I love you, 바보...

Leaving Time

"Come back soon, yeah?"
"Uh huh." I grasp his hand in one hand and the other I wrapped around his back as we drew close. I drew in his scent, a mix of cinnamon and cigarettes. I grew up around this, permanently at least, after it happened. My parents were never involved with anything remotely dangerous, they were the polite and friendly Chinese neighbours of everyone, they were, surely, well loved within the community. There are a lot of us Asians here, not many Orientals though. I'm one of the few oriental kids around. Many are Islamic, or Hindu. We get along, us Asians. We protect each other, we leave keys with each other for the scarce times when we go on holiday. The white fellas took my parents' lives and that of my younger sister. She wanted to become a criminologist to curb crime here in Bradford. I joined exactly what she planned to fight against to avenge her death and those of my parents. It might not have happened if not for the shooting. I was studying that night at home with Zain. And the phone rang, and when I picked up an officer was on the other end of the line. He informed me that my parents and sister had been caught in the restaurant where the gang had opened fire on a crowd of Asians. There weren't many survivors, or, where there may have been, they immediately fled the scene. I don't blame them, I would have done exactly that at the time too. They were defenceless. They would only have had their lives taken. It's completely meaningless to post yourself at the front of gunfire when running would save more lives instead. There were Muslims, and Hindus, children, Buddhists even, who were injured or killed. I made the trip to the station that night, confirmed it was my family. My sister would have seen them coming and opened the rear door, running to inform others. My parents would have gathered up everyone in front of them and ushered them out. They would have been the first to be shot.

I got into James' car with my bags. "Look, we didn't pay to send you to law school for nothin' a'right?"
"Yes, James. I'll do my best in law school, I promise, James."
"That's my son." They aren't completely bad, my gang. At least they don't shoot out at the innocent. We don't even use guns. Just bats or machetes at most. Curved blades are common, too. The few Sikhs we have wield their own weapons. We raid too, but we fight mostly defensively. We fight for respect and we fight for resources, and yes, we run on committing crimes. But no drugs. It's the one thing we don't touch. Turf warfare, definitely, based on protection from the real danger. More often than not we're the ones attacked. Mikey the Korean, and Spunk, are on trial at the moment for assault. It's a long story, but as I see it, the only reason they would get convicted is if the gang affiliation is brought up. On the other hand, it could be said they were cleaning up Dong Hoon's collection at his place (Hookie loves a good blade), and then repairing sections. Because they were in fact doing exactly that, when that Max came running through the neighbourhood, for the umpteenth night in a row and Dong Hoon's girl isn't exactly well. She's well liked amongst the crew. Kimmy's a fantastic unarmed fighter in a slim build, knows when to join in and when not to, terrible background. Full allegiance to the crew. I enjoy the company of Hookie and Kimmy when they're not sitting on top of each other.

Dong Hoon (Hookie)- a profile
Korean, lean build, short by any man's standard
Naming (everyone gets a naming process): he was going to name himself Hoony, but Jono started to call him Loony Hoony so he then opted to change to his favourite punch: an upper hook. Nate called him Hookie and it stuck. No reference to missing body parts replaced by hooks.
Skills: car racing for hefty sums of money, Taekwondo and boxing. Usually designated driver for any event: getaway or otherwise
Weapons: knuckleduster, reversed plastic baseball bat (and I mean in the form of a novelty confectionery container)- ridiculous, but effective

Go Eun (Kimmy)- a profile
Korean, slim build, medium height by gang member standards
Naming: Surname 'Kim', everyone just called her Kimmy and it stuck
Skills: MMA, stealth (surprisingly). She's commonly employed as lookout while Hookie is in meetings. We could get the kids to do it, but James designates Kimmy as their babysitter. Also acts as a good cover if anything happens.
No weapon