Not wishing to believe her eyes, Iseul decided to take another look and her jaw dropped mortified on seeing her picture appearing and titled 'Nuwa.'
Iseul screamed at the top of her lungs, falling on her back to the ground, and crawling away from her table in horror.
Her mother and brother burst into her room worried after hearing her scream like that.
"What? What's wrong?" Her mother asked ready to fight anything with the ladle in her hand. Her brother was standing beside their mother, their faces worried and confused.
Iseul was shaking, her voice stuck in her throat. With trembling fingers, she pointed at her desk.
Jaehyun stepped up to check whatever was on her desk. While her mother kneels beside her to check on Iseul. Iseul instinctively curled over to her mother's warmth, still trembling in fear.
Jaehyun didn't see anything at the desk, except the window being opened with the wind blowing in.
"Noona, did you see someone through the window?" Jaehyun asked, seeing nothing weird. He glanced back at Iseul, perplexed why she screamed like that.
Iseul shook her head at his question, pointing back at the desk. Jaehyun looked at his mother puzzled and worried, checking the place once again.
"Noona. There is nothing here." Jaehyun claimed to look back at her.
"Th-that note-book-k…" Iseul stammered, specifying the little red notebook which lay on the ground half opened.
Jaehyun picked it up from the ground, skimming through the page and then giving her an annoyed look.
"Noona, there's nothing here." Jaehyun picked up the book and went closer to her to let her see it.
Their mother looked at both of them confused. Iseul winced back seeing him bring the book closer to her. Her mother had enough of her eccentric behaviour and yanked the notebook from Jaehyun's hand and checked it herself.
Once reading the notebook, Choi Yeong got up from the floor, glaring down at Isuel, "How many times should I tell you to stop writing this stuff? Why can't you just listen?" Choi Yeong yelled, having enough of her daughter's rebellion.
Choi Yeong had enough of letting Iseul have her way. She should have put an end to this long ago, if she had her daughter would have not come to this.
"Iseul! Are you even listening to me?" Choi Yeong called out, once again seeing her lost in thoughts.
Iseul didn't believe what they were saying. She was sure she saw it. She knew it. Iseul hurriedly got up from the floor, going too close to her mother and taking the booklet from her mother's hand and checking it herself.
"Ma. It was here! I saw it with my own eyes!" Iseul argued not believing her own eyes. The page where her face appeared, had returned to blank. The notebook slipped from her grip, falling to the ground.
"Enough!" Choi Yeong shrieked, seeing Isuel losing her sanity over stuff like this. She already lost her husband, and Choi Yeong was not going to lose her daughter either.
Iseul looked at her, brimming up with tears. She couldn't believe that her mother would rather scold her instead of just accepting her. Why was writing such a taboo in her household? Why does she have to fight for something as small as her passion?
Choi Yeong didn't argue further, she walked towards her table rummaging through her stuff. Anything that even had something about her book got thrown into the dustbin. Seeing what her mother was doing, Iseul went close to stop it, only to be pushed away and Choi Yeong took everything downstairs with Iseul and Jaehyun following her.
Iseul called out in despair, hoping Choi Yeong would pity her and stop whatever she was planning to do. "Ma, stop. Give them back." Iseul cried.
Choi Yeong didn't listen to anything and took it outside and lit it on fire, letting the fire devour everything.
"No!" Iseul yelled out, with tears rolling down her cheeks seeing her work being burnt down into ashes.
"I hope you learnt your lesson and don't ever write. Promise me, Iseul." Choi Yeong saw her daughter's disheartened face and couldn't feel guilty but this was for her good. The sooner she stops this nuisance, the sooner she will accept her normal life.
Iseul rubbed away her tears and looked at her mother with deceitful eyes. " How could you… WHY CAN'T YOU BE A MOTHER WHO SUPPORTS THEIR KIDS? I wish I was an orphan." Iseul exclaimed, running out of the house without another word.
"Iseul!" Choi Yeong called out from behind only to hear the noise of the front door being shut with a bang. Jaehyun, who was silent all this time, decided to follow his sister.
"Noona!" Jaehyun called out trying to keep pace with her.
Iseul completely ignored her brother's calling. Nothing she despises more than him. If only he was never born.
Iseul walked down the dark alley, well aware of the fact that hooligans use it as their place.
"Noona, it's not safe!" Seeing Iseul walking towards that direction, Jaehyun anxiously tried to stop her.
"Stop calling me noona! I hate that word. Just go home." Iseul stopped in her tracks, tired from her brother's nagging. If her mother wasn't enough already.
Jaehyun didn't follow anymore. He stood there, his fingers curled up into a fist. With trembling lips and eyes brimmed with tears, Jaehyun looked up at her, "Why…Why do you hate me so much? I just want you to see me…" Jaehyun urged, with tears rolling down his cheeks.
Iseul went silent seeing him tear up like that. She didn't think about his feelings. Yes, she does hate him more than anyone. Without him, she would be not burdened with responsibilities that she never agreed to. He shouldn't look out for her.
"Then stop doing it. Seeing you reminds me of the life I despise most. I wish you had never been born." Iseul turned around and answered him honestly.