A/N: Like promised, Luhan will make his debut in this chapter! When the POV switches from Jae Min's to someone else's I'll denote that on the top, otherwise, assume it is Jae Min's POV.

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Chapter 3

On the second day of moving into the Kim's household, I wake up at the crack of dawn, like always. I guess old habits do die hard. Ever since I was young I've been waking up early with Mom to help her prepare for her day at the market, so even now, when there's really nothing to do this early in the morning, I find myself wide away. But cranky. Usually I consider myself a morning person, because there's nothing better than waking up to the sounds of countryside's hustle and bustle. The sounds of neighbors greeting to each other from down the street, little children laughing and playing as they walk to school, and the ding ding dings of bicycles as they ride pass our house. Let's not also forget the smell of food being prepped, especially Mom's cooking. I sigh nostalgically as I think of Mom's cooking and my home. Because no matter where I end up, that small town is still home.

After the hostile introductions that were made yesterday, I kept to myself in the room they gave me and scoffed at how unnecessarily luxurious it is. It's large (much larger than I needed), filled with furniture (which I don't think I'll ever use), and modern looking. There's a new computer on a large desk in one corner of the room, and a bunch of arm chairs and sofas everywhere in front of a big screen TV. Why the hell would one person need all these sitting stuff? Did they think I'm going to have a party in here or something? This is one thing I've realized about rich people: they buy everything in excess, even though they obviously have no use for most of it. I have about 6 sets of drawers scattered around the room, waiting for me to put God knows what in them. Surely not clothes, because my gigantic closet already looks kinda ridiculous with my limited amount of belongings.

And the bed, oh god don't get me started on the bed. This thing is big enough for 5 people to sleep in, and that's definitely not something that's going to happen, now or ever. And it's so damn SOFT, in a terribly bad way. Contrary to popular belief, sleeping on a soft bed with silky sheets does not guarantee you a wonderful sleep. I'm the living proof of this contradiction. I had a really crappy sleep last night. The bed was so soft that I felt like I was sinking into the mattress and it felt suffocating. Plus, the pillow was so fluffy and filled with absolutely nothing that my head was stuck at a weird angle all night and now I have a crick on my neck. I can't believe people pay to sleep on stuff like this. Someone, please give me back my blanket and pillow so I can sleep on the floor! 

By the time I try to figure out how to work the shower and toilet to do my morning routine, more members of the house are starting to wake up. Mostly the maids and helpers I think, because I can't imagine the two witches giving up precious beauty sleep. I know it's wrong to stereotype people so early, but I usually read first impressions pretty well and can tell when someone is clearly not going to be friendly. 

I leave my room quietly and make my way through the maze of the upper floors until I reach a set of stairs that I think should lead down to...somewhere. I end up near the back of the house, because to my right is a glass door leading to a spacious backyard. I catch a glimpse outside and see that it's filled with more useless things: gazebos, tables and chairs everywhere, a swimming pool, and..is that a mini-pond back there?? I shake my head. Geez, these people are too much.

There are sounds of chatter somewhere to my left so I venture towards that direction, hoping to run into someone to keep me company. To my luck, I find the kitchen filled with cooks and maids. Everyone stops what they are doing when they notice my presence, drops automatically into low bows and greets me "Good morning Miss Jae Min". I'm shocked by how robotic everything looked so I don't say anything and just stare back blankly. Awkward silence ensues...

"Uh...hello, everyone," I finally greet back formally while doing a pathetic hand wave. I can tell that they are confused as to why I'm there. "I'm Kim Jae Min, please take care of me while I'm here." And when I bow, there are gasps all around. 

"Of course, of course!"

"Ah! Please don't bow to us!"

"It's nice to meet you too!" 

People are speaking all at once and it's a big mess of pleases and thank yous. I think they are unsure of how they should act towards me, as I am with them. From their point of view, I am kind of their master's daughter, but to me, I assume that I come from a poorer background than they did. In the end, I decide to clarify any misconceptions.

