“Underline” = speaking in English

“Normal” = speaking Korean

Part II

“Daddy!” a little girl with pig-tails and a cute little hand-me-down dress, squealed happily and ran towards the waiting Bradley who scooped her up without so much as a pause, “You came to coec me?”

“I promised didn’t I?” Bradley said gently, nodding his thanks towards the child minder who lived just a couple of blocks away from his current place of work, “Plus the weather was looking bad so I thought it’d be best to turn up with your overcoat, Saki.”

Saki blinked up at her Daddy with her large brown eyes, “But won’t you get wet?”

He wasn’t quite able to hide his genuine surprise at that comment, Saki was extremely mature for her age and seemed to have her head so firmly screwed on that it was unreal. Bradley couldn’t be more proud of her, but sometimes her maturity simply amazed him. As well as reminded him of someone from the band just a little too much. “Don’t worry, your Daddy is strong and won’t catch a cold or anything,” he smiled brightly and started tugging the blue plastic overcoat which he had found in a cheap thrift store, “Plus I’ve got your favourite on the go at home.”

“Fish fingers and chips?”  Saki’s little happy voice came from somewhere in the midst of the folds of blue plastic.

“Yup,” Bradley said, helping finishing the girl dress, “With some mushy peas as well.” Finding himself enclosed in a hug from the little girl, Bradley held onto her just a little more tightly than usual and tried to banish the thoughts from his head. He missed the girl’s next load of inane babble as the child minder approached with a look that most adults wore when they thought that they had the upper hand in the situation. It was a look which the twenty three year old had come to resent over the past six months and hated it being directed towards him.

“Bradley,” the voice was spoken gently but firmly, “I know your situation is tough right now but you should try at least giving your daughter some more balanced meals. She’s going to end up overweight if you keep on feeding her chips all of the time.”

“It’s very rare that I get her chips, Ms. Run, plus they’re homemade,” he didn’t want to deal with another lecture right now, “Saki is getting nothing but the best that I can manage and I’ve always made the most balanced meals for my family and friends. If I were you I would be more worried about me not being able to get a job so I could afford everything that I have to pay for. I know my circumstances aren’t pleasant for you to admit to but they’re even worse for me.”

The woman gave him a condescending look before turning away with a snort which probably meant that she wouldn’t be willing to take Saki in again. Bradley had been expecting it for a while and had enquired with his boss if it would be okay if he could bring the girl in occasionally as child care was just far too much for him to manage. There was a sort of agreement in place, namely the reception girls were more than prepared to look after the girl after seeing a couple of pictures of her, but it was still going to be very touch and go. Bradley however pushed those thoughts aside, it was his first weekend off in what felt like forever and he was going to spend it the best way that he knew how at this precise moment in time. By running around the park like a crazy thing with his little girl and feeding the ducks at the pond or else just messing around with the food shopping and snuggling as they read a story together. 

Together father and daughter headed off down the street, exchanging the usual nonsense as was perfectly common to do. A few people gave them strange looks, not quite understanding why two Korean’s were speaking in perfect English to one another but it was something that they just did. It was a habit Bradley had from home as he had grown up naturally bilingual talking English to his parents and siblings and Korean to everyone else. Saki, despite having only really being in his care a few months had picked up the same habit and whilst her English still faltered in a few places, it made Bradley feel like they were connected on a far greater scale than she ever had been with her mother. He pushed all thoughts of that woman away from his head though, he was getting to spend the weekend with his Sakura and that was the best thing in the world.

They reached a zebra crossing and Saki reached up on her tiptoes to press the button so that the green man would appear that would allow them to cross. Bradley had glanced up briefly at the sky just to check on how long before the rain would inevitably come down and soak him through to the bone, when his eyes fell on a poster. It was a promotion for a fan meet of Bright Side after a concert and the young man felt his heart clench in anguish. It had been nearly three weeks since he had attempted to send the message and whilst he hadn’t honestly expected there to be a response, since he knew that some of the phones were monitored and he generally had a terrible case of gremlins with the bloody things much to everyone’s amusement, he had hoped that there would have been something.

