Chapter 11

            “I’ll put on a pot of tea,” mom sniveled, getting up and making a beeline for the kitchen.

            “It’s okay, mom!” I called after her, a grin sneaking its way onto my face.

            “Is she a generally weepy person?” SooHyun asked, a smile plastered across his face as well.

            “Not always,” I shrugged. “But I haven’t seen her in awhile and I think being home after so long is getting to her.”

            “Ah, I see.” A silence fell between us. “So what kind of tea is she making?”

            “I’m not sure. Probably some exotic razzle berry flavor or something?” I chuckled. “Who knows what she’s picked up on those ridiculous adventures.”

            SooHyun meandered over to one of my mother’s paintings. “Did she paint this?” he asked, pointing at it. I examined it curiously.

            “I’ve never actually seen this one before,” I shrugged. It was an odd painting, comprised of dozens of multicolored shapes all piled on each other. At first glance, it was a puzzle without an answer. But as I examined it a little more, I saw that, with each tilt of my head, a new picture popped out. An image of two hands, fingers intertwined; an eye, closed, a tear slowly dripping from the corner; an angular sunset, somehow all pain and anger; and the last one, one I hadn’t seen in years, a rough yet obviously cared for sketch of my dad. My hand flew up to cover my mouth in an attempt to keep myself from gasping loudly and alerting SooHyun of my shock.

            I failed.

            “What is it?” he questioned. All I could do was point at the image. He peered at it for a few moments in confusion, until suddenly understanding and sympathy flooded his gaze. “Your father?” I nodded, the tears beginning to well up in my eyes.

            “He died when I was three,” I whispered, hardly able to find my voice yet yearning to tell someone. “He had gotten in an argument with mom, and so he left the house for awhile. Next day we found out that he had been accidentally pushed onto the train tracks in the subway and gotten run over. Mom had to… had to identify the… the body.”

            “That’s horrible,” SooHyun breathed.

            “For the next year she didn’t really do much. She just held this picture of them on my first trip to the beach. I was in a little baby carriage and she and Dad were holding hands. The sunset was really pretty. But all she did was cry.” By then, I was shaking with sobs. SooHyun’s arms wrapped slowly around me and pulled me against his chest. Rather reluctantly, he began soothingly running a hand over my back.

            “I know it’s tough,” he whispered softly, “and it won’t ever get easier. All you can do is remember, and pray that you can remember the good times more often than the bad.” He chuckled a little. “You learn to live with it, I suppose.”

            I pulled away from him and forced on a smile. “Thanks,” I whispered. I cleared my throat and wiped my eyes with my sleeve. “If my mom asks, I went to the bathroom.” I ran down the hallway before he could say anything else, dashing into the bathroom and locking the door behind me.

            I rushed over to the sink and began almost violently splashing cold water on my face. What had I been thinking? Why had I told him that? He probably thought I was a crybaby or something.

            I heard a tiny knock on the door. “Kev, are you in there?” my mom asked. “Are you okay?”

            “I’m fine, Mom!” I called, hoping she would just leave me for a few minutes.

            “Well, the tea is done if you want some. Take your time, sweetie.” I heard her shuffling footsteps slowly move away from the door. With a sigh, I grabbed a towel and cleaned up my face. I guess there was no avoiding him.

            “What kind of tea is it?” I asked upon entering the kitchen.

            “Earl Grey, I think,” SooHyun grinned. The corners of his eyes crinkled slightly.

            “Good guess!” my mother laughed.

            “Well I’ve always been good at guessing. That’s how I passed my college entrance exams,” SooHyun shrugged jokingly.

            “Be careful what you joke about,” I told him, poking his shoulder lightly. “She believes a lot of crazy stuff!”

            “And this is coming from the most gullible daughter on the face of this earth!” Mom rolled her eyes. All of us laughed at this.

            In retrospect, it was a very nice visit. All of us got along well. After the painting incident, there was no other mention of my father. I was glad.

