Her father harshly knocked on her door, prompting her to shoot out of bed without grumbling how she hadn’t gotten enough sleep.  Seulgi opened the door to see her father, barely able to stand on his feet, eyes bloodshot.  He was glaring at her in disapproval.

“I’m late. Why don’t you have my bath ready?” he asked, tone low and threatening.  Seulgi gulped, and lips were dry.  She bowed her head, indicating she was sorry.

“I’m sorry.  I’ll do it now,” she said, hurrying over to the master bedroom’s bathroom.  

She plugged the drain and turned the water on to the temperature she knew he liked.  She wanted to curse at herself for not waking up on time.  She should have never left the house last night, all her problems were coming from making reckless decisions when she emotionally vulnerable.  The solution would be to not allow herself to feel anything, which would be difficult but with some conditioning, she knew it was possible.

Once the water had reached an appropriate level, she shut it off and exited the bathroom.  Her father was sitting on the foot of his bed, rubbing his head, probably still hungover.  She wandered downstairs and pulled out some leftover hangover soup that she usually stored for the nights her father drank himself to sleep.  She put it into a pot and began to heat it up.  Bounding back up the stairs, took a quick shower in her bathroom, making sure to erase the scent of weed from her hair and then put on her school uniform.

She had just finished brushing her hair when she heard a loud bang, like the sound of a door being thrown open.  She realized her father was done with his bath and the soup was still heating on the stove.  She rushed down the stairs again and was glad she knew to keep the soup on low heat.  It was just the right temperature and Seulgi felt as if she could breathe easy that morning.  Nothing had gone wrong yet.

She set a bowl of soup on the table and waited for her father to come down to eat with bated breath.  He was understandably getting ready faster than usual since the both of them were late for work and school, respectively.  When he came down, he looked slightly less hungover and more put together.  If only his personality were put together, then Seulgi wouldn’t have to fear him as much.

“Why the is it always soup?” he asked, pointing at the bowl on the table.  “Don’t you ing know how to cook anything else? How do you even consider yourself a woman?”

Despite his dislike for the breakfast, he moved closer to the bowl and took a sip of it.  In that split second, Seulgi knew something had gone wrong.  His entire face had contorted into that of anger.  The spoon clattered down on the ground and his hand shook violently.  Seulgi bit her lip and averted her eyes.

“Who made this soup?” he asked, with a deathly calm.

“I did,” Seulgi replied.

“Where did you learn how to make this?” he asked.

“Grandma’s recipe book,” she responded.

Hot burning liquid touched her flesh, as the contents of bowl splashed all over her.  She heard a shout leave her lips expressing the pain she felt.  It burned and the stinging feeling wouldn’t go away.  She felt her knees go weak and she grabbed onto a chair to keep herself from falling onto the ground.  She could register that pieces of glass scattered on the floor as a result of the bowl shattering.  

“Make some I can actually eat next time.  Remember, this is your fault,” he warned her.

Seulgi nodded, feeling tears leaving her eyes.  “I’m sorry, I know.  It’s my fault.  I’ll do better next time.”

She ignored the burning feeling on her skin and decided to change into her old school uniform, the one she had from last year that she outgrew.  Her father had left the house and it was only then Seulgi felt completely relieved.  She thought the pain would lessen even after she’d taken off her clothes but the dull ache remained.  Anything that came into contact with the burned area was comparable to having a truck driven over her.

It took her a bit to have her straps adjusted on her back before she left the house and made her way to school.  It didn’t matter to her that it took all her self control to not whimper in pain with each step as her bag balanced itself on her shoulders, because she had an obligation to stay strong.  If she couldn't get past this point in her life, then she would have no future.  And not having a future was what scared her the most.

“Then I told him to get off me, and by then Seungwan walked into the room so he backed off and I don’t know how to say no because I’m too nice-“ Sooyoung was rambling. “Seulgi are you even listening? You’ve been spacing out a lot and you look like you’re in pain.”

“I’m fine,” Seulgi snapped, taking a hotdog and made her way through the lunch line.  Sooyoung opted for pizza to the side, being a vegetarian.  Seulgi honestly didn’t know how the girl was able to stay away from meat but she’d been able to since mi