Kang Soa sighed for the millionth time as she looked out of the window, her gaze glued to the vibrant color of the trees outside. The leaves swung in the summer breeze, and the soft whistling of wind rang softly inside her ears as it reached her, it’s breath like a gasp of fresh air fanning onto her face and cooling her hot cheeks from the summer heat. The teacher droned on and on about Greek literature and how mythology caused a great impact on the beliefs of many people, and yet even her favorite subject hadn’t been able to capture her interest this time. She tapped her pen onto her notebook soundlessly as she made sure not to stand out too much in order to draw attention. She preferred keeping her space and be as quiet as possible, because she wasn’t about to become a victim of everything that happened in this school.

Soa’s mind had been somewhere else all morning, and it was all due to the fact that she kept going back to the time where she woke up, dizzy and disoriented in a hospital room roughly 3 months ago. It felt like just yesterday when she had blinked at the doctor when he announced the horrible news. She had been fourteen at that time, and was still fourteen in her mind. It had come as a shock; it wasn’t supposed to happen like that. Even her parents had tried keeping everything from her, but it hadn’t hurt as much when the doctor had said it. It all felt like a dream, Soa had thought that somehow he had been wrong all along, that he had gotten the wrong girl and that soon enough she would be waking up like every normal girl her age.

“Omma, since when did you die your hair brown? It was always black” A flustered Soa questioned upon seeing her mother enter the room. Her own mother felt different somehow, like she had aged by a few years. But that was somehow impossible, and the girl only dismissed it as something to do with the after effects of her having been asleep overnight.

“Eh?” Mrs kang reached up to touch her own hair, like she had forgotten about it when obviously it had been done recently. “Um, well it’s been a while”

“A while?” Soa frowned in confusion, the loss accumulating inside her head and causing it to throb in pain. “What do you mean, just yesterday I saw you with black hair”

“No sweetie…” her mother sighed while running a hand through her now gleaming brown waterfall, a sign that she was frustrated. This caused Soa to be even more confused about the matter. She couldn’t in the world wonder why he mother was so distressed about something so minor. Because as far as Soa recalled back, she had just fainted from too much overwork and her body had just given out on the way to school right? And now she was about to be discharged because nothing was wrong with her. So why did she feel this small tug of fear when Mrs Kang’s eyes flashed with slight worry. Wasn’t Soa going to get better? Wasn’t she better already?

“Omma, what’s wrong? Why do you look so worried?” She had the guts to ask. Before her mother could open and reply, a doctor trudged in with a clipboard in hand, and Soa swallowed back her words. She hoped that her worries would’ve been for nothing, and that the doctor was just here to check her out final time. Because there was nothing wrong with her, and she would be going back home in no time.

“Kang Soa, such a pleasure to see you up and breathing” He announced with joy, and the girl couldn’t her but feel that he seemed a bit too overexcited about the fact that she was awake. Couldn’t he just discharge her already?

“How are you feeling?” he asked when he checked her pulse and body like any doctor would.

“I’m fine. Well, more than fine actually. When will I be able to go home?” She blurted out instantly. Instead of being appalled at her rudeness, the doctor only chuckled and replied “Soon, real soon. I’ll just need to run some tests on you before you can”

The doctor then crossed his arms over his chest and his expression turned serious. Soa blinked at the sudden transformation. Where had all the merriness gone to?

“Now Soa, do you feel alright?” He asked.

“Sure!” She replied a bit too quickly, but then continued with a sheepish smile “Well my head hurts, but other than that I feel fine”

“Alright. Soa..” He hesitated before delivering her the next line, almost casting a look to her mother before proceeding. Soa of course, hadn’t failed to notice this small fleeting glance and her insides suddenly twisted. There was something that they were hiding from her, that was for sure. she tried comforting herself that it wasn’t anything grave and she should just let the doctor talk instead of creating assumptions, and somewhere along the line, she tried to be as optimistic as possible.

But that literally flew out of the window the second the doctor opened his mouth to say “Kang Soa. We’re in 2014. You’re turning seventeen this year, and you’ve been in a coma for almost 3 years”

Soa shuddered at the thought, tears still burning at the back of her eyes at the suddenness of it all. Imagine waking up one day to realize that three whole years of your life had gone and passed, and that everything had moved on without you. Soa definitely hadn’t been prepared for anything that came her way. Her parents had tried after this to put her into a more comfortable position by slowly making her realize that nothing had really changed, except for herself. She still remembered the time when she had stopped and stared at herself in the mirror, wondering exactly where had she suddenly developed full s, or where had those set of hips come from, or how her hair had grown down to her waist, like she had always dreamed of.

But Soa was far from happy.

Her friends had all changed. Sure, they were still the crazy bunch she’d known since kindergarten, but she found that the more time she passed with them; the more she discovered that not everything had stayed the same. She was now nearly seventeen, but her mind still worked like her fourteen year old self, she couldn’t believe her ears when she caught her friends talking about how good was, or when she found her friend all over her newest boyfriend of the week with her hands down his pants and his own up her bra. The thought of it made Soa sick.

