Hook. Line. And Sinker
EverythingJin's Perspective
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Throughout the day my thoughts couldn't help but drift to ways that I'd convince Viv to go on the ski trip. Before I knew it, I was standing at my locker and had autopilot cruised through Calculus, Architecture Drawing, Gym, and Lunch.
I closed my locker just to see Viv leaning with her back pressed against the adjacent lockers. Her profile barely visible as her curly hair covered most of the side of her face. It was like she emitted a halo of light as the golden hour sunlight set her skin ablaze. She turned to look at me and the sun caused her already light eyes to look like translucent pools of honey.
"My uncle just called. He said he'd pick me up for dinner out and asked if you wanted to come?" She asked with a shy smile.
Viv was originally born in Santa Monica Califonia and raised by her mom. Her father was out of the picture since birth, so it was up to her mom to raise her. Then Viv's Korean grandmother took over when her mom got to ill to care for her. Unfortunately, her mother never recovered and her grandmother eventually passed of old age which landed her in the care of her aunt, Serena who married Min Jun Song. Viv moved to Korea with her aunt and uncle when she was just four years old, but spent summers in the States with their family friends to retain a bit of her heritage from the States. They lived together in a beautiful little home in the town over from mine and for the most part, had a very loving little blended family. Whenever I could, I tried to spend time with them and soak in the warmness that was their family.
Mr. Song used to be an investment banker which is where he met my dad back in their mid 20s. Through the hardships of being two of the youngest employees, they became friends for life despite being so opposite of one another. Later in life, Mr.Song switched to being an architect that specialized in traditional Korean building methods. Viv's aunt is a food journalist and an amazing cook. You could tell from the look in Mr.Song's eyes that Serena was the love of his life, and they inspired me to find something like that one day. Sometimes when I was over, they'd disagree but never fought and would always make time to share a glass of wine or slow dance in the kitchen as some new creation of Serena's simmered away on the stove.
They never had kids of their own but treated Viv like their own. As far as everyone else knew besides a small group of friends and family, she was their biological daughter.
If I had to describe my own family as anything, I'd say it was the polar opposite of the Song family. My mom is a stay at home mom who is trying to find her purpose now that her children are old enough to take care of themselves and her husband couldn't be bothered to hold a conversation with her. Now she's a full-time shopper and drinker. My dad is never home for more than a few days before going on another business trip. Recently he's been trying to keep me quiet after seeing him get dropped off by what looked like a young club girl one night after drinking
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