“Hey, I want the Pall Mall Krystal Storm.”

 

There, another smoker has visited the store. Instead of getting good sales from the groceries we’re selling, we get an increase from selling cigarettes, tobacco packs and lighters. That customer was the 59th smoker that came in to get a pack. At this rate, everyone will be suffering from lung cancer, whether they want to or not.

 

“Yo, your shift has ended. Grab a bento set from the open refrigerator and you may leave.” That’s my manager, Shin Dong Hee. He recently got promoted and I would say he’s the best so far ‘cuz the past few managers either shoved in an extra slot of shift so I could take over theirs or push the faults and mistakes to me. However, thanks to the surveillance cameras around the store, I was never marked for those accused incidents. Instead, I was given a raise in my pay and I’ll definitely show that I’m worth for the trust given.

 

I looked through for the bento that’s about the expire and took it, placing it in the plastic bag, and went into the staff room to tap out of my shift, took my belongings, greeted my manager goodbye and left. I walked towards the path to my small unit in an old apartment when I felt something light fell on my nose. Snowflake.

 

How long has it been since I get to enjoy something so simple?

 

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

When I was born, my mother passed on and my grandparents announced in the household to send me to the orphanage. I was told that it was during christmas when I was born as the aunt that runs the orphanage went to the hospital to check on my records, born 3 days before I was disowned by my whole biological family.

 

At the age of 7, I was selected by a few families to be their daughter— some were rich families (usually to get some inheritance) and then the weird looking ones (most probably to work in those corrupted areas as an underaged hooker for lots of money). Every time I rejected the adoption offers and the other kids probably thought that I was acting almighty high. Being bullied seemed to be like a daily routine until I turned 10 and that was when I turned rebellious and did the total opposite of what the volunteers said. So it resulted to the other kids getting the adoption offers instead of me.

 

When I finally turned 13, I settled my mind with nothing but running away from the orphanage to be away from those kids who’ve bullied me. Definitely not to anywhere near, in fact, I needed to run all the way to somewhere far from Busan. Just then, I heard that there was a truck that would be travelling all the way to Seoul that is on the other side of South Korea. While the other kids and volunteers were busy with playing and all, I went to pack some of my belongings, savings (given to us by the aunt) and snuck all the way in the truck where no one would notice a thing.

 

I dozed off while waiting for the truck to move and before I knew it, I was shook awake by an uncle. “Why are you on my truck?”

 

I pushed him aside and ran with all my might, anywhere away from him and found myself in an convenience store looking at the variety of snacks and instant noodles. “Do you need help?” The store’s worker came up to me. I shook my head and just grab a triangular kimbap (seaweed roll), paid for it and headed out. I found an empty table to take a seat outside the store and placed my things down, opened the wrapper around the kimbap and took a small bite on it. (Heard that the smaller bite and longer time to chew you take, you’ll be full despite the lesser amount of food you’ve taken in.

 

I walked down the street and found a deserted playground.

 

“So this is where I’ll be sleeping for the night.” I threw my bag on the highest platform of the start of the slide and plotted myself down, ready to take a sleep when suddenly…

 

“What business does a kid have to sleep in such a dump?” I slowly opened my eyes to look at whose the one talking. A police officer with a walkie-talkie clipped on his uniform’s pocket. Seeing that I was in shock, he took off his shades (let’s make it a little dramatic) and signalled me to get down. I took the slide down and stood in front of him. He kneeled on one of his knees and gave a soft smile. He asked, “why were you sleeping up there, lil girl? You lost? Or did you leave home?”

 

“I…I left the orphanage. But please, please don’t bring me back there or take me to the police station! I don’t want to be bullied again…” I broke down and started crying. He took out his handkerchief and wiped dry the tears on my face.

 

“I’ll take you to a place where no one will be able to bully you ever again.” The officer brought me to what seemed like his house and a lady looked towards our direction. She stood up and asked, “who is this lil girl?”

 

“She ran away from an orphanage and didn’t want me to bring her to the station so I thought we could take her in as our daughter, what do you think?” He looked towards his wife and then the 13-year-old me. She excitedly said yes and hoped that I would said so too, so I did.

 

“We’ll sign you up for school and hopefully you’ll start by the end of the month. How does that sound?” I nodded and took a seat on the sofa. A delicious scent took over the house and a plate of rice with an omelet and sausages was placed on the table in front of me. “Eat up, you’re probably hungry from all the walking and running.” His wife smiled at me as I devoured the food. I took a shower and got into a set of fresh new clothes before she showed me my room.

 

“We’ll go shopping tomorrow, alright? I never had a daughter so… We’ll just go on a girly shopping alright?” Seeing how she liked the fact that I’ve decided to be part of the family, I nodded with a faint smile and went to sleep.

 

When I got up and ready to start the day, the cop’s wife knocked the door and came in. “Breakfast is ready! After that, we’ll go shopping okay?” I nodded and went down with her. They took a look at my clothes and gave a pitiful look. “My, exactly what clothes are those? Definitely not for a beautiful girl like you! I’m gonna put in my entire savings to get you a whole new set of clothes. Oh, and we’ll register you under our family household too.”

 

We went shopping and then the police station to register me under their family with the name — Jang Jae Mi.

 

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

After those few years of being taken care of, I’ve decided to be independent and moved into an apartment closer to my high school but I’ve promised to go back over the weekends and not to exhaust myself out. Plus, I got my friends ‘Seventeen’ with me. What could’ve possibly bring me down?