"Fat so! fat so! Caihong is a big round pumpkin" the kids chorused as they surrounded a little girl who's uniform had been stained by the mud on the ground where she was seated. Tears ran like streams down her red cheeks, her nose smeared with mucus and her hair messy.
"Leave me alone....please just leave me alone!" she begged whilst crying and trying to get her long brown hair out of her face. without paying heed to her words one of them, a little boy threw the banana peel he had just eaten at her but someone else caught it before it landed on her, she couldn't see who it was but she could hear him threaten the group of kids that had gathered around her.
it was the coolest thing ever and just like birds they all flew away after apologizing to her.
"You shouldn't let them scare you, they only keep coming for you cause they know you're afraid" a sweet voice said to her, raising her gaze her eyes met his for the first time she'd seen him in class when the new teacher introduced him to the class but like every other student she didn't care to talk to him it wouldn't matter since everyone bullied her and he might turn out to do same so she had just ignored him. Without a word she stood up to leave fearing that he'll eventually make fun of her.
"That's not nice you know, I just helped you and you didn't even say thank you, it's very very un'nice" he said as she was about to leave. Caihong almost burst into laughter "un'nice, is that even a word?" she soliloquized to herself.
"Thank you for your help, but I didn't need it" she said as a matter of fact even though she was deeply grateful the Sisterhood had taught her never to show gratitude too much especially when you never asked for help, you never know why they helped you and what they might demand for in return so without hesitation she put it out to him that she hadn't asked for his help even though deep down she knew she needed it.
"Ishh what's with the attitude? Why so grumpy" he asked in a melodramatic tone, his face expressionless as ever
"I'm not grumpy!" Caihong said stumping her feet on the ground before moving forward.
"Of course you are, you couldn't even say thank you properly"
"And why should I? Did I ask for your help um?" Caihong replied finally looking directly at him, they were both the same height, his skin was really fair, one could easily tell that where ever he had stayed before must have had like sunshine. His hair was cut short but still covered his head and a little fell over his eyes, in simple terms he was really cute and for the first time Caihong understood why all the girls in class tried to suck up to him but it wasn't a new thing anyway, everyone always wants to be friends with the new kid and to top it all he looked really rich something that had made Caihong despise him the more, she always believed the rich had an attitude and been surrounded by so many of them through a scholarship she knew how they all acted so why was he talking to her now? She couldn't help but suspect his motives.
"No you didn't and I didn't help cause you're special or something I just find it really annoying for anyone to be treated like that" he answered sincerely still looking at her, his eyes not blinking.
"What are you? Super man?" Caihong asked. This time she watched him leave without answering her only after taking a few steps away from her and she taking an opposite direction did she hear him call out his name
"No, Haneul"
With that he walked away.
The next day he asked for his seat to be switched claiming that his former seat had been broken and the only available one was behind Caihong. Caihong hated that he had to seat behind her but that stopped the other boys and girls from throwing stuff at her only now Haneul did all of it by himself, he was a thorn in her flesh, his taunts made her start trying to loose weight after he challenged her to win the school beauty pageant and if so he'll leave the seat behind her.
Hating his presence and disturbance she sort to cut down her size but it took longer than expected and she refused to partake in the pageant because she thought everyone would laugh at her, unknown to her Haneul signed her up and tricked her in to attending the show a move that changed her perception about the body size and from that moment after walking the stage although in alter fear and nervousness she understood that herself worth was more than just her body her intelligence too was something she ought to be proud of. In the end she didn't win but made it to top four, which meant Haneul wasn't going to let her be.
A knock on the door brought Dana back to reality, quickly she wiped the tears that had now flooded her face. For years she had locked behind all this memories, memories she once cherished had now turned sore and bitter. Looking back now she wished she had stayed away from Haneul but did she have an option? She would have saved him from all the pain her presence in people's lives always caused, she would have never had to hear him say those words that stabbed her a million times marely thinking about it but fate... It played a cruel joke on both of them, tore apart too best friends... Haneul's Caihong, "Heaven's rainbow" they had inscribed that into a friendship bracelets Haneul had broken the night Caihong was killed and "Zheng Dana birthed.
"Why I'm I thinking about all this!?! Dana as she walked into the bathroom to wash her face before going to the door, when her eyes caught her reflection in the mirror her heart sunk, her grey eyes stared right through her for a moment she could see her old self shy out of it's cage, quickly she looked for her black contact and fixed it back on the eye that it had removed from it was one of the things she needed to do to be able to conceal her identity, one of those was wearing contacts and hiding her natural grey cat like eyes.
"Caihong is dead, she died years ago" Dana said to her reflection before hurriedly leaving the bathroom at the sound of the increasing knocks.