September 9, 2020
4:04 pm, Street in Seoul
After his encounter with Kimberly, he continued to walk, wondering how to tell his moms that for the first time in 5 years he had received 2nd place. He went to smoke on the rooftop during lunch because the beginning of semester test scores had just been posted and he had just checked. It was the first "non-first place" in years but he knew that his mothers would react dramatically to it.
They would probably take his electronics away, yell at him for a while, and lock him in his room to study every day for the rest of the school year. He really wished his father was here at this moment, but like always he is out of Korea. Since Jay was born, he has barely seen his dad, but the one or two days he sees him per year he's always with him and they do whatever Jay wants. One of his mothers is his mother biologically while the other is his dad's second wife. They live together since it was a mutual divorce and the two women don't really dislike each other and well their relationship with Jay particularly bad except when he rebels.
Jay finally arrives home and grabs onto the doorknob for a while hesitating on whether to open it or disappear for a few hours or maybe days. He was about to finally open the door when it was opened from the inside. Decision faded. "Hello, mom." Jay greets at the sight of his biological mother.
"Why are you outside? Come in now." His mother says coldly. 'She knows' Jay said in his head.
His other mother was sitting in the kitchen waiting for them to arrive. "Sit" His stepmother instructs when they are both facing her.
"Now, would you like to explain yourself?" His mom asks.
"It's just second place, 2 questions wrong, who cares?"
"WE care. How will you get into Seoul National University with a second place?! A non-perfect score?!" His stepmother screams furiously.
"I'll manage. I'm sure SNU is okay with ONE-second place." He says calmly.
"And what if they're not what will you do?!"
"Then I'll study elsewhere, it doesn't matter"
"No, you have to continue the legacy, both of us went there as well as your father, and grandfathers." His mother states.
"Well, I don't care." He whispers to himself.
"What was that?" His mother asked.
"NOTHING!"
"Now you're even screaming at us what's wrong with you Jay?!" His stepmom screams.
'I'm sick and tired and stressed of you guys always wanting me to do better even though I do my best. If dad was here he would tell me to do what makes me happy and not care about the "legacy" but that will never happen.' Jay thinks, glaring at the two but does not dare say it out loud. Instead, he grabs his backpack, stands up, and walks out of the house not in the mood to continue the conversation.
"Park Jongseong! Come back here!" Both of them scream but he only ignores them.
Jay continued to walk aimlessly around Seoul. Without meaning to, he had ended up at Let Me In café, and coincidentally, Kimberly was just heading out from there. "What are you doing here?" She asks.
"What, I can't be here? I didn't know this was your café." He replies evidently annoyed.
"Geez dude, you don't always have to be this sarcastic and annoying." She says and starts to walk away but suddenly stops after having a thought. 'Maybe I should go cover the hours I missed that day.' She thinks and walks towards the restaurant.
"Where are you going?" Jay asks, seeing her change in direction.
"Once again, it's not your business. We're not friends. You helped me. I said thank you that's it or are you so greedy you want me to pay you back?" She asks, turning to him.
After thinking it over, he says "Well... actually can you do something for me?"
"Ugh, why would I even ask that?" She sighs annoyed, rubbing her temples in frustration.
"Come with me." He says walking in another direction. Kimberly decided to follow him since she felt that she owes him something and it wasn't necessary for her to work today.
It is now 7:16 pm and they had finally stopped walking. They were in front of a weird abandoned building. "Come," Jay instructs walking inside. They walked once again for about 7 minutes until they reached the highest floor, the roof.
"I- I don't really like roofs," Kimberly informs the boy in front of her, nervously.
"Why?" Jay asks, frowning.
"Haven't you heard what happened at school a couple of days ago?"
"I don't really listen to gossip, what happened?" He asks cluelessly.
"A- a girl killed herself by jumping off the school's roof... That girl was- was my best friend, Yang Jiwon." She says tearing up.
"Is that why you cried earlier?" Kimberly nods recalling what had happened earlier during lunchtime.
