Everything was overwhelming for ten year old Joohyun, the moment she step her foot into the orphanage.

It was her first time being out in public as far as she could remember.

All eyes were on the new kid being brought by one of their caretakers and all she could do was to hide behind the huge figure that had been nice to her from their first meeting.

He introduced himself as Heechul and even told her that she could call him 'Hee-Hee' to make things easier since he was well aware of the condition that the girl is in.

Joohyun was rather a slow-talker for her age.

It’s not as if she had anything wrong with her, no.

It was her parents who were screwed up.

Joohyun had never been sent to a school before and from the moment she was born, she spent her life in a small room with just the common necessities.

She was left to take care of herself after the age of five, where she could feed and clean herself.

Joohyun was never taught to read though.

If it weren’t for the fact that her older brother who slipped in at times to spend some time with her and teach her, she wouldn’t have known how to even speak.

Joohyun had wondered before on why her brother was allowed to be out where as she wasn’t, but she never really dwelled much on it after coming up with the conclusion that perhaps there was something wrong with her that her parents decided to hide her.

Things however, took a different way after the certain incident that happened a few days ago.

It was in the middle of the night where a blood-curdling scream came from outside of her room and the next thing she knew, her brother walked in with blood all over his shirt.

And Joohyun could still remember the way her brother smiled at her reassuringly, as if telling her that everything is going to be fine now.

-

“Joohyun-ah, meet Wendy-unnie.”

Hiding behind Heechul, the person whom she seems to trust the most at the orphanage seems to have became a habit for Joohyun whenever she meets someone new.

Within the first week of her stay, Joohyun had gotten a lot of visitors and all of them shared one thing in common.

Their interest in her story and how she look like and apparently, the person whom she is meeting with today is no different from them.

“Hello Joohyun-ah.”

The woman with the slightly English-feature on her face smiled, reaching out her hand to Joohyun but the latter of course held onto Heechul for her dear life.

It was only when Heechul patted her head in assurance that she was willing to take a peek at Wendy.

Wendy was rather pretty if she must say.

And that was all Joohyun could tell from her.

“Joohyun-ah, you’ll be living with Wendy-unnie from now on.”

-

It took so much persuasion to get Joohyun to go with Wendy.

Heechul even had to promise her that he would be visiting once a week to make sure that Wendy won’t be doing anything bad to her.

The ride to Wendy’s place was rather silent surprisingly.

One would thought that Wendy would be the one trying to make a conversation with Joohyun considering that she had just legally adopted her but no.

Wendy didn’t even bother to spare the little girl a glance and just focused on the road.

Joohyun had then decided that she disliked this woman.

Wendy looked so nice back then at the orphanage but not now apparently.

Wendy only broke the silence when they had finally reached her place, and Joohyun didn’t expect to see the older woman living in a house so big.

It was as if the house from the book that Heechul read to her a few days ago, titled ‘The Beauty And The Beast’ had came to life in front of her. 

“Welcome to your new home Joohyun-ah,” Wendy smiled a little as she opened the door for Joohyun, waiting for her to step out of the car. 

-

Joohyun couldn’t help but to look around what appears to be her new room, as told by Wendy. It was completely different from her room before. Rather than having dull-looking walls, the room was painted purple.

Her bed was two-times larger and she even had a few plushies placed right next to her pillow.

“You should go change now Joohyun-ah, I’ve even got some new clothes ready for you.”

A soft chuckle escaped from the older woman’s lips. Perhaps Joohyun was wrong to quickly judge people like that. Maybe Wendy is nice after all.

She had never gotten anything like this from her parents.

Wendy could notice the happy glint in Joohyun’s eyes that she even squatted a little to get on Joohyun’s eye level, a smile spreading across her lips.

“From now on, your name is Irene.”

“Ai…Rin?” Joohyun cocked her head to the side, and it was the first word that she had ever spoken to Wendy.

“Irene. You’ll get used to it some time soon,” Wendy grinned.

Just as she was about to stand back up, Wendy was taken by surprise as Joohyun cupped her cheeks, gently caressing her face as she does so.

“Thank…you.”

-

Almost half a year had passed by since Joohyun had moved into Wendy’s place and throughout that time, she had learned that Wendy was rather secretive with her work.

Joohyun never had the courage to enter Wendy’s study room, and she figured that she shouldn’t do anything reckless since the older woman was kind enough to her.

Wendy would usually spend time with her, whenever she’s not in her study room. It was as if Joohyun was with her brother again, only that Wendy’s spending more time with her than her brother does.

She missed him a lot but Joohyun never dared to ask what happened to him.

Joohyun stood in front of the dining table in confusion, staring at the cake lying on the table. If she wasn’t mistaken, it read ‘Happy Birthday Irene’ on top of the cake.

“Happy birthday Irene-ah.”

Wendy appeared all of the sudden behind her, holding a guitar behind her back.

“What...is this?”

“Today’s your birthday right?” Wendy smiled, taking a seat at the table before gesturing Joohyun to sit on her lap to which the girl hesitantly complied.

“I don’t know. My birthday,” Joohyun bit her lower lip and fiddled with her fingers. Wendy found it extremely cute whenever Joohyun was being shy but she never said a word about it.

“It’s alright now, I found out about it from Heechul oppa anyways,” Wendy shrugged and rested her chin on top of Joohyun’s shoulder comfortably. “Shall we blow the candles now? I’ve got a song for you as a gift.”

Joohyun’s eyes lit up upon hearing what was said to her and she eagerly nodded her head in return. “Yes!”

A/N Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry for making Wendy look like a e here. This will probably consist of two parts or more, I don't know yet. You guys will probably be more interested in the next chapter. Joohyun is growing through puberty so. ;)