Chapter 3 - The Start of Something New

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When she had finished unpacking all her stuff, Yeonhee stood up and placed her now empty bag neatly at the side of the bed. Phew.. I never knew I had so many things, She thought and chuckled to herself as her eyes wandered to the closet where she had stuffed all her clothes at. Taking one last look at everything in the room, she nodded her head in satisfaction and went out. Warily, she climbed down the stairs to see Minhyuk and Mr. Lee already waiting for her at the dining table.

 

“Ah Yeonhee, you’re here. Come sit.” Mr. Lee smiled and beckoned her to sit down beside Minhyuk. Yeonhee smiled and went over beside Minhyuk before sitting down gently. “Let’s eat!” Minhyuk exclaimed and scooped different side dishes onto his bowl of rice. Yeonhee gaped at Minhyuk’s bowl, which was literally full to the brim now. She didn’t know how could such a skinny boy eat so much. Seeing her stare at his food, Minhyuk used his chopsticks and put some meat onto Yeonhee’s rice. She blinked and looked up.

 

“Don’t be shy. Eat up.” He smiled and nodded encouragingly at Yeonhee’s bowl before proceeding to gobble down his food. She finally picked up her chopsticks and started to eat. Her eyes suddenly lit up. Either the food was really delicious or it was because she hadn’t eaten a proper meal for days that she felt it was delicious. In any case, she hungrily chewed. Minhyuk caught a glimpse of Yeonhee eating her food happily and couldn’t help but smile. She really looked like a stray kitten that was starving for days. Glad that she was enjoying her food, Minhyuk chuckled and went back to eating.

 

After dinner, Yeonhee insisted on helping to wash the dishes.

 

“I’ll help. Since you’re kindly letting me stay here.” She protested. But Mr. Lee shook his head firmly.

 

“No, no. Go and take a rest, Yeonhee. You must be tired.” He told her and started scrubbing the dishes. Yeonhee frowned. She wanted to at least do something in return for them allowing her to stay here. But Mr. Lee pushed her out of the kitchen. “Go and accompany Minhyuk. He’s alone in the living room.” His eyes were twinkling as he said that. Thinking as there’s no way he would budge, Yeonhee gave up and nodded, walking to the living room. Minhyuk was sitting on the couch, switching the channels boredly.

 

“Oh hey, Yeonhee. Come and sit.” He noticed her standing there and waved his hand over to her to come sit down. She sat down. Suddenly, there was an awkward silence as neither of them spoke. Finally, Minhyuk turned to her.

 

“Don’t worry about washing the dishes. Dad and I take turns every day.” He explained when he realised Yeonhee looked rather down that she wasn’t able to help out in anything. Suddenly, an idea popped out in her mind.

 

“Can I take turns to wash the dishes as well?” She asked Minhyuk hopefully. “I really want to help out in something since I’m going to be staying here from now on.”

 

Minhyuk pretended to be thinking as he watched Yeonhee look at him hopefully. Then he smiled and nodded.

 

“Well, if you really want to. I’ll tell dad about it.” Yeonhee almost whooped. At last, she finally get to help out in something. She felt that she was now at least a little bit useful to the Lee family during her stay here.

 

Suddenly, it became awkward again. Minhyuk looked at the screen but he wasn’t watching it at all. He was thinking of asking Yeonhee some questions. But he felt that it was a bit rude asking about someone’s private stuff.

 

Finally, his curiosity got the better of him.

 

“Yeonhee!” He blurted. Yeonhee blinked and turned to face Minhyuk, whose face was rather red now as he didn’t expect himself to call her. Rubbing the back of his neck, he decided to give it a go.

 

“Umm.. Is it alright if you tell me why you came to live with us? I’m sort of curious.” He asked, scratching his head awkwardly. When she didn’t answer, he mentally slapped himself for asking such a question when they weren’t even close to each other yet.

 

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t wan—” Before Minhyuk could finish his sentence, Yeonhee started talking about the same thing that she had told Mr. Lee. When she had finished, she looked up at Minhyuk who was trying to absorb the entire story in. “So, that’s why.” She softly whispered. Minhyuk patted her back comfortingly.

 

“Don’t worry. You have us now.” He flashed her a grin. She couldn’t help but smile.

 

“Thank you, Minhyuk oppa.”

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Soon, it was time for bed. Yeonhee said good night to Minhyuk and Mr. Lee and headed back to her room. Shutting the door behind her, she went over to her bed and sat down on it. It was an eventful day for her and she felt tired. She couldn’t believe that everything that had happened to this point was real. It almost felt like a dream. Leaving home, committing suicide and getting saved, as well as meeting someone who was kind enough to allow her to stay at his house. But Yeonhee was glad that Mr. Lee saved her. After all, it let her meet such nice people. She had never came across anyone that was so nice to her like how Mr. Lee and Minhyuk was. She smiled to herself.

