Chapter 1

 

“Good morning Mrs. Jung!”

“Good morning Taeyeon-ah!”

“How are you doing?”

“Fine, I guess. How about you, child? “

“Same. Well, gotta go!”

“Have fun at school!”

 

Kim Taeyeon, age of 18, is now graduating this year in high school. She lives alone in an apartment near her school. Well, she lived her own life when she was 16. She’s a part-time singer in a café two blocks from her apartment. She doesn’t get much, but because of the help of Mrs. Jung, her old teacher back then when she was still in Primary School, she managed to own a living. She’s the only one who knows what Taeyeon had been through. She knows how terrible her life had been when she was still living with her family. It seems like Taeyeon isn’t a part of her family at all, that’s why she treated Taeyeon as a daughter right now.

Mrs. Jung is her neighbor right now. A fence is separating their apartments and they both have a small garden in front of their houses. The only difference is that Taeyeon’s apartment has a third floor, which is the rooftop. Mrs. Jung decided to offer that place to her because she knows that Taeyeon loves rooftops. When she was still in Primary School, she will often see the short girl in the rooftop or the deck of their school, mostly crying, sometimes eating her lunch and talking to herself.

When Taeyeon left her house, she never saw her family again and she never knew what their reactions were when she left.  They live in Jeonju and she moved in Seoul for her studies. She knows they don’t care anyway, they never cared. She’s a very strong girl. She will always try hard to keep her tears at bay every time her teacher will ask what happened to her family or when her friends mention her family. She will just stay silent every time the topic of family is being brought up. She keeps her problems to herself. She doesn’t want people to pity and worry about her. She has never shown her weak side to someone, only to her best friend, who was always there by her side whenever she needs someone.

 

“Ah. Wait a minute, Taeyeon”, the old lady stopped watering her plants for a while and looked at Taeyeon.

“Yes?”, Taeyeon looked back at the old lady.

“You sure you don’t want someone to accompany you in your house? A friend of my daughter said that she might move her in Korea and she wants to live near my daughter and I was thinking, maybe this is the time that you could open up to people again.”

“Oh”, Taeyeon replied.  They’ve already talked about it and she denied it at first. She felt more comfortable living alone.
So many thoughts came to her mind every time this topic was being brought up.

*What if he/she is a bad person? Will they accept me? Can I trust them? What if they can’t stand my attitude? What if-* Her mind is full of “What Ifs”

“Taeyeon-ah, I’m sorry for bringing this up. I just think that it’s really time for you to open up and stop hiding from the whole world.” The old lady said, bringing her back to reality.

“It’s okay, umma. I’ll think about it.” She replied.

“Thank you Taeyeon. Oh, you should get going. You’ll be late.”

“Oh yes. Bye! Have a nice day!”

 

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“What’s up?”

“What do you mean ‘What’s up’? “

“Why are you like that? Why are you avoiding me?”

“Oh. Am I? I don’t really see myself avoiding you. Maybe you just spend more time with your other girls than me.”

“Tiff, what are you talking about? You know you’re the only girl in my heart.”

“Can you please stop with your ‘cheesy lines’?”, she said, emphasizing the cheesy part.

“Come on, Tiff. Don’t be like this.”

“Whatever. Let’s talk later.”

“Okay. Bye Baby.”

“Bye”

Before he can give her a kiss, she already ran off to go to her class.

 

Tiffany Hwang, age of 18, now on her graduating year in high school and is living alone in a condo unit just near her school. She lived alone when she was 16, though her parents didn’t really care about the things she do. For her own happiness, she tried to find herself a boyfriend, and he just made her life worse. She only admired him because of his looks, and maybe the same goes for him.

She loves taking pictures, especially if it’s about nature. She would always go to the park near the condominium where she is staying. She would take pictures of the sunsets, the moon, especially the stars. She loves everything about nature. Her pictures gave life to her. She plans to open up an exhibit when she’s older and when she has enough money. She first needs to find herself a part-time job so that she will have enough money for her studies and of course, for her everyday life.

