The weekend brought great joy to Mira. She had never once been so excited and eager for school to end in years. Even if she was a junior, school life was tough as school work kept her busy. She really wanted to take a break away from all the school stuff and spend some time alone. 

All of a sudden, she felt like going to the lily pond, the secret place that Jongin had shown her. She had been there a couple of times with him so she knew the way pretty well even though the place was isolated. She then finally made up her mind, she was going to go there and just forget about all the hectic things which were currently happening in her life. 

She had gotten a phone call from Joowon a few hours ago and it didn’t go well, like always. She hated how they couldn’t rebuild their relationship. She didn’t want to lose yet another family member. The loss of both her parents had deeply affected Mira and after Joowon abandoned her, she didn’t see any hope in front of her. She was alone now, she was going to be alone on her journey to adulthood.

Joowon, her one and only brother couldn’t understand her feelings. He wasn’t even interested in how Mira felt. She had already realised what went wrong in their relationship for them to end up this way. She was so embarrassed and felt terribly guilty. Most of all, she felt selfish for not thinking about Joowon’s views. He had his own problems, he had his own reasons as to why he had acted like a total delinquent when they were all a happy family. Yet, she only realised them when Joowon told her himself.

Mira knew that apologising to him would add more fuel to the fire. All she could do was to simply wait and hope that one day they could finally sort something out between the two of them. Right now, she was going to listen to him and transfer money into his account. At least, she could make him happy. It was selfish of her to use money to please someone’s needs, but that was the only best option she had. She wanted Joowon to know that she was going to support him no matter what, but in the end she was the one who was left alone. She had to do things on her own. She had no one to support her, or take care for her. The feeling of loneliness would never fade away from Mira. She missed her parents. She missed her dad who would always come to her when she needed help and support, she missed her mum who would always be there for her no matter what. She missed the feeling of being loved.

Trying not to feel more disapointed, Mira got off the taxi and walked to the lily pond. She had mourned for weeks over her parents’ deaths, but still she couldn’t get over the fact that they were gone, that they weren’t going to be by her side anymore. At this moment, a large bundle of emotions overcame her and she couldn’t control it. She told herself not to shed a tear and sat down on the grass, trying to calm herself down.

“What are you doing here?” Mira suddenly heard someone speak. 

She gasped in fright and turned around to see who the voice belonged to. A relieved sigh escaped her lips as she saw Jongin who was looking down at her with a smirk. She really wanted to be alone right now so she tried to show Jongin that she wasn’t in a good mood, but that only encouraged him. Smiling, he sat down next to her. 

“Is something bothering you?” Jongin asked, observing Mira’s facial expression. He knew that something was troubling her. She didn’t say anything and kept her focus on the lily pond in front of them. Jongin didn’t give up, he kept on asking her what was wrong. He wasn’t going to stop until he got an answer from her, he had learned from his friends. 

Why was she always distant from others?

He had wondered that a million times since they first met. He had thought that maybe she would open up to him bit by bit, but there was no progress. She was still the same coldest, expressionless, emotionless girl who he had trouble reading. “Why do you keep on building back the wall between us?” He found himself ask. Jongin was angry. He was angry at the fact that she wouldn’t tell him what she was thinking. He had at least thought that after what he had done for her, she would have trust in him. They were friends after all, they had spent so much time together this month, but still she kept on pushing him away. After all the feelings that he had expressed and told her, Mira still kept her thoughts bottled up inside. He had done things that he thought he would never be able to do for her.

Didn’t that show her that he cared for her?

That he enjoyed spending time with her?

“You don’t understand-“

Before Mira could even continue, Jongin shouted at her in frustration.

“Then tell me so I can understand. Tell me why it’s so hard for you to trust someone!” It wasn’t a question, it was an order. He demanded to know the reason behind her actions. There was a long silence between the two of them and it continued for a while.

Just before disappointment could rush into Jongin's body, he finally heard Mira speak. 

"When I just turned 16, I was by a complete stranger."

His eyes widened as he stared at Mira in shock. He suddenly felt terrible and regretted how he had pushed her to tell him her reason why. This was definitely a sensitive topic to every girl and now he had brought back Mira the memories she hated the most. Jongin didn’t want to bring her more pain and sorrow so he told Mira to stop talking, but she decided to continue. 

