Sunday March 17th, 2013

“You are by far the most boring child.” Yu-ki looked over to her mother who sat at the dinner table, papers strewn about.

“What are you talking about?” She asked, focusing her attention back onto the television screen.

“It is a Sunday night and you are at home watching movies.” Her mother drawled not bothering to look up. “You are 19 for goodness sake. You should be out with friends or something.” Yu-ki turned back to her mother speechless.

“Excuse me?” she said after a moment. “Did my own mother just tell me to go out and party?” Yu-ki repeated slowly.

“Go out. Get drunk. Live a little. Just stay away from Hastings Street please.”

“Why do you tell me, your daughter, to behave like that, but not your students? I can see where your priorities lie.” Yu-ki scoffed.

“Hey,” her mother replied shooting her a look. “You are not the one who will have to deal with 200 hung over twenty year olds.”

“If only your students knew how irresponsible you are.” She responded shaking her head as she made her way to the stairs.

“Hey, I got to keep them on their toes. Yeah?” Her mother shouted after her.

Stepping off the bus Yu-ki looked around her. She was surrounded by the busy night life of downtown Vancouver. Not really having a set destination in mind, she simply followed the crowd as they crossed the street.

Rounding the corner she collided with another person. “Sorry.” She looked up to apologize and was immediately met with the faces of Tao and his friends. Ducking before any of them could recognize her, she shuffled by. Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t quick enough.

“Katie.” A voice called out to her. She tried to walk away quicker, but a hand landed on her shoulder. Cursing the heavens, she slowly turned around revealing her identity.

“Hey Ty. Ler.” Yu-ki segmented his name with a shy wave. “Tyler.” She repeated unsure whether or not it was appropriate to call him by his childhood nickname. He laughed making Yu-ki relax a bit.

“It’s fine. You can call me Ty. I still go by that don’t worry.” He reassured her. “It’s been a while though hasn’t it?”

“Yeah. It has.” Tyler was an old friend of hers and Tao’s. They became friends around third grade and after Yu-ki’s move, he had become Tao’s next closest friend.

“Wait, you two know each other?” Yu-ki turned to the speaker. She recognized him from her mother’s Tuesday/Thursday lectures. He was the type of student that her mother absolutely hated. Never paying attention, always chewing gum loudly, and just an overall nuisance. “You’re friends with the devil teacher’s follower?” She winced slightly at that title and it didn’t go unnoticed by the others.

“Uh, yeah.” Tyler spoke awkwardly. “These are my friends. That’s Bryan and James.” Tyler pointed to the two boys, the one who spoke earlier and the other who regarded Yu-ki with a curious expression. “And, uh, you remember Edison.” She finally lifted her gaze to settle on the one furthest from her. His expression showed nothing, but she knew better. Yu-ki knew that exactly what he was feeling right now.

Sensing the tension, James decided to speak up. “Hi, I’m James.” He extended an arm to Yu-ki successfully diverting her gaze from Tao. “It’s nice to meet you Katie.” He smiled lightly as she reached out to shake his hand. “For future reference, you can disregard everything that Bryan says. He doesn’t think sometimes.”

Laughing, but making no move to refute the statement, he moved closer to Yu-ki. “So what’s a pretty girl like you doing alone at this time? I don’t think your mother would like it if she knew what you were doing.” Yu-ki resisted the urge to laugh in his face. If only he knew the irony of his words. “How about you join us instead.” He moved in even closer to her personal space. “Maybe with a pretty face like yours we might be able to skip the lines.” Bryan moved to put his arm around her shoulders.

“Don’t be stupid.” Tao pushed between two, dislodging Bryan’s arm from her shoulder, walking off with Bryan quick on his heels.

“Sorry about that.” James shuffled beside Yu-ki rubbing the back of his neck. “He can be a bit crude sometimes.”

“But,” Tyler spoke up. “His offer still stands. You’re welcome to join us for the night.” Yu-ki shifted her gaze from Tyler to the walking silhouette of Tao up ahead.

“Where are you taking us Bryan?” James complained from his spot beside Yu-ki. She looked up from her one-sided conversation with Tyler to see that they had ventured off into a more secluded part of the street. Bryan turned around to face the other three while Tao walked silently beside him.