"Please just call me Jae Min, and you don't have to treat me like...royalty or anything. I'm not really comfortable with this kind of life, so if you guys could just treat me like family, that would be great." I still get a few confused looks, but for the most part, everyone understands what I'm trying to say. Please don't lump me with the rich people, I want to be one of you.

Everyone begins to introduce themselves to me and I tell them a little about myself and where I come from. I don't go into details about how I am Kim Young Soo's long lost daughter, and no one really presses for more information, which I'm grateful. I don't like to cuss so early in the morning, and I might scare them with my hatred towards their master. 

"So you will be going to school with Miss Sunhwa?" a young maid named Minji asks. I nod in reply while munching on some fruit slices that the head cook, Mrs. Yoon, prepared for me. She insisted on making me breakfast but I told her I don't usually eat a meal in the morning, so we settled for a light snack. 

In response to my nod, I get sympathetic looks from all the maids and cooks. "Why the weird looks?" I ask.

"Well..." Han Bi, a petite maid with big eyes, lowers her voice before continuing "Miss Sunhwa is kind of....umm...uh..." She looks around the room for help in finding the right word. 

"y?" I offer with a smirk. Someone gasps, but the rest stifle their laughter into their hands while nodding rapidly. "Yeah, I don't think we're going to be the best of friends or anything, but as long as she doesn't mess with me, I won't bother her."

"Yes, it's best to avoid her. She's used to getting her way around here, and at school too I heard. She's very popular," Mrs. Yoon says and then replaces my empty plate of fruits with another one filled with perfectly cut apple slices. I contemplate whether I want more or not, and then shrugs before grabbing another crunchy slice. It would be rude to refuse her kindness, plus, these are actually really delicious.

"Well she doesn't have to worry about me trying to steal her spotlight. I just want to go to school, finish, and then go off to college and become a doctor."

"I'm sure you'll be a great doctor Miss Jae - ah! I mean Jae Min...sorry, I'm used to calling everyone like that..." Han Bi shyly admits. Some more people chimes in their own encouraging comments.

I scratch my temple bashfully. "Ah hah...thanks everyone, for believing in me." It's so odd to find kindness in these people, when the ones that are supposed to be my 'family' are so...ugh. 

I spend the next couple of hours helping out in the kitchen with the cooking staff while everyone else leaves to do their daily chores and duties. It took a lot convincing and demonstrating before they let me help since they were scared of getting in trouble if I was caught doing labor.

Mrs. Yoon turns out to be that iconic motherly figure you would find in Korean Drama; she's wise, and kind, and is always trying to fatten me up by feeding me every 10 minutes. Apparently, what I call my toned and muscled arms are considered little toothpicks to her, so it has become her mission to turn me into a 'lovely and plump girl'. Being around her makes me miss Mom, but ironically it also fills the emptiness I've been feeling ever since moving away from home.

Through all the chopping, frying, and stirring I learn a little more about the family I'm supposed to be apart of now. Kim Young Soo is a rich business man who is rarely home, while his wife and lady of the house, Kim Yeon Eun, spends all her time either lounging around the house doing nothing, or goes shopping and to beauty parlors. Pretty cliche and easy to imagine. Unbelievably though, everyone seems to consider Kim Young Soo as a generous and kind master. When I made a disgusted face after this tid bit of information, they gave me surprised looks in return.

"Mister Kim is very nice to us!" one of the other cooks tries to convince me. "Whenever Mrs. Kim wants to fire one of us for doing something wrong, he never lets it happen."

"That's nice," I answer blandly, not very impressed. It'll take a lot to get me to see him as anything other than a horrible betrayer. I have years of hate built up after all.

Our conversation is interrupted by someone's fake cough. I pause my dicing of onions to see who it is. Speak of the devil. Kim Young Soo is at the doorway, looking uncomfortable and out of place in his expensive business suit. The house staff all bow and greet him respectfully before resuming their duties, though I can see some looking back at him unsurely, wondering what their master is doing in such an unlikely place. Also, many are probably scared of getting in trouble for letting me do manual labor. But if seeing me help out in the kitchen bothers him, he didn't show it. 

