(suffering from severe writer's block but i wanted to write a chapter.. so please bare with the awful writing! ty!)
hey kids this is very important okay????
you have to answer!
please can y'all just drop your fave western songs ....
HERE
um if you like only k-pop, kpop songs are fine too...
okay thanks, on with the chapter!
mark never thought he'd be walking into that tiny, grotty estate agents ever again, or he had at least hoped he would never have to.
but there it was, squat against the skyscrapers behind it, walls soaked in a thick green mould with such a strong smell of chlorine that mark had to hold his nose.
he pushed open the door and there she was, just as she had been when he had first arrived in wingate, the woman with the fake smile. she was wearing the same white clad business suit and mark found his head spinning from déjà vu. it all seemed so horribly familiar. so much so, that he wanted to walk out.
the woman's face flickered in recognition, as mark had suspected. he couldn't imagine they had a lot of customers, and he was beginning to wonder if they only sold apartments at wingate and nothing else.
"mr tuan." she said curtly, her smile growing faker, "how may i help you?"
he didn't know what to say, or what to do at all. in america, he had never even thought about getting a job. he had been young and selfish, claiming that it was his father's job to work and that he should be allowed to enjoy his childhood.
oh how he wished he had just helped out.
so, without much clue on what to say, he stuttered, "i-i.. was wondering if... if maybe you were hiring?"
her smile, once again, widened and mark felt the urge to look away, "as luck would have it mr tuan, we just let one of our employees go, and it seems there may be a spot available."
"a-and.. you don't mind that i-i'm from winga-"
"not at all sir." mark decided he would look away afterall, the smile was blinding and it left him with an unsettled feeling in his chest.
especially because he was so skeptical of her. mark was told that finding jobs was impossible, yet here he was getting one on the first try. it didn't feel right, like the woman was doing something to manipulate him or trick him somehow.
but when he read over the contract she handed over and ultimately signed his name, he saw nothing wrong. it all looked normal, or as normal as he thought employment contracts were. the hours were decent and sure, the pay was pretty shit, but it would get them something. at that point, they just needed anything.
so he accepted the job, taking on the role of showing new tenants the way to their apartments, though he was told that for most of the time he'd be loitering around doing nothing. apparently they didn't get much business, not much of a surprise to mark.
which, in all honesty, he didn't mind too much.
the woman, who he now knew to be called wheein, seemed to loosen up over the course of the discussion. her smile seemed to relax and she became a lot more friendly. in fact, she was starting to feel like a real person not some weird, smiley robot.
and so with that, and the convenience that the office was right outside wingate, mark left feeling more than proud of himself.
yet, the only thing he could think was, "park will be so pleased,"
---
jackson had long since calmed down, brain suddenly starting to process everything that was going on. he was good at that, suppressing his emotions and forgetting about his problems.
the paranoia and panic was, however, replaced by a sort of angry emptiness that washed over his entire being. he was left with his uncomfortable feeling of hatred bubbling up inside of him.
he was angry he had to leave his home, angry at park for being completely useless and angry at everyone else for being nowhere near as angry as he was.
so as he plodded towards the bar he hoped to find a job at, he couldn't help but have a sudden urge to run away, just leave all the worthless people behind and find somewhere else to live.
it's not like they would miss him. park had mark and bambam had yugyeom. he was the fifth wheel, and he didn't care much for it. even bambam and mark had grown closer, it felt to him as though mark was replacing him.
that thought only fuelled his anger.
as he entered the bar, the door hit the wall behind it due to the sheer velocity at which he pushed it open. several heads turned to look at him, and he noticed many disgruntled looks of annoyance. he and bambam were known in the bar as a bit of a nuisance. they were always quite loud.
still, mr lee, the owner of the bar, was almost too forgiving and seemed to have a soft spot for jackson and his friendly charms. if jackson couldn't get a job with mr lee, he couldn't get a job anywhere.
so, with what little confidence he had left, he walked up to the hunched elderly man who stood by the walls of empty glasses.
the man smiled softly at him through a pair of spectacles balanced on the bridge of his nose, "well! if it isn't jackson wang?" he said in his croaky voice, worn down with age, "the usual i assume?"
jackson shook his head lightly, "not today mr lee... i'm.. actually here about something else.."
"whatever could that be?" mr lee's kind eyes bore into jackson's in a pleasant way, but the man was still beginning to doubt himself. he had been rejected time and time again, and he wasn't sure if he was ready to hear the disappointing news of a rejection yet again.
but he gritted his teeth and spoke anyway, "do you have any available jobs? i need work mr lee."
mr lee seemed to pause for a second, taken aback by jackson's out of the blue request. he pushed his glasses back up his nose to give him a little more thinking time before he lowered his voice and said, "you're a good kid jackson... but i'm afraid i can't offer you a job... you still live in wingate gardens right?"
jackson stared at his shoes, not looking at mr lee for fear that he might punch the elderly man in the face.
"yes." he grumbled, "i still live there."
mr lee sucked in a breath, clinking a glass as he poured out jackson's regular drink, "then i'm afraid all I can offer you is a drink on the house."
"why?" jackson asked, his anger seeping into his voice more than he had intended, "why the fuck should i be discriminated against because of where i live?! mr lee please, i need a job and i'm a nice enough guy, i'll do everything you ask me to... i.. shit mr lee, i need this."
mr lee flinched at his words, a genuine look of guilt spreading across his old, wrinkled face. he couldn't make eye contact with jackson as the boy took a few deep breaths. he just couldn't calm down.
