[CONTENTID1] 19/05/20. written by hanseungbi [/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2] A Place to Call Home. Ch. 1: Are You Crying? [/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3] laugh it off and I lost you. [/CONTENTID3] 

[CONTENTID4] 

“Are you crying?”

Her eyes were puffy and red, dry and her head ached from the number of tears she had shed. The little girl, Minjoo, had black hair, eyes were filled with hopes, she looked up. The day had turned to night, and the cold winter breeze had turned to snow. In front of her was a younger female, her eyes filled with playfulness, a wide smile that showed her teeth, and her eyes had turned into small crescents. The unknown girl sat down on the empty swing set next to the crying girl, Minjoo, who was roughly wiping away her tears. 

“W-Where are your parents?” Minjoo questioned as she stared at the younger girl curiously. 

“My parents?” the little girl’s lips pursed in as she seemed to be in deep thought, letting out a soft laugh, she stared at the female with her lips curled into another bright smile. “They’re busy working! So I decided to sneak out and play. Then I heard someone crying, so I had to check what was wrong.” 

Minjoo looked down at her feet, her lips pursing in as she let out a deep sigh. 

“So… today is my birthday right?” 
“Ah, is it really? Happy birthday!” the younger girl claimed, Minjoo looked at them a bit startled and taken back, she had never met someone with so much energy. 
“Well, today is my birthday and my parents invited everyone in my class to come over to celebrate… but no one came. We just moved here because my dad got a new job and…” 
“And so you don’t have friends?” 

Minjoo responded by giving the girl a short and small unconfident nod. Her hands were now resting on her lap. 

“Well! We can change that!” Yujin responded, a bright smile formed on her lips as she stepped off of her swing. Now, she was standing in front of Minjoo, and she extended a hand out to the older female. “Ahn Yujin! Four-years-old and now your new best friend! Nice to meet you!” 
“Kim Minjoo… six-years-old.” 
“Nice to meet you, Minjoo-unnie!”

After six months after meeting Yujin, Minjoo’s days where she was a shy child with no friends in a new area of Seoul was now filled with endless days of fun. Yujin was always an adventurous and brave friend. She could see the amount of confidence that Yujin had in herself, if one were to compare them to each other, they would be seen as opposite from each other. Yujin had always been a happy girl, steaming with self-confidence and showing herself off to the other girl, trying to impress them whether it be trying to scare off an off-the-leash dog, or reading a scary story and pretending she was brave. 

*** 

Fourteen Years Later… 

“Kim Minjoo! Are you up?” the loud and booming voice echoing throughout the house. 

A female with long ash brown hair slowly sat up, her face in discontent as she was abruptly woken up.

Her hair was slightly disheveled from her sleep. Her delicate fingertips slowly came up and brushed some stray strands of hair behind her ear. She took a few moments to slowly wake herself up. Her eyes slowly moved to the small desk calendar on her desk, March 15th, it was the first day of school, and the day that her parents were going to fly out of South Korea and leave. 

Multiple accounts made today strange for Minjoo. The first and most obvious one was that she would be alone in her family’s apartment. Her parents had decided to travel around the world. They deemed that Minjoo was responsible enough to take care of herself. They promised to send some monthly allowance for their daughter so that she could focus on studying for her classes. However, she had already become accustomed to the idea of living alone months ago. Her parents had told her their plan to travel to other countries in her senior year of high school, a dream that they had for the longest time, but were unable to achieve due to finances and the time commitment of raising a young girl to prepare her for society. Even now, when she thought of the idea of living alone, it did not bother her as much, but it scared her that she was going to be alone again. 

The second one, she was nervous, unsure of what she was supposed to expect as a college student. Not only did she have to live alone, but at the same time, she was worried about everything that would come with being a college student. There were multiple lifestyle changes that she heard about, for one was freedom. She heard stories about people who were top students in high school go downhill in their studies because they were unsure of how to deal with the amount of freedom that college had given. It was scary for her, how was she going to have to deal with this new lifestyle by herself? 

But, the strangest thing for her was that on her first day heading back to school, such an old memory, the memory, of a young girl named Yujin came back. It was strange for Minjoo, fourteen years have passed, and for the first time, the memory of the young girl seemed to flood her thoughts. Was she thinking about Yujin for comfort? Like she did whenever she was younger? 

“Kim Minjoo! Are you going to be late for your first day of school?” another voice rang through the house once more, but this one was more gentle and softer. 
“Give me a second, mom!” Minjoo called back. She ran her fingers through her hair. Her lips pursed in as she smiled softly to herself. She jumped out of her bed and began to rummage through her closet. 

She had to decide on her outfit, not that it mattered, especially since she was attending Seoul National University on an academic scholarship, but there was someone that she wanted to impress. She grabbed one of her favorite white blouses and blue jeans. It took her some time to put on her makeup and style her hair so that there would be some texture in her hair. Her lips curled into a soft smile as she saw her reflection in the mirror. She looked mature, confident, and happy with herself, but her lips curled into a soft frown. What was this feeling? As if something was missing? 

