Chapter 2

After clocking out, I slowly make my way home. My eyes feel extremely heavy. I really want to sleep... this is so painful. I sluggishly walk into the house and walk towards my bedroom.

"Yuna." A voice says from behind me. I furrow my eyebrows and slowly look behind me to see Sangwoo staring at me. I look at him confused, stepping back a bit.

"Sang...woo?" I say in a confused tone. He softly smiles and tilts his head. "What are you doing here?" I panic.

"You look rather tired..." He softly says as he walks closer to me. 

"Huh? Yeah... Wait- did you follow me into my house? How did you-"

He places his finger over my mouth and shushes me. His eyes boring into mine as he gives off a sadistic look in his eyes and smile. Chills go down my back causing me to shiver. 

"Let me help you relax..." He softly says as he grabs my shirt and starts to pull it off.

"Wait- stop."

"Don't you want this...? I know you want this." He soothes.

"No- NO! STOP!" He begins to kiss my neck, sucking on it softly as he undoes my pants. I try to move away but he's a lot stronger than me. I can feel my breathing quicken and heart beating fast. I can't breathe... please... stop...

"STOOOOP!" I shriek as I quickly lift my head, gasping for air. I stare around the room as everyone in my class stares at me. I relax my eyes and reach towards my face, pulling the pen off that's stuck to my cheek.

"Are you done, Miss Nam..." My teacher says with an annoyed look on his face. I slowly nod feeling extremely embarrassed. I lay my head back down and close my eyes. 

For the past few weeks, I've had constant nightmares. Nightmares of that one guy... Sangwoo. It might be because of that one night... almost like he only spoke to me to have sex with me. I slowly made my way down the stairs. People around me stand and chatter. I slowly cover my ears to completely ignore the talking. I push open the door and walk to the nearest bus stop heading to my first job.

Time flies when you're busy. I close up the restaurant and quickly make my way to the convivence store. When I arrive, I place my stuff in the locker and wait for the other coworker who I was relieving to finally leave. I tie the apron around me and adjust my nametag. I clean up the small place behind the register and sit down. I pull my books and notebook from my bag and begin to do my homework.

Tonight was rather quiet. I was able to get through all my work quite quickly. Luckly though... tomorrow I get the day off... a full day off. It's been months since I've gotten one. Not only do I get the day off, but my father won't be home either. After finishing my homework and putting my stuff away, I grab a basket and begin to sort through expired stuff. They say we have to throw away stuff that's expired... but my manager was okay if I took the expired food home. I take an expired rice ball and begin to open it. I eat it slowly and sigh as I stare out the store window. 

The bags under my eyes are so big... I stare at my reflection as I slowly eat the rice ball. I slowly kick my feet as I peel at the seaweed. I lick my lips and take another bite from it.

DING

I look up slowly to see a man nicely dressed walk in. Now thinking about it... How long have I lived here... a while, right? I remember when my neighbors father committed suicide... I pick at the seaweed again, taking another slow bite. Strange how I know that... I just remember it because of what the police said... that day when my father was at the police station again for drunk gambling. The amount of money my father owed and how deep in debt my mother was because of it. Maybe that's why... she's no longer here. 

I never really got to ask my father what happened to our mother... she just up and left one day. Why? Who knows. She left me and my little brother... alone with my father...

Actually, sometimes I believe she sold herself to protect the both of us... but even if that was her purpose... I still feel trapped- I probably would feel so much more at peace if I was tied up in someone's basement... dying from hunger. 

I smile down at the rice ball in my hand. Tears drop down on it. I shakily raise it up to my mouth, taking a slow bite from it.

I hate my life.

After my shift, I make my way home. I open the door and slowly walk into the bedroom where my brother is passed out on his bed. The light shining through the window. It hurts my head. I close the curtain as much as I could and flopped down on the bed, groaning out of exhaustion. School from 8am to 3pm... Working at the restaurant from 5pm to 11pm... and then working at the convenience store from 12am to 6am... I'm surprised I haven't collapsed and died from exhaustion.

I stay still on the bed not wanting to move... even though I'm hanging off the bed. I drift off into a deep sleep.

"Hey..."

I quickly turn my head to see a pair of eyes glowing as they stare deep at me from a distance. I squint my eyes a bit and tilt my head, confused to who it was.

"Hey?" I slowly say approaching the person.

"Do you want to come over?" The guy says. I slowly look around me. I was outside... and in front of me is Sangwoo.

"To your house?" I question.

"Mhm..." He hums, smiling down at me. I furrow my eyebrows and look down at my beatup sneakers. 

"I don't think I can."

"Why do you say that?" He soothes causing me to look back up at him.

"Well... if my father notices me gone... I'll get in trouble." I slowly say. The silence makes me stiffen a bit. He looks stiff... almost dull in the face- its creepy...