Because of that, because she couldn’t keep up with them no matter how ahrd she tried to run to them, she slowly drifted away from them, and soon enough she had begged her parents to let her move, assuring them that it was for the best and that she would feel much more comfortable.

So she did, she moved to a new school and got herself a new life.

However, girly and happy and shallow Kang Soa had long disappeared.

Now, there was the wallflower Soa, the transparent Soa, the Soa that no one knew.

And she intended to keep it that way.

She just couldn’t keep up with everything that’s been happening and how she was supposed to be a much more mature and independent adult. Yet, because of this three-year gap, she was lacking of everything. Of experience with the boys, of gossips with the girls, and worst of all, she had lost the chance of blossoming into that beautiful butterfly she had always yearned to become. This had caused her to close in on herself and try act like she couldn’t care less about anything, for the sole reason to try and protect her naïve and vulnerable fourteen-year-old soul from getting tainted.

Kang Soa was still stuck in the past whether she liked it or not.

“Excuse me, miss..what’s your name again?” The teacher broke her jumbled up train of thoughts, pulling her reluctantly out of her reverie when Soa only blinked and replied to him.

“Kang Soa, seongsangnim”

“Ah yes, Kang Soa-ssi, please follow in class. I won’t have you gazing into space about your new boyfriend arraso?” With a nod as a reply, the teacher returned back to his lesson, satisfied about how she hadn’t put up a fight unlike the students in this school. The students round her chuckled and even though she was sure that they hadn’t meant it in a mocking way, Soa still cringed a their laughter because of her, because they had noticed her, because she was as vulnerable as ever in their eyes.

Thankfully, the bell rang at this instant and sighing, the girl proceeded to scramble all her things into her bag and gratefully slipped out of the classroom, walking towards the spot where she usually spent most of her free time. She wasn’t a nerd or a wallflower. She had acquaintances, classmates that said hi to her, but because her socially awkward position, she had never gone over that ‘nice to meet you’ stage. Most of the time though, she was ignored avdn even forgotten on occasions.

She was transparent, like glass, like water, like air.

“There you are” she let a small smile crack from her pokerfaced mask, and if one was to look at Soa in this instant, they would’ve gotten the glimpse of that natural fourteen year old girl that seemed as pure and innocent as the sun dappling it’s morning rays onto one’s face. The girl bent down to meet her one and only friend, a cute fluffy Pomeranian that had claimed the greenhouse as it’s rightful place even though it wasn’t even his to begin with. Not knowing what to have called him at first sight, she had decided that “Kimchi” was cute enough.

Kimchi kept her company, and in return she shared her lunch with him.

“Yah, don’t eat too fast or you might choke” she cajoled and got ignored by the pup who just devoured everything she had handed to him.

Funnily enough, he started to choke and Soa chuckled “See? I told you to stop being such a glutton”

Kimchi sent her look that would’ve said “Shut up” if he could’ve talked.

Soa waved her fork in the air in amusement, cracking for the first time since ages a rare grin “Don’t you give me that look, Kimchi”

The puppy’s ears dropped slightly, and she swore that if he was a human he would’ve pouted like a spot child as his eyes said something along the lines of “You’re being so mean to me”

She scoffed in response “Dude, you don’t wanna know what being mean is”

 When it was time to go back to class, she put back her things inside her bag and got up, patting the dog one last time on it’s head before she walked to her last class being maths. As she did so, a bunch of boys cackled behind her, the noise reaching her ears and causing her to cringe against the row of lockers nearby.

Soa almost shrieked in shock but tried to keep her cool mask when one of them bumped into her, quickly realizing his mistake and bowing in apology. She nodded at him and kept going; not noticing how the latter’s eyes sudden twinkled with unwanted mischief as he smirked at his friends.

“You go man” One of his friends jabbed his thumb in Soa’s direction as she started walking up the stairs.

“I dare you to” the other sniggered.

Right at this time, J-Hope was descending the stairs, hands in pockets like he didn’t have a care in the world, and laughing at a joke said by Taehyung when his eyes slipped to glance at the girl beside him going in the opposite direction. He seriously should’ve considered just moving away especially when he caught sight of one of his classmates advancing towards her with a leer embedded on his face. Since J-Hope wasn’t one to enter a fight that didn’t concern him, he wasn’t to interfere.

But when he saw the boy’s hand going right to her skirt and gathering a handful of it before lifting it up, he knew that there was big big trouble ahead.

“EEK!” The girl screamed, turning around as the boy turned and made as if nothing had ever happened. J-Hope winced at the sharp sound resonating inside his ears and leaving this dull noise at the back of his brain, but when he turned towards the unknown girl to ask if she was alright and not mentally traumatized by the event, he got the shock of his life when she did something totally unexpected.

Soa slapped him.

Sooooo...how's the first chappie? :) xx