“Unnie. Unnie, wake up.” KyonDae heard a faint voice with a hand gently pushing her shoulder. “Unnie.” That voice repeated. KyonDae’s eyes shot opened to see SoRa in front of her, looking so scared while hugging her doll.

KyonDae sat up straight and rubbed her eyes. “I overslept?” She asked herself. She glanced at the clock on the wall in her room but no, she didn’t oversleep. Then why was SoRa up so early and wake her? “What is it, SoRa? Why are you already awake at this hour? Usually you will sleep in until eight right?”

SoRa looked at her sister with shivering eyes without responding and KyonDae frowned. Before she could ask SoRa again, she heard voices coming from the living room. KyonDae kept listening and finally was able to recognize whose voices were talking. It was her father’s and her stepmother’s. It sounded like they were arguing but they were trying to keep their voices low this time.

KyonDae sighed and asked herself. “What are they arguing about this time ...” She couldn’t care less what the fight was about anymore and landed her head on the pillow again. It was still early and there was still about two and a half hours more before the time she should wake up.

KyonDae patted the space beside her and SoRa laid beside her as well. KyonDae lulled her sister to sleep and ignored the fight that was going on in the living room.

As usual, once the sun rose, KyonDae would start her weekend with cleaning the house until it was time for her to go to work. Sometimes, she didn’t know what else to clean in the house. The work seemed to be nonstop for her at times. Once she was done doing the laundry and moved on to moping the floor, she will find more clothes all of a sudden piled in the laundry basket and she had to start the laundry all over again.

The same went for when she mopped. She proceeded to the second floor once she had done the first. Then, she will hear her stepmother screaming at her and ordered her to mop the floor on the first floor again.

Not to mention the things that her stepsisters asked her to do as well. Iron this, iron that. Colour their nails and do their hair at the same time. Clean their bathrooms and so forth. KyonDae didn’t mind doing all of it but what irritated her was the both of them will call her and she had to do two things in one time.

Since it was weekend, KyonDae spent half of the day with house work. She glanced at the clock and noticed that her shift was starting in 45 minutes. Finishing her last work, KyonDae slowly approached her father who was sitting lazily on the couch, watching the television with a cigarette in his mouth.

There was something that she wanted to ask from her father. She was scared but she tried to gather her courage and try her luck. Who knows it will work?

“Erm ... father?” KyonDae called. “What?” DaeHo replied, eyes still fixed on the television without even looking at KyonDae. KyonDae tried to fight the annoyance and the discomfort when smokes escaped her father’s mouth as he spoke.

KyonDae stood straight and said, “Today is mom’s death anniversary.” She waited to see DaeHo’s reply but much to her dismay; DaeHo only nodded without saying a word or even looked at her. KyonDae sighed upon the sight and she decided that maybe her father didn’t care anymore. She was about to turn and walk away when her stepmother suddenly said from the dining table, “So what if it is your mother’s death anniversary? She wasn’t your mother to begin with. SoRa seems fine with it then why should you even bother?”

Hearing that, DaeHo took the remote control and threw it towards the wall and the remote broke. KyonDae jumped at her father’s action but the shock was nothing compared to what she felt once she heard what HeaJung said.

“Shut your mouth, HeaJung before I make you lose the ability to talk forever.” DaeHo hissed while glaring at HeaJung who was smirking. She, too, was smoking and KyonDae felt disgusted. SoRa will get sick if she keeps on living in a place like this.

“What is there to hide anyway?” HeaJung snorted. KyonDae bravely faced her father and looked at him with pleading eyes. “Father. I’ve been keeping this question to myself for a long time already and I really hope you can give me the answer now. Why did mother say that? Why did she say HyeSu omma is not my mom?” Tears fell from her eyes as she said the last sentence. She felt tired of all of this. She can take just everything HeaJung said to her. She can just swallow all the hurtful and painful words that HeaJung spit at her. But she couldn’t take it when HeaJung kept saying that the mother she had known all this while wasn’t her mother after all.

“Is it true, father? HyeSu omma is not my mother? Is it true, everything mother said?” KyonDae repeated her question. DaeHo looked at her and he felt a pang of guilt inside his heart. KyonDae really was a spitting image of her. Someone he loved so much. “I demand to know everything, father. Please tell me the truth. Who am I actually?” She asked again, this time a bit louder and bolder.

