“Where am I?”

She rubbed her eyes as she tried to recall what had happened, where she was, why she was there and most importantly, who she was.

“Is anybody there?” Her humble voice spoke.

She heard the door creak open, in walked a girl who had long, wavy black hair. She was tall and she looked as if she was a star. She wore a pair of Gucci sunglasses, carried a Chanel purse, wore gladiator heals which made her of a giant’s height…

“You’re awake…!” She ran towards the girl who had no idea what was going on, grabbed her wrists and started shaking them.

“I’m so relieved that you’ve finally awakened from your coma! It’s been 5 years!”

“5 years…? I’ve been living in this place for 15 years?” She thought. She blinked, not able to grasp the situation. Her eyes started welling up, a familiar feeling overwhelming. She blinked rapidly, trying to hold back what was about to be let out.

“Why aren’t you talking to me? You can talk, right…?”

The girl backed away shaking her head in disbelief. Who was she and more importantly, why did she care so much about this girl?

Unable to hold it in anymore, the supermodel-like girl ran out of the room weeping. She needed time alone to think about how she was gonna handle this problem. The poor girl was left alone in the room. The place was white, everything was white. The only thing with colour was the painting of a vase of plants hanging on the wall.

When the girl tried to get up, she stumbled to the ground, dragging what was attached to her hand along with her – the glucose pack.

Her legs were weak, and she couldn’t walk. Why was this so? She looked down at her pathetic state and brushed herself off. She ripped off the tubes and started supporting herself using the bed as she tried to get up on her feet.

Just as she was about to fall, someone, someone whom she didn’t see walking in, caught her.

She looked up to see a man with finely chiseled features. He was a handsome young man dressed in a suit, and the bouquet of flowers he had carried in was on the floor. A petal from one of the roses had fallen off.

He followed her gaze and turned to see that she was staring at the bouquet of roses on the ground. He set her down on her bed and walked over to pick the roses up, picking out that one rose which petal had fallen off. He laid it on the table and handed the rest of the bouquet to the pale girl.

“These are for you.”

Receiving them politely, her cheeks turned a fine shade of pink. She buried her face in the roses, appreciating the sweet scent that lingered even after she had laid the bouquet on the table top.

“Who… are you?” she spoke for the third time.

“You don’t recognize me?”

“I’m afraid I can’t even recognize myself… How am I to recognize you?”

He analyzed her and realized she wasn’t fooling around. He immediately got the doctor to come in and find out what was going on.

“I’m afraid she has lost her memory due to an unknown reason. I cannot guarantee she will definitely regain her memory, but my advice to you is to leave the patient be.  Sometimes, people lose their memories because they desperately want to, not because of any natural disasters of any sort.”

“I see… Thank you doctor Kim. I will see what I can do. Is it alright for her to be discharged now?”

“Yes, of course. First, you need to fill up the discharge form. How are you related to the patient?”

“I’m her ex, Byunghun.”

Byunghun lifted the girl up and set her down on the passenger seat, buckling her seat belt for her. She was still unable to walk, but 2 hours of practice a day will help her regain her ability to move freely on her own.

“Even though her birth name is Lee Ji Eun, I’ll change her name to IU, so she can live in the states thinking that she’s IU. Hopefully, she wouldn’t regain her memory thanks to this.”

6 years later…

“Let’s see… Tank top? Check. Crop top? Check. Denim shorts? Check. Vans sneakers? Check! Okay, time to set off for my job interviews. Jiyeon, I’m off!”

“Break a leg, sis!”

Jiyeon ran in to give her a big hug. It was her big day today, her first time going for job interviews. Shimmering in her 21 year old glory, IU lived in America with Jiyeon. Today, she was going to start to make a living for herself so she can learn to be independent and stop depending on Jiyeon for money and for food as well as clothing.

Entering Daesoo Company, she took in a deep breath to calm herself down a little.

“FIGHTING!” She encouraged herself before happily skipping in.

“Ouch!” IU yelped, colliding with an unknown man and falling right on her bum.

The man got up and brushed himself off, scoffing at IU as he looked at her from head to toe. He pulled his coat and commented, “Country bumpkin,” before he walked off, leaving IU baffled and annoyed.

She gagged as she watched him leave the building.

“Rich people these days.”