A/N - A prompt from one of my favourite writers: Burnirotihaari - do yourselves a favour and read her stuff especially House of Change (my personal favourite).

Last of the origins chapters but I am happy to do more of these if and when people have questions about the past of one of the characters.

Origins: Momo

“Miss Kim? Would you wait a moment?”

Momo groaned as Bora sniggered at her on the way out. Being asked to wait a moment usually meant two things: a moments wait was usually three or four moments and Momo was in trouble. As she waited behind she racked her brain trying to think of a reason for her to have been called back, the usual reasons could not be the case this time. Momo had been a little off lately, pulling away slightly from Mina and Sana whilst no longer finding humour in Jeongyeon’s pranks that she so used to enjoy. It had all been ignored so far, being put down to her fight with Sana but truthfully Momo had no real reason to feel the way she did. Only being seen with her sisters had become embarrassing and everything her Appas said had begun to cause annoyance to her. Only she never knew why and nobody else could tell her because they were all wrapped up in their own drama.

She had still yet to let her Appas know she no longer wished to go to college and instead wanted to work at her studio as a dance teacher. There was a lot going on and she found herself too grumpy and sulky to talk about personal issues. They wouldn’t understand anyway, parents never understood. When she was stood in front of her teachers desk she felt bubbles of rebellion bubble up, she didn’t want to listen to her when she could be outside with her friends. Why was she always the only one to stay behind?

“Momo I want to talk to you about the test we had last week.”

“What about it?” Was the clipped response,

“You failed…”

“I know, I always fail what else is new?”

Her sighed took a breath, clearly trying not to rise to Momo’s new found defiance, “You will have to retake it later this week.”

Momo rolled her eyes, “Why?”

“Because your grade has now been pulled down to an F for the semester. If you fail Momo, you wont have enough credits to graduate.”

Momo’s heart stopped.

“W-What?”

“If your grade doesn’t improve, you will be held back and be found unable to graduate with the rest of your class.”

Momo was seething, “Why would you do this to me!?”

“’m not doing it to you Momo,” Her teacher told her sternly, “If you applied yourself better---”

“What’s the point!?” Momo shouted, tears running down her face, “If I study I fail, if I don’t I fail harder. What’s the point of trying when I’m too dumb to do anything but fail!? It just doesn’t make sense, up here” She smacked her forehead, ”Nothing makes sense in here it all jumbles up and wont make sense. I’m dumb!”

“You’re not dumb Momo…”

“Yes,” Momo’s voice was lower now, having tired her vocal chords by shouting, “I am.”

“Well Miss Kim---”

“Hirai.” Momo corrected defiantly as she sat on the doctors table,

An awkward look was exchanged between the doctor and Sang but the man just nodded sadly, urging the doctor to continue what she was saying. Momo and her sisters had now been in Korea a week and were placed in the care of Min-Jun and Sang. Sana had fit in the household quite well, glad for all the new friends and was doing her best to incorporate Mina while Momo…she didn’t trust any of them yet. She would watch from afar as though waiting for something to go wrong that’d mean the trio would be sent back to Japan. Where those men could take them again. That entire kidnapping was a blur now, her head injury causing all sorts of information to fall from her head. She remembered how hard she had cried when Min-Jun tried to speak to her in English, having been told she was rather good at it, she couldn’t remember the words or sentences any more. Even some more complex Japanese terms had gone, it felt like there were these giant holes in her brain and information was leaking out.

“Miss Hirai,” The doctor continued in Japanese, they had been sure to find a bilingual pediatrician, “Your head appears to be healing nicely, if you keep being careful you’ll be able to go back to playing sports and other things again.”

“I-I-I can dance again?”

The doctor smiled, “In time, your memory should begin to come back soon as well.”

“I’ll be smart again!?” Momo’s little eyes shone,

“You seem smart enough already.” The doctor said, “Now I need to have a word with your fath---Mr Kim.”

She handed Momo a lollipop and the girl happily on it as the doctor began a Korean discussion. Now Momo had been in Korea a few months and had picked up the language quite quickly thanks to the other girls in the house. However, she would never understand the true meaning of the conversation until she was much older and things began making no sense without it.

“So is she alright?” Sang asked,

“Physically she’s healing nicely.”

“Physically?”

“We wont know of any mental issues or brain damage---”

“BRAIN DAMAGE!?”

