After I'd finished my chores, I met Cho-Hee at her Father's restaurant. 

We chatted about stupid things and made our way to the salon. "What do you want done?" She asked.

"Your hair is so long, so layers, and maybe we should lighten it a bit?" Cho-Hee suggested. I immediately agreed.

"And a straight fringe!" I added. 

When we were done, I could barely recognize myself. Cho-Hee turned my seat to the side, and pulled out a black pen. 

"What are you doing with that?!" I flinched back. 

"It's eyeliner, Si Yeon. It will bring out your eyes." She laughed, and then began to draw a thin black line over the top of my lid, and around the corners of my eyes. "Will your foster mother even recognize you?" She smiled and handed me the pen. 

"I can't take this. This is yours!" I demanded. She pulled out two more from her bag and said, "I have plenty Si Yeon, give it up already." 

She handed me a bag with a pair of high black heels, and a tight black dress with only one strap over the left shoulder. 

I stared at it. "I can't wear this!" I gulped, "It's so flashy and short." I shook my head. "I'm too young to wear this."

"Si Yeon, this is the uniform. No one will know how old you are, and it's very high class. No one will see it as dirty." 

I took it reluctantly. I changed in the bathroom of the salon, and looked into the mirror. I looked like a model. I had never seen something hug my thin curves so much. I didn't know I even had this kind of shape until now. I had always been forced to wear baggy second-hand clothes from girls much too short and chubby for me. I had long legs, and an hour glass shaped body. How did I not notice until now? I smiled in the mirror. I looked much older than I was. 

Although I found it hard to walk in heels, I stumbled into the salon's main room. Cho-Hee gasped. "You make me jealous." She pouted. "Here, wear these flats until we get back to the restaraunt." Cho-Hee handed me two black flats. I put them on, and we continued to work. 

As we walked, I felt my cheeks getting flushed, my lip start to quiver- and then wetness on my cheek. I was crying. Cho-Hee kept glancing over at me periodically pretending to not notice. 

"Thank you, Cho-Hee." I stopped, and bombarded her with a hug. "You never had to do any of this for me. Yet you did. You are a really good person." I whiped my tears away. Cho-Hee giggled, "Stop this, or else I'll have to do your eyeliner all over again." 

When I got to the restaurant, we had gone in through the front. I nodded politely to the customers. At the age of 17, I'd been in Seoul for almost a year, and never felt this kind of attention on my back. Many men eyed me curiously. I felt embarassed, so I hurried into the back. My hair was now a golden dark brown, and my bangs framed my face perfectly. I couldn't believe this was me. Cho-Hee must be my fairy god mother. 

"Where is Si Yeon?" Cho-Hee's father asked, then paused. "Si Yeon! Look at you! You look stunning." He looked at me proudly. 

I had began work quickly and smoothly. I brought people their menus, and focused on taking orders and bringing people their drinks. I felt I was one of them, exuding confidence, without the money. It was a breath of fresh air that someone like me would surely kill to have. 

"Excuse me, Miss." A boy tapped me on the shoulder, and as I spun around, he began to smile. My confidence disappeared, and I became nervous. 

"Eh? Do you need something?" I asked. 

"Just your name?" He asked.

"I am.." I hesitated. "I am.. Kim Si Yeon." Anxiety flushed over me and I started nibbling on my lip. 

He pointed to the whiteboard to the center of the room. This was where customers were allowed to write in impermanent marker about the new resteraunt. They could write virtually anything. 

"Thank you, Noona." He smiled again.

"Aish really, I'm not your-" I smacked my hand over my mouth. Omo, If I would tell him that, I'd definitely be fired. I'm not even old enough to work here. He looked at me curiously. 

"What was that?" 

"I- I was talking to myself." Was the best I could come up with. I just looked like an idiot. 

"I do that too, I get it." He winked and walked away. I don't think I'd ever seen a more handsome guy. Except for on TV, and maybe modeling shows. His eyes were perfectly shaped, his hair was lightened almost identical to mine, but styled perfectly around his head. 

I sighed, grateful it was over. When I was done working and cleaning up, I sat in the empty table next to the board and laid the side of my head against the table and closed my eyes. I was really tired. When I opened them, something caught my eye on the board.  "The new employee is gorgeous, I would love to know her!", but under it, "Her name is Kim Si Yeon, and she's really beautiful." My heart jumped, cracked, and broke. This isn't me. You wouldn't like me, if you knew the real me, I thought.

I said my goodbye's to Choo-Hee and her father, and began my walk home. It was cold, but I had changed into my jeans and fur rimmed parka. Instead of looking like a wolve's fur, it looked like a rat's fur on the back of my neck. After this paycheck, I could afford a new one. Maybe a pea coat. I thought about it, and felt accomplished. I had worked hard today, and that made me happy.

Tomorrow I wasn't going to work, instead I had a date with the devil. I would have really rathered work. 

_____________

I sat in the waiting room, until my name was called. Kim Si Yeon, for Kim Sung-Ki. I had visited my every other month since I'd been sent away to Seoul. He also was imprisoned in Seoul, so this was easy for me. Although I blamed my Father for my Mom's death, I couldn't abandon him. He may be despicable, but I can't seem to let him go.