            Not being followed by a flock of office girls is actually really nice. And why were they not following me anymore? The answer is simple: Eli. Ever since he showed up at the office, throwing himself all over President Kim, they can’t seem to leave him alone. It was like when they aggravated me, only they ask more… scandalous questions to her.

            The worst part was, she answered them.

            “So, you two have, like, made out?” one office girls asked incredulously. She didn’t look any older than eighteen, so she must have been an intern.

            “Oh, sweetie, we’ve done more than that,” Eli crooned. “I just don’t like to reveal it all at once!” He tossed his head back and laughed, and all the other girls, as if by command, began giggling with him.

            Before I could stop my feet from moving, I was in front of Eli. “Hey, Eli, can you answer a question for me? It’s about AJ.” Some of the office girls gasped when I didn’t say ‘President Kim.’

            “Of course, sweetie. What’s your question?” Eli cocked an eyebrow, as if daring me to talk.

            “Do you know how to fix that horrible snoring habit of his?” I asked, trying to make my face look as innocent as possible. Eli chuckled.

            “He doesn’t snore, Kev.”

            I plastered a confused look on my face, sure that he was correct, but determined to rescue these poor girls from such a braggart. “Are you sure?” Then I did my best to portray realization, and grinned at him. “You know, he probably just developed it after you two broke up. That happened to my cousin Adam, and his doctor told him it was pretty normal.” I shrugged. “Either way, do you have any suggestions?”

            The stormy look Eli gave me could have fueled a hurricane the size of the sun for the lifespan of the entire earth.

            “Well, then, I guess not,” I chuckled. “Thanks for your help anyways!” I turned around and walked off, hoping that my last-minute plan had worked. Sure enough, only five minutes later, there were tiny knocks on the door of my broom closet, and a flood of whispered questions stemming from behind it.

            That afternoon, following my office girl victory, I was met with another surprise. Generally, the average end to my workday consists of running like a maniac to the parking lot, praying that President Kim doesn’t abandon me, and putting up with a silent car ride all the way home. But that day, maybe as a spur-of-the-moment thing, President Kim not only pulled up to the curb to wait for me, but also got out and opened my door for me.

            It was really, really weird.

            “May I ask why you are being so nice?” I said when he climbed into the car.

            “Ramen or Chinese?” was all he said.

            “What?”

            “Pick one. Ramen or Chinese.”

            “Ramen… But why—“

            “I owe you, so I’m treating you to an early dinner.”

            “Why do you owe me?”

            “Because the only decent thing I have done since you started working at that company is drive you home every day, and obviously you don’t even like that too much. I think that constitutes owing someone.”

            “Uhm, not quite, actually. Please let me leave.”

            “No can do. You already said ramen.” With that, the conversation was over. I sat there on the heated leather passenger seat, arms crossed, unbelievably frustrated with the antics of this ridiculous man.

            Several minutes later we pulled into a quaint little parking lot that serviced a miniature strip mall comprised of a French bakery, a dry cleaner’s, and a ramen restaurant. As soon as the car was in ‘park,’ JaeSeop jumped out of his seat and ran over to hold the car door open for me. I didn’t say anything, unwilling to get in another argument, but instead simply climbed out of the car and headed to the door. Before I could reach for the handle, JaeSeop was holding it open for me, just like he had done with the car doors.

            “Seriously though, why are you doing that?” I turned and glared angrily at him.

            “It’s a heavy door.”

            “Well I can open a heavy door by myself, thank you very much!” I marched across the restaurant’s fragrant antechamber and yanked open the door on the other side before he could protest. “Table for two, please,” I smiled at the waitress behind the podium.

            “And what name should I put down for that?” she asked. I was about to give her my name when an arm was thrown over my shoulder.

            “Aaron, please,” he smiled. The waitress’ demeanor visibly changed at the sight of his debonair smile. I just rolled my eyes at her, trying to pull away from JaeSeop. He, however, wouldn’t let me.

