Jiana is new.
After getting adopted by one of the country's wealthiest couples, she is steeped into high society full of people who have everything. As she struggles to shake that feeling of being completely out of depth with her new environment, Ji...
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years ago
⚠️trigger warning: child abuse⚠️
THE WOMAN'S JAW clenched tight. "Bora, you know you cannot go outside. Stop asking me."
"But why, Eomma!" The little girl stamped her foot. It was unlike her to be so petulant. "Why do you go out but Miso and me have to stay inside all the time? And why-"
"You think you can shout at me now because you've turned ten?" The woman ran the iron over the white shirt atop the board. "I need to go to work, Bora. I do not have the time for this. Behave yourself. I would expect this from your sister, not from you."
"No!" Bora screamed. "I wanna see what's outside! Let me go!"
For a moment, the woman was stupefied. What was bringing such behavior on, and now? For the past eight years, nothing had... ah. Suddenly she remembered getting home some nights after work and noticing the slightly different placement of the remote in her room. She'd thought nothing of it then. "Bora," she began calmly, "have you been sneaking into my bedroom?"
"N-no," the girl stammered. "No, Eomma, I-"
"I don't want to get angry with you." The woman pointed. "Go to your room now." Bora didn't move. "I will count to-"
"You're a fake Eomma."
The woman stilled. Hiding behind the door to the laundry room, Miso stared. What was Bora doing? They knew they weren't supposed to make Eomma angry. Miso's heartbeat accelerated.
"What did you just say?"
"You're a fake Eomma." Bora stood tall, confident. "Real Eommas love their babies. You don't love us, otherwise you wouldn't make us stay inside all the time."
The woman was speechless.
With surprising venom from a ten year-old, Bora spat, "I hate you, Eomma."
That's when something flipped.
Bora had seen it happen before, but never like this. In one swift move, the woman grabbed Bora's arm in a viselike grip and wrenched her closer, pulling up her shirt. "You hate me?" She laughed. "I will give you something to hate."
Bora only saw her take the iron.
And then there was pain. Hot, excruciating pain, the kind that seemed impossible. Bora screamed, the sound frightening her before she realized that it had come from her mouth.