“The one thing that people forget is that is not about , is about power. It's about attempting to demonstrate you that they have the power to make you do things that you would not normally do. It's absolutely disgusting,” Mira shakily breathed out. She couldn’t even look at Jongin when she was talking, she was embarrassed now that he knew her darkest secret, the one that took her a long time to recover from. “I don’t know about the others who have experienced this, but it's extremely difficult for me to move on with my life without any fears. As much as I seem to enjoy time alone, I’m actually afraid to fall asleep alone in my own home sometimes, I’m afraid to walk down the street by myself, I’m afraid to allow anyone to help me because I don't know who I can trust anymore,” tears could be clearly seen in Mira’s eyes.

She felt disgusted remembering what she had experienced. It had greatly traumatised her and she knew that it would take years for her to move on and forget about it. Jongin wanted to know her reason why so she told him. For some reason, she felt that it would be best to finally tell Jongin why she had turned out into this expressionless and emotionless girl who pushed everyone away from her. She wanted him to know that she had a reason behind her cold behaviour. It was extremely difficult for her to tell Jongin about her past traumatic event, but after she told him everything she felt a huge weight off her chest. She felt relieved. 

A long silence followed, Mira was at the verge of saying something when Jongin finally spoke.

“It doesn’t matter who, but everyone has a dark time in their life. I think that everyone has at least one thing from the past that they want to bury.”

Mira looked up to Jongin. She had thought that he was probably judging her now since he knew her reason, but he was completely normal. In fact, he was reassuring her that it didn’t matter to him that she had gone through something which was completely disgusting for others to hear. 

“When you’re in front of me you don’t have to think so much. If you want to cry, then cry. If you want to smile, then smile because when you’re in front of me, you can let it all out,” Jongin stated loud and clear so Mira couldn’t miss out any words that he had just spoken out of his mouth.

This had done it for Mira. She was so touched at how Jongin was comforting her. He was clearly telling her that he was going to be there for her and that nothing else mattered. He didn’t care that she was ually assaulted. He didn’t think of her as a repulsive human girl. He still thought of her the same way. 

“I’m sorry if I have caused you to be upset and angry at the way I have acted toward you. I honestly didn’t mean to push you away. To be honest, I actually enjoy spending time with you, but I’m sorry. It’s going to take time for me to open up,” she felt angry at herself for feeling so weak.

She was weak. She couldn’t even forget about the past and here she was still crying when thinking about what had happened a year ago. Mira was crying. She was crying in front of someone, she was crying in front of Jongin. She was showing him her vulnerable side. He was witnessing her in her weakest moment.

The silence scared her. 

Is he disappointed in me? Mira couldn’t help, but shed more tears. She had hurt Jongin and now he could never think of her the same way. He now knew that she was a coward and that she couldn’t even get over the past, but all of a sudden Jongin gave Mira a hug. 

“Don’t cry,” he was comforting her. He wasn’t angry that she had acted selfishly. Instead, he was comforting her, telling her that it was ok and that he forgave her. “One year or ten years, I don’t care. I will wait, I will wait until you fully open up to me,” Jongin said in such a gentle tone that Mira wanted to cry once again.

Why was Jongin so keen on staying by her side? 

Why did he want to continue seeing her?

Why did he want to spend more time with her when he clearly knew that it would take a long time for her to open up to him?

Why did he want to waste his time with a selfish girl?

Then without her realising, tears were already rolling down her cheeks once again, but it wasn’t because of the sadness, she was shedding tears because of happiness. For the first time in 17 years she didn’t feel lonely because Jongin was here.

He was here hugging her and whispering to her that she was never going to be alone from now on. 

---

Today was the day for the juniors and the seniors to present their Social Studies project.

Mira and Jongin sat next to each other while they listened to some students' speeches. Some talked about global warming, the newest technologies that were invented and the latest fashion while some talked about the lives of those who had money.

