Sitting on a cement bench with dirty padding in a cell at the city Police Station while pressing a towel-covered handful of ice over the huge bulge that formed in my head — and that throbbed in pain — was far from being the way I planned to spend the rest of my night, but that's exactly what happened.

To make things worse, the officer on duty, a feisty woman named Kim Hyunjin that seemed to hate, stared at me every half hour for five minutes in a row with a horrible face that told me she hadn't seen the sunlight in days, especially when the doctor from the Health Center who had been called in to assess my condition and my mental situation had disappeared, returned home after the end of her shift.

"Kim Jungeun," the woman shouted, finally opening the lock and letting me out. "Interrogation."

Since the Police Station — I used to call it that, but I was always getting scolded because apparently they preferred the term 'Police Center' — was under renovation, many of the rooms, like the interrogation room, were closed and, therefore, everything was being resolved at the reception and in the lobby, which were next to each other.

After what seemed like a decade of waiting for my bored and anxious conscience, Hyunjin pulled me out and made me sit in the chair in front of her messy desk full of paper, hanging up the phone that rang beside her computer to be able to focus.

"You know you broke into private property, right, young lady?" She narrowed her eyes at me.

"Actually, it's a government property, which makes it a public space, which makes the aquarium a public establishment," that the aquarium was a public establishment is, in fact, true, but I had no idea of the veracity of the rest of the things that came out of my mouth. One thing is certain, though: I was willing to say anything to bore the police officer enough until the news of my arrest reached Haseul and Haseul could finally think of a way to get me out of there. "Therefore, it is not a crime to enter it outside business hours."

To my relief, Officer Kim was disconcerted and started looking at the files on the table. If that woman had a California Law booklet that could prove me wrong, I would accept my death at that very moment.

"You were going to steal, weren't you?" Hyunjin didn't look at me when she asked.

"What's in an aquarium to steal?" I played dumb, letting out a tired sigh. "Look, I was just bored."

"Hyunjin," a man called, also in uniform, the credentials displayed on his shirt. "The aquarium report arrived. Nothing has been stolen, but the filter in one of the pools is damaged."

Those damn seals.

I cowered in the chair under the angry look of the officer and who I imagined to be her partner, but he left quickly when he realized that Hyunjin would take care of the matter alone.

"You know what? The mayor is coming. She's the one who will decide what to do with you, young lady."

And that's how I got even more screwed than I already was.

I bit my lip while making a face, both for the nervousness that made my hands sweat and the pain I felt. Even with the ice, it still felt like someone was hammering specific parts of my skull, making them pulse irritatingly. Dr. Kali said that I was very lucky to have suffered nothing serious, but that I should keep an eye out just to be sure and look for her if something bad happened.

I asked the officers to pass me a puzzle, a magazine, a cup of coffee; literally anything they had available to help me pass the time and distract my mind, but they just gave me a magic cube and that little thing I wouldn't know how to solve even if I was born again. So I had to stay for another twenty-five minutes looking at nothing and complaining about the terrible treatment I was receiving, hoping they would get so tired of me that they would send me away — I didn't receive any attention, though — until a tall and well dressed woman entered the Police Center in precise movements. She wore a light gray dress and held an excessively large bag.

Oh, I knew who that one was.

"I'm here, Hyunjin. What happened?" Ha Sooyoung, the mayor, asked. Ha is her maiden name and everyone knows that she prefers to use it rather than keep her husband's name, Jung Maycom, with the excuse that it is a business matter, when, in fact, the press made a point of informing to the city about her intense disgust for the man in a magazine article during the last elections, which actually helped her to win, much to the surprise of many people.

Following the sequence, a red-haired woman, of short stature and slimmer body appeared in a pastel pink dress and typical black heel. It was Kim Jiwoo, the principal of Loona High School and the woman with whom, and this is also widely known, the mayor had a romantic and ual relationship. On the husband's back, of course.

Long live adultery!

Jiwoo released the hand of the third girl, a blonde, whom I had not even noticed before, and joined her beloved, standing beside her in front of Hyunjin.

The blonde, owner of long hair and a beautiful and curvy body, was identified by me at the very moment that our eyes met, and I noticed her face swollen with sleep, her lips for the first time free of that ugly lip gloss she usually wore and wrinkled white and blue pajamas; brown slippers and a black overcoat protected her from the cold.

Jung JinSol looked at me with open when hse noticed my presence there.

"JinSoul," called the mayor. "The aquarium has been invaded. Nothing was stolen, but some equipment in pool three was damaged."

JinSol, taking her eyes off me to place them on her mother, looked distressed. "What? By whom?!"

