❛ NEW BEGINNINGS ❜

Yoon-ah's unease gnawed at her, her fingers methodically picking at the chipped edges of her nails. "You alright?" Jae-Jung's voice cut through the quiet, his glance sharp and probing. She nodded, the movement slight, her lips forming a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

She looked up at the school building through the windshield, her heart pounding in her chest. Her fingers gripped the edge of her seat, as if holding on could stop the inevitable.

"I don't want to go," she whispered, her voice barely audible.

Jae-Jung glanced at the clock on the dashboard. "Yoon-ah, you have to. I'm going to be late for work," he said, his tone firm but not unkind.

She turned to him, her eyes pleading. "Jeongmal museowo," she said, her voice a whisper.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and he looked at her with a sad expression. "What? English please, Yoon-ah"

The words felt like a blow, and Yoon-ah's eyes glistened with frustration. She sighed, shrinking back into her seat. "Never mind," she mumbled, her voice small and defeated. She knew Jae-Jung's Korean had become very limited, but it still hurt to hear.

Jae-Jung sighed, his expression softening. "Look, it's going to be fine. You'll get through it, okay?"

She nodded mechanically, reaching for the door handle. As she stepped out of the car, she felt a profound sense of isolation, even though he was right there with her.

"I'm just going to take you to registration, then I need to be off, alright?" Yoon-ah nodded. They slowly made their way into the school, Jae-Jung a few steps ahead, his pace more urgent than hers.

Yoon-ah didn't close the distance between them as they reached the front desk. Jae-Jung was talking to the office lady, who glanced briefly at Yoon-ah before returning to her computer. "Just take a seat. The principal will be out to see you soon," she said, her eyes never leaving the screen.

With a huff, Yoon-ah dropped her bag onto the seat beside her. Jae-Jung smiled softly. "I'll pick you up after school. Have a good day, kiddo," he said, ruffling her hair. She pulled away, an uncomfortable look crossing her face. Jae-Jung's brows furrowed with concern before he forced a tight-lipped smile and walked out of the office.

Yoon-ah sat with her arms wrapped around herself, her annoyance and sadness evident, feeling a deepening disconnect from her brother as she waited for the office lady to speak.

She leaned her head back against the white walls of the office and closed her eyes, she could feel the bags forming beneath her eyes the lack of sleep creeping up on her. "You must be Yoon-ah." A voice interrupted making her eyes flash open and she instantly sat up straight.

The woman who stood above her had a warm smile and silently laughed as she saw her posture change. "Is your um- is your English very good? Your brother didn't tell us much but he did say your from Korea."

"It's alright," Yoon-ah said with a shrug. The woman nodded, "well I'll take you around for a tour of the school and then we'll get you to your first class! Sound good?" She asked. If Yoon-ah could she would've walked out of this room long ago. The woman's cheerful tone was like chalk on a board. But Yoon-ah knew the acceptable thing to do, so she nodded.

The pair made their way out into the hall it's walls decorated with an assortment of posters and the walls lined with lockers and every so often the woman would politely ask Yoon-ah some questions. Finally after a pain staking walk through the maze of a school, they came to a stop outside a class. "Here's your schedule." The woman said with a smile handing Yoon-ah the slip of paper.

Yoon-ah gave her a soft smile looking down at the paper. "What is this word?" Yoon-ah asked pointing towards the paper. "Ah, that's algebra that's this classroom right here." she said pointing towards the one behind her.

She looked towards the silver watch on her wrist "There's still 30 minutes of class left, come on in and I'll get you settled." The woman said with an enthusiastic tone.

With a sigh, she followed the woman into the classroom. Heads immediately turned their way.

"Class, we have a new student! This is Yoon-ah. She's from Korea!"

Yoon-ah rolled her eyes at the woman's introduction. She seemed to really like the fact that Yoon-ah had once lived in Korea, which was years ago.

"Thank you for stopping by, Principal Lopez. We'll take good care of Yoon-ah, won't we, class?" the teacher asked.

She got no response from the class, as several students were on their phones or talking to friends. Yoon-ah was glad their focus was not on her.

The principal left the room, and the teacher directed her to an empty desk. It was the closest to the door and right at the front; of course, all the seats at the back were occupied.