"Breakfast will be ready in a bit, Sir. I'll have someone call you when it's done," Mrs. Yoon tells him casually while beating some eggs in a bowl. He just nods in response while keeping his eyes locked on me. His stare is a bit unnerving so I return to chopping my onions to avoid it. I don't think I'll ever get used to having him stare at me that way. There's sorrow, guilt, relief, uncertainty, and something else all mixed together and directed at me. I really hate it, because no one has ever looked at me like that before.  

"Is there something else you needed?" She asks, saving us all from more awkward silences.

He blinks rapidly, as if coming out of a trance before replying, "Ah yes, I was just looking for Jae Min. There's something I want to give you," he directs the last comment towards me. I glance at him and notice that he's hiding something behind his back.

"No thanks," I say quite bluntly. You can't buy trust or respect.

"I think you'll really like this though Jae Min," he tries again. 

"No." 

"But it's-"

"NO." 

This time he sighs loudly and looks around the room for help with dealing with me. Mrs. Yoon glances at both of us before nudging me really hard with her pointy elbows. I grit my teeth and endure the first two jabs like the strong-stubborn-young woman that I am. The third poke in the same spot elicits a small yelp out of me but I remain immobile. Damnit woman! That one really hurt! Not that I'll ever say that out loud.

Sensing that I'm made of stronger stuff, Mrs. Yoon pulls out her big guns. With one hand still stirring a pot, she uses her other one to grab onto my left ear and pulls it towards Kim Young Soo.

"Ow ow ow ow ow, letgoletgo!" I plead while trying to keep her from pulling my ear off. I haven't had my ears abused like this since I was 10. 

 "Don't be rude. Go take what he wants to give you, or I'll kick you out of the kitchen forever," she threatens and gives my ear and extra hard twist. Such an evil woman!! 

"OK OKAAYY!" I concede. She immediately lets go of my throbbing ear and gives me an innocent smile. I throw her an semi-angry glare before walking towards him. There's a small smile on his face as he nods and silently thanks Mrs. Yoon for her help. Three feet away from him, I stick my hand out, and he drops something heavy onto my palm. I stare at the block of rectangle on my hand and realize that it's a cellphone. Why....?

As if reading my thought, he quickly says, "So you can call your mom, and that friend of yours. They each received one too, and their numbers are already saved on your phone." He waits almost nervously for my response. 

I bite my bottom lip unsurely. My first reaction is to give it back, because it looks like it costs as much as a car with it's sleek design and touch-screen interface. I've seen ads for these latest model phones before, and had always scoffed at the idea of spending a family's monthly pay on something so tiny. And although I really do want to give it back (I did! Honest!), the thought of being able to speak with Mom and Kyung Mi is too overpowering. So I up my pride once again and begrudgingly mumble out a barely audible 'thank you'. See, I can be polite.

"What was that??" I hear Mrs. Yoon call out from behind me. I swear this woman is going to be the death of me.

And here I thought she would make a great ally. "I said, THANK YOU!" I half-scream before walking around Kim Young Soo and out of the kitchen. 

I stomp my way through the house, surprising a lot of passing maids and butlers, before reaching the huge front door from yesterday. Staring down at the new phone in my hand, I find the urge to call them growing stronger with every passing minute. But I decide to wait, because Mom is probably busy at the market and Kyung Mi is supposed to be registering at her school today. What to do now then? 

Explore. 

The word appears almost instantly in my head as I look at the big wooden door. It's not an entirely bad idea, since I'm kind of curious about this place I'm supposed to be staying at for the next few years. A walk around the neighborhood shouldn't be too bad, right? 

Before I leave on my adventure, I tell a nearby maid about my plan to go exploring, in case someone tries to look for me. I don't tell her when I'll be back though, because who knows where my adventure will lead me. Maybe if I walk long enough, I'll be back home with Mom. Hah, okay, I'm not that delusional, but it's a nice thought. 