DaeHo looked away from her and kept quiet. He was contemplating whether the truth should be told that day itself. He did know that no matter how long he kept the secret, KyonDae will find out about it sooner or later. It’s just that he never prepared himself until the day came. Now, KyonDae already knew it and wanted an explanation from him but he didn’t even know where to start. He never had a proper conversation with his daughter before and this matter was not something to joke about and he had no idea where to begin.

Noticing his troubled face, HeaJung smirked again, “Want me to help you with the introduction first, DaeHo? I’ll start first then you’ll continue from where I stop.” HeaJung was excited about this. Being the wicked person she was, she felt happy to see everyone she hated miserable. Her excitement about revealing the whole thing to KyonDae wasn’t even because she pitied the girl, but because she was happy to see KyonDae heart broken and like what she said before, she wanted KyonDae to know where she stood.

Since there was no reply from DaeHo, HeaJung clasped her hands and took the lead. “Very well then. I will start the explanation since your father is lost and doesn’t know where to start. I doubt he even knows where to put an end to this.” KyonDae looked at her stepmother and waited for her to continue. She was torn between wanting to believe everything or just some of it.

“So, your deceased mother, whose death anniversary is today, well, she wasn’t your mother. She wasn’t the one who gave birth to you. And for the record, I didn’t give birth to you as well. I just happened to be someone who is stuck with you after she died. So far do you understand? Or do you want me to repeat?” HeaJung said in a mocking tone. She just loved to see KyonDae’s lost and confused look.

“Who is my mother then? Where is she? Is she dead too? Why have you two been lying to me about my mother?” KyonDae bravely asked. Somehow, she didn’t feel scared anymore. The urge of wanting to know the truth suddenly sent energy in her veins and she didn’t even care if her stepmother wanted to beat her for talking back too. She couldn’t beat her any worse than how she’d done all this time.

“She’s not dead. She’s still alive.” DaeHo answered for her before HeaJung could say anything. Seeing that DaeHo finally spoke, HeaJung smirked and left the whole conversation to him. For once, she just wanted to sit by and watch as the father and daughter hurt each other.

KyonDae shrugged a little and said, “Oh. She’s not dead. Okay. So did you divorce her before marrying HyeSu omma?” KyonDae asked while crossing her arms. She heard HeaJung chuckle sardonically from behind and tried to ignore it. Oh, she must be saying the wrong thing, hence HeaJung was laughing at the back.

“Divorced? KyonDae honey, they didn’t even get married in the first place!” HeaJung said while pretending to feel pity at her.

KyonDae’s eyes widened and looked at her father who was avoiding her eyes. “You two didn’t get married?! At all?! Even after I came along?! Did you her?!” The last sentence was extremely difficult for her to say, but she had to know.

DaeHo immediately turned to her and saw KyonDae’s burning eyes. He wanted to snap at her at first for having to say such things, but deep down he knew it wasn’t her fault to think that way. KyonDae was confused so she had a lot of possibilities and questions in her head.

“Have pity on the girl, DaeHo. Tell her the truth now.” HeaJung said again with mocking sympathy towards KyonDae.

DaeHo glowered at her again. “Just keep your damn mouth shut. I don’t need you to tell me what to do.” He looked at KyonDae again and took a deep breath. He started this and so he will end it. He didn’t even care of what will happen next, as long as he can let the secret off of his chest. It was a burden he couldn’t carry for life.

“It’s true. We weren’t married when we had you. It was my fault actually in the first place. I was drunk when I found your mother. She was still a young girl and she was a good daughter to her parents. We didn’t even know each other that well. It was my fault. But after I saw her being so broken and sad, as she kept saying that her future was gone, I promised her that I will take care of her until you were born.”

KyonDae kept listening and at the same time being cautious. She didn’t want to believe everything straight away. This could be another lie that they made up to cover whatever they wanted to hide from her.

“However, right after you were born, unexpectedly I fell for your mother. Months of looking after her and kept her from her parents made me grow attached to her. Your grandparents, they were strict people an