There again, probably sending from an anonymous number and giving no other contact details it was more than likely to be fully expected. God how he wanted to go back to the way that things were, but there was no way that he could give up Saki now either. He knew that Jongki and the others would understand once he got the chance to explain, but on the day that he had left he had been under strict orders to not breathe a word of what was going on. Bradley had hated seeing the look of betrayal in their eyes, especially little Kiyeol’s who didn’t deserve to get this crap thrown at him once again. It had been gut wrenching watching the fake smiles on the maknea on the day of the photo shoot in the park and how the others were just trying to keep him in one place for most of the day because they knew that he would run at the first available opportunity. In a way, Bradley had half-hoped that the youngest member of Bright Side would give the older boys the slip, then he could have captured the other and tried to explain but it wasn’t to be.

“Aw no!” Saki’s voice brought him back to reality just as the clouds above broke in a massive crack of thunder and the rain came lashing down like a monsoon. What had previously been a grey day with nothing remarkable about it, suddenly turned into a sopping wet mess that soaked through to the bone in five seconds and left no where dry. Without even considering the fact that it was over a mile to his house, Bradley picked up his daughter and started to run. This was the type of rain that got dangerous really quickly and would cause floods easily. Plus he didn’t want to think of the consequences of getting struck by the flashing streaks of lighting which fizzled across the dark grey clouds in stabbing forks.

The pavements were soaked and as he reached the edge of his neighbourhood the badly maintained drains turned the roads into mini fast flowing rivers which sopped through his shoes and caused his bare feet to virtually blister straight away. A few cars drove madly through the puddles, sending up huge spurts of dirty water all over himself and his daughter, despite his attempts to protect her as much as possible. He yelled at a particularly large jeep which virtually knocked him over in the drivers mad dash attempts to get wherever he was going and spat out some of the vile water which had entered his nose and mouth. For a second he thought that he recognised it but turned his head and started running when a distinct fizzle bounced off one of the nearby shop fronts. 

Finally his apartment block loomed up out of the darkness in front of him and Bradley was able to duck into the overhang of the shop next-door which was closed as per usual. Taking a few breaths to steady himself, he glanced down to the little girl in his arms, “Hey Saki, how you holding up?”

“I’m scared,” the reply was tiny and unlike the usual bright and happy girl whom he adored no end, “am cold and wet.”

“We’re nearly home,” Bradley said, placing a light kiss on the child’s forehead, “I’ll run you a hot bath.”

“But we didn’t pay the ectric bill last week,” the reply was muffled slightly, “Cause the scary minster man put the rent up.”

Shaking his red hair out of his eyes, Bradley opted to not reply as he prepared himself for the final part of the journey which was a long stair climb to the top of the apartment block and the very cheap roof top rooms that he had managed to get. Vaguely he wondered just how his life had gotten this horrible, as if he had been with the boys they would probably be all snugly wrapped up in the dorms with a movie or something on now. But those thoughts were pushed to one side, he couldn’t ponder on what ifs or fantasies now, he had to live this rotten life and make the best of it.

Taking a steeling breath, the ex-pop star set off up the slippery wet metal stairs but had to give up running as he nearly dropped the little girl when he slipped on one of the steps. Saki demanded to be set down and walk the rest of the way as even she could tell that he wouldn’t want her to go too far ahead but she never went higher than the next flight of stairs. There were nearly twenty-five flights of stairs to climb to reach their little flat and it felt even longer than it had done the first time he had clambered up to view the place. “I beat you Daddy!” Saki exclaimed from the top step, having put her fear aside to try and make things easier and Bradley chuckled.

“Yeah, you did sweetie, good job,” he said to her brightly, trying to hide the fact that he was completely exhausted and sighed, “Now lets get in and get sorted eh?”

“Hmmumm!” Saki said, catching hold of her Daddy’s hand and stepping towards the nearest of the two little prefab buildings on the roof. They had originally been some form of storage but the landlord had seen an earning potential in them and converted them into basically a quite comfortable size bed-sit that was ideal for students. They were basic in design with a kitchen, a small adequate bathroom and a combined living space which could be converted into a number of different rooms by simply readjusting the furniture to meet the current needs. “I want two helpings of fish fingers and chips!” the girl happily chimed, taking a step towards the door.

