Advice
Walk Next To Me
Love is ………………………… protecting you at any cost.
Siwon tugged at Donghae’s elbow stopping him from dashing out to the yelling. “Wait, don’t get too close to this guy. I am serious.”
Donghae nodded with a frown. He followed the counter lady out. Pacing up and down the counter was an obese man, probably in his 40s. He was scruffy, seems like he did not shaved in weeks and his formerly white t-shirt was stained and yellowish. As Donghae stepped closer to him, he could not help but covered his nose in disgust. This man reeks of alcohol.
“I am Mr Lee Donghae.” Donghae said calmly. “How can I help you?”
The man immediately stepped closer to Donghae, “Yes! You, you took my son away from me!” he yelled. The commotion he created was starting to attract the attention of students walking near the general office.
Siwon stepped forward, “Please calm down. Let’s go into the meeting room and we can discuss about this.” He suggested.
“How am I supposed to be calm when you take away the only family I have!” he continued yelling at the top of his voice.
“You are………….” Donghae’s voice trailed.
“I am Tao father!”
“Please Sir, come with us to the meeting room.” Siwon persisted, while his hands gestured him to move to the left side of the general office, where the meeting room was.
The furious man thankfully listened to Siwon and started walking towards the room. As Siwon gestured for him to enter the room, he gave an assuring smile to Donghae was looked slightly terrified.
“Please take a seat and wait here. Mr Lee Donghae and Mr Park will be with you shortly.” Those were last words Siwon said to Tao’s father before he closed the door to the meeting room. He turned to Donghae, “Yah! Do not go in there alone, wait for Mr Park before you enter the room.”
“Why?” Donghae asked curiously.
“Just listen to me. I will go get Mr Park now. You stay here.” He warned Donghae before disappearing further into the office.
Donghae stood outside the meeting room awkwardly. ‘Why must I keep him waiting?’ he wondered. He was furiously tapping his feet and clenching his first in agony. He was getting impatient by the minute.
The next thing Donghae knew, he was turning the door knob and entering the room. The previously angry man was sitting down on a sofa, his attention focused on Donghae. His face still looked flushed and furious but at least he was not making a scene anymore.
“Sorry to keep you waiting Mr Huang ………..”
“What is this? You do not even know my surname? I am Mr Shin. Shindong!”
“Oh…why….how come…” Donghae was taken aback. He was pretty sure Tao’s surname was Huang as he remembered going through his record the night before.
“You must be the new teacher. You know nothing about us right? What makes you think it was ok for you to take away my son!” he barked.
“Look. Yes I am new but that does NOT mean you can continue yelling at me. I am not the enemy, I am on Tao’s side, your side, and if you keep yelling at me, we will never work anything out.” He said it in one breath. He was surprised he found the courage to say what he just said but he had enough of Mr Shin’s rude behavior since he stepped into the school’s office.
Mr Shindong let out a huge sigh. “Where is he? Is he safe?”
“Yes he is.” Donghae answered gently. “He is staying with me and he is here in school. Look, the police could not contact you when he got into trouble so they contacted he school.”
Donghae felt sorry for Mr Shindong who was now covering his face with his palms. He could hear soft sobs and realized that the parent was trying to hide his crying face.
“I know I am a horrible father! I do nothing but get myself drunk and beat him up! He is in this state because of me!" he yelped.
Donghae sat next to Mr Shindong, who was still hiding away his face within his palms. This was his first time seeing a grown man cry. He had experience with crying mums in his previously school, but never with crying dads before. He patted Mr Shindong’s back trying to comfort him.
“Please don’t let social services take him away from me! I promise to look for a job and clean up our house!” he grasped Donghae’s hand and pleaded.
Donghae smiled weakly, “Ok, he will stay with me until you get your act together. I will inform his probation officer but the decision is not up to me. He is a good kid, but he still needs your love and attention from his family.”
