June 10, 2022

* * *

Another day was gifted.

Haneun, who unfortunately woke up late since Hakyeon also woke up late, was hurrying to prepare herself for school. In a quick pace, she swung her school vest around her and buttoned the buttons she missed to do. Afterwards, she placed her attention to her messy black hair, which she tried combing to remove the tangles. It was already half-way to being completely dried but unfortunately, the untangling part was the worse one.

"Help! Mom!" she weakly whined as Hakyeon came rushing towards her. "Ugh, why did you have to wake up late? I'm running late because of you!" she cried, pointing an blaming finger at her mom.

"Yah, it wasn't my fault that the drama had to end so late!" Hakyeon pouted, mirroring his daughter's accussing finger back. 

"You were crazy over it! If you haven't been, none of this would've happened!" 

"Blame the director for having such an interesting plotline made!" 

"Geez, stop blaming geniuses for your faults, mom!"

"Says the one who blames her mother for running late! You were taking forever inside the bathroom!"

"Can you just move on and untangle my hair?! I'll be late if you don't do it quickly!" Haneun cried out in annoyance as she glared back at her mother, who hurriedly yet carefully brushes her black hair, drying it in the process. Once he was done, he grabbed her white flower clip and carefully placed it on her hair. 

"There, done." Hakyeon smiles as he taps Haneun's shoulder. "Hurry, get going!" he cries out as he giggles faintly.

"I still wonder how easy you untangle my hair." Haneun smirked as she ran out of her room to grab her bag and swung it on her shoulder before heading to the front door. "Mom! I'll be going now!" Haneun cried out as she faced her mother. 

"Do well!" Hakyeon grins, waving his hand at her.

"I will. You too." she nods before darting out of the house, Hakyeon smiling as she completely disappears.

"Well, I should begin preparing for my day's start too." he says to himself before skipping to his room happily, positive thoughts on how the day will go through running and buzzing in his mind. 

* * *

The bell echoes throughout the whole campus and everyone was running towards their own classrooms. Haneun, who was already in hers, was simply waiting for Ricky and Changjo to arrive. Funny, she didn't see them early today. 

And of course, as expected, the two were also running late. "I told you that you should've not ate that many spicy rice cakes along the way!" Changjo growled as he hit Ricky's shoulder as they walked towards their seats.

"Don't blame me! Epsilon-hyung consumed mostly all of our breakfast when I woke up! I had nothing, alright? Nothing!" Ricky pouted as he glared at Changjo and returned his attack. "And quit hitting me! I'm still older than you!"

"By months!" 

"I'm still older!"

"You two." Haneun calls out softly, enough to be heard by the two though. "Stop acting like brats and sit down. Mrs. Choi'll arrive any time now." she hissed as she sent a rather deadly glare to the two, making the boys nod in terror and sprint towards their seats. Soon, Mrs. Choi finally arrives and starts their typical day, much to Haneun's expectations.

Lessons began, lectures were taken down, and a surprise recitation were mostly what makes their typical school day.

And in seconds, Haneun was already yawning. Sure, she might not be the top performing student but heck, she's smarter than anyone ever imagined. She's those types of students that excell in almost everything. From academics to physical education and to everything else that isn't in those fields. She knew how to dance, sing and of course, how to be the role model of the class.

Despite the haters, she regained composure. School days aren't complete without haters, right? They're a part of life's challenges.

Haneun has this weird hobby to observe people, and she wonders where she might've gone that. Even Hakyeon finds that creepy in so many levels. She would always see Ricky sleeping around in class while Changjo was too distracted doing his own things in his own world. He would often be scribbling random things in his notebook, making origami or simply dozing off. Changjo is the type of person that can sleep with his eyes open. Literally.

Hours passed quickly and soon, lunch was just a subject away.

"Alright, class. I'll leave you for a while. Study on your own from the pages we've discussed." the male teacher announces before getting out of the classroom. 

Tick. Tock.

Minutes soon lapped. Everyone was in a deep silence until Haneun felt someone throw a crumpled paper on her head. She ignores it and doesn't even bothers to look around. It's probably Changjo trying to catch her attention and she knows that if she simply ignores this, he'll eventually stop.

But no.

More papers were thrown at her and finally, she turned around to see who it was. Seeing that it was no one, she averts her attention back to reading. Again, papers were thrown at her repeatedly, slowly annoying her. "Stop it!" she hears Ricky whisper. "Stop throwing papers at Haneun! Leave her be!"

"Don't in, shorty!" she hears a female voice hiss. She still doesn't bother to look who it was since she could identify people through their voices. The one supposedly throwing papers at her was no other than the her fierce enemy and hater in class. 

"Ricky said leave her be! Can't you understand Korean?" she hears Changjo growl.

