ANGEL IN THE DARK

#25 - willyoutakemeonadate

11-year-old Jennie

It was a summer afternoon when I was 11. I was sitting inside the class while suddenly I heard a very loud roar above the rumbling of thunder and the howling of the wind. A few next seconds it was upon us. The grand glass window of my classroom rattled shakily as the pouring rain crashed down on it. The storm was in full swing.

At that time, my mom was live performing in an outdoor fair in Myeong-dong. The rain was so sudden, would she be able to run inside a building? Looking outside the from my seat, I saw her collecting the music instruments she hired while using her small torso to cover them from the rain. I wished I had been there to help her. Biting my lips, I wanted to stop my tears from falling due to the scenes inside my head. But I failed as I used my hands to cover my face and starting crying in silence. The whole class stopped from what they were doing as the teacher rushed to my seat. Cha Hee was beside, patting my back. Until now, that was the only time and the last time I cried out in public. 

I rushed home when the rain stopped. I found my mom was already home while she was preparing dinner. She stood near the kitchen counter, greeting and smiling at me while her hair was wet.

- Urghh!!! My uniform was wet! What will I wear to school tomorrow?

I said angrily as I checked my clothes in my yard. And I said, not to her but loud enough for her to hear me. 

- Urghhh! I hate this! I hate my life!

*

9-year-old Jennie

It was the lunchtime, I was inside my class eating my lunch with Cha Hee while I heard the loud gossip from the other table - the table of the popular kids.

- Jennie Kim. What a strange name? 

- I thought she would be from a wealthy family or she moved to Korea from aboard, but it turned out that she is from a dirt poor family. 

- I don't understand why her mom had a gut to give her that name. It's so lame! Jennie Kim!

They laughed. I was getting used to these kinds of situations, these kinds of jokes. I accepted the fact that I can't make everyone like me or to understand me.

- I heard her mom is a dancer in a club in Itaewon.

- A Dancer? Is that a kind of a slut job, you know, dancing then taking money from strange men! 

- Ewww! 

I didn't wait any longer, I strode to their table to slap the girl who just called my mom a slut. And she was a singer, not a dancer. That lunch was a mess. My first fight in life.

That afternoon, my mom was called to the school to have a talk with my teacher. When we were home, she took out the aid kit to clean my bleeding elbow. Then she asked me why I had fought with my friends, but I rejected to tell her the truth. She should never know the real reason behind it.

- They are mean girls. I hate them.

I crossed my arms, pouting. She just smiled at me and pinched my cheek.

- Jennie, you are my good girl. Even when someone is mean to you, it doesn't mean that you should treat them the same! Just don't become someone like them.

- Whatever, I still hate them.

I said and kept pouting.

*

12-year-old Jennie