YeongMi was intent on pretending that nothing had happened.

After all, any emotions were a sign of weakness, and YeongMi was not weak. She would never show that anything bothered her, not in front of her parents, not in front of her brother, and definitely not in front of the other students. 

Nothing affected her. She wouldn't let it.

She would tell her brother "I'm fine," even as her cheeks were sticky from previous tears.

She was not fine.

"I'm fine," she told herself as she sat in the newly acquired car.

"I'm fine," as she turned on the ignition.

"I'm fine," as she drove down the street.

"I'm fine," as she found herself in front of one of her parents many houses.

"I'm fine," as she pressed against the the gas pedal, gunning down the winding driveway.

Completely fine, as she pushed her foot to the floor.

Fine, as she slammed on the breaks just before slamming into the large pagoda statue.

Slightly less fine, as she turned the car off and stumbled out, staring down at the now-shattered statue.

She was still fine as she stumbled down the street.

Still fine, walking into the bar, fake ID at the ready.

She was buzzed in minutes. Drunk within the hour.

By the time she realized her phone was ringing, she was utterly hammered.

"Who is it?"

"YeongMi, we're so disappointed in you."

"Oh, well isn't that a foreign concept."

"We don't have time for your senseless jokes. Did you vandalize our Seoul home?"

"Is it really vandalism if it's my own house?"

"Are you still joking around?"

"Finally getting smart, are we?"

"Excuse me miss, if you would take your phone call outside?"

"Fuck off," YeongMi stumbled outside before continuing to listen to her mother.

"YeongMi, you have got to pull yourself together. Can you stop causing trouble for once in your damned life?!"

"Well, maybe I can't!"

"You're not making sense. Of course you can stop."

"Well, you never sense anyway," YeongMi huffed, "you never, you never make sense to me!"

"Are you drunk?"

"No! Maybe."

"Goodness, are you even learning at that new school?"

YeongMi wasn't sure her mother would even want to hear what she had learned - it wasn't very academic.

"Why must you always make everything so hard for us?"

YeongMi's heart clenched up painfully.

She was a burden. Nothing good came from her. She was nothing but an inconvenience.

"Maybe you're doing the same for me!"

YeongMi's anger was wet, fueled by tears and fiery passion, pain and hate.

She cared, god, she still cared after all the years of disappointment.

She threw her phone against the wall, letting out a strained cry as she watched it fracture into pieces on the ground. She kicked it away for good measure, letting the tears fall down her face uninterrupted.

"That was stupid, now how do you expect to call for a ride?"

YeongMi turned to the dwarf that had watched the entire scene.

She scrunched up her eyes as she tried to focus on the girl. "I have plenty of others. But what makes you think I have someone to call for a ride?"

"But your friends-"

YeongMi shook her head with a sad laugh, "I don't have friends. Never have, and never will."

"That's a pretty sad life if you ask me."

"I didn't," YeongMi glared at the girl, who winced back in discomfort.

"Anyways, I don't need anyone." YeongMi clutched the purse around her arm as she staggered forward.

The young girl sighed and grabbed onto YeongMi, trying to pull her despite the significant height difference.

"You're too young to be out this late, it's dangerous."

"I was at the toy store across the street when I saw you walk out."

"And?"

"You looked like you needed help."

"Well you're wrong," YeongMi pulled away from the girl, only to fall to her knees.

"Okay, but I want to help anyways."

"Why would you? Nobody cares about me," when YeongMi was sober, she would regret sounding so pathetic. That is, if she even remembered the events of this night.

"Because everyone should be taken care of. And, it's kind of hard to forget you."

"You know me?"

"I think everyone does."

"But do I know you?"

"You talked to me once."

"Hmm, I don't remember."

The younger girl shook her head as she reminded herself that YeongMi was older, and too drunk to have a speck of polite decency in her.

"My name is Pyo Yeri, if you were wondering."

"That's nice."

YeongMi stared at the small girl who was holding tightly to her torso as she tried to get the attention of a cab.

"No, I mean, really, that's a nice name."

Yeri looked at YeongMi in surprise, but nodded softly. "Thank you."

YeongMi looked away awkwardly.

~

YeongMi woke up, unsurprisingly, with a hammering headache beating around her brain.

She groaned, clenching her eyes shut and rolling over to escape from the light, only to feel another body against hers.

"What the fuck!" She fell out of the bed, peeking up to find a young girl staring at her in confusion.

"Yeri? Why - oh my god, I didn't!"

"Relax, whatever you're thinking is probably wrong. I ran into you in town and brought you back."

YeongMi stared at the girl suspiciously, her mind blanking as she tried to remember the events of last night.

"Sorry, I didn't want to go through your bag to find your key, so I brought you to my room."

Her bag. YeongMi searched for a moment until she found her bag on the floor next to her. She grabbed it quickly, looking through it to find her key.

"You broke your phone yesterday."

"Of course I did," YeongMi scowled. "But if you'd found my key, you'd have needed to know where my room was -" Yeri cut her off.

"Oh, everybody knows where your room is."

"Right," YeongMi gave the girl a strange look. "Um, you know, I mean..."

"You're welcome."

YeongMi nodded, standing up and looking around one last time before leaving the uncomfortable room.

When she got to her room, she rushed to get painkillers for the hangover.

Deciding that today was not a day for her to attend classes, she slumped into her bed.

Her bag fell off the end, and as she was picking it up, something fell out.

Picking it up, she smiled lightly at the meaning behind it.

She opened her dresser, pulling out another phone and putting the SIM card in.

Yeri must have grabbed it for her.

That kid wasn't half bad.