The little girl walked out of the storage room where she was locked for two days. Her face was filled with grayish dull dust and her body was filled with wounds and bruises. She didn't want to stay at the storage room any longer. The place was too dark and narrow that she felt nauseous being locked inside for a very long time. Pushing the door to see a small gap, she peeked her face beside the wooden door and travelled her eyes left and right, searching whether there was anyone outside and hope there wouldn't be anyone. Thankfully there was no one outside.
Trotting her tattered feet outside, she suddenly heard a sound of rustling across her left and flinched. Her whole body shook out of fear. She had been quiet all this time, making sure she didn't cause any trouble by crying to the people in the orphanage. However, that wasn't enough.
Two nights ago she was too hungry. Eating only dilated soup and a slice of bread for a day was too little for the little girl. At night when she couldn't bear with the hunger she went out of the sleeping room at night to find food in the pantry only to be find by the worker of the orphanage. They lashed at her, shouting and giving her enough beating for the bruises to stay for a very long time. After the incident, she was forbid to sleep at the room and was locked to the old storage room which was a different building outside the proximity of the orphanage building.
When a cold gust of wind brushed the little girl, her body shivered. Lifting her chin up she saw the bright full moon looking down back at her. She extended her hand to the wide moon. It looked big enough for her hand to touch the moon but at the same time it was so far. Suddenly she heard a sound of rustlings from the bushes on her far left shoulder and her whole body flinched.
She moved her bare feet and winced when she felts a pang of pain from the sharp stone which stab her feet. Fresh blood dripped from her small feet but she didn't stop. If the worker find her out of the storage, they would only lengthen the day of her punishment which she hated more than being beaten.
"Meow." Her eyes which she shut tightly peeked a little over the gap of her eyes. A small black cat with a bright golden eyes looked back at her, in lining its head to the side, it rubbed its paw on its head and looked back at her.
Seeing that it was a cat and not the worker, a relieved breath escaped from her mouth. She bend her back, crouching in front of the cat, she offered her still trembling hand to the cat. "Are you alright, Mr. Cat?" The cat meowed at her as if replying her words, it moved and licked the wound of her hand. Her face break to a smile. She was a simple girl, just a little movement of a cat could make her break into a smile.
"That's my cat." Suddenly a voice of an older boy sounded beside her ears. She grew stiff again, her eyes looking upward she saw a boy standing right bellow the wide moon she had admired. She can't see the boy's face clearly it was either due to the shadow that covered his face or because her wet eyes out of tears prevented her from doing so.
Hearing the little girl didn't answer, the boy spoke again. "What's your name?"
Her eyes went still at his figure. Like the moon he was bright and clear, his voice was deeper than any other boys she had heard and although it sounded distant she could pick the gentleness it had.
"Seoyeon." The girl felt her sore voice itches when she spoke. Placing a hand over her throat she spoke again in a clearer voice. "My name is Seoyeon."
Han Seoyeon stood up from her bed. Rubbing her eyes she glanced to the clock laid beside her bed lamp. After taking a note of the time, she turned off the lamplight which was still glowing over her face. Ruffling her hair, she sighed. The dream she had just a moment ago was one of her childhood. The childhood before she was adopted by Han Couple. Han Seojun her younger brother she always doted the most was the son of the couple, which made the two as step siblings but the fact she thought him as her little brother didn't change.
Yesterday the talk with her aunts and uncles must have weighed more than she thought. They asked for money which she can't afford. Were they nuts? She almost want to goes taekwondos movements of them. As much as she want to quickly cut off her ties with them, there were still legal acts she had to do to completely disowned them. And for her to reach the goal she had to accumulate nine million won for the court matter and an extra three million won to hire a good lawyer. She thought she could wait until Seojun finish her university but now looking back to their talk yesterday she had to rethink her choice.
Her parents had left her message to protect her little brother before their death and she had took the words down with her life.
Standing from her bed, she walked and tied her black hair to a high ponytail. It is useless for her to think too much. For now, she should work for more money to go through the court and retain her and her brother's freedom from them.
After washing her face, Han Seoyeon went to take her bag when something fell from the side of her bag. Wondering what it was, she bent down to take the thing that fell down to see that it was a dolphin doll at the size of her palm. Since when was it inside her bag? Observing the adorable dolphin doll, it must have been from the aquarium she visited with Jung Hwa. But she didn't remember to buy the dolphin doll. Perhaps it was Jung Hwa's?
She thought of how her date was with Jung Hwa and the smile she had smoothened. Yesterday was a bad day but not entirely due to him. She should thank him later, she thought.