Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been into fairy tales. One of my all-time favorites was Cinderella. Why? Because I wanted my own Prince Charming. I know, I know… that sounds super cheesy, but the thought of having a happy ending with a man I loved made me happy. I believed in love. I needed love. As a child, I received love from my parents. I was properly fed, clothed, and my parents always showered me with love. I was a happy child, but I was always alone.

            I remember the days when I would always watch Cinderella. Sometimes I wonder if the reason why I love it so much is because it was a distraction for me. It was a movie I always watched whenever my parents fought. Hearing “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” always drowned out harsh words thrown around that were never quiet.

            During one fight, I tried to stop them. Cinderella wasn’t enough to distract me that day. “Mom, Dad, what’s wrong?” Being tiny at the time, I only reached the level of their hips and tugged at both of the hem of their shirts.

            Shocked for only a second, my mother replied as she bent down to meet with my eyes, “Nothing’s wrong, sweetie. Continue to watch Cinderella for me.” She patted my head and tried to push me towards my room. However, I made no effort to move.

            “Nothing’s wrong? Really now, Mina?” I looked up towards my father. He held a pained face. After sighing, he continued, “Let’s just tell her the truth now.” He rubbed the side of his temples.

            “Really Sungmin? You want to do this now? She’s still too young!” My mother yelled back.

            “If not now, when?!” My father yelled back. “Are you really going to try to fake this whole situation until she turns 16? We both know that that isn’t going to work.”

            My mother turned away from the both of us and put her hands in her face. I could hear her sobbing.

            Confused, I looked at my father and quietly asked him why my mother was crying. He started crying after I asked that question.

            “Why is everyone crying?” I asked the both of them.

            “Mina, do what’s right. She can handle it.” My father looked towards my mother.

            “She… She can’t handle it though. She’s only 7.” My mother gave a sad look towards me.

            “She can’t handle it? Or you can’t?” My father pulled me closer to him. “Honey, we have to tell you something.” He tried giving me a smile but the upper corner of his lips were failing him.

            “Stop it, Sungmin! She can’t handle it!” My mother yelled at him with an angry face.

            “MINA! Do what is right! If she can’t handle it, I’ll be here for her to handle it for her!” My father pulled me in for a hug. He started sobbing again.

            “Daddy, don’t cry.” I hugged him back long enough until I felt my mother tug me towards her.

            “YOU CAN’T HAVE HER TO YOURSELF!” my mother grabbed my arm tightly.

            “M-mommy, it hurts-“I started crying because of the pain.

            “Would you stop being selfish for once, Mina?!” My father’s voice became loud and covered the whole room. “I’m not taking her from you, you’re the one who’s leaving! Now let her go, you’re hurting her arm!” He tried reaching for me gently. “Come here, Dara.” In a gentle voice, he called for me.

            My mother finally noticed my tears and let me go. She ended up looking at her hand with disgust. “I-I’m so sorry sweetie, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”      

            I looked at her in shock. “Mommy’s leaving?” I turned to my father. He had his head held down. I turned to my mother. She had her head held down as well, but was on her knees.

            The room was once filled with loud yelling but the voices that filled the room became quiet and ironically, the television was the only sound heard. All I could hear then were the words, “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo.”

            I was only seven years old when my parents divorced. It turned out that my mother was in fact, leaving me. She was the one to ask my father for a divorce. She fell out of love with my father and in love with her co-worker. It broke my heart to pieces, but even I knew that my parents weren’t happy with each other. Cinderella and Prince Charming never fought the way my parents did. After the divorce, my mother and father took turns taking care of me. I didn’t mind it much, but the arrangement didn’t last that long. When it was my 8th birthday, my mother decided to give me a birthday present behind my father’s back.

            “Honey, here’s your birthday present!” my mother grinned while handing me an envelope. I carefully opened up the envelope, not wanting to damage the gift that was inside. “Do you like it?” my mother gave me an excited look.

            “Um, mommy, what is it?” I looked at the front of the paper and flipped it over to look at the back. Confused, I continued, “It’s just a paper?”

            “No, honey, it’s a ticket! A ticket to the United States!” She continued to smile. After looking at my absent reaction, she asked, “Do you want to come with me and your step-father to the United States?”

