"Ji Yong. I'm home honey."

I hear my mom's footsteps enter the entry hallway echo into the living room. She sets her house keys and purse onto the counter. I am sitting on the couch watching retro cartoons with Mary Kate on my lap. 

"Hey Mom." I greeted back. 

She walks into the kitchen she starts a pot of coffee and then sighs when she sees my cereal bowl sitting in the sink. 

"Ji Yong you are 17 you should know to do your own dish and put them away. It's not going to kill you. It takes the same time as to prepare your own food. If you think I am going to wait on you hand and foot all the time mister you have another thing- Why do I try?"

I mutter out a sorry as I walk to the sink rinsing out the bowl to reuse. I carry Mary Kate to her high chair then filling the bowl with apple sauce. I smile a tad watching her mash her hands in the bowl and squeal happily. 

Mom pats my shoulder.

"Hey what's the matter? You usually argue with me when I remind you to do something."

I shrug. 

"Eh, I guess I am too tired to argue."

My phone dinged as I got a text message from Seung Hyun. 

From: Dorky 

10:45am

Hi Ji, sorry for not answering yesterday. My parents and I went to a winter festival and spent the night at a log cabin hotel. I'm home now and down to hang out today if you are?

 

Replying to "Dorky"

10:50am 

Heya Dork, yeah I'm down to hang out. I'll swing by in 30 minutes or so we'll get hot cocoa and hit the ground running?

I shove my phone in my pocket.

"Mom do you mind if I hang with Seung Hyun for a while? I'll bring back some pork and rice take out for lunch."

She thought about it for a second then happily agreed.

"Of course honey just get dressed first not unless you plan on going out in your jammies and bed hair."

I book it upstairs to my bedroom to change. I stare blankly in my extremely disorganized closet. Funny how many times skipping out on doing laundry quickly catches on... I rummage through the mixture heap of clean and soiled linen. I find: a pair of blue jeans, a clean pair of underwear, Adidas sport t-shirt, and a un-matching pair of socks. 

That'll do.

I comb my hair after dressing and put my shoes on. I go downstairs to get my coat on. Mom hands me the car keys and my wallet. 

"Be careful honey and have fun. I put $10 in your wallet to grab some more baby formula."

I nod. 

"Okay Mom."

I grab a cushion from the trunk of the car and slowly sit on it. I wince in pain.

"Ah.. Damn it..."

Once I sat comfortably I start the car driving to Seung Hyun's house.

 

"Ji!" 

I see the dork himself jumping up and down in the driveway waving both hands. I stop in front of his driveway rolling down the passenger window. He is bundled up in several layers he looks like a winter fabric tick. I hold back a laugh.

"It's only 31 degrees, why are you dressed in that get up?"

He shrugs shuffling to the car door.

"I'm COLD."

I shake my head as he gets in the front seat struggling to click his seat belt over his thick layer. 

"Gain some weight twiggy and you wouldn't be cold."

We start to drive off, I had adjust myself in my seat because my back end started to hurt. I wince trying to be inconspicuous but Seung Hyun catches on.

"Ji are you okay?"

 I nod quickly.

"Y-Yeah I'm okay, don't worry about it, now where do you want to go hang? Arcade? Roller rink? McDonalds?"

He shrugs.

"Eh any place you're down to go."

I decide to go to the mall if he's giving me the option to choose. We can do some Christmas shopping, though I need to stop at the grocery store on my way home for Mary Kate's formula and our lunch. 

After picking up two large hot chocolates at the local drive thru, Seung Hyun's and my phone dinged a few seconds apart, Gabe had sent us a group message. He's at the park where they are holding a four day long Christmas themed festival. He wants all of us meet for a reunion and to split funnel cake and drink hot apple cider. We both seem interested and we are thrilled to know that all the others are joining.

On the way there we are approaching a Honda that is broken down beside the shoulder. Seung Hyun points.

"Should we stop to help?"

I slow down to a stop directly behind the broken down car. I slowly get out of my seat and walk over to the driver.

"Hey buddy. You need help?"

He nods giving me an uneasy smile. I hesitate, but ignore his altos unwelcome gesture and look under the hood of the car. Everything seemed normal except for a simple wire near one of the belt was loose. I tighten it with my fingers.

"Give it a try now." I instruct the driver.

He smiles once more getting into the driver's seat, I quickly move as he starts the engine. We both listen when the engine fires up smoothly. I nod.