Mira nervously gulped when her name was called out. Jongin gave her a nod, reassuring her that it was going to be ok but she was still anxious. She sighed when she realised that she hadn’t read over Jongin’s work as he had told her that he was going to finish it over the weekend. She didn’t have the chance to view his part of the speech. They both walked onto the stage while some students murmured and whispered as to why Jongin was standing on the same stage as Mira. They had now realised that Jongin had worked on the project with Mira. 

Before another commotion could occur, the teachers quiet down the students in the seminar hall. The head assessor then nodded for Mira and Jongin to start their presentation.

Mira took a deep breath, she had to focus now. “Greed and selfish corruption. The gap between the Rich and Poor will always continue to grow. The government being made up of wealthy people allows the rich to exploit the poor,” she said her topic sentence, surprising everyone. 

She heard some students’ remarks and rudely comment at how stupid she sounded, but she still continued. She was going to deliver her message to her arrogant schoolmates no matter what. She had this tiny hope in her that maybe she could change some people’s views on the Social Status that the world had. She read out how the poor didn’t have the access to education and medical treatments as no one worried about them because they were ‘poor’. She explained her disappointment at how the lower class people all had to pay taxes, but in the end they received no help from the Government. They all had hoped that giving their hard earned money to the Government would make their lives easier for them, but it didn’t. Something needed to be done about this issue. 

Mira had finally delivered her part of the speech with no mistakes and she was glad. The room was in silence, she was surprised how no one had said anything yet. 

It was now Jongin's turn to speak. She worriedly glanced over at him, but he seemed perfectly fine. 

He gave her an assuring smile and looked down at his cue cards. “What makes us more special than the poor? Is it because we have more money?” He started with a question which some students in the hall nodded to. “I would love to continue on about what makes us more special than the lower class people, but I can’t find any other reasons why we are more special than them,” he continued. “The only valuable that they all don’t have is money, that’s all. That’s the difference between us rich and poor,” he added.

“We have money which means we have power. If ‘they’ had money, then does that mean they can finally fit in our standard? I can only say that we were the fortunate ones, we were the lucky ones,” he turned to give Mira another one of his heart-warming smile.

She couldn’t help, but smile back at him. She had finally delivered her message to Jongin when she told him her own thoughts on today’s Social Status. He had understood what she meant and now he was spreading the message to others.

“We are all human beings, but why do ‘we’ people have to treat them as if they are something else? I have done a survey where I asked the lower class people about their views on the Capital,” Jongin stated and quickly handed each teacher his survey sheets.

Jongin’s friends watched in astonishment. 

Was this the real Jongin that they knew?

They had never seen this side of him. It wasn’t only them who were surprised, his teachers were both shocked and surprised that Jongin had actually taken his time to work on this project, but the person who was most surprised was Mira.

“I want to read out what they think of us, but I feel embarrassed and ashamed as I didn't receive any positive feedbacks from anyone that I have surveyed. How can we enjoy our lives in luxury when we have made so many people unhappy? I am not stating that you all have done something wrong, I want you all to realise that you have viewed particular things and people in the wrong perspectives. We have all been brought up to view things the same and act the same way just like the rest from our Social Class when we clearly haven’t taken the time and effort to truly realise what is actually going on socially,” Jongin finally took a deep breath and purposely stopped to listen to the silence in the room.

“Mira and I would greatly appreciate it if you all would finally start to make decisions on your own from now on. Don’t live your lives as a puppet of someone’s, truly be yourself, think for yourself, make choices for yourself so you won’t have any regrets. Thank you for listening to our presentation," Jongin smiled after reading his last cue card. 

Jongin and Mira then bowed as their speech had now come to an end.

Everyone in the room was speechless. The room was filled with silence, but soon after a few minutes Jongin and Mira could hear applause. Mrs. Lee was the one who was touched the most. Mira had once again done it, but this time she had changed the views of Jongin and now he had changed the views of others in the Academy. 

They then got off the stage in contentment, glad that the ripple effect had worked.  

“What did you think? Did I make the right decision about changing my own speech?” Jongin whispered into Mira’s ears after they had taken their seats.

Mira rolled her eyes, but with a smile. “You did great.” She whispered back which brought a smile upon Jongin's face.