"Yewon ah? My little baby? Wakey wakey, we have to go to school today."

"Today too?"

Yewon rubbed her eyes as she whined, it was too early for this. What time was it? Right, too early. Forget the clock, she still hadn't figured out how to read it, instead reaching the phone in her mother's pocket to check the digital clock.

"It's 8am. Too early!"

"It's not too early Yewon ah, come on, your unnie and oppa are already up and getting dressed too, didn't you want to grow up like them?"

"I guess so..."

Holding her mom's hand, she let her lead the way to the bathroom. Getting up to the sink by a small step stool, Yewon brushed her teeth, following after her brother, who brushed next to her, with his eyes closed halfway.

"Oppa, is your school fun?"

"Hm? Ghkkk!"

Watching worriedly, Yewon patted her brother's back as he spat out his toothpaste in the sink, it happened often when her brother was half asleep and forgetting that he had a toothbrush in his mouth.

"Are you okay oppa?"

He coughed for a while before giving Yewon a big smile.

"I'm all good now. But you were asking about my school, why? Did you not enjoy school?"

"No, there were mean kids and not as bright kids. Oh and I met a weirdo in a bush."

"What?? I was pretty sure mum sent you to a private kindergarten? Man, rich people just send their kids where they want instead of where they belong huh?"

Utterly confused by what he had just said, nothing had made any sense to her yet, she accidentally let her brother escape the bathroom without her.

"Aw man. She finished brushing and washed her face before jumping down to get dressed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Yewon ah, today after school, you have to go go on the bus, the teacher will take you there and put you on the right bus so don't worry about that, but then you'll be going to daycare. It's a small daycare and they'll help you with homework or just have fun, it depends. Around 6 to 7pm, your unnie and oppa will come by to pick you up to go home together alright?"

"I have to go to daycare for the first time alone?"

Her mom kissed her head before focusing back on the road.

"Omma is sorry my baby, remember I'm going back to work in the office now? They let me take an extended break to work from home until I got to send all of you to school, so now I have to go in for work. Mianhe, but you're a strong girl, you'll do fine baby."

Yewon held her sister's hand tightly, she didn't want to be brave. Letting her sister pet her hair for a while, she changed her position to hug Jiwon's arm.

"Unnie, will you come get me as fast as you can?"

"Of course! Don't worry, day care is much more fun than school."

"Really?"

"Really."

Finally relaxing a little bit, Yewon leaned into her sister, her soft cheeks squishing lightly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Today's homework is to color this picture, according to the numbers! Tomorrow we will learn them in English, but today, we are learning the colors in hangul first."

The worksheet had a key where the color's name was above the box that was filled with its color, along with a number. Yewon looked at the simple mermaid coloring page, wasn't this super easy?

"Teacher? I have a question."

"What is it dear?"

"Why are we coloring the mermaid's tail yellow?"

For sure mermaids had green tails, it was always green in her fairytale books. even Ariel had a green tail. Well, Ursula was purple skinned and had black all over but that was because she was an octupus, right?

"Uh..."

Looking up at the teacher expectantly, with her eyes full of hope, she watched as the teache rnervously answered.

"It's because this mermaid is special, she has a yellow tail."

"Okay, are there other colors for mermaid tails?"

The teacher sweated a little, her eyes searching the room for an answer.

"Yah, mermaids can have any color we color them idiot! They're not real!"

Yewon's heart dropped, wait, mermaids weren't real? She looked to her teacher who was panicking, looking between her and the boy who had burst out. So it was true, mermaids didn't exist.

She sat back down and held her homework paper tightly, holding in her tears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Yewon ah? Kim Yewon, follow me to the bus stop please."

Yewon held her teacher's hand quietly, after the incident with the mermaids, she hadn't said a single word. Even at recess, her teacher watched as she sat at the same tree, staring into nothingness.

Boarding the bus and taking her lonely seat at the window, the bus waited for a little longer before moving to the daycare, she looked around, there were a few older kids in the back of the bus, were there others? Maybe they were hidden by the tall seats in the bus.

Sitting back properly in her seat, she hugged her backpack tightly, her fingers rubbing at the small Ariel imprint on the back.

"Ariel unnie isn't real."

Like that, she remained quiet until the bus stopped and the driver called her name.

"Kim Yewon, Hwang Eunbi, Moon bin, this is your stop."

Quietly getting her stuff and getting off the bus, she stared at the building in front of her before the two other kids ran past her.

"Yah! I can beat you to the front door today!"

"No you can't!"

"What are you betting today?"

"My strawberry milk."

Yewon watched as the boy and the girl exchanged a weird handshake.

"Hey, you, do the count off."

"Eunbi you shouldn't be mean to her, she must be new."

He walked over and held out his hand.

"I'm Moon Bin, are you new here? That's Eunbi by the way."

"I'm Yewon."

Yeown shook his hand lightly before retracting and nodding her head. The girl who was still in her running position finally sighed and walked over, sticking her hand out as well.

"I'm Eunbi, the better one anyways."

Yewon reached to take her hand as well, only for the other to pull back and laugh.

"Haha! Too slow!"

Hearing no response from Yewon, she looked back properly.

"Hey wait, you're the one who left me in the bush!"

=================

Hahaha, yes it was SinB, she was exploring hahahahaha see you tomorrow!