A Cruel Lovestory

Chapter 2

The subtle hum of Kỳ's phone woke him up. Rolling onto his side he grabbed it, turning off the alarm and swiping up to check for any new messages.

Surprisingly there were quite a few. He did not have friends in Manhattan, but he did have a few back in Korea.

Seoyon:
Hey
Hope you're not enjoying Manhattan too much without us

He smiled at the message, because he definitely was not. If Seoyon and Dae-Hyun were with him, Manhattan College would have felt less empty. He would have been a completely different person with them around, helping him through high school like they did back home.

"Kỳ! Come downstairs and have breakfast." His mother called from the bottom of the stairs."

Kỳ ran his fingers through his hair making it look as neat as possible. "Coming ma'." He threw on a pair of jeans and a hoodie.

Closing the bedroom door, he took the stairs two at a time and upon entering the kitchen, his nostrils were seduced by the rich smell of bacon and waffles.

"You don't have much time. You must eat quickly because I am almost ready to go." His mother set a piled plate in front of him.

"Thank you mama." He gave her a kiss on the cheek before swiftly sitting down and stuffing his face with crispy bacon and soft waffles.

His mother ruffled his hair coming to stand behind him and give the top of his head a kiss. She rubbed his back while he ate, scrolling through her phone with her other hand. "It doesn't look like I'll be able to make it home today. I have too many meetings and way too many reports I need to write up." She rested her chin on the top of his head, breathing in the scent of his shampoo and deep in thought. "I think I will call auntie to come over for tonight. Fine?"

Kỳ nodded, piling his last fork dripping with oil and syrup into his mouth. "Sure, auntie can come. But if she brings Mai, I am not babysitting. I have work, a lot of it." He stood with his plate, placing it in the dishwasher.

"Okay. I will call auntie." His mother grabbed a set of car keys, dangling them in front of him. "I trust you with one of my very expensive cars," she playfully smiled, raising her eyebrow.

Kỳ was seventeen. Surely he had driven a car.

He in fact, had not.

Not because his mother would not let him, but rather because he could not accept the gift of an entire car from her. She had bought him a nice car for my sixteenth birthday, but he could not bring himself to drive it. What if he crashed? What if he got hijacked? So many scenarios filled his head that he begged her to take it back and she eventually did. The car was sold and she gave him the money . As nice as that sounded, he could not help but feel a little bit guilty.

"Okay." He took the keys from her, grabbing his school bag off the living room couch. "Bye mama." He leant down, giving her forehead a quick peck before racing out the door.

Sliding into the driver's seat, Kỳ plugged a cable into the aux and pulled up his favourite playlist on his phone. It took about half an hour for him to get to school so it would be playing for a good while.

"Never ever parallel park," he whispered, turning the key. His shoulders tensed as the car hummed and the interior lights slowly lit up.

Carefully turning the wheel, he slowly backed out of the driveway and onto the road.

*

Reclining in his chair, Kỳ took out his phone. There were five minutes before English class officially began, so killing time scrolling through messages wouldn't hurt.