On a beautiful, alluring, winter day, Jae-Eun and her parents were in the car, her father driving it. The snow fell slowly as it fluttered in the breeze like white dove feathers . She was heading for the airport of Seoul. A fashion event that starred Yoon Soo-Min and Kim Jae-Jeong, the two most renowned and inspiring fashion designers and bloggers of Korea, who happened to be Jae-Eun’s parents, was taking place in Paris, France the following day. Jae-Eun was extremely ecstatic for this event, her joy was bubbling up inside her, as she thought about all the rolemodels she would meet. She always dreamt of going to Paris, and was overjoyed that her parents were such highly respected designers.
“Mommy, are we there yet?” Jae-Eun asked, impatiently.
“Not yet, sweetheart.” Her mother replied.
Her father continued to drive and said, “You’re gonna have fun, Jae-Eun, trust me.”
Jae-Eun smiled and closed her eyes, imagining how fun Paris would be. The moment Jae-Eun opened her bright brown eyes, she saw a drunk truck driver headed towards them on the highway from the corner of her eye.
“Daddy!”
The truck driver crashed into the car that was in front of Jae-Eun’s, and then another. The crashing of all these cars caused a chain reaction which resulted in a domino effect hitting the car Jae-Eun was in, driving it up the wall. A car exploded close to Jae-Eun’s car, causing a horrific scream echoing through her ears.
“Mommy, Daddy!” She cried.
Ambulance, police, firefighters, all came to the scene within a minute. Jae-Eun barely opened her eyes to see many people crying, hurt, and of course, blood splattered all over the street. A Korean boy, around 6-7 years-old, was walking around the scene, trying to help the others who were hurt. He looked over to Jae-Eun, who was sprawled on the street, bleeding from her forehead, a burn on the side of her leg, and gasping for breath. The boy ran up to Jae-Eun, reaching for her hand.
“Hey! Are you alright?” Jae-Eun’s vision blurred, as she fainted, voices still echoing in her mind.
On a warm summer day, Aunt He-Yin decided to clean the house. School had just started up again,  it got quite quiet in the house around these times. The only thing that you could hear would be the soft sound of the fan turning, or a cricket chirping. Aunt He-Yin and Jae-Eun lived in a small apartment complex that reminded Jae-Eun of a honeycomb. It was small, yet comfortable. Busy, yet relaxing. As Aunt He-Yin opened the door to Jae-Eun’s room, she immediately thought that it was extremely filthy.
“Can’t that girl clean up after herself?”
There were used tissues all over the floor, old homework, dirty laundry, snacks, all sorts of things. You name it, it was there.
She gave the door a slight tug, a mountain of designer outfits flooded her. “Aaghh!! Where did all these dresses come from?! That Jae-Eun… she’s in big trouble now.”
“I’m home, Aunt He-Yin!” Jae-Eun walked into the house.
Aunt He-Yin yelled from the top of her lungs, “Jae-Eun!!! WHERE DID THESE DRESSES COME FROM?!?!?!”
Jae-Eun walked over to her Aunt. “Huh? What dresses?”
“Don’t act dumb, Jae-Eun. Look at all these dresses! Where did these come from? Did you steal these?!” Aunt He-Yin yelled.
“N-no, Aunt He-Yin. I-” Jae-Eun tried to say before Aunt He-Yin cut her off.
“No! You return these and get rid of these dresses! We are already poor, we cannot afford these! I already spent all my money on adopting you after my sister died. The least you could do is try to be a good child!” She yelled.
“No, Aunt He-Yin! I made these dresses out of old cloth I found, we won’t have to pay!” Aunt He-Yin stared at Jae-Eun strangely.
“You made these?” Jae-Eun nodded nervously.
“I don’t want you to continue with this. I know you have picked up your mother and father’s talent but I do not want you to end up like them. Sooner or later you’ll be heading off to the Seoul Airport for that same Paris fashion event, and you’ll get hit by a drunk truck driver and end up like Soo-Min and Jae-Jeong. Besides, you stole this material, didn’t you? I’m sorry Jae-Eun, but you must forget this dream of yours, nobody in the industry will even accept a 18 year old like you anyways.”
Jae-Eun froze from the shock and thought, “Should I really give up this dream? Mommy and Daddy gave this dream to me… I can’t possibly give it up!”
It was a Saturday, the first Saturday of November. It had been around a month since that talk with Aunt He-Yin, about giving up the dream of fashion design. Jae-Eun brought her dresses to the local flea market to sell and get rid of her dresses. As she waited for the dresses to sell out, a young man came to her booth. As the man examined her dresses, Jae-Eun looked at him and nervously said, “C-Can I help you?”
The man looked up and said, “Where did you get these dresses? I’d like to meet the designer. These designs are flawless.”
“I did, sir. I designed these dresses.”