 

Suddenly, memories of her parents flashed through her mind. Her father and mother beating her up whenever she came home late or did something wrong. Them leaving her all alone at home and never coming back till it was late at night. The memories struck her and she felt a pang of pain in her heart. She was afraid. Afraid that they would find her and bring her back. And continue to abuse her. Yeonhee didn’t want that to happen. She wanted to stay here with Mr. Lee and Minhyuk. Burying her head in her knees, she started to cry. Not because she missed her parents, but because she was scared. Her fatigue was building up and soon, she fell into a deep slumber.

 

In her dreams, her parents had found her and were dragging her home whilst ignoring her pleas and cries.

 

“Appa, umma.. Please let me go!” She cried desperately and watched as the image of Mr. Lee and Minhyuk disappeared. Suddenly, she found herself back in her house, her angry parents hovering over her.

 

“Leaving home eh? You’re getting from bad to worse.” Her father hit her on the face. Her mother snorted.

 

“Appa, I didn’t m—” A punch was thrown at her face again. The impact was so great that Yeonhee stumbled backwards and fell onto the floor. Holding her swollen face, she looked up to see her father glaring angrily at her. He raised his hand to hit her once more.

 

“NO! APPA! PLEASE LET ME GO!” Yeonhee eyes flew open and she screamed. Her face was as pale as a ghost and beads of perspiration was trickling down her face. Panting loudly, she realised that she was in her room at the Lee’s residence and her heart felt relieved almost at once. The door to her room was opened abruptly and Minhyuk rushed in with a worried look plastered on his handsome face.

 

“Yeonhee! Are you alright? I heard screaming.” He asked her anxiously. When Yeonhee saw Minhyuk, her heart rate slowed down and soon, she was breathing normally.

 

Wiping the sweat off her face, she gave him a weak smile.

 

“I’m f-fine. Just a bad dream..”

 

Minhyuk sat down on the edge of her bed and patted her hand.

 

“Everything’s alright, don’t worry. It was only a bad dream.”

 

Yeonhee felt relaxed and warm. It calmed her down right away when Minhyuk patted her hand. She didn’t know why. And she was never treated so nicely before. It was something so new to her.

 

Seeing that she had calmed down, Minhyuk stood up and gave her his signature smile.

 

“Wash up and come downstairs soon, okay? Breakfast will be ready soon.” He left the room and shut the door quietly behind him.

 

Yeonhee looked around her room. It was definitely her room at the Lee’s house and not her old room.

 

It’s not a dream.. It’s real, She told herself. Then, she hopped off her bed and folded her blanket neatly. Gathering all the things she needed, she disappeared into the bathroom for a quick shower.

 

Afterwards, she headed downstairs for breakfast. As usual, Mr. Lee and Minhyuk were already downstairs waiting for her. Looking up from his newspaper, Mr. Lee smiled.

 

“Good morning Yeonhee-ah. Did you sleep well last night?” He greeted her.

 

“Good morning, ahjusshi. Yes I did.” Yeonhee fibbed and tried to smile naturally. She sat down at the same spot beside Minhyuk.

 

“That’s good, let’s dig in now!” Mr. Lee chortled and began eating. Minhyuk and Yeonhee did the same. She nibbled the crusts off her toast and ate her scrambled eggs absent-mindedly. Thinking that she was still affected by her bad dream, Minhyuk patted her shoulder gently. Yeonhee looked up at once when Minhyuk patted her. She smiled at him to inform him that she was alright. He felt relieved and continued eating.

 

After breakfast, everyone was gathered in the living room, watching TV. Mr. Lee did not have work today as it was a Sunday and Minhyuk didn’t have school. Yeonhee was watching the TV blankly when all of a sudden, Mr. Lee called her.

 

“Yeonhee-ah. You have to go to school, don’t you? Well.. Since your old school is far from here, how about I enroll you into Minhyuk’s school?” He asked her. Yeonhee shook her head immediately.

 

“It’s alright. I don’t want to bother you.” She replied politely. Mr. Lee chuckled and waved his hand.

 

“Oh come on, it’s no problem at all. So it’s settled then. We’re enrolling you into Daewon High. I shall inform the school now.” He stood up and headed to the study room to use the computer. Yeonhee looked at Minhyuk for help, but he just shrugged. Sighing, she gave up and continued watching the TV screen. A short moment later, Mr. Lee appeared and sat down on the couch once more.

 

“I’ve already made the necessary arrangements. You are able to go to school tomorrow.” He smiled at her. His eyes were twinkling as usual. Yeonhee nodded and thanked him profusely.

 

“Thank you so much, ahjusshi. You’ve done so much for me.”

 

“It’s no problem at all, like I said.” He nodded and once and continued watching the TV screen.

 

Yeonhee had a faraway look in eyes. New school huh? I hope I can make new friends there, She thought and smiled when she remembered that Minhyuk goes to to the same school as well. Thank you.. Ahjusshi and Minhyuk oppa. My life is happier now.