staying abroad with her beloved grandparents, on her mother’s side of the family, gave a lot of room for improvement. she had no worries in the world there; no one knew about her previous choices, insecurities, failures. no one knew about her, and no one knew about amarante-- she finally dared to be herself and she realised, eventually, that people do like her, for who she is.
that only lasted for so long though, as all that hard work on self-love went down the drain once soyeon bumped into a handful of girls from high school while out grocery shopping. if she had only seen them first then perhaps she would have managed to avoid the situation, but soyeon wasn’t so lucky-- she was spotted first. “you dare returning back here, huh?” they laugh at her.
“did the americans not want you either? understandable, you’re just too ugly.” soyeon doesn’t know what to say and even if she did, she can‘t find the power or energy to utter a single word in defence. what can she say, anyway? to make them stop? the grip on her grocery basket is tight; she try, with all her might, to prevent the tears from building up in the corner of her eyes.
against her chest she can feel her heart pumping hard, she just want to leave and that is what she tries to do, only to be dragged back in place by a firm grip on her shoulder. “where do you think that you’re going? don’t you know it’s rude to leave in the middle of a conversation?” it’s never going to stop. if only possible, soyeon wish for the floor beneath to swallow her whole.