The man at first looked at Jae-Eun, as if she was bluffing, but then changed his expression to a satisfied look. “I like your designs. Here’s my business card.”
The man handed the card to Jae-Eun. She read it slowly, “Lee Jun-Hyung, CEO of Vanity.”
“Woah!! You’re the CEO of Vanity?! I love that brand!! May I please be your designer? I’ll work for you, learn from you, do all your errands. I’ll even work for free!”
“But first, tell me your name.”
“My name is Jae-Eun.”
Jun-Hyung stared and said, “No last name?”
Jae-Eun smiled and said, “I don’t need any last name, it doesn’t matter where I come from, does it? My name is Jae-Eun. Just Jae-Eun.”
Jun-Hyung chuckled then said, “Okay, welcome to the team, Jae-Eun.”
Jae-Eun worked harder than she ever had, she got bad dark eye bags from her lack of sleep, Aunt He-Yin got worried often, but Jae-Eun reassured her that everything fine, but she knew that it was not fine. At all.
“Jae-Eun… Jae-Eun… Jae-Eun!!” Jun-Hyung’s assistant, Ji-Sun yelled.
“Huh?” Jae-Eun dropped the dresses she held in her hands in surprise.
“The star model, Meong-Nari’s dress isn’t here!”
“You mean it’s lost?”
“Well if it’s not here and nobody knows where it is, then yes, it means it’s lost.”
“Does Jun-Hyung know?”
“No, nobody knows until we fix this. I’m going to go get a new dress, do not let ANYBODY find out, got it?”
Ji-Sun ran off, Jae-Eun panicked and quickly picked up the dresses she had dropped then went to find the rest of the models and help them dress. Seung-Hoon, Jun-Hyung’s younger brother, came over to Jae-Eun. Seung-Hoon was a dancer who was about a year or two older than Jae-Eun. He went to Jae-Eun’s school and he too had a dream to fulfil. She didn’t really like Seung-Hoon because he was the heartthrob at school, everyday Jae-Eun heard, “Seung-Hoon, Seung-Hoon, Seung-Hoon!!” She thought Seung-Hoon was a real annoyance.
“You don’t look very calm…What’s wrong?” He asked.
“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong, I didn’t say anything was young-I mean wrong.” She said nervously.
“Which means something’s wrong.” Jae-Eun sighed, knowing she couldn’t hide from Seung-Hoon.
“Meong-Nari’s dress… it’s not here. It never got here, Ji-Sun went to go get another but now I can’t find her and if we don’t get Meong-Nari’s dress to her on time, Jun-Hyung’s gonna fire us both! Especially since Meong-Nari is the star model!” She said, quickly and nervously.
“Well, I have an idea.” Seung-Hoon took Jae-Eun’s hand and ran to a storage closet. As they walked in, a huge supply of dresses and other outfits appeared right in front of her.
“Wow… where did all of these come from?”
“These are Yoon So-Min’s past collections. Great designer, don’t ‘cha think?”
Jae-Eun nodded.
“My brother worked with her for a few years. I never really got to meet her, she passed when I was 7.” Seung-Hoon said, looking to the floor. “Did you know them? Like know, know them?”
“Well, yes… but not really…Oh! Meong-Nari’s dress! Maybe we could use something in here?”
Jae-Eun and Seung-Hoon got up from their seats and looked around the storage closet. Jae-Eun selected a few and showed them to Seung-Hoon. Meong-Nari stormed in.
“Where is my dress? I heard you were roaming through this studio looking for Ji-Sun. Well unless Ji-Sun had a gender change, that’s not Ji-Sun nor my dress.” She said, pointing at Seung-Hoon.
“There is no-”
Jae-Eun was cut off by Jun-Hyung’s footsteps and voice, “No what?”
Jae-Eun was stunned at Jun-Hyung’s angry face. “Jae-Eun, this is no time for games. Where is Meong-Nari’s dress?” He demanded.
Jae-Eun finally let loose. “It’s not here, it never got here, Ji-Sun went to go get another, but if she doesn’t come back, we’re going to need a backup.”
She showed Jun-Hyung the dress she picked out. It had frills, lace, and was more of a doll-like dress. “And you had this in mind? This train wreck? I think we’re done here, Meong-Nari, we need a solution.”
The two headed for the door but Jae-Eun quickly said, “No wait, I assure you, I can find a dress.”
Jun-Hyung looked impatient and said, “You have 10 minutes.”
Jun-Hyung walked out with Meong-Nari. Jae-Eun ran to the back of the storage counter and started up the sewing machine. She tore apart sections of the dress, added fabric, fixed up the “train wrecked” dress. As the 10 minutes passed, Jae-Eun finished the dress and brought it to Jun-Hyung and Seung-Hoon.
“I’m done.” Jun-Hyung stared at the dress displayed on the mannequin.
“Anyone willing to wear that would have to be completely insane.”
