51 Her Story: Part III (1/2)

Ha Eun got ready for school. Once she looked in the closet to put on her uniform, she noticed Bong Soo's clothes were gone. She looked down at the shoes. Her shoes were gone as well. Ha Eun started to get worried. She looked inside her jewelry box. All of her jewelry was gone. Except for a pair of earrings and the friendship bracelet Bong Soo made for her.

She knew now that she left because the man promised to hit her if she ever misbehaved. Ha Eun fell on the floor crying ”Bong Soo, you idiot” she thought to herself. She dried her tears and once out of her room, she acted like nothing was wrong. At school, she acted like nothing was wrong. Once back at home, she acted like she was fine.

The man was home and started to yell at Ha Eun, asking her where Bong Soo went. Although she had an idea, she wasn't going to tell him ”I don't know” Ha Eun answered. He slapped her but he quickly left the room.

After two days. The school worried about Bong Soo and the principal called on Ha Eun. She thought that Bong Soo was far enough away, so she told half of the truth ”She's gone. I don't know where she is, but she's gone”

”Did your parents call the police?” the principal asked. Ha Eun shook her head.

”They think she ran away so they said there's nothing they can do about that. Father got angry because he won't get money for taking care of her anymore, but he was also kind of glad because he had one less mouth to feed”

After Ha Eun said that to the principal. The principal called the police and child services.

The police quickly arrived at school to take Ha Eun to the precinct. There, they asked her all sorts of questions about Bong Soo and their relationship with their foster parents. After a few hours, she noticed her parents handcuffed and being pushed into one of their cells.

Ha Eun was surprisingly alright seeing them like that. Scared.

”We're going to call child services” the police officer told her. She nodded. Ha Eun knew that she wasn't going to live anymore with that couple. She was going to be sent to an orphanage again.

Ha Eun wasn't the same after that day. She couldn't seem to smile no matter how much she tried. Once she was placed in an orphanage and was able to go to school. She, rather than go to school, she decided to go to the bar Bong Soo spent her days.

There she found the delinquents Bong Soo hangs out with. She only saw them once, but they had such peculiar sense in style that it was hard to forget them.

”You must be Ha Eun” the bartended said hi to her.

The other delinquents looked at her. They had angry looks on their face but quickly changed to warm smiles. Ha Eun was confused when they asked her to get inside. The guys sat her down at a booth and the bartender gave her a non-alcoholic drink.

She didn't want to do small talk, so she got straight to the point ”Do you guys know where Bong Soo is?”

The guys looked at each other saddened. The truth was that they didn't know where Bong Soo went either but they knew that she went to the bartender's house to tell him that she wanted the guys to protect Ha Eun.

The bartender was the only one who truly that knew where she went but he acted like he didn't know anything either.

”She also told me that she wanted us to protect you.” The bartender told her ”But she didn't tell me where she was going”

Ha Eun looked down. Rather than sad, she looked angry. She got out of the booth, bowed to them and made her way outside. They ran after her and offered to give her a ride to school or anywhere she wanted.

”We're your friends now. She might be gone but we're here for you if you need anything” the bartender said. Ha Eun grinned at him and thanked them but she didn't want a ride. She spent the day walking around the town. She bought herself some food when she got hungry and when it was time for school to end, she decided to make her way to the orphanage.

As she crossed the street. She heard a car's horn. It was coming straight at her. She fell down on the ground. Luckily she didn't get run over.

A man came out of the backseat. He was dressed in a fancy suit. He asked her if she was okay and helped her up.

”What's you name?” he asked her.

”Lee Ha Eun”

The man looked at my shocked, as if he wasn't expecting her name to be so normal.

”Do you need a ride back home?” he asked her. Ha Eun didn't think he was a weird person. He looked like a nice old man, so she said yes. They arrived at an orphanage. Ha Eun noticed the man's sad expression. She got that expression a lot when people asked her where she lived, and she told them an orphanage.

She thanked the old man for the ride, and she thought that was the last time she was going to see him.

At school, things were looking grim for Ha Eun. The bullies started to make fun of her again. Now that Bong Soo wasn't around, she was an easy target. Unlike Bong Soo, Ha Eun wasn't one for violence, she preferred sticking to her books.

She thought the bullying wasn't that bad. It started with her stuff disappearing from her bag and later during the day finding them shredded in her desk. Then one day while she was eating her lunch int he back of the school. The three boys walked up to her. The leader took her food and threw it all on top of her.

”Not so tough now, after orphan number 2 ran off without you” the leader said. The other two laughed.