            “Yes, sir!” she grabbed two menus and motioned for us to follow her. “Here’s your table, sir!” she grinned. She carefully handed him his menu, obviously trying to look seductive as she did so, and then sort of just tossed my menu in my general direction. She turned to JaeSeop. “My name is Anna if you need anything,” she winked.

            “Wow,” I muttered as soon as she was gone, “I didn’t realize there were more people in the world like that. I thought it was just Eli.” I didn’t think to gauge JaeSeop’s reaction until I heard him snickering behind his menu.

            “That was a lovely joke,” he said, not bothering to look up from behind the menu.

            “Thanks, I’ll be here all week.” Another waitress came up to our table quickly thereafter, and this time she was married, so she didn’t try to flirt with JaeSeop. It was nice, but it was also very boring in comparison to the former waitress.

            After allowing JaeSeop to order appetizers and such, I sat there, sipping slowly on my ice water, sans lemon. A thought occurred to me, and I cleared my throat to get JaeSeop’s attention. “Yes?”

            “So your first name is Aaron?”

            “Yes, it’s my American name…”

            “So then your middle name is…”

            “Why do you need to know?”

            “Curiosity,” I shrugged.

            “Well then just stay curious.”

            “Pretty please tell me?”

            “… Jay,” he sighed, finally giving in.

            “Jay. Aaron Jay Kim.” It sounded strange to my ears. “So AJ stands for Aaron Jay.”

            “Precisely.” I was very ready to begin teasing him about it when the waitress came back with our appetizers and asked for our orders. “Two plain ramens, please,” AJ said before I could order.

            “How do you know I don’t want ramen with pork or something?”

            “Because you like plain ramen,” he shrugged.

            “Still,” I said, “maybe I wanted something different.”

            “Well then when she gets back then you can order something different and I’ll just eat both things of ramen,” he shrugged.

            “Fine, I’ll eat it,” I huffed in aggravation.

            Both of us sat in silence for about a full minute, until finally I couldn’t stand it any longer. “If neither of us is going to talk, then why the heck are we here?”

            “Because I’m trying to be a decent person?”

            “Oh, yes, of course, how silly of me.” I grabbed a pickled radish in aggravation and bit off a piece of the crunchy yellow side dish.

            “I’m being serious,” AJ said calmly.

            “I know. That’s the weird part.” Another angry bite of radish. Why was it so difficult to figure him out?

            “Then why are you mutilating that poor vegetable?”

            “Why should you care?”

            “Because I can’t be nice if you won’t accept the fact that I’m at least trying!” Everyone around us got silent immediately following his sudden outburst.

            “Gee, thanks. Now we’re going to get thrown out!” I stood, absolutely frustrated, grabbed my things, and made a beeline for the door. It wasn’t long before AJ had his hand on my shoulder.

            “Look, I’m sorry. I’m really trying, I promise!” I kept walking, doing my best to ignore him and his antics. “Please, let me just be nice to you! Please?” When I didn’t answer, the hand on my shoulder increased in strength, and I found myself being turned around to face my boss.

            “What do you want?” I said, trying to wriggle free.

            “Just please, listen to me,” he breathed. “I won’t kiss you like I did last time. I won’t make any stupid declarations of love or anything like that. I just want you to give me a chance. Is that too much to ask? Just for one chance?”

            “And what exactly would that ‘chance’ entail?”

            “Let me be nice to you, no questions asked. Whenever I hold a door open or let you go home early, don’t look at me like I’m crazy and just go. That’s all. Okay?”

            “Only if you answer one question,” I said. “Why should I?”

            He frowned and met my eyes. “Do I really have to have a reason?”

            “Of course! There’s always a reason for everything you do. So, fess up. Why?”

