She held out the money with unwillingness. The man, instead of thanking her, snatched it out of her hand and walked away, his head held up high. The girl watched the man walk away into his expensive Lamborghini and drive away into the distance. Just like that.

'Bye bye,' she whispered, though she knew it was no use. He was gone from her life forever more. She didn't know whether to cry or laugh. He was gone ...

Suddenly, a hand reached out behind her. The girl was startled at first, but relaxed when she saw her mother's loving face smiling down at her. She looked tired, yet she could sustain a smile that made all of the girl's worries go away just by looking at it. Her hair was a mess, but her brown eyes sparkled. A lot of people say she had her mother's eyes, and she was grateful, and wondered if her eyes were also lovely to look at. Very unlikely.

‘Don’t worry,’ she said, ‘it’s okay already. You’ve done such good for us, don’t you know that?’

The girl stared at her mom. Her mother smiled back and sang a note, which led to a song, one of the girl's favorite songs her mom made up just for her. Don't be afraid, because I'm here with you ... Her voice was like pure gold, and the girl loved listening to her mom sing, but the girl made sure she rarely sang, for it hurt for her. The mother always tried to hide pain, but the girl could always see it inside her. It was always her eyes, she thought. Her eyes always only showed the pain.

'You see?' the mom said. She smiled. 'It's okay.'

'There's always a bit of pain in every "it's okay,"' the girl quoted. 'You said it yourself. I know you're hurt, Umma, don't hide it. I know you're hurt here--' she pointed towards her mother's head '--and here.' She pointed to her mother's heart.

The mom had tears in her eyes. She sighed and her daughter's cheek gently. 'You're so mature for a six year old girl. My six year old girl.'

The girl thankfully at her mother, but inside she felt like crying. But she didn't want to show her mom, so she bit back her tears. Wait for the pillow, then cry. She was already upset enough. Her mind went to the stack of money she'd given her abusive stepfather. How much was in there .... she didn't count, but she knew it was a lot. Were they going to last forever? She chased the thought away.

Silence passed between them. The sun had already gone down. Some of the stars appeared, twinkling in the darkness around the mother and daughter. Minutes went by, and as time flew by the girl was thinking of all the possibilities of surviving.

'Umma?' she asked after so many hours of silence.

'Yes?'

'Do--do you think Appa will come back?'

The mother was silent for a while. She looked away from the girl and instead looked at the scenery around them. The girl followed her gaze. Trees. Grass. Flowers. Animals ... the girl knew her mother was thinking. Maybe? Maybe not? The girl could never find out her mother's thoughts. Those could be kept, the eyes could only show pain. What was she going to say ...?

'Yes,' the girl's mother finally decided. 'He will come back someday. We just need to wait for him.'

'Wait ...' The girl sighed. 'I don't want to wait, but he will come back, right?'

'Yes, Dae Eun-ah. He will come back.'

'Pinky swear?' The girl held out her pinky.

The mother laughed quietly. She wrapped her tiny around her daughter's even tinier finger.