He turns off the engine and returns outside.

"Thanks for your help I'm so dumb with cars."

I chuckle.

"No problem I'm glad to help."

Chills went down my spine so suddenly when the driver looked at me. I had a brief flashback of last night: I caught a glimpse of his eyes through the holes of the mask... Almond shaped eyes a dark shade of brown, he had what looked like a burn scar under his left eye...

Under the driver's left eye had the same burn scar. I take a step back my hands shaking in fear. He seem to catch on my hesitating really quick he pats my arm with a malicious grin.

"If you are ever looking for some extra money let your old man know. I'm always looking for some extra help."

He leans in uncomfortably close to my right ear like he's gonna whisper something to me.

"You're welcome for the tickets."

 I felt my stomach drop when I ran to my car and get in slamming my door. Seung Hyun grasps the slack of his seat belt in terror as I sped off without looking both ways. My hands grip the steering wheel. Consistent flash backs flood my mind and I fight back tears, taking deep fear filled breaths. I flat out ignored Seung Hyun's concerned questions until we parked at the festival.

"Ji what the heck is wrong with you? You were driving like a mad man!" He squeaks, unbuckling his seat belt and making a run for it.

I watch him as he runs to Gabe. He points to me and keeps turning his head to look at me. Gabe pats Seung Hyun on the head like he's a dog and then pointed to a random direction toward all the activities. He waves his hands at the others. They all in a group walk away and Gabe walks toward my direction. He opens the passenger door. 

"Excuse me sir but can you tell me the direction of Santa Claus's house?"

I ignore him and rest my head on the steering wheel. As typical to when I am angry I start crying. Gabe immediately sits in the passenger seat closing the door.

"Ji Yong what's wrong?"

I turn my head to look at him.

"You won't understand Gabe."

He only looks at me before patting my shoulder. 

"I'll try to understand. What's bothering you?"

I am ashamed to explain what had happened last night. The conversation ended with me wiping my non stop tears off my cheeks crying like Mary Kate. I expect Gabe to be mad at me, instead of getting mad and yelling at me asking me how I can be so stupid for falling for such scheme and how irresponsible I was for putting myself and my baby sister in that much danger, he pulls me in for a hug.

"It's alright Ji Yong. Please stop crying buddy..."

I manage to pull myself together after a full minute I nod. He gently lets go of me.

"However Ji Yong, you need to tell your mother what had happened and report it to the police. What he did is very illegal and not to mention you need to get a blood test done as well, you can get very sick from that. You're too young to be getting sick from that kind of thing."

He pre dials Mom's number on his phone handing it to me. 

"Here."

I press the dial button holding the phone an inch away from my ear so that way when she starts yelling it won't kill my ear drums. Though I was in a way hoping that it would go to her voicemail, to my disappoint, she picks up.

"Hi sweetie."

I clear my throat.

"H-Hey Mom."

"Oh Ji Yong. What's wrong honey? Are you okay? Why are you using Gabe's phone?"

I take a deep breath before answering her obvious concerned questions.

"I'm okay I just borrowed it, I need to tell you something that's kind of serious that happened last night..."

I explain the whole situation to her from the first time I got dad's text to seeing the guy on the side of the road. I had a lot of hope she would be as good about it as Gabe, but all is lost when I heard her yell. I backed the phone away from my ear about a foot and I can hear her words loud and clear:

"WHAT?! Are you kidding me right now?! Ji Yong! Kwon Ji Yong! I cannot believe you did such a thing! All for what?! Concert tickets! Do you realize that you could have been killed?! You fell for such an obvious scam and the fact that you brought your baby sister! What if they hurt her too?!  Just wait Mister! My Lord I am so mad I can bite nails! Get your home right now!"

Before I can get any word in she angrily hangs up. I give the phone back to him with a shaky hand. He clears his throat to break the awkward silence.

"Well... she's angry."

I nod slowly trying not to think about what punishment awaits me at home. I don't always admit it but when my mother is angry she terrifies me. I am more afraid of her than my father. My aunt told me one day that she broke a girl's fingers in high school, and my Grandmother confirmed the accuracy of it. I look at my hand hoping that I will have all 10 fingers by the time her wave of rage has subsided. 

"Go ahead and head home I'll tell the others that your Mom needs you home. We'll do another group outing another time. Good luck buddy."

