Blue-Collar Daddy || Bang Chan

Chapter 1: In The Books

I stand in front of my rundown childhood home. I was a little girl when my family left. And now 3 vandals are spray painting "SLUT" on the exterior wall.

      "Why are we doing this again?"

      "My dad says the family who lived here were run out of town because they were pervs!"

      My parents weren't perverts! And now that they're dead, this house is mine...

      I jump at the troublemakers, who scream as they turn to me

      "There's worse than a jump scare coming at you if you don't get the hell out of here!"

      "This house belonged to the belonged to the (YLN) family! My dad hated them." One of the boys shouts at me.

      "I don't care. They were my parents, and they're dead now. So get out of here before I make you!"

      The smallest kid tugs at the older kids' clothes.

      "Maybe we should go. I can't get in trouble with my dad..."

      The 3 vandals run off, leaving me with a mess of graffiti to clean later.

      Why were my parents hated? I don't remember that.

      But there's no time to figure it out, because it's my first day in my new Library Director position, and I'm late. As Director, I plan to bring this small- town facility into the modern age... But first, I have to make it through the crowd of protestors outside.

      "Are you a pervert like our new Library Director? Or do you stand with the Clean Books Initiative to ban all filthy books?"

      "Rough crowd."

      I turn to the rough voice. It belongs to a man with a wide jaw and sculpted arms.

      "Follow me. Don't look at these assholes."

      The man lays his hand on the small of my back, sending a brief warm shiver up my spine as he pushes me through the crowd. But one of the protestors refuses to be ignored.

      "Christopher! If you and your friend go in there, you're no better than the new director!"

      She doesn't realize I'm the new Library Director!

      "What's so bad about this new Director?"

      "She comes from a bad family, and she's added a romance section. Those books are full of sex, you know!" the lady furrows her eyebrows.

      "Lay off, Marjorie." the man tells the woman.

      As I enter the library, he leans against the counter, all swagger.

      "I told you not to engage."

      "Oh, so I'm supposed to follow orders from a stranger?"

      He smirks as I settle into my front desk. From my purse, I pull out the book I'm currently reading called 'Call Me Daddy'. As I search for somewhere to stash it in case the protestors raid the library, the man laughs.

      "Interesting book you have there... The names Bang Christopher, but you can call me Bang Chan."

      "Can I help you, or are you planning on messing with me all day?"

      He gestures at my name tag.

      "Ouch, (YLN) is a controversial last name around here..."

      "And why is that? No one will tell me..."

      "I don't know. Old wounds. I'm unclear...but intrigued."