I sat on the side of the glass, with the phone to my ear. "Wow, Si Yeon. You look beautiful." He said shamefully. After a year he still cannot look me in the eye. I remind him too much of my Mom. 

"I got a job at a really high class restaraunt. I had to get a make-over. My friend is very wealthy and helps me a lot." I smiled. 

"I'm glad." He said.

When I was finally done, I brushed past the boy who was sitting beside me. I pulled my hat over my face, and pulled my hair into the hat aswell. It was the boy from the restaraunt yesterday. I was grateful that without my dress and heels, he could not recognize me. But what was he doing at this prison? I almost forgot that upper classmen could be criminals too. I left and the rest of the week was uneventful to say the least. I worked everyday, did my chores, and hungout with Choo-Hee most of the time. 

Today was pay day, so of course I rushed over to see what I had made. I held the check in awe. "How could I possibly have made this much?" I asked. "That's with the meal deducted, right?" I asked.

"Yes! Si Yeon, that is our normal pay, don't worry. We even took the money out of the meal we had, too." 

I shook my head. "I couldn't have made this in a month at the Cafe I use to work at." 

"This is an expensive place, with expensive pay." Choo-Hee laughed. "Let's go shopping!" 

What I made in a week had paid for several pairs of expensive jeans, several shirts, a pair of boots, and even my new coat. I brought home groceries for my foster home aswell. When I got home and walked into the kitchen, my foster mother took one glance at me, and turned cold. 

"Where are you getting all of this money, Si Yeon?" She glared.

"I've been working at that victorian restaraunt." I said truthfully.

"Do you think I'm stupid? How could you come home with so much food, and so much expensive clothes by working there for a week?" She continued, "Are you trying to end up like your Father and Mother?" 

I made the mistake of getting angry with her. "How dare you accuse me of that, and bring my family into this." I yelled.

She swung. "Si Yeon, don't flinch or you'll really get it." She scraped her nails against my face once she slapped me, and knocked her elbow into my eye as she turned away. I lay on the floor in pain. My left cheek was bruised, while my right was bleeding slightly from 3 noticable scratches almost like a cat attacked me. My left eye was black and blue, and getting worse by the second. I started to cry. I couldn't work like this. I had to let them know. I put on the new jeans, a long top, and over the jeans, my sheepskin boots. I rushed to put my coat on. I cried once I looked in the mirror. I decided to pay for a cab to the restaraunt instead, so I flagged one down, and got there in minutes. When Choo-Hee saw my first, she bursted into anger. 

"Who did this to you?!" Her eyes became dark. 

"...My foster mother." I looked down. I felt extremely ugly with so many bruises and scrapes on my face. 

I went from thinking I was actually beautiful, to realizing that was only in my head. 

"Nothing I can't fix." Cho-Hee exclaimed. "Here, come out front, we can work better that way. Everyones gone." 

I covered my face in shock. "I THOUGHT YOU SAID EVERYONE LEFT." I turned around and wouldn't face him. 

"Him? That's Hyun Joong, he's my brother. It's okay."

The boy who asked my named the other day was Hyun Joong? Her brother? My luck is unbelievable. This has to be the worst day in months, I thought.

I stormed through the back, and through the back door I went outside. I slid against the wall and began to cry. I can't let him see me like this. He'll never think I'm beautiful again. Choo-Hee came outside and slid next to me. "Don't worry. I didn't tell him anything." 

My tears stopped. 

"How did you know?" I asked, sobbing. 

She grabbed my left hand in both of hers. 

"Si Yeon, although I've had many friends in this life, you have been the best. You're the only good person I know. I use to be just like you. Your money never determines who you are, Si Yeon. Would you be any less of my friend if you had met me when I wasn't rich?" 

I shook my head, "Of course not."

"Exactly. If it weren't for my brother's acting and singing we wouldn't have any money." She continued, "I'll tell my dad not to tell him anything about you, I promise." 

"Thank you." I smiled. "But do I have to show my face infront of him?" 

"Nope. I'll get him away." 

"One more thing..." I drifted off. 

"Yeah?"

"Did you see what he wrote about me on the board?" I sighed.

"No... What?"

"Someone wrote that I was beautiful, and then he wrote; 'Her name is Si Yeon and she's really beautiful.' "

Choo-Hee gasped. "What?" 

"I don't want to get played. I hate players. I hope he knows I won't believe a thing he says." 

"...Si Yeon." Choo-Hee laughed. "He's never dated. He liked one girl a long time ago who moved to the U.S. and he never cared about her after that. Also, my brother is not a player. Don't insult him, aishhh." 

"I need to stop opening my mouth." I mentally hit myself, and got up off the wall. "Still, he wouldn't like me if he knew where I came from."

"You don't know anything." Choo-Hee said sharply. 

"Choo-Hee, I know you're trying to convince me, but you just don't want to hurt my feelings. Thank you." 

She rolled her eyes, and we walked inside. She demanded I sat down in the front, where Hyun Joong wasn't anymore. 

She put ointment on the cuts, and lotion on my bruises. She handed me a sponge and skin tone makeup to cover the bruises. 

"Now stop trying to skip work!" She laughed and sent me off into a cab. I snuck into my room quietly and went to sleep, similar to every night. 

 

Knowing where I come from, and what I've been through; would you still think that I'm beautiful?