No one knows what she had been through, but if someone does, she’s living on the other side of the world, in South Korea. That’s making it harder for her to talk to someone about her problems. She’s a very bright and cheerful girl, well, that’s what everyone thinks since she’s always smiling the whole day, her eyes barely seen as they smile together with her. People can’t see the sadness in her eyes, as well as the pain, because she always hides it on her smiles. At the end of the day, these little nightmares are always hunting her and her smiling eyes will be replaced with pain and sadness.

 

*After Class*

 

*I need to talk to him*

“Umm, excuse me, have you seen-“

“Hey Tiff!”

“Hi Bora!”, Tiffany greeted her friend while walking towards her.

“Want to know where your boyfriend is?”, she asked.

“Sure. Umm, where is he?”

“Go to the garden at the back of the school.”

“Uh, Thanks! I’ll see you later.”

She said before running off to the said place.

 

Tiffany knows what’s waiting for her. Bora never really cared about her relationship ever since she started dating that guy. In fact, this is the first time Bora mentioned him in their conversation.

 

When she arrived, as expected, he’s kissing another girl. Tiffany just stood there, no expression, crossed arms, tapping her foot on the floor, waiting for them to notice her.

The girl was the first one to notice her. She looked shocked seeing Tiffany just standing there with an expressionless face. He followed her line of sight and she immediately stood up from the bench and walked towards her.

“Tiff, what you saw right now-“

“I didn’t ask for an explanation, did I?”, she said, cutting him off.

“No. But Tiff-“

“Do you even know what this day is?”, she continued.

“What? What do you mean?”

“I knew it. You never really cared about this relationship. You never really cared about me.”

“That’s not true Tiff. I love you. I really do.”, he said, tears already forming in his eyes.

Well, he’s the best when it comes to acting.

“Let’s break up,” she sternly said, not even surprised that she saw him crying for the first time, and because of her.

“What? No, no, you can’t do that. I love you Tiff. I can’t live without you”, he hugged her but Tiffany struggled and let go of the hug.

“Tiff, please, don’t leave me,” he said, already on his knees.

“Stop that. I know you never loved me. There are a million of girls in your heart. That’s why I never had the chance to enter. Stop it.”, she said calmly.

“Honey, stand up. She’s not worth it,” the other girl said.

He didn’t pay attention to her and just continued to cry. Now, it’s hard to identify whether it is real or not.

 

“Your girlfriend there is right. I’m not worth it. I’m not worth it of your tears.” That’s the last thing she said before slowly walking away.

If they only knew how much she wanted to slap the both of them, but she wanted to stay on the good side and decided to just remain calm.

“Oh, and one thing,” she turned back to him again. “Check your calendar. I’m sure it is written there what is special about this day, because I wrote it the last time I went to your house,” she continued before disappearing from their sight.

 

*That night*

 

He returned home with a gloomy face and his parents took notice of it.

“You alright, son?”, his father asked, turning the television off.

“Yeah,” he deadly said before going to his room.

 

He sat down on the bed and looked at the picture frame on his bedside table, before slowly grabbing it.

“I’m sorry Tiff. I’m a jerk. I really, really love you,” he said, caressing Tiffany’s face in the frame.

The picture showed their first date. Tiffany was sipping her Starbucks coffee, smiling to the camera, her eyes closed, while he was pretending to kiss her cheek, hugging her neck from behind with one arm and his other hand was holding the camera.

Then, he remembered what she said.

*Check your calendar. I’m sure it is written there what is special about this day, because I wrote it the last time I went to your house*

He hurriedly checked his calendar that is hanging at the back of his door.

He scanned through the first four days of January and when his eyes landed on the 4^th day, he checked what was written:

 

January 4

 Happy 1^st Monthsary!

         ^_^   xoxo

 

His tears unconsciously slid down his face, and this time, it’s for real.

 

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Hi! I'm sorry if it took long for me to update. 

What do you think of the first chapter? 

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