He gets out closing the door. He gives me a half wave as I leave to head home.

 

"JI YONG! YOU ARE IN A HEAP OF TROUBLE YOUNG MAN!"

I did not take a step inside the house and she's already letting me have it. She is screaming at me through the open kitchen window. I go inside and she instantly greets me by pulling me in by my jacket and slamming the door.

"Are you crazy?!"

"Mom he tricked me... He knew I wanted to go see BTS and before I can get away when I learned I got tricked I got hurt... He said he wanted all of us to go..."

She shakes her head.

"No! Ji Yong you shouldn't have trust him at all! If you used your brain you wouldn't have gotten hurt! I'm very mad that you suspected it was bogus, yet, you still proceeded to go to a motel at an ungodly hour with your baby sister FOR A SET OF TICKETS! Why didn't you fight back when they hurt you?!"

"NOW YOU NEED TO USE YOUR BRAIN MOM! YOU TOLD ME NOT TO FIGHT ANYMORE!"

She swung her arm around her hand meeting my face cheek. It was hard enough to nearly knock me off balance. She stands close to me.

"I am your mother mister! I do not care how old you are you do NOT raise your voice to me or disrespect me! You can forget winter camp this year you are staying right here! After we report your father's ignorant crime and your stupidity to the police, you are thereby grounded for a year: No TV, No Computer, No allowance, no WiFi, No friend hang outs, No outdoor activities, and no driving. You will walk to school everyday and get extra chores, and if I see you breaking your punishment I will make it longer. Do you understand me?"

I nod slowly. I am fuming mad at her but I cannot say anything in my defense because she is so mad at me she won't let me talk, if she did, she doesn't want to listen. I rub my sore cheek where she slapped me. 

"Yes Ma'am..."

She makes me give her the car keys and my license. She go upstairs in my room taking my laptop and iPad. She takes my TV's power cord. 

"Go to your room until I tell you it's time to leave."

I obey and slam my bedroom door. I growl loudly kicking my  hard thick wooden door in anger. I furiously wipe my tear filling eyes and kick the door again. I curse under my breath then flop on my bed.

I am beyond angry, I wish she would have let me explain that the tickets were for her, Mary Kate, Gabe, and me. I wanted to go as a family since he had no intentions of going with us. Yes, it was completely dumb of me to see past the suspicion of it all, but through it all I was really thinking about us sitting in the arena watching Mary Kate's reaction to her first big concert, and enjoying the time together. 

I fiercely remove my coat throwing it onto the floor. I lay back on my bed turning my head to the left to my night stand. I look at the two pictures in a black color twin picture frame: Mom, Dad, and Me, and Mom, Me, and Mary Kate. 

The one of just the three of us was taken when I was a kid. I was probably about 8 or 9, the goofiest age, sporting a: Spongebob t-shirt, black stripped long sleeve under shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of fairly worn out blue Osiris sneakers. I had black hair that looks like it was ready to be cut and smiling a gooney tooth smile. Mom is smiling big, wearing: a teal blouse. black dress pants, and tan flats. Dad is smiling just as big wearing: a pure white button dress shirt, tan khakis, and at the time, new Adidas sneakers. 

The second picture is most recent taken about three months ago. Mom is wearing a white and black stripped dress with black leggings and black shoes. I am wearing my school uniform. Mary Kate had turned a month old the day the picture was taken, and she had on a pink onesie, a multi color poofy tutu, and white socks. She had a bow band that was nearly as big as her on her head. Mom and I each had one arm out to hold Mary Kate. 

I look at the first picture growing very mad again yet very sad. Unlike other people my age, for some unknown reason, I can remember my childhood pretty well, from age 6 on through. I can even remember what happened after the picture was taken: I was begging my parents for ice cream because the new parlor had opened across the road from the photography studio.

For what I can remember it was a great time. This was before they fought more often and I can remember that they were happy. 

Out of sheer anger I threw the frame across my room. It hit the wall and the glass shatters. I turn back over laying my head roughly on my pillow trying to calm myself down.

I was a gullible child I was blind to how my father really was and how quick he was changing. My father was my role model and hero. I vaguely remember him telling me how much he loves me and I was his "buddy". It's something that any kid that age wants to hear from a so called "father".

Too bad that I was living in one huge lie. I was not his buddy. I don't even call myself his son. As far as we both are concerned...

 

I am an accident.