A Romance Story(3UN_JEE) BOOM! That was the very night my parents lost their lives. I was only six and put in an orphanage. Ever since that night, my life has been miserable. When I was put in the care system, everything was going downhill. I couldn’t even remember my parents or much of my past. Now it’s been nine years and I’m still in this horrible place.
“Hey, scar girl! Pass me my water bottle!” Chae-Rin yelled.
When I was put in the system, “scar girl” has been my nickname. Why you may ask? Because I got an ugly-looking scar across my cheek from the car crash when I was six. The girls beside her laughed. I sighed and grabbed her water bottle. Suddenly, it exploded. The girls were laughing even more at me as water dripped from my clothes.
“Wow, you really do everything I say, now do me another favor and shut your mouth about this,” Chae-Rin giggled devilishly.
Crying, I ran from the scene. Looking down and running, I ran into Dae-ho. This was embarrassing. He just saw me when I looked even worse than before.
“Hello? Hello? Are you okay? Do you need a towel?” Dae-ho questioned gently.
He stroked his soft brown, curly hair behind his ear. He lent out a hand as I took it and got up. Dae-ho has been friends with me, well my only friend since I was seven. He defended me from bullies and always cared for me.
“Hello? Seung-Hee?” he called.
“Oh, um yeah. Thanks!” I answered.
Looking into his eyes, I stared at his handsome-looking face. His dreamy brown eyes shone.
“You wanna eat lunch with me?” he offered.
“Of course, I would love to!” I accepted.
We happily skipped to the cafeteria as he helped me dry off from Chae-Rin and her gang’s prank that they pulled on me. Chae-Rin saw me walking with Dae-Ho and gave me a glare. I knew Chae-Rin liked him too, but no way would I let her take the only person I cared about. She stared at us the entire time we ate together and I could feel her anger towards me. The intercom turned on.
“Lim Seung-Hee, please report to the main office.”
I wondered what Ms. Park wanted. Ms. Park is the director of the orphanage and she runs the place. She can be scary and most of the time, everyone fears her. I walked into her office and she had an unpleasant facial expression on her.
“Lim Seung-Hee!! I heard you were bullying Chae-Rin and her friends! You know we have a no-bullying policy in this place. You will be in the isolation room for one week,” Ms. Park scolded.
My eyes filled with rage. I never did that, she was the one who bullied me, I thought to myself. I knew there was no point arguing back because Ms. Park adores Chae-Rin and would never believe me even if she saw it with her own eyes. The isolation room is where you are in a small room with nothing inside. Need to use the restroom? Go on the floor. The room’s too cold? Too bad. It’s dark and you can barely see anything, there isn’t even a window. I hated that place, she always put me there for a few hours but never a week! How would I survive without any food or water? Perhaps if they’re kind, they’ll bring some but I doubt that they would do such a thing. Ms. Park stood up and dragged me by the shoulder to the isolation room. Tears formed in my eyes and I started shouting.
“NO! I didn’t even lay a finger on Chae-Rin or her friends! She’s the one bullying me and pulling stupid pranks on me. Why would you think that, I know you favor her!”
Suddenly, she turned towards me quickly. She struck my face and I didn’t think she would go that far.
“Don’t talk back to me, if it wasn’t for me, you would be on the streets and probably dead by now. This is an extra two weeks in the isolation room!” she screamed.
Out of nowhere, Dae-Ho saw everything and went up to Ms. Park.
“No, Ms. Park, don’t do that! She doesn’t deserve it, I saw Chae-Rin and her gang bullying her!” he yelled.
“You want to talk back too? You can go in with her!” She dragged him as well.
Within a blink of an eye, she shut the door on us. Water dripped from the ceiling and we couldn’t see a thing. No windows, no sunlight, nothing. We were going to be here for three weeks, we will probably not even be alive by then.
“Hey, at least we still have each other,” he smiled.
“Yeah, you’re right,” I smiled back.
“I want to tell you something, Seung-Hee,” he looked into my eyes.
I felt butterflies in my stomach and my heart raced.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I like you and would die for you, I don’t know if you feel the same but our friendship won’t change either way.” He confessed.
I dreamt of this very moment and hugged him.
“Of course I love you too!” I cried happy tears and wiped them on his sleeve.
Of course, this beautiful moment was ruined by a nasty voice, Chae-Rin.
“Hey loser, I’ll give you a deal,” she spoke.
“What do you want?” I rolled my eyes.
“I’ll let Dae-Ho honey boo-boo out if you stay away from my man,” she laughed.

