𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐝𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞 [𝐞𝐚𝐰]

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞: 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝟏𝟒

Have you ever wondered what the most critical test that a teenager is confronted with? Is it high school and all its demanding projects? Or is it the exams and intense college preparatory courses? What about an angry parent?

When she was fourteen years old, she was confronted with all these tests.

A teenage girl who was always forgetting, apologizing, and neglecting because their just too much going on in their head. Sometimes their mind would get left behind, and their impulsions take over. Her emotions are always felt intensely, deeply, making things really difficult. High school became a challenge, to the point that she need to repeat a grade.

And now she's in a psychiatrist's office with two angry parents, pushing her to sit still in this uncomfortable chair. Doctor offices may seem nice, pretty, and quiet, but their so much hectic commotion going on, such as zagging up and down, hearts pounding, and nurses scrambling to catch up. Lots of talking and leaving, and patients impatiently waiting.

"Are you failing your exams because you struggle to focus in class, Jeong-hui?" a female psychiatrist spoke, yet the girl in question, is still swimming through the channels in her mind. The doctor takes notice of the girl's feet taping the marble floor, and the free fingers twirling and tugging her long-curly brown hair. Her other arm is being held down by a parent as if forcing her to keep still.

"Jeong-hui homeroom teacher says she is always chatting with her friends instead of paying attention in class." a grumpy man answered. He sat next to the teenage girl and wore a dark sharp-looking and well-fitted suit. Exactly the sort of thing that a wealthy man would wear, regardless of the occasion. "I pay thousands, millions to enroll her in the most prestigious private high school and this is how she repays me!? By having to repeat a grade?"

Daydreaming and drifting, as if she's not there, and struggling in a very different way.

"I understand sir." the psychiatrist spoke, eyes looking between the agitated father and the distracted teen, whose foot-tapping got louder.

"Jeong-Hui...stop it." on the other side of Jeong-hui, is her mother. She's a bit annoyed with her daughter, but also drowning in worry. Pearls decorated her ears, signaling her wealth. She's wearing a pointed shoulder blade blazer with a matching set of slacks. Her hair is curly, just like her daughter's, tied into a soft low ponytail. "She asked you a question."

"Oh." Jeong-hui is in her school uniform, consisting of a khaki pleated skirt, a well-fitted navy blazer, and a black ribbon just barely tied around the collar of her white shirt. "What was the question?"

"Do you struggle to focus in class?" the psychiatrist repeated.

"Mhm. I also really struggle with long-term projects. I can't seem to focus until the last minute, the night before the project is due, so then I try to make a perfect project overnight. Sometimes I ask my grandparents for help, so it gets done quicker. Oh! This happens because I forget the deadline. I write it down, but then I lose my notebook...and I can't email my friends because I also can't find my phone. Oh also–"

Her mother stopped her, patting her arm before wrapping her fingers with Jeong-hi. It was a tight hand squeeze, really tight, signaling Jeong-hui to stay quiet. "As you can see she doesn't mean to cause any harm, she really wants to be a good student...but for some reason, she can't. Is there something she can enroll in that can help her? We already tried asking the school to help, but nothing is working."

The female psychiatrist briefly looks down on her notes, having listed all the teen's symptoms. "Has she always been like this?"

Her mother nods, "Yes, we thought she was just being a curious kid you know, having trouble focusing and misbehaving, but it seems she hasn't grown out of it."

"I understand. We'll have to look further into it, but it seems as though Jeong-hui has Attention-deficit disorder/ hyperactivity disorder. "

"Huh? A disorder?" her father's frown grew, mind unable to look beyond his prejudice. 

"Isn't that...isn't that just a disorder that happens to men?" the mother stated, confused by the conclusion the psychiatrist reached.

"While it's true that men are more likely to be diagnosed with it, that doesn't mean girls don't have it."

"If what you're saying is true...then that means Jeong-hui is mentally unfit to take over the family business."

At this moment, all his father saw was a lazy daughter who doesn't finish her work. A daughter who procrastinates to the point that it's a crime. A daughter who misses instructions like she's hearing impaired. A daughter who is always getting distracted, as if she doesn't care. A daughter unfit to take over the family business, because she was born with ADHD.

Have you ever wondered what the most critical test that a teenager is confronted with? I thought it was high school and all its demanding projects. Or is the exams and intense college preparatory courses? Or the angry parent?

It's the loss of a parent, the loss of direction, and the loss of love. When she was fourteen years old, she was confronted with all these tests. When she was fourteen years old, her father found out that his daughter has ADHD and now believed she was no longer mentally fit to take over the family business. When she was fourteen years old, she was disinherited and turned over to the care of her aunt.

When she was fourteen years old, she found out that she has ADHD.