Hyunjin understood her speech as a cue and stiffened her expression, pointing to the only injured teenager in her waiting room: me.

"This girl right here is the only one to blame," she accused. "She was wandering around the aquarium after closing time."

I rolled my eyes at her exaggeration. It wasn't that serious, right? It was the fault of the monsters who jumped on me and tried to attack me with their weird bodies. They caused the situation to themselves.

I, on the other hand, could have drowned in that ty place and nobody seemed to care. Nobody cares, that's the truth. The mayor herself, who was supposed to look after all the citizens of the city, looked at me differently, judging me, while JinSol was shy, uncomfortable. Embarrassed.

"Why aren't you locked up?" Sooyoung asked. She definitely didn't like me, but not that I cared because, not to be unfair, the feeling is mutual.

"Wow," the principal intervened, standing in front of me. "That's a little extreme, Yves. She's just a child."

"She broke the law."

"But she didn't steal anything, did she?" JinSol entered the conversation, looking at Hyunjin, who denied it with disgust. "It was probably just an incident. There must be another way to make up for damage done."

"She can do volunteer work," Jiwoo suggested and my mouth opened immediately, shocked.

Was she serious?! Me, Kim Jungeun? Doing volunteer work? This woman must be kidding because there is no parallel reality in which I would do anything else for others, especially for free! It was this stupid 'being selfless' thing that put me in that situation in the first place. My only current assignment at the orphanage was to pick up Yeojin from school and even that I left for Choerry to do.

How the hell would I help take care of an aquarium?!

"The aquarium is in need of a new assistant, she can help me," JinSoul started to smile, happy with the sudden idea, and I wished I could squeeze her dancer neck with my own hands.

I meant to speak, but Director Kim expressed no need for my intervention on her face immediately, or at least tried to, since she was always too cute to show bad feelings, which implied my induced silence, although she was dissatisfied with the situation.

Ha Sooyoung looked reluctant before giving her final answer.

"Very well then. I think the aquarium just got a new employee," in celebration, Director Kim opened a big smile behind her proud eyes and JinSol jumped in happiness, like the child she was.

It was as if the damned mayor knew perfectly well that this was the worst way to punish me.

"That's great. I can't wait,” I said. "Can I go home now?"

Kim Hyunjin crossed her arms before answering, making it clear how strongly she disagreed with the idea of not being able to put me behind bars again. "You are free to go, yes."

"Do you want a ride?" JinSol asked, blinking her eyes in a way that I bet she thought was adorable, placing one hand over the other in anxiety.

"Yeah, I'll pass," I left the cold cloth on the chair and took the coat. I didn't need another second around those people.

"jungeun, what is this?!" Startled, Kim Jiwoo came over to gently touch the wound. "This callus is huge."

"I hit my head against the wall," I explained, taking advantage of the exchange of concerned looks between JinSoul and Jiwoo to walk forward to escape, but thin, extremely white arms prevented me to do so.

"We'll give you a ride," from the way she said it, the mayor gave the impression, not only the impression, but also the certainty, that I had no choice.

And I really didn't have it, so much that I ended up being forced to follow the three of them to the parking lot and share the back seat of the mayor's big, comfortable and frighteningly expensive car — it even smelled like that — with her daughter, who maintained the posture of an excited, but shy girl.

Ha Sooyoung followed my instructions and, on arriving at my street, her lover was startled by the two men who smoked on the first corner.

I almost felt sorry for her. If Director Kim knew how many of them existed in the neighborhood... And the worst part: almost always armed. I can bet her girlfriend doesn't tell her about these despicable details.

"You live here?" JinSoul made herself present, also showing her fear. Her mother, on the other hand, remained steadfast and barely took her eyes out of the way.

She knew well enough the city she rn.

I laughed, amused by the Princess of Loonaville's reaction.

"No, darling. I live there," I pointed to the orphanage seconds before Ha Sooyoung stopped the car in front of the big house.

To make my life even more miserable, Grimes was standing with her arms crossed behind the metal gates, furious with life and ready to kill me as soon as I entered.

May life curse Kim Hyunjin and her big mouth.

"I'm screwed," I murmured.

The mayor looked at me immediately. "Watch your mouth, Kim Jungeun."

Bitting my own tongue, I held on to keep myself from saying some really bad words.

"Good night, Jungeun! See you tomorrow," JinSol wished, sweet as always.

"Yeah, yeah. See you tomorrow," there was nothing good that night and there would be nothing good in the morning either, even a donkey could have predicted, but Jung JinSol was beyond that category and just couldn't read the mess I was in, nor even with Grimes' annoyance right there, in front of her.