I open the large door and a blast of Seoul's cold morning air hits me in the face. For a second I contemplate whether I should go grab a jacket. My blue short sleeved t-shirt and old pair of jeans aren't going to protect me well from this cold weather. But as I stand there for a while longer, I realize that it's not that cold, I've definitely felt worst. Living in the countryside where there isn't heat flooring and big poofy coats, you learn very early on how to withstand even the coldest winter. I decide to forgo the jacket. Stepping down the front steps, I look at the street and see the same types of houses to the left and right of Kim Young Soo's house. So left or right? 

Right is always right. 

I don't particularily believe this statement is true, but what the heck, why not? So I turn to the right, and start walking towards who knows where. 

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No One's POV (Third Person) 

"Yah! I call foul! FOUULL!!" Luhan yells at the departing back of his friend Xiumin from his spot on the wet grass. Xiumin just turns around and sticks his tongue out childishly while continuing to drive the ball towards the goal. With a swift kick of his feet, he sends the ball flying into the net. 

"WOOOOO!! In your face Luhan! 1 - 0!" He does his special victory dance, which consists of lip biting and window rolling. 

Luhan gets up quickly and jogs towards him. "1 - 0 my ! Didn't you hear me call foul, you bastard."

"What foul??" asks Xiumin with fake innocence. 

"You tripped me and stole my ball. That's so a foul," Luhan points out indignantly with a pout on his handsome face. "PSHHH, there are no rules on Sunday. All is fair my friend, allll is fair." 

"All is fair huh? Okay, so that's how you want to play," the pout is replaced by a smirk and before Xiumin can finish his second round of victory dancing, Luhan grabs the ball out of his hands and begins kicking it towards the opposite goal. When he hears Xiumin yelling out in mock outrage in the background, Luhan can't help but laugh delightedly.      

Today is Sunday, and Sunday is Luhan's favorite day. On Sundays, he wakes up extra early to go meet Xiumin at their favorite soccer field so that they can enjoy some footballing without the pressure of a team and winning and losing. While they both enjoy the competitive side of soccer, it can get very stressing, and that takes the fun out of the sport. So since the beginning of their friendship, they decided to meet often and just kick the ball around as a way to de-stress. 

As he threads the ball between his nimble feet, Luhan can hear his friend running after him, yelling things like "Cheater! Cheater!" and "Give me back my ball!" Ignoring all complaints from Xiumin, he focuses on bringing the ball closer and closer towards the goal post. The goal is still far away, but Xiumin is gaining on him quickly, so Luhan makes a quick decision. If he uses enough force and precision, he can probably shoot the ball right into the net from where he is. It's farther than where a player should usually take a shot, but hey, who cares about that. He needs this goal to get back at Xiumin for his underhanded methods! 

Xiumin is probably 1 step behind when Luhan pulls back his right leg and musters all his power into one shot. Taking aim, he swings his foot forward, just as his buddy reaches out and snags the back of his shirt in a strong pull. His foot makes contact, but Luhan can already tell that it's not going to go in the right direction since Xiumin's pull had cause his body to shift. 

"UGH!" He grunts, the shirt is semi-choking him. Xiumin lets go of the shirt immediately and search for where the ball is flying to. "Oh man, not good! HEY! Watch out!!"

Luhan turns towards whoever Xiumin is yelling the warning to, and watches in horror as the girl walking alongside the soccer field turns towards them because of the warning.  OHHH NOOO, watch ou- He and Xiumin both flinch simultaneously. The ball had just smacked the girl squarely in the face. 

"She...does not look happy. You're dead, man. Nice knowing you," Luhan's so-called friend pats him regretfully on the shoulder. Luhan thinks that Xiumin is right. The girl definitely does not look happy. In fact, with her eyes close and shoulders heaving like that, she looks like a mad bull waiting to charge. The only thing taking away from her scary image is her nose, which is now a bright red color, courtesy of his ball flying into her face. So instead of a mad bull waiting to charge, she was turning into a mad Rudolph. 

Unfortunately for them though, even a deer can be very proficient at expressing anger, which they find out two seconds later when she blows up. While clutching her aching nose and stomping around furiously, the two boys can hear her cursing colorfully, using language and phrases that they didn't even know existed. They stare wide-eyes at her while she curses their ancestors and something about his mom and baboons.  Luhan knows that he should go over there and apologize, but he is scared that she might kill him in her rage. It must've hurt a lot..since I've never heard a girl cuss like that before! Well...it WAS a really hard kick. Damn, I should apologize. 