            “All I want,” he breathed, “is a chance to redeem myself, if only a little bit. I know you’ll never like me or anything, but I’d rather you not hate me. So please, give me a chance to make you not hate me!” The look in his eyes was frustrating. I mean, really frustrating. Why? Because it made me want to wrap my arms around him and tell him that everything would be fine.

            “Whatever,” I huffed, pulling away from him.

            “So you’ll let me?” he asked, running to keep up with my fast pace.

            “Sure, I guess.”

            “Okay!” he said, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I guess I’ll… do you still want food?”

            “Sure.” I didn’t want to tell him what I was thinking, yet my mouth decided to run off without me. “Can we go to that ramen place across from the office?”

            “Of course!” he walked over to his car and held the door open for me, but I stayed where I was.

            “Actually,” I said, “I have a better idea. I grabbed his arm, shut the car door, and pulled him in the direction of the nearest bike rental. You see, the city we lived in had these little kiosks in which bikes were held. They were red and green, like Christmas. They had counters on them, and cost about five dollars an hour to rent and ride around the city. It was a neat concept invented to get people to exercise more, and it definitely worked.

            “We’re riding bikes?” AJ asked incredulously.

            “Of course! Why wouldn’t we?” I laughed.

            “O-okay…”

            “Trust me, it’s fun!” I put a quarter into the slot to unlock a bike and picked a red one, throwing one leg over it and motioning for AJ to do the same thing.

            “Well, if you say so,” he sighed, mimicking my movements.

            As soon as he had his bike, I took off on mine, glad for the exercise and the nice breeze. It took me a moment to realize that AJ was still struggling with the bike pedals beside the kiosk. Turning around, I went back over to him. “Don’t you know how to ride a bike?” I asked skeptically,

            “Actually… I never learned.” He shrugged and looked down, almost seeming embarrassed at his lack of knowledge.

            “That’s okay!” I grinned. I took our bikes and turned them back into the kiosk, paying the infinitesimal fees for the few seconds we had rented them. Then, another quarter went into the slot and I pulled out a green bike built for two. “Here,” I looked at AJ, patting the seat on the back. “You sit here and pedal and I’ll be in the front pedaling and steering. I promise, it’s not that difficult.”

With a reluctant sigh, AJ climbed on to the back of the bike. I hopped in front and began tediously pedaling the bike down the sidewalk. “You have to actually pedal, you know,” I chuckled, half-turning to face AJ.

            “I’m trying, I promise,” he called from behind.

            “Take your time then,” I laughed. “We’re not going anywhere too fast!”

            “Gee thanks,” he retorted, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

 After nearly half an hour of struggling over hills and through crosswalks while AJ continued attempting to decipher the magic of the bike pedal, we finally reached the restaurant. We put the bike in a nearby kiosk and paid the two dollars and fifty cents for it, then wandered inside the restaurant. Despite my horrible thirst, I noticed that we went directly to the same table we had eaten at the first time. Then, I became overcome by my thirst and ordered a glass of ice water.

            “Are you really that thirsty?” AJ asked as I practically threw the entire cup of water down my throat.

            “You forget, I was the one that pulled your weight the whole time—both literally and figuratively!”

Oh, yeah… I’m sorry about that.”

            “No problem,” I chuckled. “But next time we ride bikes, I’m teaching you first!” Both of us laughed at this and somehow managed to enjoy our meal in peace. It was strange, but it was a good strange. It was one moment that, for some reason, I wished wouldn’t end.

A/N: TA DAAAAAA!!!! A new chapter! Because NaNo, THAT'S WHY! xD This one is about 3,003 words after editing, so yay! I had fun writing it, and I hope you all like reading it! It's been a rather eventful day and I am exhausted, so if I missed some little editing things, I apologize. Also please note that right now, "editing" actually means "checking for grammar and spelling mistakes." :) 

I really really really like hearing from everyone! Believe it or not, your opinions help to shape this story! So please, don't be afraid to comment and leave your thoughts! They always help!

Until next time, then! ^_^