I opened the car door and walked away after waving to my Director, having to go around the back to get to the orphanage entrance.

"That if I survive until tomorrow..." I murmured again and waited for the mayor to turn the street and watch her car disappear, only then to go through the already opened gates and find Grimes. I didn't even have time to breathe before my ear was crushed by my supervisor's cold hands. "Ouch! It's hurting! Stop it! Ouch!"

"You stupid girl!" She shouted and, if we had neighbors, since Grimes did not consider the family that lives in a small shack three meters from the orphanage as neighbors, they would have woken up.

I was forced to listen to her indignation speech for two hours straight, hoping that her angry screams wouldn't wake Yeojin and especially Yerim, because if it were the case, I would have to listen to Yerim's complaints as well and no one can stand Choerry when she opens that chatty mouth of hers.

Luckily, only the new girl, the one who had arrived almost a month ago and I still had no idea of what her name was, woke up, running to the sofa to see the reason of all that shouting.

"You are grounded for the rest of your life!" Not that I needed to hear that to know.

In my failure, I decided to take the time to bathe and eat the two toast with jam drizzled over a cup of black coffee — my breakfast — and get ready for school. Grimes forced me to set the table for the rest of the girls and wash the dishes after they ate as the beginning of my punishment, which continued when I had to help bathe the minors and comb their hair.

Choerry slapped my arms and back as soon as she saw me, her brown hair wrapped in a towel and her face still wet. Apparently, the stupid new girl had told her about what happened and now she was furious. Yeojin, on the other hand, being smaller and more innocent, knew only that I had gotten in trouble and didn't look at me until the moment I left her at her classroom door.

As Yerim was from a different class than I was, I managed to nestle in the last row of the line — my usual place — and slept through all the classes of the day, ignoring the existence of Jung JinSol and her curious looks. However, when the three o'clock hit, it was exactly the blonde who woke me up, with a shy smile and anxious eyes.

"You slept all day and missed your break and lunchtime," she said, as if I didn't know it yet. —You can have lunch at the aquarium. Do you want a ride?—

At first, I looked at her genuinely confused, trying to understand the meaning of her words without even knowing where to start. When I finally understood, it was impossible not to laugh at disdain. JinSol could only be kidding.

"Oh, now I get it. You don't really think I'm going to do that community service thing, do you?" The blonde frowned and I took advantage of her distraction to pick up my backpack from the floor and leave the room, rolling my eyes.

She catches up with me before I could reach the door.

"What do you mean? You have to do it!" Her cheeks turned red at the insistence.

The whole situation was simply comical.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, princess, but I have more important things to do."

"No, you don't," I was surprised by her shout. "All seals had to be relocated because of you! I mean, I know it was an accident, but you have to help!"

"Do I? And who's going to make me, dear? You?" I challenged, approaching in threat, maybe a little too much.

JinSol crossed her arms and waited to speak, looking for the right words. "If you don't help, I'll tell my mom and Director Kim about it."

"You wouldn't have the courage," we were so close now that I could feel her breath hitting my face. However, none of us looked away and JinSol remained firm, carrying a pout on her lips and a sturdy posture.

"Then test me!" Her voice failed, but it was not out of fear or hesitation. That was how I realized I was holding on to her waist too tight and forced myself to pull away when JinSol placed her hands on my arms and the warm touch of her soft hands awoke my mind.

I don't like it when people got too close, so I raised my eyebrows and walked away, bitter at the girl's insistence.

"Fine! Argh! But you better buy me lunch or I'll drown your pretty face in the water."

In response to the demand, JinSol smiled excessively and clapped her hands in excitement.

"Yes! Come on, we can't be late."

She grabbed my arm and pulled me down the halls with a route drawn to her car, standing in the school's outdoor parking lot and just waving to her friends — I always saw her saying goodbye with millions of kisses, hugs and promises of calls, or even giving a ride sometimes — before letting go of my hand and unlocking the car.

The number of times she asked me to buckle up made me clench my teeth because, duh, I'm not one of those crazy teenagers who think they're untouchable and like to test the fragility of life, I just wanted to provoke her by being stubborn, which was just fair because she was making me lose a whole afternoon and evening doing something as useless as working in the aquarium.

The car started to move.

"So... Miss. Calahasse said something about the extracurricular project that she was starting with you, may I ask-"

"No," I interrupted, immediately understanding what she was trying to do there. "We won't do that. This thing where you ask about my life; this will not happen. We are not friends, Miss Sunshine. If you want to talk, talk about youself."

