• DARA •

 

"Morning, Aunt !" I chirp as I dance into the kitchen and pry open the cabinet, grabbing a box of Cheerios.

 

"You seem oddly happy." She comments with a smile. "Good night's sleep?"

 

"Yep." I grin. "Where's bom unnie?"

 

"She's out with dongwook." Aunt tells me. I frown as I pour the Cheerios into a small bowl.

 

"dongwook? taeyeon brother?" I question, referring to bom unnie best friend, taeyeon's brother. Aunt nods. "Something's definitely up with them two, but bom claims they're only going to pick up taeyeon and then head off to incheon." She sighs. "I'm worried about y'all."

 

"Me?" I raise an eyebrow and pull the milk jug out of the fridge. "Why? There's nothing to worry about."

 

She heaves another sigh. "You don't know how hard it is to raise two teenagers, dara. bom's graduating soon and going off to college and then you will next year as well. I'm worried about your futures. I'm barely thirty. I'm still learning how to raise y'all..." Her voice breaks.

 

"I'm worried that when you girls need a mother most that I won't be able to give you what your real mother would have."

 

I open my mouth to say something but close it again and silently pour the milk into my cereal bowl. I didn't know how to respond. Maybe it was because I'll always need my mother with me and maybe Aunt is right. She's can't do what my mother would have done for me. And maybe I'm worried too. I'm worried that when I'll need my mommy by my side that I won't have her there. And I don't. She's no longer with me. She's gone. Forever.

 

A tear escapes and falls into my Cheerios. I wipe it away with the back of my hand. "Excuse me." I murmer, pushing the bowl aside and heading for the door.

 

"dara..." Aunt gives me a sympathetic look. I grab my hoodie and slip it on, pulling the hood over my head and stepping out into the warm morning breeze.

 

As I walked along the sidewalk, my hands shoved deeply into my pockets, I began to think. I'm clueless about my future. I have no idea what I'm going to do with my life and I only have one more year of high school left. bom unnie seems to have it all figured out. She was excepted into Seoul university. I, on the other hand, have no idea what college or university I want to attend. I don't know what I want to be. I've never given it much thought but suddenly it feels like the whole world has weighed itself down on my shoulders. That weight won't be lifted until I figure put my future and what I'm going to do with it.

 

My mind suddenly flickers to chaerin. sHe seems to have had her life figured out. sHe's a famous singer and dancer. But she still has a long future ahead of her and the fame has seemed to be taking advantage of her. Or is it the fame? Maybe it's something else. Something she won't tell anyone. I want to know. I want to why she just changed out of the blue. I also wanted to know if she has the rest of her future figured out. Besides the singing, I mean.

 

I kicked a rock aside and it skiddled onto someone's lawn. If I could wall on forever and ever...I would.

 

• CHAERIN•

 

"This is serious, Chaerin." My mother frowns at me from across the table. "You've got to be more cautious. And sneaking out to clubs at night? You know how I hate you drinking."

 

I stir the spoon around my bowl of Captain Crunch. "Who says I've been drinking?" Her frown deepens. "You've smelt like alchohol every morning for the past month or two, you're hungover most mornings, and besides, the paparazzi have taken picture of you drinking." She snaps. "Don't lie to me, chaerin."

 

I stab my cereal bowl and the sound of metal hitting ceramic echoes throughout the kitchen. "I'm old enough to take care of myself."

 

My mother taps her feet on the ground, scowling. "You're still a baby from my point of view, chaerin. You've got lots of growing up to do and if we have to move back to france and forget this music business than we will!"

 

"Mom!" I clench my fists. "It's been two years! Moving isn't going to fix anything! The paparazzi will still follow me. korea is stuck with me forever!"

 

She narrows her eyes. "If you don't start acting with some sense then I'll do whatever it takes to isolate you from this fame!" She brushes a strand of her brown hair off her face and sighs. "You're not the same. If you changed because of what-"

 

"Don't." I snap. "That has nothing to do with my so-called change."

 

She reaches over to take me hand but I snatch it away. "Are you sure? You went through such a tough time after-"

 

"Stop it!" I stand up, the chair screetching across the wooden floor. "I don't want to talk about it. That didn't change me, so stop saying it did."

 

I begin to stomp away but then freeze. I take a few steps back, snatch my bowl of Captain Crunch from the table, and start stomping back towards the living room. My mood doesn't stop me from getting my daily dose of Captain Crunch. If something hasn't changed about me, it's my addiction to the crunchy cereal.

 

My phone begins to vibrate in my pocket. I drop the bowl on the glass coffee table and flop down on the living room couch. I slip my phone out of my pocket and look at the caller I.D.

 

Kwon Yuri.

 

I roll my eyes but hit answer anyways, pressing the phone to my ear. "Y'ello."

 

"You bastard!" yuri's voice yells through the other end.

 

I flinch. "Excuse me?"

 

She huffs. "You're such a jerk! I hate you Lee Chaerin" I chuckle. "Goodmorning to you too, Yuri. Did you sleep well? I sure did. I see you're in a good mood." I laugh silently at my own humor.

 

"You're an idiot, you know that?!" She shouts, her voice overly angry.

 

"Am I really? I never noticed." I laugh again, this time at my tone of sarcasm.

