Shin Hye realized she was too early for her class that day, so she just stayed in her room in order to avoid anybody realizing that she was affected by what had happened earlier. She tried hard to focus her mind on her work. Dealing with students who could see your emotions clearly made it harder for to try shield the storm inside her heart. She kept on inhaling sharp breathes to help her to calm down. The memory of the past slowly crept into her mind, she tried to look outside the window where she could see students walking together happily while some were running around chasing one another. She was immediately reminded of the time when she first transferred to Jeaguk High.

Back then in Jeaguk High….

Shin Hye sat outside the office while her step-mother were talking with the principal. She kept on staring at her own hands thinking what in the world did she do that she deserved to be thrown back into the serpent’s lair. She hated the idea of having to face her step-mother, her father’s first wife. It was no secret at all that her step-mother hated her existence as well.

“Eomma… I miss you…” Shin Hye whispered. She didn’t realize she said her thought out.

The boy who was sitting next to her turned to look at her and smiled, “Aren’t you big enough to have to bring your mommy to school?” He broke the silence.

Shin Hye slowly turned her head to face who it was, she gave him a blank and uninterested face with a mind-your-own-business look. She then slowly inhaled her breath and turned her attention back to her own hands.

“so, you are moving in to our school?” He continued to ask but Shin Hye tried so hard to ignore him. She didn’t want to speak to him as her Korean was not as languid as she looked to be.

The boy noticing how hard the girl tried to ignore him which only made him more curious about her. Seeing her uniform which seemed very foreign, he tried hard to peek at the badge on her jacket.

“St. Catherine’s convent?” He read. “Cool, you’re from UK.” He said in English which struck Shin Hye’s attention. She looked at him and gave him a bitter smile as she nodded. “Why did you move here?” He continued to ask.

Shin Hye still refused to talk so she shrugged and then continued to how she was.

“I’ve got a cousin studying there. Her name is Lee Ha Na…” He told her. Shin Hye’s eyes widened and she turned her head to him. “Octavia Lee.” He finished his sentence. “err… Are you alright?” He was suddenly feeling awkward that the girl finally gave her full attention to him with her eyes wide.

“Hmm… Ani…” She finally smiled. “It’s good to know someone who knows someone from my old school.

“Well… At least, you’re talking now. My name is Lee Kwang Soo.” The boy introduced himself.

“Park Shin Hye.” She introduced herself.

“Lee Kwang Soo… eriwa!” A teacher called him.

“I’ll see you around!” He gave her a cheerful and sunny smile. Shin Hye smiled back at him.

Not long after that, her step-mother came out and gave her a quick insincere smile before she left. The principal even asked her if she needed to talk to her daughter before she leaves,”We talk to each other everyday. If I have something to say, I will say it later at home to her.” Then with the loud click-clacking of her heels, she disappeared from Shin Hye’s view. Shin Hye somehow felt lighter without her step-mother around.

“Are you excited to enter your class? You are as bright as your sister, I see. Your results in UK were impeccable but here, you just have to brush up your Korean seeing that you were mostly brought up in UK.” The principal said kindly. “Let me bring you to your class.” He led her to the class. Shin Hye felt nervous every time they reached the door of a classroom. Then, the anticipated thing happened, the principal stopped at a quiet classroom. The voice of a teacher could be heard. Class 2-1, on its door, a beautifully scripted poster was placed on it.  

“This is the door that opens to you many opportunities.”

Shin Hye felt positive about her class, the students seemed to only focus on their study unlike what she had seen in dramas before she left UK. The principal knocked the door lightly. It could be heard that the teacher stop talking to his class and walked to the door. He opened the door smiling at the principal and the new student hiding behind the principal.

“Ah… Jang Gyojang. Please come in.” The friendly teacher greeted.

“Thank You Do Seonsengnim.” The principal entered the room and then turned to Shin Hye who remained outside the room waiting to be called. “Park haksing eriwa!” He called Shin Hye. Shin Hye walked slowly entering the classroom. “Do Seonsengnim, this is a new student. Freshly flown from UK.” The principal then turn to face ths class, “Please help out Park haksing and of course, Kang haksing who had just entered our school yesterday. Be a supportive friends and since this is a top class, with the addition of new students coming from different countries, we can gain more world knowledge.” It is really an inspiring talk from the principal, Shin Hye formed a small smile on her face as she nodded at the principal. After and inspiring speech, he said his goodbye and walked out of the class.

“Welcome to Jaeguk High class 2-1 Miss….” The male teacher paused a little bit to read her name on a piece of paper that the principal had passed to him. “Park Shin Hye, can you please introduce yourself to your new classmates?” Shin Hye mustered up the courage to step to the front of the classroom and gave a small, nervous smile.

“I… eh…. Park Shin Hye Imnida… er…. I.. eh… Chega.. eh… Na..” Shin Hye was nervous as she had very minimal Korean Language vocabulary as most of her life was spend in UK and even the maid and her nanny didn’t speak a lot of Korean with her. She could understand them but speaking would be another thing.

“Just use English Language, they all can understand you.” The teacher encouraged Shin Hye. She looked around the classroom as she was thinking.

“K..Kamsahamnida Seonsengnim…” Shin Hye bowed her head. “I have been living in UK most of my life and had only recently being decided to stay here. I will work hard to improve my Korean Language and I hope we all can be good friends.” She bowed to everyone in the class.

“Charatta…” A boy stood up and gave her an applause.

Shin Hye looked up and she saw a boy she had met earlier, Lee Kwang soo cheering on her.

“Thank you Lee Kwang Soo for that enthusiastic response.” The teacher said as he motion to Kwang Soo to sit down. Kwang Soo smiled happily as he nodded to his teacher and the rest of the class gave a light laughter towards Kwang Soo’s silliness. “Alright, Ms. Park, you can sit next to that girl.” He pointed at the direction of a girl with  light brown hair and a pretty face. The girl gave a small wave to Shin Hye and smiled at her.

********

It had been three days since Shin Hye moved into Jaeguk High. She had gotten closer with Lee Kwang Soo and the girl who sat next to her whose name was Kang So Ra.

“You’re early.” Eun Hye greeted Shin Hye as she took her seat at the dining table. “Eomma not up yet?” Eun Hye asked the butler.

“She will be down soon Agassi.” The butler answered.

“How are you settling in our school?” Eun Hye asked as she spread the jam on her toast.

“Gwenchana.” Shin Hye answered briefly and smiled at her older half-sister.

“Do you like your classmates?” Eun Hye continued to ask as she bit a bit of her crunchy toast.

“Neh… They are all kind and nice to me.” Shin Hye smiled as she ate her boiled egg.

“That’s good to hear… It would have been a waste of your father’s money if you complain and you wouldn’t want to be the ungrateful one.” Her step-mother chimed in as she flashed Shin Hye an i