"Sorry," Jay says quietly, barely loud enough for Kimberly to hear. "But maybe this roof will get you over your fear, I promise we'll stay away from the edge. I'm here." He says extending his arm to her. Hesitantly and surprisingly she takes his hand. Kimberly felt different from when Hyunwoo said those words. She felt like she could really trust Jay, even though she despises him, she felt he could be trusted.
Both of the young adults sitting side by side in the middle of the roof waiting for what Jay wanted to see and show Kimberly. "By the way, I don't think you know my name," Kimberly says breaking the silence.
"You're right, I don't even know your name." He says quietly. 'But why do I feel like this?- Like I have to protect you?' Jay asks himself in his mind.
"Well my name is Lee Kimberly people close to me call me Kim. Basically, you can't call me Kim."
"Whatever." He says looking into the distance. "Look." It was exactly 7:45 pm and what he wanted her to see appears.
"Wow, it's so beautiful!" She says smiling widely, standing up.
"It's the first time I see you smiling honestly." He says unconsciously, smiling too.
"Mine too." She says pointing at his grin. She sits back down, next to him, and starts to talk after a small moment of silence, "Believe it or not I used to smile more often, but... after Jiwon passed away I just couldn't find a reason to do so... What about you, why don't you ever smile?"
"Same reason, there is no reason to. Nothing really makes me smile. All my mom and stepmom do is pressure me into getting the best grades to continue the "legacy" of going to SNU, so I'm mostly worrying" he says air quoting legacy. "My dad is the only one that supports my own decisions, but if I'm lucky, I see him like 2 times a year."
"At least you have someone next to you..." She says quietly.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't think I trust you enough to tell you what only Hyunwoo and Jiwon know."
"Who's Hyunwoo?"
"My ex-boyfriend... but when I broke up with him the next year he started to date Jiwon, I am 100% over him. Now, he's just a good friend."
"Well then I'll be waiting for you to be ready to let someone in. Can you give me your number? You know my secrets now, I can't just let you run off with them." He says handing her his phone. She nods, takes the phone, and inserts her number.
"And what's your real dream?" she asks, typing into the phone.
"My moms want me to be a businessman but I, even though it sounds stupid and immature, I really like music. I wish I could become a composer or producer."
"Well, all I can do is hope that your moms let you do what you want. Someone's calling you." Kimberly says when a call came in with the caller ID 'Mom 1.'
He grabs the phone and turns it off. "Why don't you answer?" Kimberly asks.
"We just had a fight just because for beginning of term exams I obtained 2nd place. They think I'm ruining my studies and won't be able to get into the university they want me to."
"2nd place?! How are they not happy about it?! The highest I've gotten overall in 8th. And I was very proud about it, so was Jiwon..." Jay looked at her and she now had a sad face. Jay thought 'I guess she really was her everything.'
After some time, Jay offered to walk Hayoon home since he didn't take his car when he left home, however, she declined and was stubborn about it so he gave up.
When Jay arrived home it was 11 pm since he still walked around for a while. Luckily, when he arrived his moms were both asleep. On the other hand, when Kimberly arrived home she was surprised to see from the window that her home's light was on meaning that her father was home and not out drinking as he does every day. She was scared to walk in. She tiptoes in and slowly opened the door to not make any big noise.
But then suddenly, "Where were you brat?" Her father asks just as she was about to enter her room.
"I was doing a school project." She answers looking at her room's door.
"Come here."
"Why?"
"Because I said so!" He suddenly screams making her jump startled. She makes her way over shivering. "My sweet princess, why did you talk back to me?" he asks creepily, caressing her cheek while she trembles. "Answer me!" He screams slapping her which makes her fall due to the sudden strong force. She stays still. "Yah say something." He says kicking her.
Kimberly then stands up, "I'm sorry father." She says bowing. He slaps her once again but this time she doesn't fall.
"Leave before you make me angrier." Her father says plopping on the couch. Kimberly doesn't say another word and does as she is told.
Once she enters, she sits on her bed in front of her vanity and she glares at herself, mad at her lack of power. Jiwon is no longer here and she didn't mind dying either, but there was something holding her back. Telling her that she has things to lose, so she decided to not step up.
"Shit, this is gonna leave a mark."