A Shoddy Existence

Chapter 1 Part 2

Today is " take your son to work day" at my father's workplace. He has a boring  old office job and his boss is a total prick. His coworkers look like meek pushovers, and so do their sons... all except for one. A tall boy about my age caught my eye from across the room. He was wearing a tan jacket , ripped jeans, and had hair darker than mine. I felt entangled by his sea blue eyes.  I ended up staring longer than I intended. I quickly looked away when he met my eyes with one eyebrow raised.

I swore to myself and continued to stare down at the ground.

"Hey."

I nearly jumped out of my skin as I looked up at the boy from before standing right in front of me.

I let out the best "hey" I could manage. My voice sounding more shaky than I expected. I nervously shoved my hands into the pockets of my red hoodie.

Why was I so nervous?

To my utter dismay, the boy sat next to me on the bench I was currently hiding out from my Dad.

"It's real boring here." He began, "My dad's a jerk and forced me to come here."

"My Dad's a druggie." oops... I said that aloud.

To my surprise, he laughed and said, "You're funny. What's your name?"

"Jason. What's yours?"

"Park MinKyu." The boy answered cheerfully.

I then said something I instantly regretted saying.

"So are you, like, Japanese or something?"

He laughed and shook it off. "Yeah. I'm Korean."

I sudden realization suddenly hit me. "OH, you're that foreign exchange student right? Your english is pretty good."

"Yep, that's me." 

He then paused and said, "I'm gonna go raid the kitchen, wanna come with?"

"Yeah. I'm sure the boss has plenty of donuts... I mean, look at him."

MinKyu giggled. " Okay. C'mon then."

MinKyu stood on a stool while rummaging through the cabinets.

He pulled out a  bag of powdered donuts with a wide grin plastered on his face. "Hey! You were right!"

He placed himself on the table in front of me.

"Want some?" He asked, offering the bag of donuts to me.

"No thanks. I prefer the chocolate ones."

He shrugged and continued shoving the small powdered treats into his mouth.

"Where do you live, anyway?"MinKyu said, donuts muffling his speech.

"Down near Widows Creek. I live in the house at the end of the cul de sac"

"Oh, cool! Next to that  old jewish man, right?"

"yeah... kinda."

MinKyu laughed. "He's real nice, Plus his daughter Cassie is smokin'! Too bad she's with Brad and not to mention she's a horrible person in general."

I coughed. Why was I feeling a bit jealous? "So... you like Carrie?"

"Are you kidding me? Of course not!"

I sighed in relief. "So you go to my school, right?"

"Yep."

I remembered now that he became pretty popular in the few weeks he's been here.

"Aren't you really popular or somethin'?"

Min Ku stopped chewing. His eyes grew wide as if he had just experienced pure terror.

he coughed before continuing. "Yeah uh those girls who are obsessed with 'Korean Pop Idols' follow me around a lot."

I laughed on accident.

"Hey! It's not funny! Those girls are crazy..."

Abruptly, the door swung open and Min Ku's father entered the room with a irritated look on his face. He swiftly seized MinKyu firmly by the wrist.

"I was looking everywhere for you! DIdn't I tell you not to leave that corner!? Hm!?"

His father's voice sounded very angry. 

"But dad! I was just-"

Min Ku's father interrupted him "Oh, is  this your little friend?" He said, death glaring me"Tell him to stay away." 

I stared blankly at the scene playing out before me.

"Dad... I was just talking to him-"

Suddenly, Min Ku's father slapped him across the face. "Are you talking back now!?"

He hurriedly looked at me and mouthed 'I'm sorry'. I could see he was tearing up a bit.

"Are you ready to go now you little twerp?!" His father said, still holding onto his wrist.

"Yes, Father..." He answered. 

He turned to me and waved as his father pulled him out of the room. "See ya."

"See ya."