(12 years ago) "It all started when a little girl had justed moved into the neighborhood.. Her and her family were happy to start a new and fresh life. They had what every family wanted.... Happiness. They were perfect until her father had gotten promoted to his work. Yes that should be good news but... That's where it all started to go down hill. The father had been working more and is barely ever home. The mom one day wanted to surprise him at work. So she brought him his favorite... Chocolate cake. The lil girl was at school. As the mom got there.. She walked in on him but he wasn't alone. "Surprise!", she said. She stopped and just stared..."(closed the book), " why you stop mommy?", said a little girl. "Well because its time to sleep now", said the mom. "But I want to hear more", she whined. "Fine, but promise you'll sleep after this", "yes I promise mommy", the little girl pleaded. (Opened the book) 'The mother just kept staring with tears filling up in her eyes. "Honey! What are you doing here", the father said surprisingly. He pushed off the lady from his lap.-(pause) "mommy why was there a lady on his lap?", "hush now and listen even tho you may not understand you will when your older", "okay", the little girl nodded. (Back to the story)~ "who is this?", the lady asked the father. The father just stood there staring at his wife as tears were dripping from her eyes. "She's my... Wife", he finally said. His lady friend got really shocked. "Y-your wife?... You didn't tell me you had a-", "honey let me explain", he told the wife trying to sound calmly. He took a few steps towards her and then she screamed a loud and stressful scream. She threw the cake at him and started breaking things in his office. "Honey!", he yelled. "Shut up! How long?", she said, "let me just-..", "how long Lee?!", "2years", he said. The mother scoffed but more tears falling. The lady kept staring at her feeling scared and ashamed of it all, she too had tears filling in her eyes. "And how long were you planning on hiding this from me and our daughter", the mother said. The ladys face got even more confused. She looked at Lee's (the father)desk and sees a picture of a lil girl. "This whole time I thought she was your niece", she said quietly so they won't hear her, but the mother did. "He lied to you too huh?", she said. The lady looked at her with tears dripping one by one... Her heart dropped. Lee just stood there not saying a single word. The mother turned and left the room. "Honey wait", the father yelled after her leaving the lady all alone. She slid down to the ground crying and crying. Later the father came back and sat on his chair without a word. "So she was your daughter all along?", said the lady, "Kim let's not do this right-..","THEN WHEN LEE?!", she yelled crying. "WHEN?!",she cried, "what about us and our daughter?!", she cried. He got up and walked out slamming the door. Leaving her alone again. At their home the mother was waiting for their daughter to come home. The door opened, "mama I'm home!", she happily said. The mother quickly hugged her with tears rolling down. "Mama you okay?", "yes sweety I'm fine", the mother lied as she was wiping away her tears. "I just missed you that's all", "oh wow", the lil girl laughed. They both just spent their time together talking about school. Later the door opened. "Papa!", the lil girl yelled with joy and ran towards him for a hug. "Hey how's my sweet little Laleiyah", he said as he carried her to the kitchen where the mother was. "How was work?", the mother asked not looking at him. He paused "fine", "good", the mother said. And sat down at the table for dinner. They all sat and ate and the lil girl talked about school. Later on they all went to bed. "Goodnight mama goodnight papa", lil girl said", "Goodnight"..."jiyeon"..."laleiyah", they both said and closed the door. (The mother calls the lil girl jiyeon and the father calls her laleiyah.. Her real name is jiyeon). Both the parents went into their room and started arguing quietly not wanting jiyeon to hear. "I can't believe you had the guts to come back here after all you did", the mother said sharply. "Well she is my daughter but I need to explain myself", said Lee. "Shut up you don't even care just get your and leave tomorrow", "I'm sorry please it will never happen and plus our lil girl will be heart broken have you not thought about her?", "of course I do you're the one who is not!", they both argued and argued for the whole night, jiyeon could hear them so she got up to check on them. "Shut up Lee just be quiet right now", "mom? Dad? You okay?", jiyeon said surprising her parents to turn around. "Yes were fine sweety", they both said. "Go back to sleep okay?", Lee said. Jiyeon nodded and went back to bed. "That's enough okay, this will continue some other time", the mother said. They went to bed. And made up their mind that they will forgive each other but the mother does not give her trust to Lee anymore. As days went by they barely spoke towards one another. Jiyeon noticed but never asked why. Rumors began to pass around and the whole neighborhood knew about the affair even the children. Then one day jiyeon went to school her favorite place in the world. And everything changed for her. "Hey jiyeon I heard your fathers a man ", a boy said. "A what?", jiyeon didn't understand but she knew it was bad. Everyone was laughing. "Yeah, he doesn't love you or your mommy", said a girl. "Yes he does", she said confused. "No because he cheated on your mom", said the boy. "No what are you guys talking about?", jiyeon confusingly said. "Your fathers a cheater, cheater, cheater, cheater...", they all chanted. "No!!", she screamed but they all kept saying cheater over and over again. She started to cry and ran away hearing their laughs fading away slowly. She went to go tell the teacher and they talked to all of those students that had been a part of it. But it made it even worse for her. The next day they bullied her and called her snitch, they take her things and throw it away or hide it. She cried every day and stopped telling the teachers because it would just get worse. She tried telling her parents but every day they argue over something. She didn't want to make it worse for them either. So she kept it all to herself. Each day it got worse and worse where you would see bruises on her but she found ways to cover it up. The parents barely notices her anymore and they don't even say goodnight to her anymore. Shes completely scared of her life. The next day she went to school and the kids had beaten her up at recess where know one would see them even the older kids were a part of it. She had tried fighting back but she was too little and weak. She tried to escape but she tripped