Chapter 7

Hakyung tried to forget about the incident that night and focused on her daily lessons. She still sat with the basketball team during lunch, with Jaeyoung. They still talk like friends, but Jaeyoung would situate herself between Hakyung and the boys.

Hakyung’s eyes still glanced at Sehun every now and then, but she couldn’t look at him the same anymore. He was the one who took her ity in the first place. They say girls grow attracted to their first, but she was already attracted to him before they had .

Sehun, on the other hand, resumed his daily duties of flirting with girls. He was acting as though that incident didn’t happen at all, or that it happened all the time.

There was a surprise set of exams, to test what the students had understood till then, five weeks later and Hakyung had begun studying for it. It was 40% of the overall grade so she had to work hard. She had promised herself that she would keep her grades up.

Every day after school, Hakyung would go home, as usual, but instead of turning on her television, she studied. She pulled out an unused notebook from her drawer and an old picture fell out.

She picked the photo up and saw that it was a yellowing picture of a young woman. It was her mother. When she born, her mother left her at the door of the orphanage and left. For all the 15 years Hakyung had grown, the orphanage was her home.

It was when she turned 16, she could get her own apartment, with the help of the orphanage’s person-in-charge. Mrs Goh was what others would call a Samaritan. She took care of Hakyung like she was her own.

But to Hakyung, Mrs Goh was what she had closest to a grandmother. The photo was given to her when she left the orphanage to stay on her own. Mrs Goh held the photo to her and she told Hakyung, “This might not help much, but it’s a photo of your mother. Make sure to visit, okay?”

Hakyung smiled and pressed the picture on her chest. Oh, omma. Where in this huge world are you at right now? Are you eating and living well? Hakyung thought as she placed the photo back into the drawer.

When Hakyung went back to her work, she made a self-note that she needed to go back to the orphanage to visit the next day after school.

“Jae, I have to go somewhere straight after school today, so I have to leave first.” Hakyung said and Jaeyoung nodded. “Going back home?” She asked and Hakyung smiled. “Yeah. Home.” She nodded in agreement.

When the ending bell rang, Hakyung was the first out of class. She headed towards the subway and took the train to the convenience store downtown. The streets were rather empty because it was a really deserted place.

The orphanage was placed here because the people who owned this street didn’t want the orphanage there, so they shifted the entire building to the end of the street. Hakyung entered the store and grabbed a basket.

She headed directly to the drinks section and got 7 chocolate milk, 3 strawberry milk and 5 plain ones. She then went to the tidbits section and saw those cute animal shaped crackers. She picked up a few and dumped them into the basket.

She wanted to get chocolates but she realised that it wouldn’t be healthy for the kids since she had already gotten them tidbits. Hakyung smiled in content and headed to the cashier to pay for her purchases.

She then hailed a cab and drove down to the orphanage