Bradley suddenly grabbed hold of his daughter, having in a brief flash of lightening seen that the front door was just open. “Saki,” he said gently, pushing the girl behind her, “Stay quiet.” The girl obeyed and carefully the red haired boy pushed at the door which creaked open. His heart pounded in fear, hoping that no one was still inside the house despite there being no lights on. There was no response or sudden movements and as he stepped into the dark interior he got the distinct impression of disturbance. Making sure that Saki was still behind him; Bradley reached for the light switch and clicked it on.

The scene that met his eyes was one of devastation. Everything had been pulled out, stripped down, opened and scattered about carelessly as if Saki were hyper on sugar and had suddenly gone around throwing her toys any which way. Just unfortunately for them, clearly whoever had been in had only been after anything of value and had left everything else destroyed. Stepping further into the room, Bradley saw that all of his electrical items were gone and the tin which he kept some spare cash in had been ripped out from the mattress and lay scattered on the floor, empty and battered. Clothes were ripped and torn, Saki’s toys were destroyed beyond repair, and his precious photographs of family and friends had been either broken in their picture frames or torn out of the frames and left on the floor to be mixed in with the rest of the useless rubbish.

Paint had been thrown on the walls and floor, the kitchen purged of all edible food stuffs and the cabinet in the bathroom had been virtually torn off the wall as some junkie had tried to find any prescription drugs. The place looked like a disaster zone and Bradley knew that his poxy little insurance with the landlord wouldn’t hold up in the wake of all of this mess. He had maybe about a months worth of rent left in his current account and probably about the same in his savings. It wouldn’t be enough to replace half of what had been destroyed. Especially with the rain water now creeping into the carpet from the semi-open doorway which clearly displayed the tell tale signs of forced entry. The lights flickered and then cut out all of a sudden, plunging the mess into the bitter darkness it had been hiding in before he had gotten back.

Unable to think of what to do in this situation, Bradley found himself slumping against the wall of the small entrance way and then sliding down until he landed on the floor with his head bowed. Ever since his ex had turned up seven months ago, his life had just gone into a downward spiral and it seemed that no matter what he did it wasn’t going to get any easier anytime soon. Why had that done this to him, why couldn’t she had just contacted him directly and then they could have sorted it out like normal human beings? But then he remembered that his ex was anything but a normal human being who thought rationally about how her actions would affect those who got caught up in her rough life.

“Damn it why me?” he cursed quietly under his breath, trying to stop the tears from falling from his eyes, “What did I ever do wrong?”

He felt Saki’s small and perfect hands on his rough and comparatively big ones and silently pulled her into a hug. There was nothing that he could do, with the rain that was falling no one was going to come out and with the phone ripped out of the wall there wasn’t exactly anyone that he could call. He knew that he was totally alone in this situation, with a dependant daughter and next to no way to even begin to dream about keeping himself alive. He was soaked to the bone, in virtually the only clothes that he had left, he was half-starved as most of the food budget went on Saki to ensure that she lived well and didn’t get sick and had to face the fact that JustHi wouldn’t listen to his pleas or even give him a reference for a job that would at least pay a lot better.

He hadn’t even noticed that tears were beginning to roll down his cheeks, he was just so cold and numb right now that he couldn’t even think straight.

It came as somewhat of a shock when the door to his flat, which had only been partly opened by the half-Korean boy, creaked open far louder than it had done in the past and a beam of torchlight fell into the darkness in a sweeping arch before a voice, clearly surprised asked, “Bradley?”

Wincing away slightly, the mismatched brown and blue eyes didn’t quite appreciate the light that was streaming down onto his face but didn’t have the heart to tell the voice to go away either. Who the hell would come to see him right now? A figure cut into the light, familiar and smelling slightly of lavender, “Bradley, are you all right? You didn’t get hurt did you?”

A frown rippled across his face, “Kyung?” he asked, finally able to focus a little, “What are you doing here?”