Taking a seat, Yoon-ah didn't bother paying attention to what the teacher was saying, only mumbling a small thanks as a piece of paper was placed in front of her.

Yoon-ah's brows furrowed as she scanned the sheet. It had a set of instructions and problems. "Confused?" a boy asked. Yoon-ah whipped around to face the source of the voice. A boy with dark black hair was sitting beside her. "It's simple algebra, but you're from Korea, right? What's it like there—oh, sorry, is your English good? It's hard to tell because you're not really saying anything," he rambled on.

"I'm fine," she said, turning back to the sheet of paper.

"Alright... I'm Demetri, but you can call me—well, I don't have a nickname, just call me Demetri."

Yoon-ah side-eyed the boy before sighing. "Yoon-ah," she mumbled, attempting to solve the equation.

"Alright, cool, Yoon-ah," he said, nodding to himself. It was silent for a moment, and Yoon-ah felt grateful he had stopped talking, but his constant glances weren't helping her. When she began to write, he'd make small disapproving sounds, and she was becoming agitated.

"Eh... not what I would've written," he mumbled to himself.

She wrote down another answer, causing him to tsk and shake his head. Annoyed, Yoon-ah let out a breath in an attempt to calm herself down. Writing yet again, he looked as if he'd had enough. "Alright, fine, I'll help you," he said loudly, pushing his desk closer to hers. The table legs screeched loudly against the floor.

"What are you doing?" Yoon-ah said, shielding herself from the eyes of those in the classroom her hands cupping the sides of her face. "I'm moving over so I can help you. Boy, you're not very bright, are you? I've got my work cut out for me," he said with a sigh. "I'm not stupid," she snapped, slamming her pencil down on the table. "Well, let's just take a look at your answers," he said, gulping slightly.

"You see this here? You just move it to over here," he said, his hand signaling to move a number to another letter.

Yoon-ah sighed, "I don't understand."

He gave her a tight-lipped smile. "It's alright, you'll get the hang of it. I mean, it's only your first day anyway," he finished with a shrug.

Yoon-ah didn't care about getting better at something as lackluster as algebra. She'd rather be at home binge-watching a TV series or, better yet, asleep. She didn't want to be here; she didn't want to deal with the people and the trouble it takes to get used to a new school. It was too much.

"Are you alright?" Demetri asked, waving his hand in front of her face.

"I'm fine," she said with a sigh.

"Look, I get it. New school, new people. It's difficult. Why don't you come and sit with my friends and I at lunch?"

Yoon-ah looked at the boy with surprise. "Why?" she asked, furrowing her brows and speaking in a skeptical tone.

"So, uh, you know, so you don't have to be alone," he said with a shrug.

"Oh," she said, thinking for a moment. It was her first day, and she wasn't sure if she could keep up with an already formed group of friends. "I... thank you. But I'm just going to sit in the library," she said.

"Alright, if you change your mind, I'll be at the empty table. When I said friends, I really only meant Eli and Miguel... So, uh, yeah," he said awkwardly.

Yoon-ah, unsure how to feel, was grateful as the bell rang. She gave Demetri a smile before heading out of the classroom.

Yoon-ah had begun to regret not accepting Demetri's offer. Although he was annoying, and she wanted to push his desk away the moment he came closer, it could have been better than feeling as lonely as she did right now. The emptiness gnawed at her, a constant reminder of her isolation.

She tried to pretend she wasn't as lonely as she looked, but the book she was attempting to read wasn't helping at all. The words on the page blurred together, and despite her best efforts, she couldn't focus. Her mind kept wandering, circling back to the regret she was trying to ignore.

The library was quiet, the only sounds coming from the rustling of pages and the occasional muffled footsteps. Yoon-ah glanced up, her eyes flicking toward a group of students gathered around a table in the far corner. They were whispering to each other, sharing inside jokes, completely absorbed in their little world. She watched them for a moment, the pang of loneliness sharpening inside her chest.

Yoon-ah shifted in her seat, her fingers gripping the edges of her book until her knuckles turned white. Maybe she should have sat with Demetri. His presence would have been irritating, but at least she wouldn't be sitting here alone, pretending to read a book she couldn't even concentrate on. At least she would have someone next to her, even if only to feel less invisible.