“Bad word choice, I apologise.” The doctor said sheepishly, “ What I mean is that the mental side affects of the incident will not be obvious until she is a little older. However, based on a few tests I must tell you she may be a bit slow developmentally.”

“In what way?”

“She may behave as though she is younger than her age, she will find it easier being lead by someone older so to prevent any issues with her falling into the wrong crowd try putting her with your older children for her to bond with. The main thing would be puberty, the physical signs will come on time but the mental processes and attitudes will probably come a little later than everyone else.”

“But she’s healthy? She’s okay?”

“Of course,” The doctor smiled, “It’s good you care for her.”

“Whether she likes it or not she’s my kid, like the others. I love her like my own.”

The doctor laughed, “If you were straight I’d snap you up!”

“What’s straight mean?” Momo asked,

Sang baulked and the doctor dismissed them before bolting out her own office.

Developmentally slow - something Momo had never forgotten about herself. She had gotten the training wheels off her bike late, she had to practice harder during her dances because she picked them up slower, she liked pink and was childish. And dumb. All because some evil, evil men decided to see if her skull bounced. Now she may not even graduate, her whole life was being thrown away because of something that had been forced to happen to her when she was a child. As she left the classroom, date of her resit set, she chose to sit on a bench in the hall rather than go home. It was the end of the day but she didn’t feel like going home just yet.

She stared at the failed test in her hand, lamenting quietly to herself over how stupid she really was. She would fail the resit and then be held back, then be held back again, constantly at the finish line with no way to cross. No way to finish. She kept tears back, anyone could come down the hallway and she really didn’t fancy them running to Jeongyeon and being forced to hear fake words of praise from her elder sister.

Then a blur passed her and she looked up.

“Sana?”

The figure stopped and sprinted back to where Momo was, eyes wide, whole body shaking. Sana was never usually this terrified, not unless there was a thunder storm raging outside, but there she was looking as though she was faced with death itself.

“Sana, what’s wrong?” Momo asked, standing,

Sana was panting, “Rose…found out…how Mr Tuan got fired.”

Momo blinked, “Ookay?”

“He…” Sana swallowed and caught her breath a moment, “He attacked someone in his evening class that day. Tzuyu’s class.”

Momo’s gut twisted.

“Tzuyu really liked him and then stopped talking about him remember,” Sana had little tears in her eyes, waiting for the final blow before allowing them to shed, “She’s been so off lately…I started connecting the dots and…and…”

“And?”

Momo didn’t want to hear this.

“I asked Hyewon…”

Momo really didn’t want to hear this.

“God…Momo…he attacked her!” Sana was sobbing now, “He just attacked her at the end of class, if Elkie hadn’t--”

“Elkie?”

“She pulled him off,” Sana explained, “But if she hadn’t been there…he could’ve…could’ve…”

Momo knew damn well what that man could have done.

She hugged Sana to her, mind racing back to how sad Tzuyu’s eyes had been for the last few weeks. Why hadn’t she told them? Why was she carrying all this by herself? They needed to talk to someone, but she hadn’t the heart to call her fathers. She couldn’t be the one to break their hearts this way.

“We need to speak to the Principle.” Momo muttered, “We need to find out why nobody was told.”

Sana nodded and wiped Momo’s own tears away. She didn’t even realise she was crying. Tzuyu, baby Tzuyu….who would hurt someone so kind? So pure? They told the principle what they knew and the woman became distressed to know nobody but her aunt was aware of what had happened and so she phoned the Kim fathers herself. She requested they came in and explained to Min-Jun briefly what had happened, the men were horrified and agreed to be there within the hour. As Sana and Momo began texting their siblings to come back to school and meet them outside the principles office (even demanding Nayeon’s presence - the girl was already on route with their fathers).

The cavalry had finally arrived, but were they too late?

Meanwhile Tzuyu was just getting on the bus when she opened her phone to a message from Aunt Sunmi that made her blood run cold.

“What’s up?” Hyewon asked, knowing the answer from when the blood drained from Tzuyu’s face,

“I…I’m gonna walk home.” Tzuyu announced, running off the bus and receiving angry shouts from the other borders she practically shoved over in her escape down the street,

From: Aunt Sunmi

You lied to me. The school have called your Appas, they’re furious at me.

From: Aunt Sunmi

You’re not doing this alone, I’ll be by your side - okay kiddo? Truth is out now x