“Kim Minjoo! Your father and I have a flight to catch in three hours! Hurry up or you’ll miss us!” Minjoo’s mother called out once more, causing Minjoo to snap out of her trance. 
“Coming mom!” Minjoo quickly stood up and in the corner of her eye, she caught a familiar and worn-out book, The Little Prince. 

Minjoo looked at the book and her lips pursed in. It had been a few days since she read the book, but she had to ride to the university on the bus anyways, so some light reading wouldn’t hurt. She reached over for the book and slid it into her backpack. She took the first few steps towards her door before she felt her feet freeze in place. It seemed like anytime she would walk to open her door, an overwhelming feeling of fear and anger would well up inside of her. The female took a deep breath once more before she found the courage to open the door up once again. 

“Kim Minjoo! The food is going to get cold again!” her mother called out once again from the dining room. 

Minjoo could feel a small tear running down her cheeks, a soft but bitter laugh escaped her lips. She could remember how worried her parents had been for her in the past. Maybe that was why she tried so hard to make herself normal but at the same time studied hard. She didn’t want to disappoint them, not as she did fourteen years ago. “I’m coming out right now!” Minjoo answered once more as her hand reached out and grabbed ahold of the knob and took a deep breath before she slowly turned it. She forced her lips to curl into a soft smile before taking the first few steps out of her bedroom. Her eyes met with her parents who were sitting at the table and when she turned her head just slightly towards the door and saw their bags. Her feet naturally took her to the table. She could see the tears well up in her mother’s eyes as she turned her attention back to them. 

“Minjoo baby. You look all grown up,” her mother stated as Minjoo finally sat down at the table. 

She gave them a short nod and hummed to herself. “Of course! I just turned 20 last month, did I still look like a baby to you?” 

“You’ll always be your mother’s baby no matter what age you are,” her father responded with a stern voice. Minjoo’s lips curled into a soft smile as she nodded in agreement with her father. “What has this world come too?” her father muttered softly to himself as he stared at the television which was to the morning news. 

“Another recent kidnapping…'' the news broadcaster was soon cut off by Minjoo’s father who turned the television off. 

“Really? Another kidnapping? That’s the second one this year.” a genuine look of concern formed on her mother’s lips before she made eye contact with her husband who sat next to her and then to her daughter. 
“Make sure that you don’t stay out too late, Minjoo. Just focus on school and don’t stay out later than 10 PM.” 

Minjoo gave her parents a soft smile and nodded in agreement. “Don’t worry, if I do go out late I’ll just have one of my friends walk me home, or I’ll stay over at their house.” 
“Is Chaewon going to pick you up today?” her mother questioned as she looked over at her daughter with a hint of curiosity in her eyes. 

Minjoo looked up as she heard the familiar name. She could feel a tightness in her chest, but she knew that there was a smile plastered on her lips. 

“Mmm. Chaewon had classes early this morning, so I’ll just meet her after our classes.” 
“She’s a good girl. How long have the two of you been friends?” 
“Thirteen years maybe?” the female tilted her head. In her mind, she was mentally counting how long it had been since the two have met. “Yeah, thirteen years,” Minjoo responded with a soft smile on her lips. 

***

Minjoo was sitting down on the bus. It was not nearly as crowded as the subway, which is why she opted for it, even though realistically the train would have been faster. She had been lucky enough to board the bus early enough to find a seat, even if it was near the back. She sat down by herself. She gently drummed her fingers on her lap. She had to fight the boredom that came with riding the bus alone. She rummaged through her bag, searching for the worn-out book she had put in earlier. 

Her lips curled into a smile as she finally found the book after quite some time. The worn-out and torn cover of the book. The coffee stain on the front cover of the book accompanied by wrinkled pages that naturally came with the years. Her fingertips gently brushed against the title of the book, The Little Prince. It was one of Minjoo’s favorite books since she was young whenever she found herself struggling, crying, or facing any difficulty, for some reason she always turned to the worn-out child book and it brought so much comfort to her. 

“Mom! Can I have some friends over for my birthday today?” a child on the bus questioned. 
“It’s your birthday, you should be spending it with your friends and family, what kind of question is that?” 

Minjoo smiled softly to herself. A birthday, huh? She’s only had one friend come over to her house for a birthday and that friend was Ahn Yujin. 

“Kim Minjoo! Is that you?” a loud voice rang through the bus, breaking Minjoo out of her trance. Her eyes raised from the worn-out book and her lips curled into a smile as her eyes met the one who called her name. The female had brown hair with a short bob, their face was rather small, but they were Minjoo’s best friend, Kim Chaewon. 

The other female made their way through the bus before finally taking the seat next to Minjoo. Chaewon wore a white shirt accompanied by black joggers which caused Minjoo to let out a soft laugh. 

“Are you going to class? Or are you going to sleep?” Minjoo questioned as she looked at her best friend who sat next to her.
“I slept in so it wasn’t like I had the chance to dress as pretty as you, Minjoo!” Chaewon retorted as she raised her hand and playfully hit the younger’s shoulder. The two made eye contact wi