the week | markhyuck

IV

"Mom, I'm home!" Mark calls out as he enters the house. Placing his board against the stairs, Mark walks through to the kitchen where his parents are chatting over a homemade lunch.

"Hey, hon. How was the park?" His mother asks as Mark pulls up a chair and sits down next to his dad.

"Pretty cool. I saw all the old gang again. Tommy, Will, Macy and Bunny."

"Those names take me back." Mark's dad muses. "I remember they were round all the time, especially Tommy and Bunny."

"Yeah, yeah." Mark nods. "Will and Macy are a thing now."

"Really? That's cute, they seemed quite close as kids. They must all be in college now, huh?"

"Nope. Two of them are drop-outs and two never got in. But they're working, so that's cool, right?"

"Well, if they're happy. Mind you, you never went to college." His mom says.

"And look how I turned out. Just fine." Mark grins.

"More than just fine, son." His dad smiles back. "You're a damn superstar."

The three of them laugh, before Mark redirects the conversation. "Right. Dad, Mom said you had a surprise for me?"

"Ah, yes." His dad nods, getting up. "Come out to the garage with me, son."

Mark follows his dad out to the garage, where a beat-up all truck lays in wait for him. Blinking for a few seconds, Mark is obviously confused, so his dad clarifies the gift for him to help him understand.

"I thought we could make it a little project. Besides, I assumed you'd either be skating or wasting money on cabs, so I thought you might like a proper ride whilst you're home."

"Thanks, dad." Mark smiles.

"Gives us a chance for heart-to-hearts, right? And, we can get out of your mother's hair."

"Yeah." Mark chuckles. "For a first car, it isn't bad."

"Exactly. My first car, I fixed it up with my dad. It wasn't so bad, except you had to jimmy the passenger door if you wanted more than two people in the car. And, the radio was forever stuck on country music. But, it got me from A to B, and started my love for country music."

Mark chuckles at the story. His dad laughs for a while too, before redirecting the conversation.

"Hey. We got a few hours before your mom starts on dinner, why don't me and you have a little look under the hood, hm?"

"Yeah." Mark smiles. "Yeah, sounds cool."

"Alright then, son. Grab my kit for me, will ya?" His dad asks, pointing to the shelf behind him. Mark nods, following his instructions. His dad pops the hood of the truck, and the two of them assess the damage.

"Need a new fuel tank and a battery, and it could also use a new air pipe." His dad comments, pointing out the various parts that would need replacing. "Go look at the front seats, and see what needs doing there."

"Got it." Mark heads to the driver side door and opens it stiffly. "Okay, this door is stiff. And, the seat covers could do with a replacing."

"Check the pedals. Are they stiff too?"

Mark pushes down on the pedals. "Kinda. But that's normal, right?"

"Yeah, they need a bit of traction to them, son." His dad says. "I'll also get 'er a new lick of paint, what colour do you want?"

"Uh.. I dunno, red?"

"Alright. Then we need a new fuel tank, a new battery, a new air pipe and some red car paint. Shouldn't be much of a problem. I'll call around your uncle Rick after dinner, he knows a bit about trucks and might be able to help out."

"You two boys working hard?" His mother chimes in the doorway, holding a pitcher of lemonade. "Ooh, that truck looks alright. Not bad, right Mark?"

"Yeah. I appreciate it, dad."

"You'll appreciate her more when we get her working again." His dad grins, going for the lemonade. The two boys take a break, sipping on lemonade and talking over old childhood memories as the time passes them by.

"You used to love cars." His dad reminisces. "When you were three, you had this cute little plastic steering wheel. Whenever we were in the car, you'd sit in your car seat and pretend you were driving along with me. You made the engine sound and everything."

"I did?"

"Yeah." His mom nods. "It was adorable. If I was better with technology, I woulda taken a video."

"You were our little adventurer." His dad muses. "We couldn't keep you still. You were always so loud and bubbly. Whether it be pretending to be a racer, or jamming out on your guitar-"

"I still play." Mark butts in. "Yeah, I still play quite a bit."

"That's good. You used to love the guitar too." His dad smiles. "Especially when I played to you."

"You played for the church choir, right?" Mark asks. "Can I come down while I'm here?"

"Of course." His dad says. "You know you're always welcome. I'm heading up tomorrow if you'd like to join me."

"Yeah, yeah." Mark nods. "That is if Mom doesn't want me? I know you work for the paper, I didn't know if you wanted help?"

"Ah yes, our little writer." His mother chuckles. "I'm sure I can manage without you. Maybe on Thursday?"

"Yeah, Thursday." Mark nods, happy that he'll get to spend more time with his parents on this break.

"Don't forget this truck, boy." His dad says. "There'll be no fixing her up before you leave if you put it off. Especially if you want her in red."

"Yeah. We can work every night after dinner, if that's cool?" Mark asks.

"That's good enough for me." His dad grins. "Never seen you this enthusiastic since you told us you got into the company."

"Yeah." Mark nods, remembering the day. At the time, he'd been into music and thought it'd be cool to try out. So, when global auditions for a company in Korea came around, Mark decided to try it out - he was Korean, after all, despite being raised in Canada and speaking mostly English. He never thought he'd get in, but was so happy when he did that the first thing he did when he got home after school was gush to his parents that he was gonna be famous.

Of course, the one downside was that he had to leave everything behind at the age of twelve. His home, his family, his friends, everything. All of it was gone for two years until he finally was allowed to come back, albeit for a week.

"Well." His mother breaks the silence, getting up from the box she had been sat on for the past hour. "I'll let you two get back to work. I'll start on dinner at around five, and serve it up for six. Is that good for you two?"

"Wonderful. Thanks, darling." His dad smiles, as his mother smiles back fondly and heads back inside. Patting Mark on the back, the two of them return their attention back to the truck, slaving over it for the remaining daylight hours before they eventually go back inside for dinner.