Back on the porch, Taeyeon sat on the steps slouching, realizing that she is now completely alone. Not a trace of warmth nearby.
"Don't be sad, Taeyeon." The man tried to give her some comfort, "the couple I found, although they are not nearly as wealthy as your parents, they will still love you very, very much."
No response came. The man looked around and eventually, his eyes landed on the apple tree that she saw when she arrived at the house.
"Do you remember that apple tree?" He asked her in a soft tone. "Come on, we had some memories here when you were smaller."
Taeyeon glanced at the tree, which she remembered climbing. "What about it, Mr. Choi? I fell" She pouted slightly at how much she failed that day.
"Look at it in a different way. You climbed right back up. And if I remember correctly, you even got an apple. You made me and...proud that day."
"I...I got it from the lowest branch. I didn't get the one on top." She answered honestly.
"That's because you were smart! You got the job done while using the least work possible. Nobody told you to climb to the tallest branch!" Mr. Choi smiled at her.
"You did." She retorted.
"No, I didn't." The man pretended to be confused and innocent.
"Yeah! You did!" Taeyeon argued, raising her voice cutely.
"Uh, no I didn't!" Mr. Choi made a silly face.
Taeyeon cracked a smile, but almost immediately sunk back into a frown.
"It's okay, Taeyeon. Just work hard for your sister and you will never know what might happen in the future. Now, let's get ready soon." Mr. Choi said before getting up and going back inside.
Taeyeon followed with a pout. But I have been working hard...everyday.
———
Taeyeon's soulless eyes looked away from Mr. Choi's face. She wondered: instead of finding another couple, why couldn't Mr. Choi just take her in. After much thought, she gave up and looked at the endless display of roads that kept on rewinding itself. It was a long drive from the capital to the city, so her mind inevitably wondered back to the event. Her thoughts were on the scene when the lady was on the ground and one of the men knelt down to pry open her mouth. In the man's back pocket was a handkerchief. Although only the corner of it was visible, she remembered the pattern stitched on it. Big "X" and four clubs stitched between the lines.
After two more hours of driving, they have finally reached their destination. Mr. Choi decided to stop for a much-needed snack break, which he rarely did during business trips. But he wanted to spend some more time with Taeyeon before letting her go for good. Although he was just one of Mr. Lee's subordinates, he enjoyed when they brought Taeyeon with them. She liked playing with him. Her adoptive parents were glad that she always found ways to busy herself and behaved, because Joohyun was a handful.
"Please don't do this!" A voice suddenly came from inside the store.
Mr. Choi squinted his eyes and looked through the sheets of advertisements taped on the window. He saw the cashier being confronted by a male in a hoodie. Upon seeing the male was armed, he pulled Taeyeon away from the store.
"Can you save him?" Taeyeon asked him innocently, upon seeing the cashier through the glass door.
"Taeyeon, we can't risk it. We are not in the right situation. Let's call the police and leave." He tried to pull Taeyeon further from the store.
"Please, I don't want to see anyone else get hurt today!" She pleaded.
He sighed. "Stay in the car. Do not go anywhere."
Then he handed her the car keys and told her to lock the doors.
Taeyeon sat in the back seat and reached forward to start the engine as the weather was getting chilly. After sitting back down and buckling her seat belt, she felt the low rumble of something scary shaking in the front of the car.
Without warning, the rumbling stopped for a brief moment, and the front of the car lifted violently upward off the ground. Its debris falling like hail amidst the black smoke.
"Taeyeon!!!" A distant voice was heard before everything turned black.
———
Taeyeon felt rather terrible, shaking her head to stop whatever it was that is making her head spin. She wanted to throw up. To her surprise, not only that she couldn't vomit, but she also can't feel her mouth. Could she be dead?
In her thoughts, she cursed at herself. Look at yourself! Dying already!? Do you still think you are your sister's hero? Are you working hard enough?
I cannot die. Taeyeon thought to herself, then she realized a blurry, but bright light shone in front of her. It was the morning of the same day when the lady was still alive.
Her vision recovered slowly, becoming rather clear for someone who is dreaming.
When she could see again, the lady's face came to view and somehow the master was there too.
"Death is the time when you have to go somewhere far, far away..." The lady's voice echoed in her ears. As she looked closer, she could see the master with his arms around the lady's neck.
Out of confusion and panic, Taeyeon let go of her emotions and yelled whatever was on her mind.
"I don't want to die! Please don't leave! I promise I will work hard!" She screamed, but astonished when she still could not feel her mouth moving.
The lady's face slowly turned from a smile to a face of panic. "I can't hear you, TaeTae. I can't hear you!" The words repeated desperately in her mouth.
Slowly the image of the lady and the master faded out of view.
...
"Open your eyes. You are safe."
———
"I am going to keep her." A woman stated after a long moment of silence.