 

"Why did you tell the host there was nothing between us?!" Her voice thunders. "Why didn't you call me back after what happened between us?!"

 

I frown. "What happened between us?" I try to think but I was pretty sure nothing happened.

 

"You kissed me, you jerk!" She informs me a little louder than she should have.

 

"Ohhhh." I remember. "That. It meant nothing."

 

"But you said it did!" She crys. "You told me I was the most breautiful girl! You told me the kiss was magical!"

 

I roll my eyes. "I tell that to a lot of girls. Chill, Yuri. It was honestly nothing. Move on. Sing a song. Do a dance. Or cry your little heart out. I don't care. You can get out of my life now."

 

"I hate you!" She crys twice as loud. "You're going to regret this!"

 

"Hm. I get that a lot. Bye, Yuri." I laugh and hang up before she can say anything.

 

She's not the only girl who's called me to rant and rage. I've gotten tons. They're actually quite funny. They think they'll get something out of me when really I only played them the whole time. Usually I don't even remember. Half the time I'm drunk.

 

I grab my cereal bowl, lean back on the couch, and shove a spoonful of Captain Crunch in my mouth. I chewed happily, pretty impressed with myself.

 

Suddenly my cell phone begins to vibrate again. I let out a groan. If yuri was calling again, I would so ignore her.

 

When I glanced down at my phone's screen, my face hardens and my fists clench. I blink back tears as I grab the phone and chuck it across the room. It hits the wall with a loud "THUD" and flatters to the floor.

 

"Chaerin!" My mother scurries into the living room. "What-"

 

"Nothing!" I yell, standing up. The bowl drops from my lap and falls onto the floor, milk spilling out. I try to push back angry tears as I stomp upstairs and into my bedroom.

 

• DARA•

 

By the time I walk back home, Aunt gone to work. She'd left the front door open for me and note on the kitchen table telling me to order Chinese food if she wasn't home by nine. I scurried up to my room and flopped down on my bed, absolutely bored.

 

I felt my cell phone beside me. I picked it up to see zero missed calls but one text message from bom unnie. I opened it. "At Incheon." It read. "Call me if u want 2 join. I'll send a cab. Didn't tell u earlier bcuz u were asleep. Luv - Bommie." I thought over her offer. Incheon? I barely ever go there. Everything's so expensive and I have no friends to hang with anyways. I suddenly think of chaerin , wondering what she was up too. My fingers absentmindly hits "Call" which instantly brings up Jeff's number due to the fact that he was the last person I had talked too. It rang and rang until Jeff finally answered.

 

"G'day, Miss Park." He greets me, his Italian accent seeming somehow thicker.

 

"Goodmorning, Jeff. I was simply wondering if you had chaerin's phone number. sHe never gave it to me but I assume she would have." I said. Jeff paused for a second and then said: "I do, Miss Park. Miss Lee surely wouldn't mind if I gave it to you."

 

I grab a sharpie off my nightstand and begin to scribble the number Jeff gave me onto my hand.

 

"Thank you, Jeff." I chirp.

 

"Not a problem, Miss Park. See you soon I hope?"

 

"I hope. Goodbye, Jeff."

 

"G'bye, Miss Park."

 

We hang up and hesitate before stabbing chaerin's number into my phone and hitting 'Call'.

 

The phone rings and rings and rings until it finally hits voice mail. "It's CL," her voice mail says. "I'll call you back if I want too. If not, call my manager. He wouldn't have a problem. Uh, leave a message and...bye." her voice mail goes to that annoying electronic phone lady who tells me to leave a message after the beep.

 

"Hey, chaerin. It's dara . Interesting voice mail you got there." I chuckle and clear my throat. "Anyways. Please call me back? No real reason. I just want to talk to you. And..." I pause. "Bye, CL."

 

I hit "End" and heaved a sigh. I didn't know whether to be surprised or not that she didn't answer her phone. I guess not. But I assumed that since she called me good friend, that she'd at least answer me. Then again, she didn't have my number in her phone. sHe probably thought I was some crazy fan.

 

I pull my pillow to my chest and glance over at the picture frame sitting on my nightstand. It's a picture of me and mom. We're at the beach, our arms happily around each other as we smile into the camera. bom unnie was the one who took the picture. I remember that day so clearly. People would walk by and tell my mom and I that we looked alike. It was true. I admit that. We always did look alike. bom unnie didn't. She had strawberry blonde hair while ours was black. She had brown eyes while we had black eyes. But she had the same nose and cheekbones and even body structure. Mom says she got her father's hair and eyes. I guess I wouldn't know.

 

Mom was always young.Young enough to be confused as my sister. She had me when she was 16 but claims she doesn't regret a single second of it. I just keep wondering... Sometimes I'd walk into my mother's bedroom and find her eyes red and puffy. I'd ask her if she was crying she'd always respond by saying she had allergies and that that's why she drank those pills every morning as well. A part of me always thought she was lying. After she died, I couldn't help but think about all the secrets she probably took with her.

 

_______________

 

Author's Note: Not the most interesting chapter but it was just to reveal a little bit about the main character ;) Now tell me: What impression did you get of chaerin when u read this? Who do you think called her that caused her to get so upset? Do you think dara's mother was hiding something ?? by the way .. thank you for the comments and upvotes i really appreciate it ..