SUNGJAE

Sungjae practically skipped home. Something about meeting that stranger had made him happy inside. Well, not like I’ll ever meet him again. He sensed something was wrong as soon as he stepped into the tiny two-bed apartment he shared with his mother. She’d usually run to the door, ask him how his day was and jokingly scold him for getting his head wet. He walked into their tiny kitchen/sitting room/dining room. His mom was sitting on a chair on the tiny balcony with her head in her hands. He knew something had happened. He walked over to where she was. “Someone looks happy”, he joked, hoping it was something trivial. His mom turned around and it was obvious that she’d been crying. “Mom? What’s wrong?” Sungjae was quite worried- his mom would never let him see her cry unless the matter was deadly serious. “I’ve been fired, Sungjae, those bastards politely told me I was getting old and basically kicked me out. I’ve worked there for sixteen years! How could they do this to me? What are we going to do now?” She started crying again and with each sob, he felt his teeth clenching with anger as he thought of the injustice of the situation.  He sank to the floor, and put his head between his hands. His mother was a secretary at an office and she earned not much, but it was that sole salary that was keeping them afloat. Getting old? She was 35 for christsakes! His mother had had him when she was only 17, and the bastard who happened to be his biological father had left her high and dry when Sungjae had turned 2. His mother had worked in that office since then and she would find it hard to find work seeing as she hadn’t even finished her high school education. There was no question of asking any of her relatives for money, they had all shunned her when it had emerged that she was pregnant with the child of a much older man who was known around the neighbourhood for being less than monogamous.

   The most they could do now was hope to the heavens that she would find ANY job. Sungjae decided he’d have to start looking for a part-time job, or a full-time one, if his mother didn’t succeed in finding a job soon. He went over to her and hugged her. “It’ll be alright mom, everything will work out, I’ll get a job, we’ll be fine”. Sungjae was trying to sooth his mom, but the mention of a job got her agitated again. “No! Yook Sungjae, you know how much you becoming a doctor means to us, you can’t let this affect your studies, we’ll figure out some other way”, she was tripping over her own words and Sungjae could see the fear in her eyes. He said nothing. As soon as school finishes tomorrow, I’m going job-hunting, he promised himself.

PENIEL

His first day at work had gone surprisingly smoothly, and his floor manager Ilhoon was a really funny man, and easy to get along with. They had shared coffee and he found out that they were the same age and shared some interests, like a liking towards sports and a dislike of sugary things. All the others on his floor were friendly and helpful, and Peniel felt a surge of relief as he finished up his first day. He met Ilhoon in the elevator. “Heading out? How about a few drinks to celebrate your successful first day and being managed by such a handsome, amazing manager?” He winked at him playfully and Peniel laughed and nodded. Ilhoon had a really nice smile, thought Peniel, it looked really honest and he decided he liked that he liked Ilhoon. As they were leaving the lift, Peniel recognised a familiar face sitting in one of the seats at the reception. It was the boy that had helped him find his way to his apartment. He turned to Ilhoon. “Do you know that boy?” Ilhoon distractedly looked over. “Hmm? No, but if I didn’t know any better I’d say he’s here to beg for a job.”

Peniel looked around. The office life was moving busily around the boy, not sparing him a second glance and the boy looked bewildered. He excused himself and promised to go drinking with Ilhoon another day. Ilhoon laughed it off good-naturedly, but inside his mind he wondered why the boy mattered so much to Peniel. They said their goodbyes and Ilhoon left. Peniel didn’t want to go over just yet, so for a few moments he watched the boy. All the emotions showed clear on the boy’s face, a spark of hope when someone came close and disappointment and exasperation when he realised they were walking past him just like the others. Peniel decided that he should make his presence known and started walking over.

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So I haven't updated in AGES even though I said I would update frequently, I'm sorry, but my laptop was being crappy, and also, I'm super-duper busy these days. But this time I genuinely promise to try harder to update more. Till my next update,

Thanks for sticking with my inconsistent bouts of spewing crap,

Ann ^^