"I-I just thought that maybe you wanted to talk about something to pass the time," JinSol explained, focused on the task of driving, although she showed her surprise. "Okay. Well, I can start, yes," her eyes widened in a happy expression. "Oh! Did you know that the election for the winter prom queen is already scheduled? We were told today during the student union meeting and, as it is almost November-" She stops when she sees me opening the small drawer in front of me and looking for something interesting, finding a bar of chocolate with peanuts completely untouched that I soon opened and started to eat, and sunglasses, which I put on my face. JinSoul laughed sweetly. "You don't care about any of those things, do you?"

"Not even a little, princess," I replied, placing a piece of the candy in front of , willing to share only because, initially, it belonged to her.

To my happiness, JinSol shook her head.

"I don't want to, but thanks."

"What's your problem? It's stupid not to like chocolate. It's like, one of the best things in the world."

"It's not that I don't like it, I love it! But it has a lot of calories and your tone was a little rough, Kimberly."

Offended by her speech, I looked at her in disbelief. "What the hell did you just say?"

"What? I just said your tone was rude," she shared her confused eyes with me and the street.

"That is not what I meant, but it is good to know that you're that kind of person," disgusted, I managed to eat the whole bar alone and remained in a bad mood so that JinSol noticed and wouldn't want to bring up any more matters again. If she did, however, I would end up exploding in any of her kind words.

How dare she ruin the image of the perfect princess that I kept in my conscious mind? Supposedly, she should have vibrations of self-love and that sort of thing to fuel her self-esteem. I was wrong about something and it weighed hard on my ego.

When the blonde maneuvered the car around the aquarium, I hurried out and ignored her presence; JinSol froze in front of the front door for a few seconds with her unreal slowness and then tried to speed up her steps.

In the lobby — an oval room with white walls and a ceiling covered with blue lights and shiny rubber starfish — there was a service desk next to the ticket office and a row of turnstiles for magazines, with two uniformed security guards ready to fight and prevent entry of any metallic or sharp or suspicious object.

If the mayor's daughter was not at my side, I was sure I would be stopped.

JinSol first addressed to who I discovered to be Hyolyn by reading the badge on her uniform, one of the two clerks, and asked her to make the badge for the newest employee; me, showing a paper with the authorization from her mother, the mayor, for that. The tan-skinned girl smiled and made me pose for the three-by-four photo she would use on the object, but they all turned out to be bad because I couldn't concentrate on anything but the crackling sound of the woman's green gum making against her full lips. It was annoying.

During this time, Hyolyn also took the opportunity to make me fill out the registration paperwork and JinSol used this time to get out of sight, making me wait for her for about ten minutes after I finished my tasks in the lobby, the beautiful ten minutes that I seriously thought about getting out of there and going home, but the blonde, dressed in her tight black swimsuit and navy blue and white shirt covering her own badge, appeared seconds before I moved, with two sandwiches wrapped in film, one chocolate muffin and a bottle of juice in her hands.

Smiling happily for the first time in the day, I approached her and took the promised food, throwing it down my throat. The juice, as I had predicted, was my favorite flavor; orange.

If I had known that I would be fed so well, I would have accepted it immediately.

The princess, surprised, widened her eyes and blushed.

"Do you want some?" I offered, but I really wanted her to deny it while I chewed the muffin. Fortunately, she did so. "So undo that pale face of yours because it's starting to irritate me. Are you going to stand there looking at me all day?"

"I... I bought it in the canteen. Sorry, but do you always talk while you eat? Aren't you afraid of, like, food coming out of your mouth?"

"Honey, believe me," I stopped for just a second to swallow. "No food comes out of my mouth unless I want it to."

Yes, with the discomfort presented by JinSol, I even thought about her point of view. The princess had never seen anyone really hungry and of course that when her friends left Physical Education classes, they didn't mean it when they said the phrase 'I'm starving'. I was starving, right there, in front of her. The amount of reality that her brain had today received was enough for the entire week, or even the month, I could feel it, or JinSol would end up collapsing.

"Didn't you want to show me something?" I asked after swallowing the last piece of the sandwich to change the subject and the blonde blinked a few times before answering, taking the wrapping papers out of my hand to throw in the trash. She had wet eyes.

For the first time, I realized that Jung JinSol was someone extremely sensitive and ignorant about what her city really is, how people really are. She seemed to think constantly that unicorns exist and that people can be happy a hundred percent of the time.

"Well," she cleared , resuming her ballet posture and took a deep breath, putting a big smile on her face again. "I think we should start with the fish. They are my favorite thing here!"