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Jae Hee’s P.O.V.

It’s raining again.

The drops are hitting my window, and I watch as they roll down, leaving traces of water in their way. I follow a trail until the drop is completely gone. Another drop hit the window, erasing the trail the other drop has made.

I once wished to disappear like the drop, with my traces erased completely. But I am still alive—my heart’s still beating, my mind still working—and I finally decided… that I should live it.

This is also told to me by my friend, Bona: “You can’t be like this forever. You can’t stay where you are. This is a second chance for you, Jaehee.”

I never believed in second chances, given the nightmares I have been through in my twenty three years of existence—I had hell for a home, and another hell for work.

When I was seventeen I ran away from home. I didn’t know where to go and wandered the street of Geongpyung until an ahjumma spotted me. She told me she would help me and would provide for me if I were to be obedient. What could a person who hasn’t eaten for three days do? I obediently followed her… until she reached a building reeking of women’s perfume combined with sweats of men. Should I go in?  She nodded. You won’t hurt me? She promised.

That day, my second nightmare began in a brothel.

When I turned 21, ahjumma gave me a gift. One of our VIPs wants you, she said, he is willing to pay a large sum of money for you.

I remembered how I shook my head abruptly. I could not speak out of fear and my tongue went numb.

She hit me.

“You should be thankful that he would be the one to deflower you!” She yelled.

“I have followed your biddings ever since, Jae Hee,” she spattered, “you told me you just wanted to dance, so I’ve let you. You told me you didn’t want to do this and that and I agreed. I’m sick of you, you little s*n of a b*tch!”

She continued beating me with her trustworthy cane that doesn’t ever break from hitting my back. And I was crying, with my tears like raindrops on my window.

“Ahjumma! Please. Please. Please.”

A sudden knock on my door got me out of my thoughts. I drew a deep breath. Bona has come.

Lee Bona is my only friend. We became friends after she saved me from the brothel I was working in. That night before my “deflowering”, an NGO she was a part of rescued us from that hell. The brothel was in a mess—girls running around, ahjumma running away, men being arrested—and I just sat down in my room, not knowing what was happening. That was when she saw me. I was unable to speak for a year, but she helped me get through it. She even helped me in adapting with the outside world and in getting my GED last year so I could proceed to college without finishing highschool. Her NGO also provided for my living expenses for a year before I was able to find some decent work.

When I opened the door, I saw her smiling at me. Her smile was warm and welcoming—a smile someone wears whenever he sees a friend—I smiled back.

“How are you?” She asked. I nodded to say I’m okay. I invited her in.

“Woah,” she exclaimed, “you’re really getting ready to move out.”

I followed her eyes. She was looking at the piled up boxes in the corner. “I was just cleaning,” I explained, “You know I can’t move out.”

“I thought you’re going to live in a dorm,” she said, “didn’t the administration cover that for you?”

I nodded in affirmation. “They did; only, I can’t live somewhere else. You know why.”

“Is it because of your hot neighbor?” She teased. “He’s been eyeing you for years.”

“I’ve only been here for a year, Bona. Besides, Chanyoung’s just a neighbor.”

She looked skeptical. “Just a friendly neighbor?”

“Just a friendly, kind, and caring neighbor.” We laugh, our laughter resonating within the little room.

“I’m happy for you, Jaehee,” she told me. “You’re finally getting out of your shell.”

“It’s all thanks to you, Bona,” I said. “Thank you… for everything, my friend.”

“Stop being dramatic, will you?”

I chuckled.

“Let’s go,” she said, “let’s celebrate—for tomorrow, Goo Jae Hee is officially a college student!” She brought her fist to the air. I joined her in her fist bomb. “Let’s go!”