"Are you out of your mind? We can barely afford to pay our own bills!" A man sat at a dinner table rubbing his forehead. "And there is your deteriorating health, which I told you a million times, but you would not listen."
The woman really wanted the child but did not know what to say. What her husband said was half true.
"Now you just brought back a nuisance!" He continued angrily, glaring at the food in front of him. "What I am trying to say is, do whatever you want but do not burden our family. The doctor already said she will be fine after she wakes up. But that's not enough, you had to bring her home!"
"Okay enough. The child might have already woken up, don't let her hear you yammering."
Taeyeon's eyes twitched. After sleep had finally left her, she slowly lifted her eyelids to a dusty pink-ish coloured room. Her eyes blinked a couple times to adjust to her rather unfamiliar surroundings.
The room was small, but cozy. It had two flower shaped lights. One big daisy and a small daisy hanged side-by-side directly above her on top of the bed. Next to her was a small white desk and followed by a small closet.
The door to the bedroom clicked open and a girl, who looked a little younger than her, appeared. The little girl gasped when she sees her awake and quickly ran away from the door.
Taeyeon stared at the door and then she realized that she doesn't recognize where she was nor how she got here. The place looked, smelled, and sounded different from.
Although she was confused and her mind was empty, she felt calm. Her hands felt the wool blanket covering her, somehow enjoying the enclosure of a small cozy room. It felt safe. It's as if whatever happened prior to this didn't matter...or it did, and it mattered so much that she did not want to turn back the clock. Whichever it may be, she couldn't recall any memories of what happened before she got here. It's like waking up as a completely different person.
...
"She's awake!"
She heard the little girl yell outside the room. With whatever strength she had in her body she tried to lift herself up.
"Where the heck am I?" She asked herself with an odd expression on her face. "Ow..."
Her head and part of her chest was wrapped in bandages, some were found on her arms and legs. She sighed and got off her bed disregarding her condition.
Manageable. She thought after a few steps.
"You are awake!" The woman walked quickly towards her. "How...Why are you out of your bed already!? You almost scared us to death when we found you."
"Where is this place?"
"You are at our home. We took you home from the hospital because we couldn't find your parents." The couple brought her back after she spent a week at the hospital with no news of her parents.
Taeyeon scratched her head. Parents? Who were her parents? All she remembers was waking up at the hospital earlier.
"You must be hungry, let's have dinner. Yoona, grab her a bowl and chopsticks." The woman gestured her daughter. The girl obediently walked towards the kitchen, which wasn't far away as the house was small.
In the dining room, the lady introduced herself and her family. She and the man were Mrs. Im and Mr. Im and their daughter, Yoona. The parents found a notepad with her basic information on it. Birthdate, blood type, and a message. However, there were no indication of a name, nor contact information.
The man obviously did not like where this situation is going.
"Hey girl, look at me. Listen to my question carefully." He said sternly, "what's your mother's name?"
Taeyeon looked at him with a blank stare, judging his character silently. I don't have to answer you. Not that she remembers anyway.
"What's your father's name?"
"I don't know."
Mr. Im put down his chopsticks roughly, startling Yoona and earning a disapproving look from his wife. "A phone number? Address? Rotten egg, you can't not know anything? If you don't know how to contact your parents, who is going to pay us back for the hospital bill!?"
"Hyun!" Mrs. Im scolded him. She cleared her throat and spoke in a gentle voice, "can you tell us your name at least?"
What is my name? Taeyeon shook her head.
"Now the rotten egg doesn't even know her own name! I bet that she doesn't even know how to pronounce it!"
"That's enough! How can you say that in front of her?" Mrs. Im glared at her husband, and turned back to Taeyeon, "it's okay, we are going back to the doctors tomorrow and maybe we will find an answer. Now, this here is Yoona, she is our daughter. How about you two play some games together for the night?"
"Aww!!! I don't want to play with her! She doesn't even know who she is!" Yoona whined, her lips pressed down into a frown. "I don't even know how to play with her."
"Stop learning from your dad. Don't you love stories? Go read some to her after dinner."
------
"And then what happened?"
"Then she was saved?" the younger girl answered with confusion, appearing impatient that the older girl would ask such an obvious question.
"Are you kidding? Why didn't she...he was so strong!" Taeyeon stated.
"She gained magical powers." Yoona shrugged.
"This story so boring. You make your dad tell you these?"
"Then, what kind of stories do you like?" Yoona pouted, feeling a bit irritated.
"Thriller, killing bad guys, murder mystery...horror? Lots more exciting to read than these!" Taeyeon listed some before she was interrupted.
"HUSH!" Yoona covered her mouth with her palm. "Fighting and killing are unhealthy, have your parents taught you so unwell?"
Taeyeon stayed quiet. On a second thought, she didn't know why she became so interested in such topics.
Noticing how quiet Taeyeon was, Yoona remembered that the girl was missing from her parents. "I'm sorry. I hope your family finds you soon."