I walked down the stairs while putting on my hoodie lazily. When I reached down the bottom of the stairs, I could hear the familiar sound of cooking from the kitchen. I could smell my mother's french toast cooking on the frying pan. I could just imagine my mother cooking the meal with a big smile plastered on her lovely face.

I pulled out a chair and sat down. My mother glanced at me and quickly her smile became wider. "Good morning, dear!"

I couldn't help but to return her smile with one of my own. My mother just affect people around her that way.

My mother went back to her cooking, leaving her back facing me. My eyes linger on her gorgeous wavy brunette hair. Unconsciously, my hand went to touch my own hair. Which is blue. I've always wondered how does this hair color reach me, when my mother is brunette while my father have pure black hair. I snapped out of my thoughts when I found that my mother is now serving the french toast on a plate.

"Why are you touching your hair, Seunghyun?" My mother ask curiously.

"Urrmm, nothing!" I grinned sheepishly and quickly put on my hat. Then I pulled my hoodie and it covered my obscene blue hair perfectly.

My mother just sighed at the sight. She kept telling me to just ignore the stares I always get. She said what matters is that I'm happy. But how can I be happy when everywhere I go people stare at me like I'm walking around ? How can I be happy when people look at me with prejudice? How can I be happy when people think I'm the kind of kid who would dye his freaking hair blue to get attention?

I once had my hopes up and went to a salon to dye my hair. The hairdresser got a shock when the dye won't work. He said that is looks like my blue hair absorbs the black dye, and the dye seemed to seeped into the blue. There wasn't even a trace of change in color to my hair. He even said that he would like to take a lock of my hair to examine the cause. I of course refused. The last thing I want is to be used for an experiment.

Suddenly I felt someone's hand tapping my shoulder. I could already guess who's the owner of those big protective hands before he speaks up, "Morning, Seunghyun!"

"Morning, dad". I continued munching on my french toast without looking up. It's not that I'm being rude, I'm just opposing to the idea of doing other things while eating. I had a big respect for food... Nah, I just love food that much.

"How's school?" My dad asked before grabbing a french toast for himself. I gave him an OK sign with my left hand. Yeah, food meant that much to me. After that, we all ate in a comfortable silence.

Done eating, I stood up and sling my bad on my right shoulder. "I'm going," My father just nodded while my mother went up to me and pat my shoulder. "Do well in school. Take care", she said while smiling. I smiled back to her and left.

The moment I stepped out of my house, a cold win blew past me leaving me shivering. It's very cold outside. I hugged myself and tighten my hoodie. Sighing, I dragged my numb feet and walked to school.

While walking, I though I heard another set of foot steps following right behind me. I turned around abruptly, but no one was to be found. Instead, I was greeted by an empty street. Was it just an echo? I tilted my head curiously. I thought I saw a shadow behind the mailbox, but shook the feeling off. I turned around and continued my journey to Jade High School.

Without Seunghyun knowing, someone had been following him all along, watching him through her piercing eyes. She watched Seunghyun walking leisurely, hugging himself from the cold. She snickered and whispered viciously, "He's the one? Tch, he seems so normal. Well, look can be deceiving" She retreated back into the shadow, and quietly vanished into the darkness.

-Chapter 1 ended-
Written - 20/09/2012
Uploaded to AFF - 12/05/2013