DIAMOND| YOONMIN

"With freedom, books, flowers and the moon, who could not be happy?" Oscar Wilde. Does it happen to you sometimes that you just sit and keep staring at some random object without actually seeing it and without thinking about anything in particular? Well, it happens to Jimin. A lot. This morning, he prepared his coffee with two spoonfuls of sugar as usual and sat on the couch which must be a hundred years old with all the chocolate stains, tomato sauce and dog pee that covered the natural beige color. He never had the chance to clean it, or never had time. He turned on the television not to watch it but rather because people's voices and music made him feel less lonely. He put some butter and strawberry jam on his toast and ate a bite before drinking his coffee. He was not going to finish either his food or his drink but he took the trouble to prepare his breakfast with delicacy every morning before leaving the small apartment. He was a very busy guy but when we say busy we're not talking about having a lot of friends, dates or parties everyday. No, his life only consists of attending classes at university in the mornings and cleaning an old lady's house at night. He started living alone after the death of his father three years ago in a car accident. He was his only family because he has never seen his mother before. Mr.Park would tell him that she left them after she gave birth to him. When he was a child he could not understand why the woman who bared him for nine months would abandon him after he was born, when he started growing up he doubted his father, he thought that maybe he was lying to him, maybe he hide the fact that they divorced or worse, that she's dead. But after years, he finally realized why the woman would leave them, leave him. The obvious reason why everyone was escaping from him was his unnatural hair. While the majority of people had dark or light hair, blond, red, or grey when they get old , his hair has a very strange tone that nobody has in our world. The closest color that could be suggested would be white pearl but it was very different because his hair shone with a thousand fires. It was visible even in the extreme darkness, that's why he was never afraid to sleep alone in the night. After many comparisons, he and his father had concluded that his color was what is called diamond. It was a sparkling, magnificent crystal color. It looked very beautiful and pure. His father thought it was a blessing because he just had to take a glimpse of it and all the fatigue, stress and bad mood disappeared. But he was wrong, he was unfortunately the only person to feel so because on the other side, people were fleeing his son thinking he was some kind of dangerous creature. They could not both go out without receiving strange looks and listening to whisperings and insults. Journalists had even invaded their home to ask if they were wizards, if they used black magic, if his mother was cursed just in order to fill the front page of their newspapers with Jimin's photos and false articles. He had been rejected by several schools because he attracted a lot of attention and didn't let other students concentrate. He couldn't have a normal school life because of his hair and that's why his father had the kindness to be his teacher during all these years despite his tiring work. After his death, Jimin worked hard for the college's entrance exam. He wanted to face his fears and insecurities and choose a career like everyone does. He never really had a dream but if he had to choose something to do for the rest of his life, it would certainly be writing books. But not any books, he had a huge weakness for fantastic stories because reading them made him happy, for some reason he felt closer to the characters than he has ever been with any human being. He loves how they are different like him and how it wasn't bad to had a different eye color or have long dark wings on your back. They were like him and he wished he could live in a better world like the ones on the books.