Class 3 Romance (bxb)

Woo Jin - Apologies

Sun Woo Jin tossed his heavy school bag onto the edge of his large bed before he followed it, falling face first into one of his numerous soft pillows. His bag bounced at his weight, flying off his bed with a loud thump onto the cold wooden floor. Woo Jin mumbled a general sound of disagreement into his pillow but made no move to retrieve his bag from its new location. A knock at his bedroom door interrupted his wallowing.

"Come in." He yelled in his pillow. His voice came out muffled by the layers of feathers and cloth stuffed under his face. Another knock. Woo Jin turned his head to the right. "Come in." He called out again with a clear voice.

Woo Jin smiled when Jun Keum opened his door and entered his room. He swung himself around to sit on the edge his bed. His feet kicked his school bag still lying on the floor. He used his right foot to shove it deeper under his bed, as if hiding evidence of a crime. Jun Keum had been his family's housekeeper longer than he'd been alive. Longer than his older brother had been alive. He loved her like a mother. Woo Jin had already outgrown her by the time he turned 12 and kept on growing. But every time he ended up in trouble she towered over him. She carried a little extra weight, which made her perfect for hugging on the days where things didn't always go the way he expected. She kept her hair short and her smiles big. She was often the only person he saw when he came home from school.

Woo Jin's parents worked in the entertainment business, all behind the scenes. They were always on the move, never with a normal schedule. They could be home all day one day, gone for three days the next. Jun Keum gave him the stability he needed in his life. He loved his parents dearly. He wanted for nothing. But it was the simple things that made him smile.

"Mom." She had long ago tried to break him of the habit of calling her that. She stopped trying the day she had to attend a school function instead of his mother. He introduced her correctly to his classmates as his housekeeper, but then proudly stated "I call her Mom". That day he showed no shame for introducing her as a housekeeper who he calls mother. If he had pride in their relationship then she would do nothing to take it from him.

"Woo Jin, you're home early today."

"I skipped after school study today." Jun Keum pursed her lips at him. "I know. It's important, but I couldn't make myself go. It was too nice out today. I wanted to hang out with my friends while they play football."

"Did you play this time or just cheer then on?"

"I played, a little."

"So that's why you are all sweaty. Get up and take a shower." Jun Keum flicked her cleaning towel at Woo Jin's exposed legs. He'd changed from his school uniform into his gym clothes directly after school. On any normal day he would have gone to the after school studies classes. While the extra classes were 100% voluntary most every student attended anyway. Only in the last 6 months he had chosen to skip some days. Instead hanging out with other friends after school who had their own reasons for not attending the extra classes.

"I'm too tired." Woo Jin flopped back on the bed and stuffed his head back into his pillow.

"Too tired to get some fried chicken?"

Woo Jin turned his head peeking one eye from behind the pillow. "Fried Chicken?" Jun Keum nodded her head. "This isn't a trick to take me to class?" Jun Keum shook her head. "We're really getting chicken?" Jun Keum nodded her head again. Woo Jin shot out of bed, caught his foot on the handle of his school bag, fell forward, righted himself and scurried to his bathroom. "I'll be ready in 10 minutes."

Jun Keum held her nose at him and said. "Make it 20." She held no other reaction to his near disastrous maneuvers. She'd long given up reacting. Her heart was not strong enough to keep up.