Stay With Me?

Chapter One: An Unsightly Meeting

Jeongin was late, very late in fact. His parents were going to be furious. He had told them that he would be back home by eight pm, it was eleven thirty according to the weird old clock pole-thing in the park that he was currently walking through. He had left his phone at home, hence his lack of knowledge of the time that had passed. Jeongin and his father had an argument earlier in the day, school related, as always. He decided that he wanted to blow off some steam. He had grabbed his skate board and camera, told his parents he was going out, and left. Before he had walked out of the side door of his house, his mother yelled for him to be home by eight. He shouted back something along the lines of, "Yes, mother dearest."

Now here he was, three and a half hours late, wandering the streets of his large-ish town, wondering if it was worth it to go back home and get scolded by his father for the up-tenth time this week. With a sigh, he decides that it would be better to wait until he knew his parents were asleep to sneak back into his house. He could get in trouble tomorrow, if his dad started yelling at him now, he would probably yell back. Jeongin really wasn't in a mood to be yelling this late, he would probably burst into tears. Manly tears of course.

With his mind made up, he turns and skates down the sidewalk to his favorite spot. There was a pond about a thirty minute skate from his house. It was surrounded by trees and a few hills, so it was mostly hidden. During the day people had picnics under the willow trees close to the pond's edge, but closer to dark, it was completely abandoned. Jeongin liked to come here after dark and lay on the small wooden pier and gaze at the stars. If he came while the sun was still setting, he would take a million pictures of the gorgeous site. It had become his safe space to sort through his thoughts and take as many picture as he could.

See, his father was a very stern man, he thought Jeongin's love of photography was "girly" and "wasn't a useful hobby." He believed that Jeongin should excel in every study he was introduced to and follow in his footsteps of being a successful lawyer. Jeongin didn't want that, he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life yet, but it definitely wasn't that. His mother was less strict with his studies, but she still wanted what she thought was best for him so she tried to shelter him a lot. This in turn led to Jeongin not having many friends, his parents didn't like him hanging out with people outside of school. The only real friend he had was Seungmin, his best friend. His parents thought he should be using his time to study. The only time they really let him leave the house was times like these, when they had just fought and each one of them needed a breather. His dad hated him leaving after an argument, but his mother had always butted in before his father could make him stay. Jeongin will always be grateful for that.

When Jeongin feels as if over an hour has passed, he slowly gets up and brushes the back of his jeans off. He doesn't want to go back, but he knows he has to. Walking as slowly as possible he makes his way back home. When he passes the subway station, he reads the time. 1:18 am. It's alright, tomorrow is a school holiday. Maybe his dad will wake up late in the morning, rush to leave for work, and not bother Jeongin until after he gets back. He hopes the same for his mother.

He's lost in thought when it happens. He's not paying attention, staring blankly at the sky, walking slowly. He feels a sharp pain through his hip.

The next thing he remembers is him blinking blackness from his vision, squinting at the bright streetlights overhead. He's laying on his stomach, cheek resting on the ground, hands pressed into the asphalt. That's probably what prevented his head from bouncing against the hard surface of the road. He looks to his right, his board is slowing rolling away from his body, his camera lays next to him. Jeongin's brain finally catches up to him, he can feel throbbing pain from his hands and knees, most likely scraped to all hell. His entire right lower side is burning, like he was hit with a very big baseball bat.

He suddenly realizes, someone is talking to him. "-okay? Hey, buddy, are you okay? Holy shit, I'm so sorry!" Jeongin looks up at the boy, no, man. It could be because Jeongin just had his brain scrambled like eggs on a Saturday morning but this man was FINE. AS. HELL.

Just then Jeongin realizes that he's gaping at this man like he's a fish, opening and closing his mouth like a dumbass. "Uh, yeah, I think I'm okay. What happened?" The mysterious hot hunk of a man helps him to his feet slowly, steadying him with a hand on his forearm. "I kinda hit you with my car." Ah, so that's why Jeongin felt like he got hit by a truck, well, by a really expensive looking sports car actually.

"Let me take you to the hospital, I did hit you with my car so it's the least I can do." "No, no, it's fine, I'll be fine." If Jeongin went to the hospital, they would surely call his parents, he would be grounded for months. "Seriously buddy, I think I should take you to the hospital, you might have a concussion," mysterious dude insisted, grabbing Jeongin's board from where it had stopped rolling a few feet from them.

Okay, Jeongin could do one of two things, he could let this very fine ass man drive him to the hospital or he could decline his offer and wobble home in pain and hope something wasn't broken. Yeah, option one sounded a lot better at this point in time.

"Okay, I'll let you take me to the hospital, under one condition, I am in no way contacting my parents about this," his tone was final, he even went as far as pointing his finger at him to make the point clear. The man hums a bit, "You're a bit feisty for someone that just got hit by a car. Alright, no parents." He leads Jeongin to the passenger side of the vehicle and opens the door for him, after Jeongin picks up his camera. Once he is inside, the man places Jeongin's skateboard on the back floor board. The car is still running so once Mr. Mysterious is in the car he puts his seatbelt on, but doesn't make any move to start driving.

After a few moments Jeongin speaks up, "Um, -" "Put your seatbelt on," he is interrupted before he can get a word out. Confused at the sudden stern tone he tries to speak again, "What-" "Put your seatbelt on, I won't ask again, and we won't move until you do." Jeongin's quick to obey.

Once his seatbelt is on, the man's face relaxes from it's serious look, "My name's Hyunjin, by the way." His tone has softened as well. He puts the car in drive. "Mine's Jeongin." He swears he hears Hyunjin say something like "cute" under his breath, but he can't be sure. Then they were off.