Kim Hae Ah’s life was perfect; she wasn’t a brat and she was spoilt. She used to get whatever she needed and she got used to it. Being an only child, she got all the love from her parents. Everything about her life was perfect. She might not be a genius but her IQ wasn’t anywhere near low either. To be exact, she was just average, or at least slightly above average. She'd always been top of her class and sometimes her school back in Elementary, Middle and High School but that wasn’t anything. She was perfect or so she thought, though she hadn’t got the beauty. Her dad would cuddle her whenever and wherever she wanted. Her mom would always be there for her, help her keep secrets from her dad whenever she got bad results.

They were a family of three, a loving family as Hae Ah had always described, but there’d always been an extra person living in their house ever since she was a tiny little girl, still being fed by her mother. It wasn’t their maid. It wasn’t any relatives; it was her mom’s best friend. That lady had seen had her grown from the tiny little girl she was into the young lady she had become now. As she grew up, she’d gotten to use to seeing her around.

Hae Ah’s mom was a teacher; she had always been the kind of person that would help her friends in need. A single word ‘please’, and her heart would waver, that was how she ended up helping her friend, who got into accident and was alone, with no family member to take care of her. The friend, Ms. Yeon Hee, as they called her, was an angel. Hae Ah’s mom decided to take her in, care for her like a blood-sister.

Hae Ah, who grew up being taught strictly about keeping manners, had always respected Ms. Yeon Hee. She was like a second mother to her. Ms. Yeon Hee was always there for their family. Believing that she was repaying all the family’s hospitality towards her, Ms. Yeon Hee had always helped them out whenever they were in need, especially when it came to financial problems. With that, her mom always told her to never forget the deed her friend had done for their family.

She never knew things could’ve easily gone wrong. An angel could actually be a masked demon. She never knew it and never believed it. Their family, that was such a happy family, had suddenly become something that she had never imagined before. It was all thanks to one person, the angel.

Hae Ah, had always been a mommy’s girl, whatever her mother told her to do, she would definitely do it. It was so sudden that her dad stated, “You’ve never listened to me, you’re only following your mother. Your mother must’ve been the one who taught you all those ill manners that you have right now” It was such a shock. She thought she was such a good daughter, she listened to both of her parents equally. She took care of her father, helped out her mother, took care of herself. But it suddenly became that way in her father’s eyes.

It was then that she realised something was definitely off. Being the curious girl as she was, she played Sherlock Holmes by herself, figuring things out, taking things her own way. Her parents… they were a great couple, role models to her, her relationship goal… but that was not the way they truly were. They rarely talked to one another, sometimes… even she got ignored by her father. It was weird for her. To her surprise, her parents no longer slept in the same room.

That night, she was on her way to go for a food scavenger in the kitchen, when she saw her mother, crying, eyes red, hugging herself on the bed. It broke her heart, broke her heart deeply. She knew it had something to do with her father. Instead of coming into the room, she went to Ms. Yeon Hee, the woman she trusted the most, after her mother. She let it all out, she shared all her feelings about everything that night.

The next morning, her father called up to her, face all serious, without even a hint of smile, it scared her, a lot. As soon as they came into the living room, he started scolding her, saying things that didn’t make the least bit of sense to her. It was weird, because all the things listed down by her father that day, were the things she had let out the night before.

“So I see… that's how it is” she whispered, with tears, slowly rolling down her cheeks. The most painful thing was actually happening in her once perfect life. Angel? She didn’t know angels had the right to break apart harmonious families.

‘For the good deeds I did, they only brought me closer towards poverty’ was what the woman said, or at least posted on her social media status.

With things going on, the thought of leaving the house had always crossed her mind almost all of the time. She thought of running away, eloping or probably migrating to other country or something. She thought it through but then again, she couldn’t bare leaving her mother behind in this cold place that she no longer wanted to call home. She was only 15 and yet all she could think about was how hard it must have been for her mother to go through everything, without even telling her a single thing, keeping everything simply to herself and yet act like nothing had gone wrong over the past years when the person she trusted the most had betrayed her to that extent.

