The Painful Past

AINA

Miss. Song locked me in my room and strictly instructed the other nuns to watch over me. She mentioned no food for two days and twenty whips on my back.

This is my punishment for stepping out in the middle of the night without her permission.

She didn't believe my words that Sera was murdered. Instead, she told me to keep my mouth shut about this matter. Messing with the Ryu family has never done anyone good.

The walls in my room are suffocating. They are small with no warmth.

A single bed that feels hard, a wardrobe that barely has space, and a huge glass window that always makes a creaking sound and welcomes the cold breeze into the room.

We turned twenty-three this year but couldn't even celebrate together. Surprisingly, we were birthday twins. 14th February.

I stand by the window and look at the mansion across the wall. The Ryu Family lives there.

The big black gates wrapped in golden pathos leaves, leading a narrow street to the gray mansion that is as huge as a castle, surrounded by red maple trees.

It's beautiful yet somewhat terrifying.

Sera and I used to wave at each other every day at 4 am. She would come to her terrace and blow a whistle.

We were so happy back then. Our friendship has a beautiful past.

When I was ten, I was in an orphanage named Moonchild in Darjeeling, India. The place was extremely beautiful in a hilly area with snow covering the streets.

My birth mother left me in front of the orphanage right after the delivery and never bothered to turn around.

The warden said my mother was desperate to get rid of me saying I took away the life of her husband a second after my feet stepped into the world.

She called me a cursed child.

Madam Maria, a nun, named me Aina. It means mirror in India. She always said my big brown eyes reflected the truth and only a mirror is capable of that.

Madam Maria was like a mother to me.

Though the others were never kind to me because of the rumor that I was cursed, Madam Maria stayed by my side until a horrifying night, when fire consumed our orphanage.

Everything was crumbling down.

The ashes gulped everyone, removing the trace of our orphanage forever.

Madam Maria saved my life, sacrificing hers. A pillar wrapped in flames fell upon her right before my eyes.

Only I and a nun survived. Strangely, the cause of the fire was never revealed.

That nun was from Korea. After the case was closed as an accidental gas leak in the kitchen, she took me with her.

The flight, the roads, the people, and the customs, everything was new to me. When she dropped me at the Safe Home orphanage, I was scared to the core.

"This is your new home, Aina." She whispered those words into my ear and disappeared.

Korea didn't feel odd. The people in Darjeeling shared similar features and habits. It was like two sister countries. Though the culture shocks were evident, it was adjustable.

Miss. Song became my guardian.

Mostly, the girls were Korean, but there were other children from different countries.

The Safe Home was strict in discipline.

We were only allowed to wear simple white gowns below knee length. Long hair, plain nails, no makeup, no affairs, and doing household work and prayers.

As per the rules, the girls could do professional jobs after turning eighteen and contribute a share of their income to the orphanage but no night shifts were allowed.

Children were rarely adopted in Cloverwood.

Miss. Song was sheltering us to make us work and earn good money. Though finding a job wasn't easy, orphans were often the subject of pity and suspicion.

Safe Home was my new home but I always searched for comfort.

The other girls never greeted me with a smile or showed any kindness. Hyeri and her group always plotted against my back to make me look bad in front of Miss. Song.

Luckily, they didn't know about the cursed rumor about me.

Settling in an unfamiliar place and coping with pain, my nights were sleepless and horrifying without Madam Maria.

The tears stayed within me.

The fire incident would replay in my head over and over again.

I was only ten, not brave at all.

One rainy night, Hyeri locked me in the washroom. Shivering and crying the whole night, no one reached out to me.

In the morning, Miss. Song opened the door but she blamed me for fooling around and not staying in my room.

Even when I tried to tell the truth, she punished me with ten whips. It turned out that Hyeri had already brainwashed her with fake lies.

My whole back was in pain.

Sobbing, I stepped out into the garden when everyone else was asleep. Sitting on the grass, leaning against the wall, and crying, my palms and feet had turned cold.

Suddenly, a strange noise filled the air, giving me a jumpscare.

I gulped, staring at the bush.

As the leaves started shaking, I grabbed a small stone in my grip. Just when my arm slightly lifted in the air, clenching the stone, she came out of the bush, crawling.

Our eyes locked and we both were shocked.

"You?" She mumbled.

I dropped the stone on the grass and perched beside her behind the bush. She was a mess and her dress was torn.

"You climbed the wall?"

She nodded her head.

"What's your name?" Her puppy-like green eyes blinked brightly.

"Aina."

"I am Sera." She extended her palm towards me with a big smile on her lips.

The sudden warmth from her confused me, but a strong feeling told me to grab that warmth. We shook hands, starting a new friendship.

"Were you beaten?" Her brows furrowed.

"Hyeri and her group plotted against me and Miss. Song only believes her because she has been living here since her childhood."

"We can teach Hyeri a lesson." Her eyes perked up, enraged.

"No. We can't do that."

She rolled her bottom lip, disappointed.

"I just wish I had a friend."

"You have one now." She nudged my arm.

A smile glinted on my lips after days.

"What about you? Why did you climb the wall and come here?"

Her eyes lost the spark.