and hit her head badly on the bars. All she could hear was a ring in her head. Blood rushed out of it and all the kids ran away. Recess was over and she was left there bleeding not making any noises. Then a boy in second grade came out and saw her, he quickly carried her to the nurse. Later her parents came and questioned the school on what had happened. No one knew and no one said anything. Later the next day the parents and teachers asked her questions. She didn't say a single word. She just nodded or shooked her head. She stayed at home until she felt better to go to school. A few days later she went back to school. The students were surprised to see her again. "I thought she died", a lil girl said, "me too", said another. Jiyeon just kept walking past not saying a word. She kept walking and bumped into a student. "Ouch hey!...hey your the girl I.... Wait you okay?", the boy asked. Jiyeon just got up and walked away. The boy watched her walk off. At recess the teachers had been keeping an eye on her but didn't notice the group of kids talking to her they thought they were just playing since nothing was happening. "Eww its the zombie", "yeah you're dead not alive", "no she's a ghost cuz we can't see her", they all laughed. She just kept swinging and smiling looking up at the sky. The kids got angry. "What is she smiling at", one said. "Weirdo", they all said. But jiyeon just kept smiling and swinging. The boy who had helped her saw them and was looking at what they're doing. And then all of a sudden they pulled her off the swing by her hair and started kicking her. He quickly rushed over there with his friends. "Hey!", he yelled and him and his friends pulled away the kids and threw them to the ground. The kids got scared and just laid there. The boy checked if she was okay but she got up tears in her eyes and ran away. The boy watched her run and turned to look at the kids.. He was angry. "Kai was she okay?", one of his friends asked. "No I don't think so", he said then looked at the kids, "why are you guys doing this to her?", he asked. "So why do you care", one said. "Because she's my little sister", kai lied. All the kids eyes widened. "If you guys mess with her again I'll beat you guys up", he said. "You can't hit a girl", one said, "I will if someone hits my sister", he said strongly. The kids got up and ran away. "She's not your sister", one of his friend said." I know but I have to lie to make them believe me.", he said and left. School was out and jiyeon went to her bus. As she was waiting for the kids to go on one of the girls that bullied her went up to her. "Hey zombie, why did you steal my pencil", but jiyeon just kept quiet feeling confused. "Hello can you speak or not and stop looking at my mouth freak.", jiyeon took out a paper and pencil and wrote "sorry but I gave it to you", she handed it to the girl. The girl crumpled the paper and threw it in her face. Kai saw while he was walking and ran up towards them. "Suzy!", kai yelled. "Kai she stole my pencil", suzy said. "How", he asked. "I let her borrow it but she took it and never gave it back. Kai looked at jiyeon and picked up the paper he opened it and read it. He looked at suzy. "Why did you throw this at her face huh she said you took it." "No she's lying", suzy said frustrated. Kai opened her bag and checked. He had found it at the bottom of her bag. Suzy's face became embarrassed and red. Kai pulled her. "I'm gonna tell mom when we get home", kai said. "So mom said not to like a girl who's parents aren't good parents because they make a bad child.", suzy said proudly. Kai looked at her surprised.. Because he didn't know his mom would be so harsh like that. Later jiyeon made it home and her parents arguing like always. The mom was cooking dinner while yelling at the father. "Mom... Dad?", the first things she finally said but they didn't hear because of their arguing. She just sighed and walked outside and sat all the way out on the side walk. Remembering all the good times and on her last birthday where her and her parents ate chocolate cake. They were so happy. She just sat there and started singing a song. Meanwhile the mom and dad was still arguing and she had forgotten the food she had been cooking. They kept on arguing until the pan exploded and a fire had started. It started to expand bigger and bigger. The whole house was on fire. The parents tried to stop it but they couldn't so then they tried to look for jiyeon. "Jiyeon", the mother yelled crying. "Honey we have to get out", Lee said. "No not without my daughter", she cried. They kept looking and coughing. "She's outside the dad yelled", they both were happy to see her safe. They banged on the window trying to call her. They couldn't open it. "Jiyeon-ah", they yelled and yelled calling her name over and over again. But jiyeon just sat there singing and singing. The neighbors finally noticed and called for help. Sirens and firetrucks showed up and jiyeon looked confused as she saw them stop in front of her. She turned around and sees the house on fire with smoke. Tears filled in her eyes as she began to run towards it. "Mama papa!", she screamed. She ran towards the door until it exploded and flew her onto the road. The fireman's quickly put her on the ambulance. Neighbors came and watched while the firefighters look for anyone in the house. A few hours later jiyeon woke up in the hospital. Her body aching. "Where's my mama where's papa?!", she yelled. The doctors tried keeping her calm. "I'm sorry jiyeon", she focused on his lips. "Why", she cried. The doctors all began to look down and tried to hide their tears. Jiyeon started to cry and cry. The next day she just stayed in bed not talking or eating. "Why didn't she help the parents, how come she didn't hear she was only a few feet away she should've heard them?", the reporters asked the doctors while cops were pushing them away. The doctors just walked away. "How come tho?", a cop asked. "Its because she's deaf, there was an incident at her school that made her lose her hearing.. She only reads peoples lips when they're talking, that's how she communicates.", the doctor said sadly. A few months later jiyeon was sent into foster care. She was never heard of again. A women who heard was so interested about it that she made a book out of it. She would go around the neighbors and ask any info on her even her classmates. The kids that bully her told about what they did to her and Kai also said about the time he helped her out. Everyone of those kids said sorry. The end'~ (closed book) "wow", said the lil girl. The mom laughed. "Your book is awesome mom", "thanks sweety, now its time to sleep okay?", the girl nodded. "Goodnight mommy", "goodnight Jieun", the mom said and went to sleep.