As soon as she turned 18, she asked permission from her parents to let her work part-time, although they weren’t really in need of money at the time. Her parents once said that they’d only allow her to work once she turned 18 and the day had finally come. Part time job, also known by others as Hell but to her, freedom. The freedom to do whatever she wanted, earning her very own income, laughing however she wanted, whenever she wanted, acting like teenagers of her age and all. It was her happiness.

“Eomma, I'm off to work,” she called out by the front door, she would always feel excited whenever she got to go out, even when it was for work, she’d feel relief.

“Hmm. Be back home safely Ddal!” her mother answered.

That was routine almost everyday.  Why hadn’t she mentioned her dad? She couldn’t be bothered anymore, he would either ignore her and keep talking to the Woman or simply was never at home.

 

 

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”Just why are you here everyday? We’re each given a day off per week and yet I see you everyday, why is that?” May, her colleague asked her.

“Uh… I just like it here, plus if I wor extra hours, they consider it as overtime and I’ll earn more." she claimed, giggling at her own statement.

“I might lose my job if this goes on. Because you might take my position away from me” May said Jokingly. May was in fact her supervisor at work. She’d been working at the candy bar of the cinema for quite a while and she’d never even once seen Hae Ah take a day off, even when it was her off day, Hae Ah would still come and work.

 

 

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It was the night when she came back home from work, that she heard her parents arguing. She ignored it at first because she was used to it. But as soon as she reached her room, things got louder and sounded more intense than what usually went down.

“Never in my entire life had I ever wished for this to happen!” she heard her dad shout.

“She’s done nothing wrong. Why are you saying that?”

“I never taught her to be rude! Yeon Hee said that she never talked to her ever again since that night. Not even asking for her forgiveness for shouting at her the other day”

“Yeon Hee is our source of finance, she has helped us a lot. You, yourself know that! She is your friend. I’ll never let Yeon Hee go because I know I’ll always need her”

From there, she could hear her mother, she could hear her crying. Even Hae Ah was hurt by what he had said, how much longer would it hurt her mother? She couldn’t bare to imagine it She couldn’t believe he could say that right to her face.

Hae Ah couldn’t hold it in any longer as she stormed out of her room, out of the house. She ran and ran and ran harder, it was the hardest she’d ever run in her life. Tears wouldn’t stop falling down her already flushed cheeks. She had nowhere to go, all that was in her mind was the thought that she needed to get away. Aimlessly running, she didn’t even care about bumping into any strangers. She had so much in her mind and yet she had no one to let it out to.

Without realising, her legs led her to Han River, a place where she’d always end up whenever she felt really down.  It wasn’t too close to her place but it wasn’t far either. She’d always gone there whenever she needed some space for herself, whenever she needed to breathe.

Her tears still wouldn’t stop and the strength in her legs had long gone as she dropped down to her knees and cried her eyes out like there’s no tomorrow. She’d had enough of it, she’d had enough of all those fights she always had to listen to, all because of that one woman, Yeon Hee. The woman had fully filled Hae Ah’s heart with hatred.

“You must be laughing right now, proud of all the things that you've done. You’ll see. You’ll see it one day woman. I’ll never ever let you go. If one day, you’d ever come to me asking for forgiveness, Hah! I won’t ever forgive you, even if you, kneel down before me. I Won’t Ever Forgive you. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. And that is what you get for making my mom cry”

 

 

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Since that day onward, Hae Ah’s heart started to be filled with hatred, with her head filled with vengeance. She had sworn to herself that she would get back at her, no matter what it cost her. It was since that day as well that she had thought that guys are easily manipulated and are never trustworthy.

Had Hae Ah fallen down to the same level as Yeon Hee? She couldn’t care less, she was too absorbed in taking revenge that she hadn’t realised that she had fallen way too deep and lost herself to th dark hole of hatred and vengeance.