"Yuna..." He softly says. 

"Hm?"

"You're so cute... so obedient... you know- almost like a lost puppy... but your face- doesn't look so- cute."

I furrow my eyebrows and squint my eyes a bit... 

What?

"You have the eyes of a bitch" He says in a dull tone. "You look so much like her... it's disgusting."

"Hey!" A shout sounds causing me to jerk up from my sleep. I look down at my bed. The sheets were soaked in drool. I wipe my mouth and sit up more. I feel gross... very sweaty... it's gross. I climb out of bed. My legs and arms feel sore. My eyes slowly look around the room. My brother wasn't in here.

"HEY! GIVE THAT BACK!" A voice shouts again. My head quickly looks towards the window of my room. I quickly get up and look out the window. It's my brother Dan... and a few others- are they his friends? They look like they're teasing him. I quickly walk out my room and outside.

"Dan?" I say. Dan looks at me with wide eyes.

"Yuna..." Dan slowly says. A tall guy holding his hand up looks at me and smiles.

"Dan... who is this cute little thing? Is she your girlfriend?" The guy laughs.

"No you idiot... that's his sister." Another guys says.

"WOW... SISTER?! Didn't know you had a cute sister." A girl laughs. My eyes widen when I see what's in the tall guys hand. It was my father's favorite thing... a baseball signed by his favorite baseball player. 

"Hey... put that down..." I softly say, pointing at the ball. My father loves that ball... deeply. He would kill us if we lost it.

"Aw... why? We just wanted to play a little game of catch." The tall guy pouts then laughs.

"I don't care... that's not yours to touch." I say in a low tone.

"Really? Cause your brother said it was perfectly fine to play with it... Didn't you Dan?" The other guy says smiling at Dan. I slowly look at Dan who looks like he's about to cry. I slowly look back at the guy.

"I don't care what Dan said... put the ball back." I say in a strict tone.

"Awe... I didn't know you would be such a downer... You're too cute to be such a whiney baby." the girl gibes. I furrow my eyebrows and squint my eyes. The girl runs her fingers up and down my shoulder. I move away a bit and glare at the guy holding the ball.

"Let go of the ball..." I repeat.

"What if I don't want to?" The guy laughs.

"Please..." Dan pleads. The guy slowly looks at Dan and smiles more. His smile looks like he thought of something. I don't like it. His eyes slowly move towards me, and he tilts his head back a bit.

"You know what... since you so badly want this ball back... I will do you the favor..." He laughs. "I will give you the ball... if I can- have my way with your cute... big sister."

Perv

"Huh... what? No- You sick fuck!" Dan grumbles.

"Huhhhhhh... what you say?" The guy says leaning towards Dan with a smile on his face.

"I SAID YOU'RE SICK!" Dan shouts.

"Ah... really-" The guy laughs. "Too bad..." He chuckles. He tosses up the ball a few times and catches it, gripping onto it tightly. "And they say... I'm the best pitcher on my team..."

"Huh?" I hum in confusion. The guy takes a step back and throws the ball really hard causing it to crash through my neighbor's window across the street. My eyes widen when I realize my father's ball is gone.

"NO!" Dan shouts. The assholes run off. My eyes quickly dart towards my neighbors front door. 

"Dan... go back in the house... Imma get the ball."

"... Yuna- I'm."

"Go..."

"But-"

"Just go." I rasp, pointing at the house. Dan droops his head a bit. I turn away and quickly walk towards the house. 

I knock on the door, hoping the neighbor would answer and be reasonable... but no answer. I clench my fist. I need to get that ball. I quickly walk down the steps, opening their gate and rushing towards my house. I quickly run into my bedroom, pulling my drawer open.

Back when I was in middle school, I would pick lock things and steal. That's not a great trait... but we were hungry, and I needed to feed Dan... since my father wouldn't do it and my mother was working too hard making it hard for her to do it too. I quickly walk out the room, bumping into Dan. I ignore him and continue forward but he grabs my wrist.

"Is that your picklock...?" He asks.

"Yeah..."

"What are you going to do with it? I thought you promised you wouldn't use it again..." Dan rasps.

"..." I look down at the janky picklock I created a long time ago. Remembering the argument me and my mother had when I got caught using it. She was upset of the fact that the things I brought back was stolen... and that I lied about buying or winning it. She slapped me so hard and yelled at me, it made me cry and feel worse as a daughter... as a person. I furrow my eyebrows and clench onto the picklock.

"I don't use it..."

"Then why did you pull it back out...?"

I relax my eyes and sigh. "I need to use it... just once more."

"Why? Don't tell me- you're not going to break into our neighbors house... right?" He rasps.

"I am." I reply, pushing past him.

"What the hell- Yuna- don't." He says grabbing my arm again.

"Why not?" I groan back. He pulls back and looks at me with shock and confusion.