“No way, and who calls people names like that? Go away, Chae-Rin!” I screamed back.
I could feel her anger and she stormed off saying,
“You’ll regret this, I swear.”
Within a minute, the door lock unlocked. It was Ms. Park and Chae-Rin. Ms. Park had a bat and Chae-Rin was crying, it was fake, obviously.
“You brat, I knew you were always a troublemaker, trying to get others involved in your schemes!” she shrieked.
I knew this was Chae-Rin’s plan and Dae-ho was obviously on my side. Suddenly, she lifted her arms up with the baseball bat. I put my arms in front of me and turned my head back. I was preparing to embrace it when Dae-ho instantaneously dashed in front of me. He fell over, bleeding on the floor. Tears ran down my cheeks and I realized how a monster Chae-Rin and Ms. Park really was. I pounced at Chae-Rin and we got in a fight, a real one and not me being a coward this time. If I had done this earlier, this would have never happened, Dae-ho would’ve never gotten hurt, everything was my fault. Chae-Rin fell over and I ran out, leaving Dae-ho. I felt horrible about it but then I suddenly stopped running. What was I doing? Why was I leaving him all alone? I suddenly turned back and ran towards the door. I banged on it and it was locked. I cried as I heard screams, Dae-ho’s screams.
“This is what you get for not letting me be with him! If I can’t have him, no one can.” Chae-Rin screamed.
What was wrong with her!? This had gone way too far! I realized there was no way to open that door all by myself and nobody would help me. I dashed towards Ms. Park’s office and went straight for the telephone. Dialing 119, I knew they could help me.
“119, what’s your emergency?” the dispatcher asked.
“My friend is being beaten up by a girl and a lady!” I yelled quickly.
“We’ll need you to calm down and tell us your location, ” they said.
How could I calm down in this situation, I thought to myself.
“##### Orphanage,” I told them.
“We’ll send officers and an ambulance to your location right away, please stay calm,” they said and hung up.
I ran outside towards the door and immediately vehicles and flashing lights showed up. An officer and a nurse hopped out of the vehicles and the officer questioned,
“Where is the lady, the girl, and the injured boy?”
“Right this way, officer!” I yelled as I ran towards the door.
They banged the door with a hammer and it opened immediately. Dae-Ho looked even worse than earlier and was bleeding very badly. They tackled Ms. Park and Chae-Rin which I was grateful for. The nurses put Dae-Ho on a stretcher and carried him out. They handcuffed the two and were escorted to the police cars. It was all over, I just hoped Dae-Ho was okay.
At the hospital:
Dae-Ho was covered in bandages when I saw him, but he was conscious. Thank god for that. Social services sent us to a different orphanage that was way nicer and didn’t have bullies like the last orphanage. Oh, you might be wondering what happened to Ms. Park and Chae-Rin. Well, Ms. Park was arrested and got sentenced to jail for life because other children claimed that she abused others too. Chae-Rin was sentenced for six years for assault, meaning that we wouldn’t see them for a while. Dae-Ho woke up and kissed me. After we turned eighteen, we were donated a lot of money to go to university and I majored in criminology to become a lawyer because I wanted justice to be served. Dae-Ho majored in nursing because he wanted to save others and lives. We lived pretty well and had a bright future ahead of us.
The end ~
Credits to Chng & Me

Takes place around 2005, Korea (Seoul) - Orphange -
Subject - Romance & Hope
Raises awareness of child abuse and brings hope for teenagers to follow their dreams
DISCLAIMER - The orphans are around 15-17 years old and Ms. Park is in her mid 40s.

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