"Go apologize! Before she comes over here!" Xiumin eagerly pushes him towards the pissed off girl. He is grudgingly taking steps towards the angry female when she stops her tirade and flicks her head up and glares in his direction. Luhan gulps. If looks could kill...I would be dead, and I would come back to haunt Xiumin.  

"YOU! Did you kick that ball?!" She screams at him, but her voice comes out nasally because she is still gripping it. The sound is a cross between a deflating balloon and a 3 year-old chipmunk, which, combine with her angry look and also reddening forehead, is making him want to laugh so bad. Luhan bites the inside of his cheeks to keep from laughing, but being the laughing prone person that he is, a small chuckle still escapes. Eyes wide and hands flying to his mouth, Luhan watches in horror as his betraying laughter causes her to give him an even scarier glare. 

"You bastard!! Are you laughing at me now?!?" Her balloony-chipmunk voice isn't helping him keep his laughter in at all. 

"I'm s-haha s-sorry! I r-really..hah..am!" he manages to say between chuckles. Raising his hands up placatingly, Luhan tries to walk closer to her to apologize correctly, but she has a different idea in mind. Scrambling around, the girl finds the ball that had caused her so much pain and takes aim. One hand holding the ball up, and the right leg poise to kick, she drops the ball and swings her leg as hard as she can, aiming the kick towards the approaching male. The ball goes flying. And then...

They both watch as the ball fly over Luhan's head and then...over Xiumin's head, and finally landing somewhere far into the field. Luhan turns back to look at the girl in disbelief. How the hell did she miss!? I'm like 5 feet in front of her!

She is as shocked as he is.

The novelty of it all is too much for him to bare, so Luhan lets loose everything that he's been trying to hold in and doubles forward in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. On the field, Xiumin is on the ground doing the same. As much as Luhan wants to keep apologizing to the girl who is now embarrassed beyond belief, he couldn't bring himself to stop laughing. How silly she looks with the red nose and forehead, how ridiculously off her kick was, and that look of utter shock on her face when she missed, it was all too much for him. 

The sound of her running away is what finally gets him to stop laughing. By the time he looks up to find her, she is sprinting down the walkway with amazing speed. Darn, I feel bad now.

Xiumin joins him a few seconds later and they both watch as she turns the corner and disappears from sight. "You're an . You didn't even say sorry!" the older chastises him. 

"I did! Or..I tried... Ah, you're right. And that was mean of us to laugh at her, especially after kicking a ball to her face," Luhan continues staring at the corner where she had just turned. "Do you think I'll be able to see her again one day and say sorry?" He wonders out-loud. 

Xiumin thinks for a bit before answering, "I doubt it. Did you see how she was dressed? I don't think she's from this neighborhood." He didn't mean that in a degrading way, but merely just stating a fact. They both live in the richest part of Seoul, so they rarely see a girl dressed so casually as she was. Her blue short-sleeved T-shirt and worn out pair of jeans looked out of place in an area where girls preferred pretty dresses and designer handbags. 

"Yeah...you're right. I guess the only good thing about all this is that I didn't make her bleed or broke her nose or something."

"Yup, that would've , because she was really cute," Xiumin admits.

Luhan thinks back to the short encounter and tries to envision her face without the red nose and angry eyes. He realizes that Xiumin is wrong. She wasn't cute....she was actually very pretty.  

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That's the end of Chapter 3, thank you for reading!

A/N: Just a few things I want to clarify! 

- I know Jae Min is acting kinda bratty right now, and it might annoy some people, but rest assured, I intentionally made her this way. I mean, even SHE knows shes being rude and obnoxious, so lets just give her time to grow up yeah? 

- Also, I know my grammar is all over the place. I try to keep it present tense, but man, writing is hard! 

- Lastly, sorry if the plot is moving very slow right now. Introductory chapters are like that sometimes. 

Feedbacks are always welcomed, as long as they are constructive and nice. =)