Hate At First Sight

*6*

Choi was at his family home, a small apartment above the laundromat his father had worked hard to make successful so as to support his family and send Choi to school.

As the said man stepped into the laundromat with its machines that were always whirring and clanking, he could see Jang in an apron that was printed Hyun Laundro, flirting with a teenage girl that was a regular at the cleaners. He was saying something that was making her giggle non-stop and for a moment, Choi felt a little jealousy, wishing he was funny and charming like his brother.

His love life was non-existent right now even though ladies practically threw themselves at him. He knew he had the looks and build made for a magazine front page and he was a good lover, able to take care of his women. But he had decided to take a break after his last girlfriend left him. She just packed her things up and was gone before he came back from work one day. No explanation, nothing.

It wasn't really heartbreaking because even he had noticed that things weren't the same between them. The emotional distance had been there for a while now. They both went to work, came back home, ate and went to sleep. There was none of the laughter or singing around the apartment anymore whenever she cooked and told stories. Even the bed felt cold with her in it and he realised that she was unhappy. He was ok with where their relationship was but she wasn't.

And so she had left.

And that was a year ago.

"Hyung (older brother)!" Jang called with a grin.

"Hi." Choi smiled, waving at him. "I am here to see Eomma (mother)."

"She's upstairs. Where is the black queen?" He asked, looking around, now having forgotten about the girl he was entertaining earlier. Yes. Jang was a flirt. A big flirt.

"Black queen?"

"Ms. Tae, of course!"

Choi bit his lower lip, trying to stay calm. Jang could be annoying and Choi didn't want to hear anything about Tae at the moment. "Don't ever call her a black queen again," he warned Jang. "And be respectful, she's your elder."

Jang shrugged. "Fine. But you have to admit, she is pretty, ain't she?"

"Jang, shut up."

The young man turned his back while Choi went upstairs only to find his stepmother at the stove, preparing lunch. He greeted her.

"Come give your mother a kiss!" she chastised him, tears running down her face as she cut onions.

Choi laughed before taking off his shoes and putting on some sleepers then walked over to his eomma (mother). He kissed her on the cheek with a grin and then made himself comfortable on the single seater couch to his right.

His stepmother had come into his life when he was only 14 with a year old Jang and at first, the relationship was rocky but this selfless woman before him had raised him to be the man that he was today and he loved her, sometimes more than he loved his dad. Suzy Park was an amazing stepmother, nothing like the stories he had heard.

"Your father tells me that your investor is a black woman named Tae," Suzy said. "I was rather shocked."

"Yeah. She's a pain in the ass."

"Language, Choi!"

Choi sighed. "She said the proposal was trash."

"Of which it was," Suzy said. "I told you that."

"Eomma (mother)!" Choi whined like a child. "You're supposed to be on my side here!" 

"I was a high school accounting teacher. I know a trash proposal when I see one and your investor was right. Has she left?"

"No. She's helping me to correct the proposal."

Suzy smirked, turning to her son with a raised brow. "Is she now?"

Choi huffed. "Eomma (mother)!" Suzy was annoying him. He had come here to vent about Tae and the proposal but Suzy seemed to take a liking to Tae and she didn't even know the woman.

"Whaaat," Suzy defended. "I am just saying. She has no business helping you and you are intolerable when you're under pressure. She's a patient woman who is dedicating her time and probably money trying to turn your proposal into something that could be worth millions! But I know you and your racist ass. Have you even noticed that you are the only one like that in this family?"

Choi thought. Suzy had worked at an international school and had worked with black students and their parents. She said some of them were a delight and some were downright awful. But she didn't hate them. Jang was currently infatuated with Tae so there was not much to say there and dad, dad seemed more shocked that Tae had a Korean name (even though Tae was just short for Taera) than the fact that she was black.

"Am I a bad person?"

"Yes. And no. You are allowed to not like certain people but you do not have to treat them in any way lesser. Rather, if you can, avoid the people than to be around them and call them names or say hurtful to them. Better in your own space with your mouth shut than being around people you don't like with your profane mouth."

"But this is Korea-"

"And you are not Korea. You are a Korean individual. For a thirty year old man, I'm sure you can make decisions on how to go about the situation yourself. Look, you don't have to like Tae. At all. But I am sure you can be civil. She's the ticket to a brighter future and you can't let that go only because you don't like black people."

Choi sat back in his chair, contemplating.

"Is she doing a good job with the proposal?" Suzy asked.

Choi nodded.

"Then I don't see where the problem is. Put your pride and ego aside. Work with the woman. Its not like she's asking you for anything anyway. She's giving you free services that could make you a somebody. You make a choice right here and right now about what you want."

Suzy stared at him while the onions fried in the pan over the stove, making the room smell good.

"I want to be somebody," Choi muttered.

"Then you start treating Tae with the respect she deserves. I know you, Choi. You tend to think some people are lesser than you, especially after you got that high paying job at the bank and got that expensive apartment. Even with all that, the Tae woman is far more richer and more powerful than you can ever dream of. Her attention only is valuable in itself. Treat her the same way you treat people who are richer than you since your humanity seems to depend on what someone has in the bank."

"You make me seem so shallow-"

"I don't make it seem that way, my baby. You are shallow. Now, go and wash your hands. Jang and your father will be here soon and we can eat."