Almost Lover

Chapter 1 -An Early Twist in My Story

He was definitely not the kind you want to run into.

"God damn!" he yelled, slamming the rear hood of the car, and then turned to glare at me. "This is a fuckin' brand new AMG!" I could see the sides of his jaw twitching as he tightened his lips, probably to fight off more profanities that were finding their way out of his mouth. He turned to the ajusshi, who I now realized was the driver, and said, "Mr. Joo, my grandfather's going to kill me!" he exclaimed, slamming his hand on the hood again.

"Mr. Lee, it's not your fault, so I'm sure your grandfather will not get mad," Mr. Joo said in a calm and reassuring voice.

Tantrum Guy was not convinced, though. He jolted his head toward me one more time and pointed his index finger so abruptly that I had to jerk my head backward. "You! You give me your ID and your insurance card!"

I froze. I couldn't say anything. Of course I had an ID, but I didn't have insurance because it expired last month. What the heck am I supposed to do? I thought, panicking.

"Are you deaf or are you mute?" he said and then looked at me from head to toe. "How old are you? Are you even allowed to drive?" He turned to Mr. Joo the driver and said, "I don't think this boy has hit puberty yet." He looked at me again. "You don't have a license yet, do you? Is that why you can't say or do anything? Huh?" He was closing in on me. There was something about him that really scared me that I seriously considered hit and run. The idea would not be so hard to execute because, first of all, I had already hit the car. All I had to do now was run. And that was exactly what I did.

I heard him scream after me, mad, frustrated, and in disbelief. I would feel the same way, too, if I were him. I felt bad for doing a hit-and-run, but I didn't have a choice. I had to do what I did because I neither had insurance nor the money to pay for the damages right there and then, and I knew he was going to ask me to do just that. He looked like someone who would even send me to jail. I shuddered at the thought. I truly felt terrible, and I was even mad at myself for leaving the scene because, truth be told, it wasn't the first time that I had run away from a problem. But I believed I did the right thing just as I believed I made the right decision in running away from the biggest problem I had – my life before Korea.

As I stopped at the next light, I turned around and checked if he followed me. He didn't, to my relief.

I had four things to be thankful for that day:

1. The full motorcycle body suit that Wonhee insisted I should wear;
2. The dark-shielded helmet that covered my face;
3. My small body build that made the guy think I was a pre-pubescent boy;
4. Last but not least, my "almost A" boobs that were obviously not visible in the body suit, also making the guy think I was a boy.

It was a relief that amidst all the bad things that were happening, I still had something to thank for. Tantrum Guy would never know my real identity.

"Minjoo-ssi, I'm so sorry I'm late," I said as I approached my trainer's workstation, at the same time trying to straighten out my clothes, which got a little wrinkled under the Power Ranger outfit I had earlier. "I encountered some problems on my way here."

"Don't worry, Sunmi-ssi," Minjoo said, greeting me with a warm, welcoming smile. "I just got here myself."

Yoo Minjoo was going to be my job preceptor, in-charge of training me for a couple of weeks. She was about my age, maybe a little older, and a couple of inches taller than I was. She had a pretty face – big smiling eyes, small pointy nose, and a smile that reminded me of a celebrity but couldn't exactly remember who at that moment. She was really nice to me, too, and I immediately felt at ease in her presence.