NETIZEN

FLY OR DIE

 December 17th, Seoul Station.

Jared turned and walked away from the door," Hye Mi, seriously, I can't do this."

Hye Mi went and took him by the arm, "It's just a diner. My mother insisted on me bringing whatever friend I have left. You're all I have in stock."

Jared and Hye Mi were on their way to Moon Soon goshiwon. It was Hye Mi's birthday. Her mother had cooked, and the birthday girl invited the young man. She wanted to share this meal with him; it was also a way to thank him. Jared helped her in so many ways. Thanks to him, not only could the girl kick-ass, but Hye Mi could also break into software systems. Something inside Hye Mi told her that this knowledge would not go to waste, unlike what she learned at school.

"My mom won't eat you. She's nice."

"Omo," Sae Ha uttered when she saw the now blue-haired young man.

"Annyeonghaseyo eomonni," Jared automatically replied.

"Oh, my manners, annyeohaseyo," Sae Ha was intrigued by the young man. She wondered where her daughter had found such a friend.

"Do you go to the same school as Hye Mi?"

Jared quickly threw a desperate look at Hye Mi.

"Eomma, I go to an all-girls school, remember. It's evident Jared isn't a student. I haven't set foot in a school in six months."

Her mother already knew the school called, and she lied, saying Hye Mi changed establishments. Sae Ha even went there to meet the teachers, but the sight of her daughter's face plastered on every tree. The woman spent three hours yanking down every poster in tears before retreating to cry in the goshiwon they now called home.

So Sae Ha just smiled at Hye Mi's remark while thinking what a bad mother she was to let her daughter's education fly out the window.

"What's your name?"

"My name is Jared."

"Well, Jared, thank you for taking care of my daughter," Sae Ra said with tears in her eyes.

"Madamㅡ."

"I'm okay, don't worry; please eat," Sae Ha urged.

They ate and even managed to laugh at a few of Jared's bad jokes.

"Saengil chukhahaeyo Hye Mi ya" [happy birthday= 생일 축하해요], her mother said after having cut the cake. She took out a small box.

"Eomma."

"Don't worry, I didn't buy it; your brother gave this to me a day before the car crash. He told me to give it to you." Kyung Gi said he didn't know when he would return since he had those projects and albums to record in London and New York.

The box contained a pendant, long rectangular yet not flat. The present was unique; Jared stared at it with a lot of interest.

The 15-year-old girl cried at the thought of her brother. The producer died too young; the accident made no sense. Kyung Gi's car had burnt like a torch for no apparent reason.

"I'll help you clean up, madam," Jared said, thinking it was the least he could do to thank the woman for the invitation.

"An dé, it's still early, you kids go out. I'll clean up," Sae Ra said with a smile.

She must have been a real beauty younger, thought Jared.

"Come on, Jared," said Hye Mi, who understood her mother wanted to be left alone to wallow.