“It’s a secret.” He said with a wink directed at Yu-ki. She inwardly grimaced. “This place just opened up last week and it’s already become the hottest thing.”

Yu-ki heard the place before she saw it, the loud bass pumping and the chatter of people that only got louder as they neared.

“Is that the line over there?” Yu-ki looked to where Tyler pointed to. The line seemed to wrap the building and started right beside a set of double doors that was guarded by some very muscular men.

“Bryan, are you insane?” James asked. “You dragged us out here to stand in a line?”

“It will all be worth it in the end don’t worry.” He replied beginning to walk to the end of the line.” Tao pulled him back by his hood.

“You’re telling me it’s gonna be worth it to stand in line, in the cold, for an unknown period of time, and once we get in we’re gonna have to leave very shortly, because in case you forgot, we still have classes tomorrow.”

Yu-ki began to tune out their endless bickering. Instead she chose to focus on the building in front of her. The giant neon sign lighting up a majority of the street hung above the doors. Pandemonium it read. But that wasn’t what caught her eye. In the bottom right corner she recognized a logo she had seen countless times in Seoul and once very recently in Hong Kong. Wordlessly she walked towards the doors.

“Wait, where did Katie go?” James stated as he noticed the female was no longer in sight.

“I’m sorry miss, but you’re gonna have to go to the end of the line.” A bouncer said when Yu-ki walked up to the doors.

“I’m on the list.” She responded instead. The bouncer raised an eyebrow but pulled out his clipboard nonetheless.

“Katie!” She turned at the sound of her name. Tao and the others had followed behind her. “What are you doing?” Tyler asked nervously.

“I’m getting us in.” She shrugged turning back to the man in front of the door.

“Last name?” He asked.

“I shouldn’t have to tell you.”

“I’m sorry miss, but there is no ‘Katie’ on the list.” He replied curtly. “If you could please move to the end of the line.” He repeated. The girls at the front laughed.

“But you didn’t even check.” The girls laughed even louder.

“Sweetie, you’re not gonna get in by flaunting your body.” One of them sneered. Yu-ki responded with one of her own.

“Thanks but unlike you, I don’t need to stoop to such a level.” Ignoring their shrieks of disbelief, she turned back to the man. “I demand to speak with the manager.” She told the bouncer.

“You’re speaking to him.” He replied.

“You’re the manager.” Yu-ki spoke in such a manner that had everyone, including the manager himself, doubt his position. He nodded slowly. “Very well then. Given your status at this establishment, I believe you should understand this company inside and out,” Seeing his nod of confirmation she continued. “Then you should also know that I have the power to end you right here, right now.” She threatened. “All it takes is one phone call.” She pulled out her phone beginning to scroll through her contacts.

“What are you going to do call HQ?” He laughed at his own joke. His laughter however halted when he noticed Yu-ki’s very serious expression. “Are you?”

“No, I’m not gonna call the regional headquarters.” He relaxed at that statement. “No, if I want to get this done, I need to get straight to the centre.”

“The national office?” he whispered in fear. Yu-ki shook her head. “Corporate?” he said even quieter.

“How do you think President Park would feel if I called him in the middle of his busy day to complain about the management one of his overseas branches?”

“Did she just fluke our way in?” Bryan whispered to James.

“No way that was a fluke. It was way too believable.” He replied focusing on the female in front of them.

“You’re right. It wasn’t a fluke.” Yu-ki said without turning around.

“So you really do know the president?” Bryan asked.

“Of course not.” She turned to face the others. “I know his son

[A/N]: I apologize for the crap that you ust read. This was written all in my head (at like 3AM because that is when my brain decides is the best time to write). So this chapter is pretty important featuring three new characters James, Tyler, and Bryan. They will show up quite frequently during her stay in Vancouver, and might make an appearance later on. Umm yeah. they play semi-important roles so look out for that.

Also there are a few things that might need clarifying here. Firstly Hastings Street is a street in downtown Vancouver that is full of homeless druggies (at least it was a few years back and I don't know if it had changed, please tell me if it did Vancouverians). Secondly is the boys' school schedule (in Yu-ki's mom's classes). All four of them are in the Tues/Thurs lecture and only Tao and James are in the Mon/Wed/Fri. And lastly, this reveals something quite important in regards to one person's back story (HINT: President PARK's son)

Also, do people read these?