Chapter 5. Runaway

Two months after Jiyeon's departure.

It has been two months since Jiyeon left, there was no single letter from Jiyeon since the first call to inform them that she had arrived safely, Hyomin and Eunjung started to worry but they got confirmation from Mother Soo Ae that Jiyeon was doing fine, they didn’t want to believe it that Jiyeon forgot their promise but convinced themselves that she might be busy adapting herself to new environment and new school. They were looking forward to hearing news from Jiyeon anyway.

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Three month later

It was a rainy day when Eunjung and Hyomin were on their way home from school, when they reached half way, the rain started pouring down heavily so they had to find a shelter from the rain, they ran to a small alley and found a roof from a small food stand to keep them from rain.

“It doesn’t seem to stop anytime soon unnie” Hyomin complained and started shivering

“Are you cold?” Eunjung asked worried, Hyomin nodded as a reply, Eunjung took Hyomin hand and rubbed with hers to keep her warm.

“Do you think it would be raining in Canada now?” Hyomin asked out of nowhere, reminiscing of the time when Eunjung , Jiyeon and her stuck in the rain

“May be not “, Eunjung knew why the younger girl asked such a question, she must miss Jiyeon a lot

It was one good hour until the rain came to a full stop, and it was getting darker, Eunjung and Hyomin were walking back to the main road when a man showed up out of nowhere.

“Hey, young girls what you are doing here” a man asked seemingly intoxicated

Eunjung held Hyomin’s and walked as fast as she could

“ Oh you are very rude girls, why didn’t you answer elder’s question ? “the man tried to block their way

Eunjung knew this wasn’t a good sign, she signaled the younger girl to run. They ran hand in hand in the dark alley followed by the man and almost reached the main road when Hyomin stumbled and fell “Ouch”

“ Hyomin !” Eunjung exclaimed, Hyomin tried to get up but was shoved by the man.

“Running wasn’t fun, let’s do something more fun” the man said like a lunatic person, he pulled Hyomin to get up and Hyomin started to scary

 Eunjung ran back and tried to free Hyomin from the man’s grip, “You, bust**rd” , Eunjung kicked his leg.

“ B**tch” , the man slapped Eunjung , the force made her face move the other side, and she felt so numb

“ Eunjung unnie” , Hyomin cried out , she bit the man’s hand  “ Ouch” , the man let go of Hyomin because of the pain. “ You” , he slapped Hyomin in her face and she fell on the ground

Eunjung was fumed with anger, she found a glass bottle nearby, she used it to hit the man on the back of his head, he suddenly fell on the ground bleeding.

Then Eunjung helped Hyomin who was still shocked to get up on her feet , “ Are you ok?” , Eunjung checked on her and asked , Hyomin nodded her head in response “ What’s about you unnie, did you get hurt ? , “ No, I am ok”

“ Unnie , I am scared”, Eunjung hugged the younger girl , “ you are safe now” ,

“ Unnie, he is unconscious” , Eunjung looked back at the man, she just realized that he was bleeding , hard with blood flowing on the floor and she started to panic.

“We need to leave here now Hyomin, can you walked? Eunjung said in panicky tone. Hyomin nodded

They walked as fast as they could without looking back. Not long after they reached the orphanage home and sneaked to their room. As soon as they were in their room, Eunjung locked the door, then went to wardrobe, she took her backpack then packed some stuff into it.

“ Unnie , what are you doing ? “ Hyomin asked, puzzled with Eunjung’s action.

“ Hyomin , I can’t stay here anymore , if that man died and they found out it was me who killed him, I am going to be put into jail ! ” , Eunjung said very fast before she went back to pack her stuff

“ Eunjung unnie , please calm down , we shall go to Mother Soo Ae , she may be able to help”

“No way, they are going to send me to Youth Rehabilitation Center, this place is bad enough, I can’t stand going to live in worse place ” Eunjung freaked out. Hyomin walked to Eunjung and back hugged her to calm her down, “Please don’t be like this unnie”, Hyomin started to sob on Eunjung’s back . Eunjung stood still. “ I am sorry to scare you Hyomin ah” Eunjung turned around and wiped away the tear from Hyomin’s face.

“I’ll go with you then” , Hyomin said looking into Eunjung’s eyes before releasing the hug and went to collect her stuff from under bed and wardrobe

“Are you sure Hyomin ah?”, Eunjung asked to confirm what she just heard.

“I can’t let you go alone, we will stick together” Hyomin gave a smile reaffirming her decision

“What if Jiyeon visits us and don’t see us here” Eunjung raised a question

Hyomin stopped what she was doing “She may forget us by now” Hyomin replied sadly, with that Eunjung knew better than to continue the topic, it has been a few months and they heard nothing from Jiyeon herself but was told by Mother Soo Ae that she was fine, so she herself also started to doubt why Jiyeon didn’t even write them any letter, she might find her happiness and new friends in a better place.

Hyomin took a small box from the bottle of her wardrobe, opened it and took out a necklace given to her by Jiyeon as a reminder of her, it was a necklace that Jiyeon always wore, she put it on her neck and touched a “J” pendant “ But you are always here in my heart Jiyeon ah” , she thought.

Eunjung opened her savings box, took out little money she has saved after years and put it in her pocket

They waited until midnight when they were sure that no one would see them, they sneaked to backyard and climbed up the fence, Eunjung helped Hyomin first and then jumped up after.

Two girls walked along the road to the main street, tonight was still young for them, not knowing where to go, but they knew they had each other.

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On the other side of the world

Jiyeon was waiting hopefully in the front of her new house for the postman to stop and drop off letter, but to her disappointment, he didn’t stop and passed by. She sadly walked back into the house passing Mr.Kim and Mrs.Kim that sitting in their living room to her bed room on the second floor.

“Should we just tell her honey?” Ms. Ryeo Won asked her husband, she felt so sympathetic toward Jiyeon

“It’s for her own safety honey, she will understand the reason” Mr. Rae Won said

“But she seems to miss her friends a lot” Ms. Ryeo Won said feeling bad.

“She will make new friends at school, and she will be fine” Mr. Rae Won reassured his wife to get rid of her worry.

In her bed room, Jiyeon sat at the edge of her bed looking out of the window, she wondered how her friends were doing in her hometown, when Hyomin would get heart surgery and most of all if they missed her the way she missed them. She took out a red scarf from the box and hugged it “I miss you”.  

I hope you guys are not getting bored of my younger version of EunMinYeon , " Present" version will be updated soon , stay tuned .