Love Undercover

1.

"Bye teacher!"

"Bye Teacher Eun!"

Thanks for taking care of my son, Ms. Eun."

"Ms. Eun, I'm really sorry you had to go through such troubles because of my child."

"Bye Teacher Eun! We'll see you tomorrow!"

Eun Youngro was all smiles as she waved goodbye to the kids, while exchanging bows with the parents in between. Being a preschool teacher requires so much effort but as they say, if you do what you love, it never feels like you're working.

It has only been three months since she started working at the local school in Jeongseon, Gangwon-do but having stayed there for five years with her maternal grandparents, she knows almost each and every face in town. Every person in the neighborhood felt like family and she found there the warmth and love she never felt back then when she was still living with her family.

Her father was a chief prosecutor back then, and her mother, a loving and dedicated lady of the house. She could say she had a normal life then, but she felt little by little, things gradually changed. Things took a different turn when her father became a part of the National Assembly.

Eun Changsoo, her father who had always pampered and indulged her since childhood came home less and less frequently. She would often hear from the househelps that her father came home drunk and that he and her mom fought while she was asleep. She was in highschool back then and her father wasn't able to make it to programs and ceremonies at school. However, Eun Youngro had always been mature and understanding despite being an only child. But that didn't mean she was a pushover.

One day she arrived home from school earlier than usual, all excited to show her parents her grades, she witnessed her paternal grandfather insulting her mother for coming from an ordinary family and tarnishing the Eun's political career. When her dad did nothing to protect her mom, she didn't take it too well. She dragged her mom and left the house, heck, her evil father didn't even look for them. She had no money, her mom had none as well so they ended up crashing her best friend Seolhui's house and thank God her family was nice to accept them. She even borrowed some money from her so they could go to Gangwon where her mom's parents live.

Life in Gangwon was simple, and Eun Youngro was quick to adapt. They were doing well until she and her mom had to go back to Seoul to pick up her school documents. She could still clearly remember how her mom left her and told her to wait at Seolhui's house. She was sure her mom was going to meet her dad and she opposed the idea. However, her mom assured her, looking all hopeful, all smiles as she patted her head.

"I'll be right back, Youngro-yah... Wait for eomma."

Those were the last words she heard from her until she received a call telling her mother got hit by a car and that she died after being brought to the hospital. When she arrived, the police handed her an envelope containing her educational insurance fund and a divorce paper.

In the end, her mother only tried to secure her future. She remembered wanting to tear it all to pieces. If her mother's life was the price to pay for going to college, then she never needed it anyway. But Seolhui knocked some sense into her mind.

"If you do that, you're throwing away what your mother had sacrificed so much for."

And so gritting her teeth and swallowing the bitter taste in her mouth, Eun Youngro finished her studies and graduated on top of class, got numerous offers outside Jeongseon, but none of those piqued her interest.

Right now, teaching the kids in Jeongseon while living with her grandparents, Youngro thought, was one of the best decisions she ever made in life.

Why would she even think of going back to Seoul? All that awaits her there were bitter, painful memories. Her home is here, in Jeongseon, with her grandparents and new found friends she was able to meet in her five years of stay.