Lotus // Stray Kids FF

[005- A RING AND A CHAIN]

The day I stole Changbin's ring ended and it was the next day. I was getting ready for school, gazing down at the ring. It was a thick band with a raised part where Changbin's initials were engraved. It was beautiful, for being so basic. I let out a sigh before grabbing one of my gold chains out of my jewelry box. It was only fair to give him something in return.

I place the chain in my bag and head out the door. Frost layered the ground as the sun glistened off of the soft ice. Spring was finally coming and it made me so happy. The drive to school consisted of me listening to music and tapping the steering wheel.

As the school bell rang I was super happy to see Changbin. I guess it's fair to say I had made a new friend. His english wasn't the best but after school yesterday he spent 3 hours teaching me korean so I won't feel like an alien at school anymore.

"Annyeong!" I greeted Changbin as I entered English. He seemed super happy to hear my Korean. Before I sat down I reached into my bag and handed Changbin the chain I brought from home. He looked at me confused.

"Whats this?" He asked in korean and it took me a second to understand him.

"Well I stole your ring, so I gave you my chain in replacement."

He nods his head before thanking me and putting it on. I smiled before turning to pull my short story out of my bag and hand it in. The teacher thanks me and I head to my desk, figuring I would finish my art project, which was an introduction portrait. I chose to do a picture of my mother.

My next class was math. I wasn't a failing student but the math question were hard. I could understand numbers but not word problems. Thankfully, my dad helped me with my homework whenever he was home, which was once a week. We would sit at the table and grind through all my weeks homework so I could hand it in the next day.

After math I had history, again a class my dad had to help me with. So far I had an average of 78% since I started at this school. I figured it was really good, considering that I barely knew Korean and I started school at the end of January. I enjoyed history homework with my dad, he told stories and gave me intense detail on what I was learning about. It really intrigued me.

At lunch, I sat in my car. Changbin wanted to hangout with his friends today so I decided I would sit in my car and do some sketches to kill time. I didn't want to start my homework because I knew my dad would be home tonight and I wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.

Art class finally came and I got to hand in my portrait. The teacher loved it, gave me extra credits for handing in a master piece and handing it in two weeks early. She said that my determination wouldn't go unnoticed.

I could feel the eyes of other students staring at me in judgement the rest of the class. I tried to ignore them while listening to my music and doodling. My mind kept wondering, wanting to know why everyone in my class was gossiping and looking over at me.

When the final bell rang I was quick to head out to my car. I barely gave my car time to start before I pulled the shifter into reverse and headed home. I was so excited to leave the drama of school and see my dad. There was so much to tell him.

When i pulled into the drive way I saw my dads vehicle parked outside. I rushed to gather my things and lock my car, running through my front door.

"Oppa?" I called. I could hear hushed voices in the living room so I headed straight down the hall to the living room entrance. "Dad?"

"Out here!" my fathers deep voice called out from the patio. I walked through the sliding door and seen my parents sitting in their lounge chairs, a book in each of their hands. My father stood from his seat, arms open. I ran into his arms, holding my father tighter than I ever have before. Every time he came home from work, it was like seeing him for the first time after years.

"I missed you, Lotus," he whispered in my ear, sending tingles through my body from his fluent Japanese that I missed.

"I missed you too, dad. Please don't leave again," I whispered back to him in his native language, earning a very proud smile in return. My dad always looked as though it was the first time he's ever heard me speak Japanese whenever I would talk to him. He was always taken aback in awe by my speech.

"Kaida, you know I can't stay, I have work-" my father pulled my body away from mine, locking our eyes together.

"Yea I get it, your dad is sick ok. I've heard it before, dad. It just sucks that I can't be with you,"

"Kaida, you are my world. A man's first daughter is always treated like royalty, and u are the queen to my life. You are growing so much and proving to me your potential. Moving to Korea was hard on you, but you still sprouted out of the darkness and bloomed into a beautiful lotus. I named you little dragon because I knew you had a dragon spirit living inside of you, from the moment I saw you I knew you were going to be my protector. You're soul is pure and strong. You are the families blessing and my family knows that, that's why they stay away. They see the dragon in you as well, and don't want to upset you because they're afraid of the power you have. You can't be worrying about your elders, my love. You must move forward and stand on your own, my family will come to you when they are ready." My dads words left a mark in my brain that I will forever cherish. I missed the deep conversations we had just like this one. Conversations where he reassured me without any effort. As I look passed my father to my mother I can see her smiling warmly at me. I knew she was upset about dad's absence too but at this moment we were all a family again.

We spent the rest of the night joking around like we used to. After dinner my dad and I started on the pile of homework I had. My father taught me everything I needed to be able to complete the homework and hand it in.

Once my homework was finished, we all sat and watched movies. It was nice being cuddled up between my parents once again. As they chit chatted about the movie, I rested my head on my fathers shoulder and slowly felt my eyes getting heavy as I drifted off the sleep.