            Wincing, I replied, “To visit?”

            “No, silly, to live!” My mom gave me her famous eye smile. At that moment, I always knew she was beautiful, but I finally realized that I did not matter that much to her.

            Angry, I ended up throwing away the ticket she gave me and told my dad what had happened. He became angry as well.

            “Mina, were you seriously going to be this selfish and immature? How could you think of separating me from my own daughter! I let you have this divorce but I am not giving you full custody of my daughter! She’s the only thing that matters to me! How dare you!” My father yelled at my mother. We were back at my father’s place and my mother dropped me off.

            “I-I know, but I want to see her-“my mother replied faintly.

            “Then don’t move away from her!”

            “I-I I have to go to the United States. It’s where I want to live now.”

            “Then are you choosing to leave your daughter behind?” My dad asked in a stern voice.

            Scared of hearing my mother’s reply, I got out of hiding and ran towards my room to turn on Cinderella. But I was too slow. I heard my mother reply with, “I have no choice.”

            My mother left me for the second time, but this time, she did not stay in Korea. She ended up leaving me to fulfill her dreams of living in the United States. Was I hurt? Yes. But I was also numb to the pain. I had expected this from her.

When I was eight, I stopped watching Cinderella. I didn’t believe in fairy tales anymore. They lived “happily ever after”? Yeah, right. I was hurting from my mother’s departure but it became better as time passed by. My father was so loving towards me. He filled up my mother’s empty position, as well as his own. My mother visited me often and always called me. But if I must be honest, my father showered me with enough love to make me forget that hers was missing. He gave me hope for love again. I hoped that Prince Charming would be just like my father.

When I was ten, I was randomly flipping through the channels on my television and came across Cinderella. I decided to continue watching it because I haven’t seen it in so long. When the step-mother was introduced into the movie, my father took a seat next to me and put his arm around my shoulder.

            In a hesitant voice my father spoke to me. “Dara, what do you think about having a step-mother?” I felt his gaze upon my face. I continued watching the movie.

            “As long as she’s not evil,” I joked. I always joked when things got scary. I was scared. Scared that he wouldn’t have time to love me if he found a “step-mother” for me.

            “Dara.” My dad’s tone was now serious. I looked at him. “I want to introduce you to some people.” Oh no. Here it comes.

            Not wanting to be selfish like my mother, I knew my dad deserved happiness. Maybe he won’t flat out forget me. “Sure, dad. Just make sure they’re not evil.” I gave him an unsure smile, but he was so happy with my agreement, he hugged me and reached for his phone.

            “Thank you, honey.” He kissed me on the forehead and got up from the couch. “I’ll make a quick call.” He grinned and left.

            There I was, joking again to hide my insecurity and fear.

            I really hoped that I didn’t get evil stepsiblings and an evil step-mother.

            When I was eleven, I became a step-sister. And to my luck, none of my new family members were evil. They were actually the opposite. They were really nice to me. I had a new mother named Minjung and a new sister named Nana. Nana was my age, so both of our parents expected us to be friends.

            “Dara, make sure you’re nice to Nana. She just has her mother to lean on and she’s very shy.” My father warned me. I had a weird feeling of jealousy inside, but I threw that feeling away.

            “Okay, dad.” If it makes him happy, I will. “What about her own dad? What happened to him?” I became curious.

            “He passed away when she was a young child.” My dad gave me a sad look. “But don’t worry, now she’ll have a dad.” He smiled and pointed at himself.

            I know I was supposed to smile, but I became scared. My dad was the only thing I could depend on. My mother isn’t even near me anymore. At that point, I thought about moving to the United States, but I couldn’t speak. My father must have seen my crestfallen face because he then hugged me.

            “Dara, don’t worry about it too much. You’ll always be my favorite.” He said in a warm, tender voice.

            “Thanks, dad.” I smiled as I hugged him tighter. “But do we really have to move? I’m going to miss all of my friends.”

            “We’re not moving that far, honey. You’ll still be near enough. Plus, you’ll make new friends at your new school. Also, you have Nana.”

            When I first met Nana, I knew she was a quiet girl. I was the total opposite. While I had many words to say, Nana only had a few. Despite the differences, we got along quite wel