"What a crappy room...." I mumbled to myself, looking around. "Sis seriously didn't leave me any money...."

Hi, my name is Lilo Vashal, the most unlucky girl in the world. I recently lived with my older sister, well, up until she stole the savings we had earned together and disappeared, leaving me in a rather tough dilemma.

Since I was only seventeen, I had to get special permission from the court to live on my own until I became an adult. Even with that permission, and even with my current job as a waitress, my salary was no where near what the rent for our previous apartment cost. So, I had to leave in search of a cheaper place to stay.

That's how I ended up here, in this shabby, gross room. The ceiling leaked, the water wasn't clean, and the room crawled with mites and ants. I could barely stand to look at this place, much less live in it. Oh, well, what do I expect from the cheapest apartment I could find?

And in this part of town, too! Where we had lived before, crime was scarce. Apart from the nasty, cramped interior, I can see why this place is unoccupied. Even though South Korea was relatively a safe place compared to other countries, they still had criminals. And the criminals would usually stick together around one place. The loan sharks, the thieves, and even the mafia! And guess what?

I was now living in a place people like that frequented, where clubs were all over the place. There were rumors the law enforcement officers didn't dare come near this area in fear of being overthrown, so they could only protect a portion of the town. I think that was untrue, but even so, the crime rate here skyrocketed.

"THESE BAD THINGS ARE COMING AT ME ALL AT ONCE!" I yelled to no one in particular, "First, they kick me out of the apartment and confiscate all the furniture Sharle and I bought, and now my job is too far away from home, so I had to quit, and Sharle didn't even finish paying off my high school tuition! So now I have to do everything myself! HOW COULD MY SITUATION GET ANY WORSE?!"

"SHUT UP OVER THERE!" The landlady knocked loudly on the wall separating our rooms. Startled, I jumped back only to fall on the disgusting floor.

"Nasty hag...." I mumbled to myself, frustrated, as I got up and brushed my clothing off. I sighed, glancing at the small bed in the corner of the room.

At least that didn't have ants.

 

 

"Wow," I sighed, running a hand through my long brown hair, "This is harder than I thought." I had spent the whole morning searching for a quality job, and no luck yet. I wasn't old enough to work at a club or casino, and all the other people rejected me. So, I would have to resort to a job a bit farther away.

"There was that sign in the restaurant near my school...." I murmured to myself as I walked along, "And maybe the grocery store......" I sighed sadly. "Oh, who am I kidding, I'll never get a job....." I was attracting some stares, but I ignored them, too busy wallowing in my self-pity. I guess I wasn't called unlucky for nothing.

And so, I continued my search all through the afternoon. I guess God chose to let me off, because I got the job as a waitress and a job at the grocery store. The waitress paid well, but the grocery store had considerably low wages, but hey, when you’re poor, any job that pays money is a blessing.

"Thank god." I said, feeling cheerful and relieved as I walked along the sidewalk.

"Two part time jobs, school, and a few hours of sleep a day. This is awesome!" I said to myself, pumping my fist in excitement. A smile was spread across my face, and I felt like one of the luckiest girls in the world.

Well, that turned wrong quickly.

"STOP!" I heard a man yell, and gunshots echoed through the air. I could hear feet pounding on the ground, triggering me to spin around, eyes wide in alarm.

"GAH!" I yelled as someone knocked into my body with enough force to send me lightly skidding across the sidewalk. I cried out in pain as my skin scraped against the coarse pavement.

I dizzily opened my eyes just to see people dashing through the street, past me. I could tell a few of them were police, but the rest were out of view before I could even blink. They all soon disappeared, leaving me behind, laying on the pavement while I picked small pieces of rocks out of my arms.

"DAMNIT!" I shouted after them, although they probably didn't hear me because of the distance. I staggered to my feet, angrily brushing myself off. I sighed, and was about to start off toward my apartment when a sparkle caught my eye.

Curious, I turned back and bent down to the reflective object, carefully analyzing it. I gasped, and looked after the guys who had bumped into me, and even if they were gone, that made me wonder…

In my hand, I held a palm-sized clean cut diamond, it's smooth surface reflecting the brilliant colors of the setting sun. Since I was almost absolutely sure it hadn’t been there before, I assumed the people who bashed into me had dropped it. And, even with being dropped, it was completely unharmed, thus convincing me it was not plastic, but leaving me to wonder if it was an actual diamond.

After a moment of debating with myself, I glanced left and right, and, when ascertained the street was empty, I inconspicuously tucked the diamond into my jacket pocket and walked on like nothing had happened.

 

 

 

“Hmm…” I unconsciously hummed as I stared at the diamond. I was currently lying on my small bed, staring intently at the diamond which rested on the pillow in front of me, thinking deeply.

“If someone bumped into me and dropped the diamond, they must’ve been in a hurry…… Not to mention they were being pursued by police…. Could they have stolen the diamond?” I knew I was talking to myself, but I couldn’t help it. “Nah, where would someone even get a diamond this big? Its probably an imitation, but even if it isn’t made of plastic…. I can’t sell it…. What should I do?” I sighed, holding the diamond as I rolled over to rest my head on the pillow. I ran a hand through my hair as I set the diamond on my stomach.

“This wouldn’t have happened if Sharle was still here,” I murmured, “And with her gone, everything is falling out of place! It was a pure of luck I was even able to find a job without Sharle’s recommendation! But every time life gives me some luck, something disastrous follows!" I sighed again in frustration as I ran a hand through my hair again, an odd habit of mine to do when I'm frustrated.

"I should give it back to them...... Whatever...... I'll figure out something eventually." I said, closing my eyes.

"It can wait until later."