“I know. Ever since his mum passed away, our lives have been turned upside down. I have always treated him like my own son and I did promise his mum that I will take care of him but ………look at me now, such a failure.” He vented.
‘Tao is not his real son?’
“What is more important is you change, and he will follow suit. He is just a lost teenager, once he finds his way, I promise things will get better.”
Mr Shindong looked up from his wet palms, “Really?”
Donghae nodded and smiled. Mr Shindong’s damp eyes were believable, and Donghae could almost feel the remorse radiating out of him. He was previously upset at the poor parenting but after discovering and understanding a little bit more of his background, his anger subsided.
Before Donghae could continue his words of encouragement, the room door flung open and there standing with his hands on his hips was a red haired guy.
Hyukjae.
“Yah! Shindong! What the hell do you think you are doing?!” he exploded into the previously silent room.
Both Donghae and Mr Shindong stood up, startled by the loud slamming of the door. Hyukjae entered the room and barged straight to Mr Shindong. “I told you not to create any more trouble here right? What were you thinking making a scene here and giving trouble to my friend here?!”
“But he wasn’t…………”
“Shhhhh baby! Let me handle this!” Hyukjae disrupted Donghae’s attempt to explain.
“I am sorry for rude behavior. Really. Mr Lee here ..…let’s just say he put things into perspective for me. ”
Hyukjae eyed both Mr Shindong and Donghae suspiciously. “Really? You ok now? No fight?”
“Yes! Really. Tao is really blessed to have you two as his teachers. I better be going now, I shall not disturb you any further.” He turned to Donghae, “Thank you for taking him in, are you sure its ok that he stays with you temporarily?”
“Yes, don’t worry. Here, take my number and you can visit him anytime here in school or at my place.” Donghae assured.
“Thank you. Mr Lee. Sorry again.” He then turned to Hyukjae, “Thank you to you too, for always being there for me as a friend too.” He flashed a smile, bowed slightly and left the room.
As soon as Mr Shindong was out if sight, Hyukjae smacked Donghae’s head and scolded him, “Yah! Fish! Don’t you know you are not supposed to meet parents alone? We must always have a third party around!”
“Mr Park was taking too long! By the way, how did you know I am here?”
“Some of the kids, Kyungsoo, told me, he said he saw Tao’s dad in the office and I panicked when the counter lady told me you were already inside the room with him – alone. He could have beaten you to a pulp, you know, knowing his history!”
“You were worried about me?”
Hyukjae blushed in embarrassment, “Of course! I am always worried about you Fish. Since you are clumsy and accident prone.”
“How come you can be so casual with a parent?!” Donghae asked curiously.
“He is a family friend for years which means I can scold him when he needs to be scolded. I know him well enough but you don’t so you cannot do that.”
“Family friend? Hmmm…is that why you called me baby in front of a parent?!”
“Err…...I did not!”
“You did to! I heard you!”
“Your ears must be playing tricks on you. Is that what you want me to call you?”
“What?! No!”
“Baby …baby…baby.” Hyukjae mocked Donghae as he ran out of the office trying to escape from the pouting Fish.
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Donghae rubbed his tummy. He was starving and it was almost lunchtime. He had not had breakfast since he was in such a hurry leaving home in the morning. He was supposed to go for breakfast as soon as he arrived in school but the saga with Mr Shindong in the morning took his only free time away.
‘Aish, wish the rumbling can just pause for a while.’ Donghae grumbled to himself as he walked to the crowded cafeteria to hunt for food. A part of him wished that Hyukjae had prepared the bento lunch for him today but he did not really want to rely on someone else to prepare lunch for him daily.
As Donghae scanned the cafeteria, he spotted Heechul sitting down enjoying his food at a table at the corner of the cafeteria. The area was only meant for school staffs.
‘Heechul hyung, yes! The best person to ask about Mr Park’s homouality. I need advice about Hyukjae right now too before I go out of my mind.’ Donghae told himself as hurriedly walking to Heechul.
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