"It's not worth it..." He slowly says.

"Not worth it? Last time something happened to that ball, he beat you so bad you had to get stitches on your lip... and look at you now- you now have a scar on your lip." I huff.

"... it's okay- I would rather get beat by dad again then for you to get caught and arrested by the police..." He comforts.

"Well I would rather be in jail then to be beaten by that man until he's tired..."

"He will forget eventually..."

"Right... but how long will it take? He finally stopped beating us... I'm not going back to having to cover my face and body with foundation just so no one could see the giant bruises on my face and body."

"Yuna- just... please don't-"

"Dan- if any of this mattered so much to you... you wouldn't have let those kids take the ball... If you had just grown up and stopped being such a baby then maybe I wouldn't have to deal with all your bullshit." I rasp. Dan stands stiffly and stares at me. "You're always causing problems and I'm always fixing them. Every... single... time... If you cared so much you wouldn't be such a fucking burden." I fume.

"..."

"I'm tired Dan- I could care less if I would be put in jail. I would rather get that ball then to have to deal with our fathers endless beatings again." I softly say as I walk out the house. I open the neighbors gate and picklock it open. When I hear a click I softly push the door open. It looks like no one really is home. I look up at the stairs and slowly climb them. I wonder if the neighbor won't suspect anything if I just grab the ball and pretended I didn't do it.

I slowly walk into a room where the ball flew into. I grab the ball and examine it. My eyes relax when I notice a few marks on it. Maybe my father won't notice it... I sigh and look towards the stairs. I slowly walk down the stairs and towards the front door but then stop when I notice something there... I slowly look in the distance to see someone staring at me. My head tilts a bit and I slowly walk towards the kitchen. I step up to see a boy sitting in a rolling chair. 

"Hi... I'm sorry for breaking in... I didn't know anyone was home." I slowly said. The boy stares at me with wide eyes. "I'm not robbing you guys or anything. My fathers ball flew through the window and I was just retrieving it... I'll pay for any damages... I promi-"

"You need to leave..."

"Huh..."

"You have to go..." The boy says in a panicked voice. I furrow my eyebrows a bit and nod, backing away a bit. Now that I look at him, he looks so small and sickly. He's wearing a skirt and an oversized T shirt. His ankles are also bandaged up. What the hell happened to him...? Whatever... It's none of my business... I need to- My eyes widen when the boys face turns... almost like he's afraid... Is he afraid of me? The floor behind me creaks which causes me to stiffen.

"Bum... what did I say about letting people in?" A voice chuckles from behind me.

"I- I didn-"

"He didn't... I- broke in. I'm sorry." I quickly turn around and bow really low. "I apologize sir... I didn't mean any harm... I just needed to get the ball... otherwise my father would get really angry and-"

"Yuna?"

My eyes widen when I hear the guy say my name... now thinking about it- his voice sounded awfully familiar. I slowly lift my head to see Sangwoo staring at me. Terrifyingly enough... I wasn't expecting him.

"Sangwoo?" I slowly say. He tilts his head a bit and looks down at the ball in my hand.

"That's the ball that broke my window?" He asks. I slowly nod.

"Which window did it break...?" He asks. "Show me where you found it." He says motioning me to walk out the kitchen. I slowly nod and walk out, walking up the stairs and to the room that has glass on the ground by the window. I frown a bit and clench the ball in my hand. I droop my head a bit and sniffle.

"I'm really sorry... I'll pay for the damages... and all- I'm really sorry for what I've done- I promise... I'll pay for it to get fixed." I softly say, looking back at him.

"I don't think you can do that." He calmly says as he looks at the window.

"Why not?" I say in a panicked tone.

"I don't like when people come into my house..." he blankly says. "So I wouldn't want anyone to be hired to fix the window..."

"Oh... I'm really sorry..."

"It's fine-" he calmly replies. I look at him in confusion. "I'll just fix it... You don't need to worry..."

"I'll pay for the stuff then..." I quickly say.

"No... you don't need to... It's fine. You said it was an accident, right...?" 

"Mhm..." I sadly hum.

"So- it's fine... Don't stress yourself out over it. You can take your ball and go home." He says pointing towards the stairs, motioning me to go. I stare at him feeling confused and guilty.

"..." I feel a pit in my stomach. He stares at me for a bit. I frown a bit as I stare back at him. He slowly approaches me and stops in front of me. 

"Are you sure it's okay?" I softly ask. He stares at me and then smiles a bit.

"No-" he blankly says and then pushes me back. My body went into shock and stiffens as I no longer feel the ground below me. My back hits the edge of the steps which causes a sharp pain to jolt up my neck. I flip and fall and land at the bottom. I can hear the baseball fall down the stairs. I start to black out. All I could see is a silhouette walk down the stairs. My eyes shut as I black out completely.