'Pinky swear.' And she did.

~~~

The now seven year old girl just came back from the hospital, with a box of chocolates, uneaten, in her arms. She had bought it for her mother using her own money (she never told her mother this) but the nurse had said no. Her mom wasn't allowed to eat anything such as chocolate. Go eat for yourself, honey, the nurse had said. Your mother would be so happy you tried to give her some anyway. What the nurse had said was true. She loved chocolate, but after what the nurse had told her didn't improve her appetite.

She passed a meat shop and recognised it immediately. It was one of the popular ones, and she could see the customers lining up for meat inside. Meat was popular here. One look at the shop window and the girl wished she had the money to buy meat for herself and her money. Her thoughts wandered to the first time she ate meat and wished she had more of it right now. Wished ... she wished for so many things.

Things that she knew that she would never have.

Her eyes filled with tears and hoped no one near her noticed that she was crying.

Which included a perfect family and friend.

She was teased at school for being herself: poor, having a sick mother, a lost father, smart (geek, according to them), clumsy … the list was endless. Yet she ignored the bullying and tears, and told no one about it. She hoped that one day they would stop taking advantage of her. That one day she would accept her for who she is. She never told her mother; she was already sick. Those were her own issues that she had to handle herself and herself only. Why make others worry for her? she thought.

The tears strike again.

She hated lying to her mom. She really did. But she couldn't help it. She just couldn't, and wished that one day she would find the right person to pour all her feelings to. But that possibility seemed impossible, and if possible, just too far away to accomplish.

Something wet hit her nose, and it zapped her out of her thoughts. She looked around, alert. Another hit her head with a plop. Rain. The girl sighed. She didn’t have an umbrella with her right now. Should she go against it? She usually would run all the way back to her house, possibly meet one of her classmates who would laugh as she cowered in the rain.

She shook her head. No. She wasn’t getting her mom’s present wet.

The girl finally decided to stay in the meat shop until the rain stopped. It was going to hurt, but she had no choice but to do so. She would resist anything from the shop. Just window-shopping, she thought. Not buying, just window-shopping.

The girl took a deep breath and pushed the door open. The place, of course, was huge, filled with all types of meat that people would fight over. And yet the customers were cramming themselves near the cashier, waving their money in the air, shouting out their orders. Pork! Lamb! Beef! It smelled so nice … the girl tried not to drool as she walked around the shop, her eyes darting wherever she went, curious to her surroundings. She passed a rack of meat.

According to school, she thought, that should be beef. And that pork. And that lamb. And--

BUMP!

She crashed onto the floor. The chocolates spilled out of its box and were rolling on the ground beside her. The girl gritted her teeth and shook her head again and again, hoping that would cure the pain that was aching her head. It didn't work that much.

'Oh my gosh!' a voice cried somewhere around her. She couldn't register where from. Her head was going 'ring-ding-dong' in her mind and she couldn't imagine how embarrassing it would be. 'I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking at where I was going.'

'N-no, it’s m-my fault, really,' she stammered, scrambling up but her head down low. She didn’t want to show that she was blushing badly. 'I-I didn’t watch w-w-where I was g-going and--'

‘No, seriously, it’s my fault.’ The voice turned calm. It sounded masculine, but not deep or high-pitched. Just in between. In fact, it sounded perfect. An angel’s voice. The girl felt a little calmer ... she wondered how he looked like ...

Suddenly, the voice chuckled. ‘Look up, why are you staring at the floor?'

The girl looked up, and found out that she was staring at a boy about two years her own age, with dark brown hair and equally brown eyes. He had on a kind smile that almost melted the girl immediately. The ‘ring-ding-dong’ in her mind suddenly had a nice tune to it … ‘ring-ding-dong-ring-ding-dong-ring-diggi-ding-diggi-ding-ding-ding’ … the girl shook herself out of it. You are not having a crush on a stranger.

But he seemed more like an angel than a stranger.

‘H-h-hi,’ she managed to say. She felt like kicking herself. Talk much?

‘Hey,’ he replied smoothly. ‘Sorry about that. It’s my fault, really, I wasn’t looking where I was going. I'm--usually that clumsy. I’m Lee Jinki, but call me Onew. What’s your name?'

‘D-Dae Eun,’ she said, hoping so badly Onew couldn’t hear the stutter in her voice. ‘I’m Dae E-Eun.’

‘I heard you the first time. Nice to meet you, Dae Eun.’ Onew had on a goofy smile. The girl resisted the urge to laugh. He held up a hand. 'Are you hurt? Because if you are--'

'I'm fine. I'm okay.'

'Hey!' Onew suddenly exclaimed. 'Wanna be friends?'

The girl could not believe it. Friends? With her? No way. It was another trick, another dare. She had experienced many of those before.

And yet … something about the boy--Onew--made her think it was true. He might have a crazy smile, but his eyes showed concern … and he really sounded like he was sorry and that he really wanted to be friends. Should she ...?

‘I-I’m not exactly t-the p-p-popular type,’ she said, looking down on the floor again. She felt her cheeks burning. Oh, this is going out so well, she thought.

Onew stared at her, his head tilted, his dark brown eyes looking at her curiously.

'I-I-I meant that I-I-I'm n-not the--'

'Stop.' Onew cut her off. ‘Don’t say anything about being popular or anything like that,’ he said. ‘I don’t really care about that. As long as people laugh and smile, I’m okay with anything they do. If not, well …’ he put on a silly face. The girl had to laugh, it was the silliest face he had ever seen. Onew smiled. 'That’s what I do when someone’s sad. I make them happy and cheerful again. I don’t like sad faces. It makes me sad …’ he looked a little upset for a moment, and the girl had the urge to comfort him. Then, he returned back to the regular Onew she had just bumped into. 'So. Friends?' He held his hand up, waiting for an answer from the girl.

The girl thought for a moment, but she already had an answer. She smiled and took Onew's hand. 'We don't shake hands when we become friends, Onew,' she said. 'Instead, we pinky swear.'

Onew laughed. 'All right, all right. Friends?' he said again, holding his pinky out this time.

And this time the girl had no mind to say no.

'Friends.'

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Hello hello~~~  ^_^

First ever author note ..... hmm ..... anyway, I think this actually went pretty well. I'm just gonna write more, and I'm done with my entry :D. GO CHECK OUT THE CONTEST, by the way. And lastly, comment!!! :D :D :D