The trees danced as a soft breeze blew past. Staring out the window, elbows resting on the window sill, Rihee is confronted by the sight of the deserted playground. She watched as the birds flew gracefully in the sky that was painted in various shades of light blue. Oh how she wished that she had wings that would take her wherever she fancied, oh how she wished that she could spread her wings and reach for the freedom that those birds had, but wishes did not come true.

‘One more year, just one more year and I’ll be out of here,’ she whispered to herself before taking one last glance at the birds.

Slowly turning on her heel, she sighed before coming to a decision that she should head back to her room. Too immersed in her thoughts, Rihee accidently bumped into an unfamiliar faced female and immediately apologised but the female shot her a death stare before brushing the non-existent creases on her expensive looking clothes and rushed off, leaving Rihee completely baffled but she shrugged it off. She was used to being treated like trash; she was an outcast after all.

‘Rihee!’ Someone called from behind.

Rihee immediately responded by snapping her head back, only to be confronted by one of the teachers that was in charge of out of school activities.

‘Good afternoon Miss Song,’ Rihee greeted her politely before bowing 90 degrees.

‘I have sent a letter home to your parents to inform them about the excursion next Tuesday to Namsan Tower, the rest of the students have taken their permission notes home over the weekend but you…well…’ she fell silent after realising what she had just said.

‘I’m sorry,’ she quickly apologised before rushing off away and out of view.

Rihee was once again left alone in the vast and empty hallway, not that she wasn’t use to it already or anything. I mean, it wasn’t her first year at this school and she was labelled an outcast straight away after being enrolled into this apparent prestigious school. Being one out of the 75 boarders at this school and the other 325 being day students, she never received phone calls from her parents or family, no one ever sent her gifts on her birthday or on special occasions, she stayed in the school on Saturday and Sunday when the boarders were allowed home or out and although everyone knew that she came from a reasonably wealthy family, she didn’t own any sort of expensive or branded clothing.

Finding her way to her room, she sighed and realised that even if Miss Song had sent the letter, it would not reach her father unless she called and informed him about it herself but it was such a hassle. The call would have to go through his secretary to find out his whereabouts before being passed through to him if he was at the office or to his mobile phone if he wasn’t or in the case of him being in a meeting or unavailable, the call would be put on hold and he’d call back when he was free which was never. In other cases where he was at home, it’d go through the maids then to her step-mother which Rihee always tried to avoid, then finally to her father if she was lucky but there was always the chance that her step-mother would in half way throughout the call and that was something else Rihee tried to avoid.

Taking in a deep breath and finally making a decision, Rihee dialled the numbers to phone home, praying that her step-mother would not be the one to answer the phone or else she was doomed.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

After what felt like hours and just when Rihee was going to hang up, someone answered and Rihee held her breath.

‘Hello?’ An averagely deep but gentle voice which showed great maturity answered.

‘Grandpa!’ Rihee exclaimed out of surprise before sighing in relief.

‘Hello to you too my lovely granddaughter. What can I do for you today?’ He chuckled before asking.

‘Well…’ She hesitated.

‘She isn’t home, don’t worry,’ he reassured as if reading Rihee’s mind.

‘There’s an excursion to Namsan Tower on Tuesday and I would really like to go. They sent a letter to father but it’s hard to reach him and I know that he might not notice the letter so…’ She trailed off but her grandpa caught the hint.

‘I’ll call up the school and let them know that as your guardian, I give you permission to go on the excursion,’ he emphasized the word guardian.

Rihee was ecstatic,’ Thank you!’ She shrieked excitedly.

‘When are you coming home to visit your old grandpa aye? Why haven’t you been sending me letters?’

‘I want to come home every week like a lot of the other boarders but…you know. I have been sending letters, I swear I have! Unless…she’s been intercepting them before they can reach you. Oh my god, I’m sorry, I never thought of that possibility Grandpa.’

Rihee had been wondering why her Grandpa had not been sending her letters back. Sure, the exchange of letters was old school and all but that was their only way to communicate with one another since speaking face to face was not an option, a long with talking over the phone since the calls were often monitored. It had never come to her mind that the reason why she had not been getting letters back was due to them being intercepted by no other then her step-mother, Kwon Jihyun.

‘That evil witch, let me give her an ear full,’ he grumbled.

