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day one

 

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"Put her there."

 

Her knees scraped against the cold, hard ground as they violently threw her down.

 

"Take it off."

 

She instinctively pulled her eyes shut as they took off the sack around her head. She opened her eyes slowly to be greeted by the darkness. Only dim figures could be made out with her current vision. Both her wrists and legs were tied together tightly, as if someone had super-glued them together.

 

Her body was covered in scratches and bruises and no matter how much she tried, it wouldn't stop trembling.

 

There was a snicker.

 

"Look at your pitiful state. Makes me want to step on you."

 

No sooner had the voice said that, a powerful kick to the side of her face sent her body hitting against the ground again, coughing as she went; an iron-like taste invading her taste buds. Before she could even manage to get up, the hard sole of a shoe stomped down strongly against the side of her face.

 

A senseless laughter filled the dark room as the shoe grinded against her face.

 

"Oh god, this feels so good!" The grinding became stronger, heavier. "I could do this all day!"

 

As soon as the foot was lifted off of her face, a hand reached out for her collar and threw her against the wall. The blinding light from a torch shone in her eyes, bringing them to a squint instinctively.

 

"How are you feeling right now?" the voice hissed at her. "Are you suffering?"

 

She had lost track of how long she's been here.

The pain, the darkness; everything was beginning to eat away at her. She had already lost the feeling in her hands and feet after being tied for so long and internally, she wasn't quite sure how many things were broken.

 

"Tell me if this isn't enough, you , because if it's not," the flashlight swapped over from her to the owner of the voice. Her vision staggered.

 

Eyes filled with rage and malice pierced into hers.

 

"I'll be sure to make your life living hell, Hwang Ha –"

 

"–Ru! Hwang Haru!"

 

She lazily opened an eye.

 

"Hwang Haru wake up!"

 

"What… is it?" she murmured, letting out a big yawn.

 

"What is it?" The older lady grabbed the girl by her wrist and before she could protest hauled her up for a tight hug. "Dear, just what are you doing, sleeping under your study desk again?"

 

Haru opened both of her eyes and blinked a couple of times, glancing at the space under her desk with a simple 'oh'. She couldn't even remember how she got there in the first place.

 

"Honey, I think our baby Haru has developed a serious case of sleepwalking during her time abroad," said Haru's dad, popping his head through the door of her room.

 

Haru shrugged as her mother looked back at her. "I guess so."

 

"Right, so, honey…" her mother gripped her by the shoulders and smiled gently. "It's time for sch –"

 

"No."

 

"Eh?"

 

Haru looked straight into her mother's eyes and repeated, "No."

 

"No?" The grip on her shoulders became tighter. "What do you mean, no, dear?"

 

By this time, Haru was one hundred percent awake. "I'm not going to school."

 

Cue big ol' softie father attempting to in. "D-Dear she just got back to Korea a couple days ago, maybe we should cut her some –"

 

"Cut her some slack?" With that, the caring, kind lady's personality took a one-eighty degree turn. "Listen here Hwang Haru, you are going to resume with high school, whether you like it or not!"

 

Haru's dad let out a quiet sigh and pushed open the door, making his way over to the two of them. "What your mother means is that you need to socialise again with other kids your age."

 

There was a moment of silence. Without saying a word, Haru quickly pushed her parents out of the room, closed the door and locked it.

 

"I'm not going back to school!"

 

"Who agreed for her to put a lock on her door?!" scowled Mrs Hwang, giving the door a kick. She turned to her husband. "What are we going to do with her?" She let out a defeated sigh. "I'm sure the incident during that time have caused her to become like this… What can we do to help our poor child?"

 

That was when a lightbulb had gone off. "Mina."

 

"Yes?"

 

Mr Hwang's eyes lit up. "I've got an idea."

 

~

 

Haru let out a sigh and collapsed back onto her bed.

 

It was a bit troublesome, allowing her parents to find her cooped up in weird locations each morning. For the last few days since she's been back, they've found her in the bathtub, the closet and even under their bed.

 

Honestly, Haru dreaded the day she would return to Korea.