A clock on the wall ticked loudly, each second dragging on as she tried to focus on the book again, forcing herself to read the same sentence over and over. But it was useless. The words were just shapes on a page, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make them mean anything.

The door to the library creaked open, and Yoon-ah glanced up, half hoping it might be Demetri. But it was just another group of students, chatting quietly as they made their way to the back of the room. She looked back down at her book, the sense of isolation tightening around her like a vice.

Maybe she'd been too quick to push Demetri away. She imagined him sitting next to her, chattering away about something trivial, filling the silence that now felt so suffocating.

But then she clenched her book tighter, shaking the thought away. Being alone was safer. No one could hurt her if she didn't let them get close. She had learned that the hard way, and she wasn't about to make the same mistake again.

Still, as she forced herself to focus on the meaningless words in front of her, Yoon-ah couldn't shake the small, stubborn thought that lingered in the back of her mind. How much longer could she keep this up? How much longer could she pretend that being alone didn't bother her?

The clock ticked away, each second a reminder of the time she was spending alone, trying to convince herself that she preferred it this way. But the question echoed in her mind, refusing to be ignored.

And for the first time in a long while, Yoon-ah found that she didn't have an answer.

Yoon-ah felt a sense of relief as the school bell finally rang. A faint smile tugged at her lips when she spotted her brother in the car, patiently waiting. The smile faltered when she saw who was in the front seat—Amelia, her brother's long-term girlfriend.

With a resigned sigh, she opened the car door and slid into the backseat. "Hey Yoon-ah," Amelia greeted cheerfully, turning around with a bright smile. "How was your first day?"

Yoon-ah's face remained stoic. "Fine," she replied curtly. Amelia's smile wavered, and she nodded before turning back to the front. "Just fine? Does that mean it was bad?" her brother asked as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"It was just fine," Yoon-ah said, her tone laced with annoyance as she folded her arms. Jae-jung caught her gaze in the rear-view mirror, his eyebrows raised. "Chakhage gura," he said, urging her to be polite.

Yoon-ah's eyes narrowed slightly. Why should she make an effort to be nice when everything felt so forced? She didn't see the point in pretending, especially not for Amelia, who seemed to invade her space without understanding her. "English, please," she said mockingly with a smirk that barely concealed her irritation.

Amelia, not understanding Korean, looked at Jae-jung with a puzzled expression. "What did you say?"

"don't worry about it," Jae-jung replied, brushing off the comment. Amelia nodded, though her curiosity was evident.

Yoon-ah turned her attention to the window, the grey sky and passing scenery offering a distraction from the tension inside the car. The silence that enveloped her felt heavy, but she kept her thoughts to herself, her annoyance simmering just below the surface as she listened to the soft hum of the engine and the occasional murmur between Amelia and Jae-jung.

As soon as they parked outside their small apartment complex, Yoon-ah headed straight to her room and slammed the door shut behind her.

She flopped onto her bed, eyes fixed on the ceiling. She knew that any moment now, her brother would come in, ready to deliver whatever lecture he had been silently preparing in the car.

Yoon-ah groaned when she heard the door creak open slowly and close with a soft thud. Rolling over, she kept her back to him. "Yoon-ah. Nareul bwa," he said. Yoon-ah rolled her eyes but reluctantly turned to face him.

He sighed, his usual stoic expression replaced by one of disappointment. "Is it that hard to have a conversation with Amelia?" Yoon-ah just shrugged, making him sigh again. "She's really trying, you know. You need to give her a chance."

"She didn't even want me here in the first place."

"That's not true."

"It is, and you know it. I heard her on the phone. When you said you wanted to adopt me, you didn't tell me she wasn't happy about it. I heard what she said, Jae," Yoon-ah shot back, her voice rising as she sat up.

"Mok-sori naj-chwo," he said asking Yoon-ah to lower her voice.

Yoon-ah narrowed her eyes, hurt creeping into her voice. "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You only speak Korean when you don't want her to hear," Yoon-ah said, crossing her arms defensively.

"Just...please be nice, okay?"

"Just go away." Yoon-ah said laying back down. With a sigh her brother reluctantly left her alone the door closing with a small thud leaving her in the dark.