"BYEOL? My Byeol? How did you come to the South?" She screamed over the phone.

"That's the first thing you say? I mean I get it, it must be a shock. You know, to see me living a decent life here in the south after you left me in the dirt to die," I angrily uttered. "Honey we were scared," she spoke in a guilt stained low voice.

"You left a bloody child alone in that horrifying country, don't you think I would've been scared?" I asked, in disbelief of her unacceptable explanation.

"Let's meet up tomorrow, no, now, I need to see you," she said, quickly changing the topic. "Let's not. It was nice talking to you again, tell dad I said hi," I coldly spoke.

"And oh, I called from a phone booth so don't call on this number again. If you come to that house again those guards will kill you, so I don't recommend doing that. Just keep yourselves alive," I advised, ending the call before hearing what she had to say next.

I let my weak legs do their thing and drop me down helplessly onto my knees. Speaking so harshly to someone I hadn't seen in years should've been easy, but after all, she is my mother. And inside was still a young girl who craved affection, just a little bit of love.

"Scared?" I scoffed at her earlier spoken words. Pathetic I am.

From the corner of my eyes I could see Jungkook's guard still watching me. I sighed and got back up, walking towards him as he tried to blend in with the crowd. "You're a terrible actor, you can stop following me now," I gave him a little pat on the back before heading back to the house.

"You're back already?" Jungkook said, I hummed in response, walking towards my room. I plopped onto my bed, feeling blank. Thoughts overwhelmed me to the point where I was practically numb, and empty. I covered myself with the blanket, wanting to sleep away all the worries.

*dream*

"Let's do it," he whispered.

"That's a stupid idea but what the hell, we have nothing to lose," I let out a mischievous chuckle. Us slaves were being moved to a different town. Wooden sticks were fitted around our necks, acting as the leashes you put on dogs, just to make sure we didn't run.

Me and Jaechan hated letting the soldiers have a peaceful time. We were pretty much known for being troublesome teens, but for some reason no one ever got rid of us.

"Now," he nudged me, bending down so I could step on his back and kick the head of the soldier. I grabbed the knife to cut Jaechan loose, then he did the same for me. We both had a knife each, standing back to back laughing at the situation we got ourselves in.

"Even if we die, we die together."

We spoke in unison like we always did before doing something as stupid as this, giving another smile before fighting off the soldiers. The only reason we were doing this was because we knew these soldiers were new, they probably only just started their enlistment with no training whatsoever.

"Hands up kids."

A gun was pointed at my head making me roll my eyes already knowing which pain in the ass soldier this was.

"Mr old man, this is like the 100th time you've done that, just pull the trigger why don't you?" I raised my eyebrows, as he swung his gun for my face, leaving a cut on my lip.

"Kids these days," he tutted.

"That hurt less than last time so I guess that's good news," I chuckled, wiping of the blood from the corner of my mouth. This soldier knew Jaechan somehow, I think they were related or something, but this man always helped us, even if he was harsh at times. He grabbed Jaechan's ear pulling him back.

"Ah, uncle, we won't do it again, can't you just let us go?" Jaechan asked, trying to act cute, I slapped the back of his head cringing.

"Oh just take us away, I'd rather not have to see that," I teased, making Jaechan pout like a kid, even though we were already 14. The man pushed both of us to the next destination of where us 'slaves' needed to go, it was just another factory, nothing new. As soon as the man was out of sight, me and Jaechan started talking about what we were going to do tonight, escape.

"You're sure this is gonna work right?" I asked him. "This is your plan, don't ask me," he replied, shrugging his shoulders, starting the labour work.

"Chan, do you really want to do this? Living here isn't even that hard-"

"Byeol we're stuck in a sewer for fucks sake. This place, it's nothing better than a sewer and we're slaves. Isn't even that hard? Tell that to your scars," he lectured, walking away. He despised this place more than I did.

The whole day went by with us working and working. Finally it was night time, when we were all dragged to the barns to sleep with the pigs and horses. Yep, that's what we were considered. Animals.

"Let's do this, remember, even if we die-"

"We die together, I know Chan," I reassured him, patting the top of his head. The plan was to go through the forest once the soldiers were done with their rounds and from there, we would find a tunnel to crawl underneath. It would open up at a lake which was connected to the south.

A boat would normally be there for fishermen but it was not in use for this season. While working we had stolen some of the knives and axes for our defence just in case we would come across interferences.

"Now," he whispered, pulling my hand to get out of the barn. We followed the plan, but it was going too smoothly. Suspiciously smooth. A soldier was standing at the entrance of the tunnel we needed to go through, so I pulled out one of the knives and threw it to slice his throat.

"You scare me sometimes Byeol," Jaechan raised his eyebrows at my precision. "I scare myself," I replied. We continued our journey until helicopters were heard, and a light was shone down.

"Stop right there."

-

"Not again."

I sighed, wiping my tears that had formed without me knowing. The bitter part of my past was finally appearing.

I searched for my phone that I had remembered putting on the table next to me. But it wasn't there, I got up to look for it, and found it next to my pillow. I knew for a fact I hadn't put it there, making me raise my eyebrows.

"If I have to place a bug in your phone I will."

I remembered Jungkook's words, he probably took the phone to put something in it while I was sleeping. I had to be more careful, he shouldn't suspect anything, winning his trust needed to become a goal. Clearing my mind of all useless thoughts, I planned to get my shit together, no more being unlike myself.

No more being a weak bitch.

I slipped into my slippers, walking towards the bathroom to take a shower before changing my bandage on my wound.

What I wore:

I paired it with a denim jacket, looking at myself in the mirror in satisfaction. That's fucking right. I'm not a stupid burden.

My head started filling up with thoughts of him. Jaechan was a huge part of my past, burnt in my mind and forever there. I headed towards the kitchen for a glass of water.

"You're up early," I heard a voice sarcastically say behind me. "It's only 11am, leave me alone Jungkook," I told him, looking for medicine because of the headache that had started to form. I found it in one of the cabinets nearby.

"Does the wound hurt?" He asked, assuming I was taking them because of it, he filled up a cup with coffee, sipping it slowly. "No, I've got a headache, fucked up dream," I replied, taking out two tablets.

"Ah, you're dreaming of Jaechan?" He asked, I hummed in response, swallowing the pill before choking on the water realising something.

"I don't remember telling you that."

"Telling me what?"

"His name."