Chapter 2. Precious   

Seoul, Korea , June 2002

“Seng il chook ha hamni da, seng il chook ha hamni da,  sa rang ha nuen Jiyeonnie , seng il chook ha hamni da” , once Jiyeon opened the door to her room she was greeted by a surprise which arranged by her two friends . Jiyeon was frozen in her place till Hyomin brought her back to earth “ Make a wish Jiyeon ah ” Hyomin reminded her while holding a plate of few choco pies with one candle on it . Jiyeon closed her eyes and made a wish that no one knew what it was before blowing the candle.

“Thank you”, Jiyeon could said with grateful smile, she was more than thankful to what her friends but couldn’t find way to express enough. “ You’re welcome” Eunjung and Hyomin said . “We couldn’t afford to get you a caramel cake but one day we will” Eunjung said with hopeful tone. “ This is more than enough , I wouldn’t ask for me ” Jiyeon expressed her sincerity. “Let’s eat this guys” Hyomin suggested, Jiyeon took choco pies from plates giving one to Hyomin , and another one to Eunjung. They enjoyed choco pies which Hyomin and Eunjung  . “ Oh wait” , Hyomin walked to her bed and took something from her shoulder bag before handing it to Jiyeon .  It was something wrapped in hand-made design paper “Thank you Hyomin ah ” . Jiyeon felt so thankful and happy to get a gift from Hyomin. “ Open it” Hyomin excitedly said , Jiyeon unwrapped the gift deliberately avoiding tearing a wrapping paper because every little things given to her by Hyomin were so mental valued and precious to her and she would want to keep this paper which was drew and designed by an art talented girl as well  . “Wow, I love it”   Jiyeon was done unwrapping her gift to find a red scarf, she wrapped it around her neck immediately, “That’s really beautiful”, Eunjung was slightly jealous , “ I am glad you like it” , Hyomin was so proud of her work which she secretly worked on it for two weeks. “Wait , how did you manage to knit this without us seeing ? “ Eunjung bewildered “ I secretly knitted it in Sunhwa-Jieun Room” Hyomin revealed . “ That’s why you acted weirdly the past couple weeks” Eunjung reasoned . Jiyeon was more touched to know how much effort Hyomin had put to make this gift for her, she walked closer to Hyomin and hugged her tightly “ Thank you” , Eunjung joined the hug .

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Hyomin and Eunjung were bidding goodbye to Jiyeon while they were leaving on a school field trip for junior high school. This was a first time the other two had to go somewhere without Jiyeon and that really bothered Jiyeon a lot because she was in fifth grade, how she wished she was one or two years older. “Take a good care kid, don’t go around fighting with other” Eunjung youngest friend , “ Yah , I am not that bad” , Jiyeon retorted . “We will be back before you know it, if you have any problem, go to Sister Khahi , ok ?” Hyomin told Jiyeon , “ Don’t worry , I’ll be fine , Eunjung unnie please take a good care of Hyomin” , “ Sure , kid” .

 After Hyomin and Eunjung left, Jiyeon spent most of her time helping Sisters around the kitchen and garden in the hope to make time go faster. “Jiyeon , Mother Soo Ae wants you to meet her at her office” , Sister Dam Bi informed Jiyeon while she was working in the kitchen with Sister Khahi , “ Yes , Sister , thank you , I’ll get going now” , Jiyeon bowed to Sister Dam Bi

Jiyeon headed to Mother Soo Ae office as told , “ You may come in” , after a knock on the door , Jiyeon got a permission to enter the office where she was greeted by Mother Soo Ae and other two strangers sitting before.  “ Jiyeon , meet Mr.Kim Rae Won and Mrs. Jung Ryeo Won” , Jiyeon bowed to them . “Please sit down Jiyeon”

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Jiyeon was tossing and turning in her bed, the information she was filled earlier kept her awake all night, she was confused and indecisive, she wasn’t ready to all of this yet.

FLASHBACK

“ Jiyeon , Mr. Kim and Mrs.Jung are living in Canada, they came all the way here to see you , they want to adopt you and take you to Canada with them” , Mother Soo Ae , explained to Jiyeon. Shouldn’t she be happy to get a better home, to get out of here, to have opportunity to find her mother but why her head went blank after what she was told? First thing that came in to her mind was Hyomin, how could she leave Hyomin behind? How was Hyomin and Eunjung going to say or react when this news was delivered to them? She went exceptionally quiet and it didn’t go unnoticed by Mother Soo Ae , so she broke an awkward silent by speaking up “ You may need time to digest this information, Jiyeon , I’ll take to you  later, you may leave the office and rest for today , please say goodbye to Mr.Kim and Mrs.Jung” , Jiyeon stood up and bowed to Mother Soo Ae and the couple. The couple smiled to her as she was leaving the office before the next word from a young lady caught her attention “She looks so much like her mother” Mrs. Jung said softly which was more like a whisper, Jiyeon was surprised to hear that and she was dying to ask her whether she knew her mother if it wasn’t for she heard Mr.Kim said something to stop his wife “It’s not time honey” and Jiyeon knew better than to ask but left the room with some much in her head.

END OF FLASHBACK