"This is my thing, don't bug in." she hears the voice answer back in a rude manner. "Go back to studying or something and leave me be!"

"Why don't you do it first?!"

"Leave me alone, will you?"

Finally snapping, Haneun puts her book down and looks behind, glaring at her enemy furiously. "Are you gonna stop throwing those trashes at me or not? You're seriously going to put yourself into trouble with your childish actions, kid." Haneun says in a calm tone despite burning with anger inside. "I'll study if I were you than bother someone to play your boring games."

"Hah, you dare talk back to me?" Haneun's enemy growls as she stands up and walks towards her place. "Do you know how rich my parents are? They can always convince the principal to file you down with bullying!"

"That's lying!" Ricky exclaims.

"That's how the world runs, Changhyun! Deal with it." 

"That's how you kind of people always deal with life." Haneun growls as she glares at the standing female in front. "Blinding people with your riches and everything."

"Because we're rich and you're just beggars! Beggars with a weird family! You're mom name and sounds funny!" she laughs.

"Leave. My. Mom. Alone." Haneun hisses as she was slowly consumed with anger. "You don't like it when I'm angry, kid."

"Why? You'll go crying to your mommy or something? Wah~ Mommy, she's teasing me!" 

Finally, Haneun snaps and pushes the other down the floor, anger consuming her. Everyone jumps in astonishment and backs away as they sense a fight rising up. To their surprise, Haneun doesn't move after she had made her attack and simply glares at the other. Her opponent, meanwhile, crawls away before standing up, bumping on a few tables on the process. "You pushed the wrong girl today, Cha Haneun!" she screeches as she pushes and pins Haneun on the ground, landing a few attacks on her.

Haneun, with her fast reflex actions, tries to block them, which she succeeds at a few moments. Of course, she still receives a few attacks and winces by the impact. With the sense of defense, she pushes the girl away and pins her down the ground, returning the attacks.

"Haneun! Calm down!" Changjo cries out as he tries to stop the fight between his beloved friend and his hated classmate. "Calm down and stop! You're getting yourself in trouble for this!" he exclaims.

"I don't care! She made fun of my mom!" Haneun defended as she pushes Changjo away, making him bump on a table nearby. Surprised, Haneun gasps and lets her guard down for a second. Seeing this, her enemy takes this as an advantage and attacks her non-stop. 

"Somebody get a teacher!" Ricky cries in panic as he supports Changjo to stand up and get away from the fighting scene. "Hurry! Get Mrs. Choi or something! Come on, move!"

"Get a teacher!"

"Hurry!"

"Somebody stop them!"

"Get someone! Please!"

* * *

"Haneun! Haneun!" 

Haneun hears her name get called, making her spin her head to see who was at the door of the principal's office. It was a familiar chocolate-headed male with charcoal-colored orbs and dark-skin complexion. 

Her mom.

He was clad in his work uniform and his hair was messy. Haneun felt a bit relieved that her mother was finally there but nervous too. She had nothing to cover the fact that her mother was a male, and she'd be bullied more if her haters and enemies knew so. He was dressed normally and she can't possibly lie about him anymore.

"Oh my goodness- what happened to your face? Why are you all jacked up?!" Hakyeon cries out as he examines her face. "My poor Haneun, what hurts? Are you in pain?"

"I'm okay." Haneun softly answers as she tries swatting away her mother's hands. "I'm okay..."

Convinced, Hakyeon averts his attention to the family across her and to the principal, who coughed to get his attention. "Sir, have a seat." the principal instructed to him while pointing at the chair beside Haneun. He then turns to the other family and eyes their child, who picked a fight with Haneun earlier. "Your daughter's free to go." he says, making the young teenage girl stick her tongue out before running off. Of course, there was a sound of a disappointed sigh escaping her parents lips.

"Um, sir, you must be Haneun's father." the principal smiles.

"Ah, no." he smiles warmly, making Haneun hit his thigh hard. "Yah! What was that for, Haneun?!"

"Sir, he's my mom's brother." Haneun explains in a blank face. "Mom's out of the city for now." she lied, surprising Haneun.

"What're you saying?" Hakyeon gasps. "Mom's brother? Seriously?"

"Look, I-"

"Sir, excuse her. She's lying." 

"Wait, no-"

"I'm Haneun's mother, Cha Hakyeon." he introduces, making Haneun hit him again, harder. Afterwards, the poor female hits herself in the head before burying her face in her hands. Finally realizing what he's done, Hakyeon gasps and widens his eyes. "N-no, I meant, um-"

"You are her mother?" Mrs. Kwon, Haneun's enemy's mother, gasps as she looks as Hakyeon's build. "Aren't you supposed to be... the father or something?"

"You blew my cover. Great job, mom. So long, dear reputation of mine." Haneun sighs as she glares at her mother. 