“Or, completely fearless.” Jae-Eun said.
“You always say, you have to risky to be rich, Brother Jun!” Seung-Hoon added.
“No, this is too much.”
“Maybe, you should ask yourself how far you’re willing to go.” Jae-Eun taunted.
Jun-Hyung rolled his eyes and smiled. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Jae-Eun smiled. As Meong-Nari came back from her strut, everybody cheered. Jun-Hyung came out onto the stage, Seung-Hoon and Jae-Eun stood off to the side.
“Thank you for coming to this show.” Jun-Hyung continued with his speech. At one point, somebody in the crowd asked, “Who came up with this design? I mean, it’s truly a genius move.”
Jun-Hyung smirked and looked over to Jae-Eun. “It was me. I did it.”
The crowd cheered in agreement. Jae-Eun felt like she had been stabbed in the heart, she ran off, crying. Seung-Hoon ran after her.
Jae-Eun ran to the roof of the building, crying into her hands. Why… why steal my design, Jun-Hyung…
“Jae-Eun… “ Seung-Hoon stood behind her. Jae-Eun walked up to Seung-Hoon and hugged him tight crying into his shirt.
“You can’t be his designer after this, you know that, right? He’s just going to take advantage of you more and more. You should become your own designer.” Seung-Hoon said.
“No. I’m not ready for this, I’m just a kid, the world won’t acknowledge me for who I am, I’m too young for this.”
“You can’t wait forever, Jae-Eun. You can’t wait for the world to accept you, you have to make them accept you, flaws and all.”
Jae-Eun looked up to his eyes and nodded in agreement. “Yes… I can’t be that villain's pawn anymore… I will become the world’s best designer on my own.”
As 2 months passed, Jae-Eun and Seung-Hoon worked together to help each other achieve their dreams. While Jun-Hyung was left in the darkness, plotting a new plan. He knew that his little brother was competing that day, at the Paris Theater. He sat in his own office, thinking about what revenge he could take, and finally thought of something. He stood up from his chair, walked to a dart board that had a picture of Jae-Eun and Seung-Hoon together. He took a dart and aimed perfectly and swiftly at Seung-Hoon’s face.
“Score.”
Meanwhile, Seung-Hoon and Jae-Eun were on their way to the theatre, preparing themselves for later that night. Jae-Eun had designed a beautiful outfit for Seung-Hoon and his group, she kept it in his changeroom. While Jae-Eun went to go check on other outfits, Seung-Hoon rehearsing, Jun-Hyung arrived with his dance group. Jun-Hyung bribed the second best dance team in the world to dance at the competition, making sure that Seung-Hoon would lose. Jun-Hyung drugged the other dance groups, leaving a few drops of rohypnol in their bottles of water. As Jun-Hyung reached Seung-Hoon’s room, he spotted the beautiful costume Jae-Eun had designed for him. Jealousy filled his eyes as he spotted a pair of scissors nearby and cut holes and shreds. He smirked then immediately ran off in case anybody had seen. The contest started in a few minutes, Seung-Hoon’s crew was up third. She opened the door and hanged her mouth open to see the outfit she had spent weeks on, destroyed in 2 seconds. She was devastated, she wanted to cry if she had not started to already.
“Jae-Eun…you have 5 minutes ‘till our showing, you can fix it, right?” He asked, trying to sound a little hopeful.
Jae-Eun shook her head. “I spent 3 weeks on this, I can’t replace it.”
Seung-Hoon sighed, “Maybe we should just cancel this performance, I don’t want to wear something half-made.”
Jae-Eun suddenly had an idea, she smiled and took the outfit to the back of the change room. She cut more holes, shreds, making it look cooler than before.
“What are you doing, Jae-Eun? You’re ruining it.”
“It’s already ruined, I’m resurrecting it.”
“I don’t want to wear that, it’ll be embarrassing.”
“I won’t put you in something embarrassing.”
Seung-Hoon smiled and put the outfit on. He walked to the stage, putting his hand on the stage, then to his heart. “Let’s do this.”
Jun-Hyung was watching in the crowd, thinking that the two young teens had given up. The curtains slowly opened, a spotlight was shining on Seung-Hoon. Jun-Hyung’s mouth dropped open. “No way…”
Seung-Hoon looked up, he grinned. As he danced, sweat dripped from his face.
The moment of truth came as the emcee walked out to announce the final winner. He had an envelope in his hand, “And the winner is…”
Seung-Hoon held Jae-Eun’s hand, anxious for the results.
“Lee Seung-Hoon!”
Jun-Hyung walked up to them and stood there, stunned at the results. He dropped to his knees. Jae-Eun helped him up. “I forgive you.”
“I looked for years and years for my happiness that I couldn’t find. But it was because I looked in the wrong place.  When you ready, it will come to you. Because happiness will find you. I found it. I found my happiness. I found you.”