't have to move to the attic. Her room was simple and clean; the walls were painted lavender, and her bed's sheets matched the walls. Eunmi's bed was against the wall as her desk was directly across the foot of her bed, and her closet was filled with all of her clothes that were moved from her previous house.

[INDENT] Sometimes Eunmi got to see her father once in a while. In front of Eunmi's father, her step-mother acts disgustingly sweet to her (her father was often too fatigued to notice); without him, she spewed hatred at Eunmi like a machine gun.

Ten years ago:

[INDENT] "Yah, you little brat! Call me 'omma!'" she screamed as Eunhyuk watched from behind his mother.

[INDENT] Eunmi yelled back, "No! You're not my omma! I'll never listen to you! My omma's so much better than you!"

[INDENT] Suddenly, she slapped Eunmi's cheek. Eunmi looked at her as she covered her cheek from the stinging pain. Eunmi's eyes started to tear up from the sting.

[INDENT] "That's right, you little vermin," Eunmi's step-mother snapped, "you better cry. For now on, you need to obey me and your brother Eunhyuk. I looked at the boy behind her; his eyes were soulless. "Araso, pest?" Eunhyuk's mother sneered.

[INDENT] Eunmi said nothing; instead, she gathered as much saliva as she could into and spat at her step-mother, leaving a dark splotch on her dress.

[INDENT] "Why you little--" Eunmi's step-mother yelled with her hand in the air. Eunmi was ready for another slap when she heard the door leading to the garage open.

[INDENT] "Jagiya, I'm home~" Eunmi heard her father cry out. She wearily smiled; at least she knew her father was home, but she felt like gagging when he called her step-mother "jagiya."

[INDENT] The evil woman turned to Eunmi and said, "Well, well, my husband is home. Eunhyukkie, go greet your father." Eunhyuk nodded, then ran down the stairs. She turned to Eunmi again. "You, go to your room." Eunmi smirked; that was something she would happily oblige to.

[INDENT] Eunmi was awoken from her thoughts when she heard someone bellow, "EUNMI! WHERE THE ARE YOU?!" His voice shook the huge mansion. She trembled as she got up from her seat and walked towards the doorway. (Eunmi's parents decided to remove the door so they could hear the music playing from the