 

Studying abroad wasn't too much fun either but she had grown accustomed to the way of living during the two years she had been there. She couldn't exactly remember why she wanted to leave in the first place but the only reason why she's decided to come back was because her dad spent one and a half hours crying over the phone about how much he missed her.

 

Haru was already in her second last year of high school and considering the memories that she had left of school before studying abroad was enough to make her not want to step foot back into that place.

 

She gazed at the sunlight that bathed into her bedroom through the window. Just as she was about to close her eyes for another round of much needed sleep, the sound of rocks hitting against the glass caught her attention. Annoyed, she got out of bed and made her way to the window to catch the culprit.

 

"Who has the nerve –"

 

"Haru, just know that we love you!"

 

"What –"

 

Before Haru could even turn around, a fast chop to her neck was executed at the speed of light. The sudden pain damaged her sight and the dizziness knocked her right off her feet.

 

Then, everything went black.

 

~

 

 "What… the actual ."

 

They've done it now. Haru's parents have definitely overdone themselves this time.

 

"Haru dear, from today onwards, you'll be living in this boarding house owned by our dear old friend Mr Choi! Be good~ Love, Mum and Dad."

 

Haru made a face and scrunched up the note. They've got to be kidding. She looked around the room, opening and examining the closet and drawers. To her disbelief, all her belongings were already packed neatly where they should be.

 

Okay, so they weren't kidding.

 

"From all that punching and kicking I assume you're probably awake, Miss Haru?"

 

Haru immediately stopped at the sound of the husky deep voice entering into her room.

 

"You're Mr Choi?"

 

Mr Choi was a middle-aged man with sleek, jet black hair and dark piercing eyes. A pair of thick glasses covered half his face, almost leading Haru's attention away from his seriously defined jawline.

 

Not bad for an old man.

 

"Correct," he gave her a smile. "My name is Choi Seunghyun, the owner of this house. Your parents are very good friends of mine. We go way –"

 

"I don't really care about your history with my parents," her eyebrows scrunched. "I just need to talk to them."

 

"No can do, sweetie, they're both on a business trip for a couple days."

 

"Then I need an explanation!"

 

"Quite a loud one, aren't you?" Mr Choi let out a soft chuckle. "Your parents told me to relay the following message to you." The man took out a piece of paper and cleared his throat.

 

Haru snatched the note from him and scanned through it, immediately groaning at what her eyes saw.

 

"Hello again dear, your dad and I will be on a business trip for a few days in another country so please don't try to call us or go back home. I left the house keys somewhere you can never find~ I know this is hard on you Haru but everything we are doing is for the better good. I've applied you to a nearby school called Sookwang High school but wait!"

 

The upset girl stopped herself from ripping apart the piece of paper, let out a deeply annoyed sigh and continued reading.

 

"I had a feeling you'd want to destroy this letter as soon as you read that but please, listen to me, daughter. I'm about to offer you an agreement. Go to school for just one month. One month only. After one month, if you still don't like it, you can come home and we'll discuss matters then. For now, you are to stay at Seunghyun's house and go to school. Please give it your best shot, okay, Haru? And remember, don't stir up any trouble at your new school! Hugs and kisses, mum."

 

"This is complete and utter bull."

 

Out of nowhere, Mr Choi whipped out a small fan and hit it against Haru's head. "Language, young lady. You will not speak like that in my house."

 

"Don't worry, I'm not going to stay in your house."

 

"I heard you've just come back from studying abroad," Mr Choi pointed the fan at Haru. "So I'm guessing you have no friends."

 

Haru sighed. The old man was right. Even if she left now and refused to go to school, she'd have nowhere to stay.

 

"…" Haru muttered. She looked up at Mr Choi. "Just one month right?"

 

He smiled. "Correct."

 

She let out a loud groan.

 

"Ow!" Another whack from the fan sent her yelling out in pain.

 

"Be a lady, will you? Oh," Mr Choi glanced at his watch and then looked back at Haru.

 

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

 

Another notorious-looking smile from the Choi. "Miss Haru, I believe you are late for your first day of school."

 

Haru couldn't take this already.

 

"Oh, ."

 

~