‘It’s okay grandpa,’ Rihee reassured.

‘How dare she try and cut off the communication between my beloved Granddaughter and I. I never understood why Seunghyun married her. Oh Rihee she’s home, I better hang up. Talk soon okay?’ He hurriedly said before hanging up.

Wasn’t it amusing that even a man in his late eighties who surely had more authority and a higher status than her step-mother, was afraid of that woman who was in her late thirties and surely held less authority? Funny how in this case, their authorities and status’ were switched around making it seem like her grandpa had to respect her step-mother.

-

Lying on her bed, staring blankly at the white ceiling above, her hands played with the amethyst and rose quartz beaded bracelets that were on her left wrist that once belonged to her mother. Moving her hand towards her neck, she touched the diamond necklace that hung around her neck. It was like a traffic light pendant, with 3 diamond stones hung on a pure silver necklace which her mother had left her and the necklace simply meant that she was the third child in the family.

‘Mum, being the devil’s child is so tiring, not to mention lonely. Sometimes, I wish that I wasn’t here and off somewhere else where I won’t get hurt time and time again,’ Rihee whispered whilst fiddling around with the necklace. Her eyes slowly closed, her mind blank, thinking no thoughts in particular; she drifted off to sleep in the hopes that tonight would not be another restless one.

-

‘WAKE UP YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING FREAK!’ A sharp pitched voice shouted into Rihee’s ears before she felt a cold splash of water landing onto her, covering her completely.

Snapping awake almost instantly, she sat up right, the room lights were on and Rihee was completely drenched from top to toe in freezing cold water which also seeped through her covers and mattress.

‘It’s good that you’re finally awake,’ The girl remarked before a satisfied smirk was plastered on her face.

‘A-Ahra-ssi,’ Rihee managed to stutter before her teeth chattered from a strong gust of wind passing by and realisation had hit her that the window was wide open with the curtains blowing like crazy.

‘Gosh, it’s 9 am and you’re still not awake. Stupid cow,’ She rolled her eyes before crossing her arms across her chest,’ It’s such a hassle for me having to wake up people like you who over sleep and miss their classes. You better hurry up or else I’ll be of blame if you’re late to Ancient History.’

Eyeing Rihee up and down, Ahra’s face scrunched up in disgust and she her heels before flicking her hair over her shoulders and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

The slam of the door brought a dazed Rihee back into reality. She crawled out of her now soaked bed and stood beside it, staring at the damage made. The gust of wind blew past once more and it was only common sense to close the windows. Pushing away the curtains, her eyes widened at what they revealed.  It wasn’t even dawn yet and the sun was nowhere to be seen. Reaching for the phone located in the drawer of her bedside table, her eyes popped out of their sockets in disbelief.

‘5:05 am’ was clearly printed on the screen.

She had been fooled once again but this was also nothing new and it wasn’t the first time it had happened.

Not wanting to make a fuss, Rihee sighed before pulling the curtains back and tying them. She left the window open before heading off to take a shower and change out of the fully drenched clothes that stuck to her skin.

-

Coming back out of the bathroom in a clean set of dry clothes, she once again looked at the mess that had become of her bed. Pulling the covers, bed sheets and everything off of it, she took out the iron from its tattered card board box before turning it on and waited for it to heat up.

The red light on the iron disappeared, signalling that it was ready for use and as odd as it sounds, Rihee began to iron her mattress which she knew would take ages but she had no other option and she prayed that it would dry before class began.

-

Rihee lay on the cold wooden floor boards, completely exhausted. She briefly shut her eyes and let her mind wander.

‘I wish I had friends. I wish I had someone to talk to. I don’t need them to comfort me and tell me that everything’s okay, I just need them to be there.  I wish…’ she trailed off without completing the sentence.

Fiddling with her necklace that hung around her neck, she sighed in content. It was one of the few things that her mother had left her and the necklace was what comforted Rihee, it also calmed her down in a way. To her, it made her mother feel so close yet so far.

‘Hey mum, I miss you,’ She whispered before curling into a foetus position and stayed put on the ground, her eyes slowly closed and again she prayed that someone, anyone would come and drag her out of hell.

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First chapter, yeah i know it's boring. I'm not sure where this fanfic is going but i have some things planned out. Luhan will appear in the next chapter. Please give me feedback and support.