Knowing that he and his daughter can lie no more, he finally speaks of the truth, but with the request of keeping such information a secret. He then narrates the whole truth, making Haneun simply hide her face behind her black bangs as her mother explains everything. Convinced, everyone nods in understanding and awe.

"We're... sorry that our daughter makes fun of your child." Mr. Kwon frowns. "But, I still can't understand why your daughter attacked our daughter when in fact she simply tried to approach her?"

"She lied obviously." Haneun cuts in, earning everyone's attention. Once everyone's attention was on her, she was out of words and avoids their eyes. Noticing this, Hakyeon grows worried and eyes her. "Haneun? Sweetie, what happened exactly?" Hakyeon frowned.

"I... I can't put the right words to it." Haneun sighs.

"Tell me. I can convey it to them." 

Nodding, Haneun explains to her mother everything in a soft and inaudible voice. After her narration, Hakyeon gasps in anger and frustration and literally exclaims, "How rude of that brat!", making the other side blink in confusion. "I... I mean, well, excuse my words." Hakyeon nervously laughed. "Well, you're daughter is the one at fault here." 

"What? Her? But she's an angel!" Mrs. Kwon cried.

"Well, apparently, she's not." Hakyeon countered. "According to Haneun's story, she's the bullied person in this story. Your daughter kept on bugging her during their study time by throwing paper at her. Her friends, Yoo Changhyun and Choi Jonghyun, tried stopping her but instead, your daughter talked rudely to them. Finally, Haneun snapped and tried stopping her from throwing those papers at her in a calm way but instead, your child approaches her and began teasing and bullying her. Worse, she included me in the teasing part and with due respect, your daughter made fun of me." Hakyeon states out.

"And as my mom's daughter, I have the role of defending him." Haneun added. "I'm sorry that I pushed her to the ground but she was pushing herself to the limit. She made fun of my mom and me." 

"We never knew our child is such a big bully!" Mr. Kwon gasps. "Where have we gone wrong?"

"You possibly have spoiled her." Hakyeon pouts. "Haneun did say that your daughter said something about your riches convincing other people to your will."

"That girl-! We're so sorry for our daughter's terrible actions." Mrs. Kwon sighs as she looks at them with pleading and repenting eyes. "We'll do something about her."

Convinced, the principal dismisses them but Haneun refuses to move off her seat. "Haneun, go back to classes now, sweetie. You'll be late." Hakyeon frowns as he kneels in front of his daughter.

"I want to go home. I don't want to pursue school for this day, mom." Haneun whispers.

"Eh? Why?"

"She's probably traumatized from that incident lately and she's scared of the reactions." the principal says. "Plus, she must be exhausted. Go ahead, take her home for now." he smiles sweetly.

"Ah, is that okay though?"

"It is."

"Alright." Hakyeon nods and holds his daughter's hand. "Go get your things in your room and we'll get going, okay? I'll call my boss for an early leave today so you'll have someone to accompany you."

"You don't need to do that-"

"But I want to, so deal with it." he winks and holds her hand. "Come now, let's go."

* * *

"Ouch! Careful!"

Wincing a few times in pain, Haneun tries moving her head away and swatting Hakyeon's hand away. It's been minutes since Hakyeon was applying first aid to a few scratches and wounds on Haneun's face and putting a pink band-aid on them. "Mom, that hurts. Take it easy." she pouts as she finally eyes her mother.

To her surprise, Hakyeon was in the verge of tears as he met her eyes. "Mom?"

"You big jerk, you had me all worried this time!" Hakyeon whines as he lightly hits her shoulder. "Darn it, you'll seriously make me die in worry one day, Cha Haneun! Why do you need to pick on a fight? Look at you, you're all jacked up!"

"Who wouldn't get pissed when their mother's name isn't respected?" Haneun defended, making Hakyeon simply keep quiet and hug her tightly. 

"That's why I'm so proud of you, you brave girl." he sobs. "Just promise me that you'll never have this incident again!"

"I promise, mom." Haneun nods, smiling faintly before she hugs back. "I promise."

06-10-22

My mother is not a disgrace, that's one thing I can assure.

I picked a fight today in school. By fight, I meant a real one. It was all physical. Mom hates fights and he once made me promise before I enterred grade school that I won't get involved in fights.

Eventually, I broke that promise today. I got all jacked up due to that evil hater's attacks. She was a lot stronger than me and if Ricky hadn't called a teacher by now, I would've been in a worse condition!

I saw how worried mom was today to the point that he actually cried to release that worry. He hugged me when he cried and said that he was proud of me for standing up for him and myself, despite him being extremely worried that I got into a fight. 

Along with this, I guess I broke a promise.

But I'm sure of one thing. I'll keep on standing up for mom until my days of living finally runs out. I'll keep that vow because I'm the only one mom has to protect him.