"look kid, i'd love to offer you a job, you're a great lad and from what i've seen, i'm sure you'd be a fantastic worker... there's just a slight problem- okay? and i can't do anything about it. if i employ someone from wingate gardens, i'll lose customers and i just can't afford that. people don't like being around criminals."
"I'M NOT A FUCKING CRIMINAL."
of course mr lee had managed to hit jackson's weak spot.
call jackson a criminal and he was done for, the thought that someone would ever see him in that way was enough to make him want to scream. he hated it, how everyone assumed he was the lowest scum of the earth just because he couldn't afford to live anywhere else.
more than a few people in the bar turned to look at him with angry glares. one woman muttered under her breath, "what scum," which only made jackson angrier.
mr lee placed a hand on jackson's, face the epitome of apologetic, "i know... i know.. you're not a criminal okay?"
apparently jackson hadn't noticed the angry tears slipping from his eyes. or he just hadn't bothered to care. but there they were, sliding down his cheeks or getting caught on his face.
it was all getting too much, all the crazy things that had happened to him in the last month. so he really, really didn't want to fail at getting a job too, he couldn't bare to let himself and park down.
"listen..." mr lee continued, as the customers went back to their businesses, breaking the awful silence that had fallen over the bar, "you can have a job here, just bussing tables... is that okay?"
jackson nodded vigorously, "yes. yes that's more than okay, thank you."
the elderly man smiled tightly, "right then, head over here for 3pm tomorrow. good luck jackson."
---
"gyeom, i really, truly think i'm going to be sick."
and it was true, bambam was not looking good: pale face, a queasy sort of expression that made his eyes look tired and a stare of complete terror.
yugyeom chuckled slightly at his words. bambam had a way of making him laugh, even if the older was scared out of his mind. it was just something about how overly dramatic he was, it made yugyeom laugh.
they were stood outside a small school, it's tiny red brick building looking almost foreboding to the terrified bambam. he cowered away from it as yugyeom took a step towards the gate, barely able to lift his eyes to the building in front of him. yugyeom's hand grazed the cool metal as bambam let out a little squeal, "i can't do it! i really can't."
you'll be fine.. we already called ahead right? and they said they needed a TA for their thai lessons. there's literally nothing to worry about. nothing.
bambam sighed a little overdramatically, "but gyeom, they don't know i live in wingate yet.... oh this is gonna be a disaster!!"
park gave us fake identities did he not?
"that's against the law!!! i can't do that."
fine fine. but let's just go in okay?
"okay...." bambam said nervously as yugyeom pushed open the gate. bambam followed behind him cautiously, his footsteps light and small as his thoughts spiralled out of control.
he couldn't believe he was really getting a job, at a school no less. it was almost as exciting as it was terrifying.
but it was especially exciting that both he and yugyeom were there for interviews. bambam for a teacher's assistant in thai lessons and yugyeom for a job as a translator for the school's two deaf pupils.
park had been the one to find the small school, and also find the two jobs for them both. in a way, park was a godsend, he was always able to come up with a solution to everything. bambam appreciated that, even if the guy was super annoying.
yugyeom knocked on the door that read 'headteacher.' it had taken a while to find it, and involved a lot of backtracking and frustrated sighs. but they had found it, and were called into the office.
the look of terror on bambam's face had only grown worse.
it'll be fine.
he nodded, though he didn't look convinced. bambam was a gentle soul after all.
the door swung open to reveal a large office, bookcases lining each wall, stacked with files and huge packs of coloured paper. boxes of pens were piled in a corner on the floor and an old looking woman sat behind a long wooden desk.
she smiled politely, "kang yejun? bidaya khanthawong?"
yugyeom was startled at the fake names, forgetting that park had assigned them new names. afterall, yugyeom was unlikely to get a job after almost being a convicted felon and the last name bhuwakul might've caused a problem if the school had been able to link it to bambam's family gang.
he knew it was coming, but it still brought a sense of unease to his stomach, he didn't like lying.
bambam's eyes had widened as he nodded, whispering a quiet, "that's us.."
park did well huh?
yugyeom signed surreptitiously over to bambam, quite impressed that park had been able to come up with such a good thai name, especially one with the same initials as bambam. of course, his own name had been pretty easy.
bambam signed a quick yes back before turning to face the head teacher, "um.. do we have to... do an interview?"
the headteacher shuffled some papers around on her desk, pushing a huge stack of forms to her left and crossing her arms on the smooth wood in front of her. she smiled kindly, noticing bambam's nerves, "i've looked over both of your cv's, your previous employers have given you glowing reviews, so all i really need is evidence that one of you can speak thai and the other can do sign language."
bambam laughed uneasily. she had totally been fooled by park's accents. each 'previous employer' was just a different one of park's burner phones, and he had picked each one up varying his voice and dialect. it had really worked, and now all he had to do was speak a little thai.
he quickly spat out a couple of complex sounding sentences, watching the admiration on yugyeom's face. his best friend had always thought him being trilingual was cool, and would often ask bambam to speak thai for him. in a way, he almost looked proud.
after he finished, yugyeom signed a couple of things and the headteacher handed them forms to sign to confirm their new jobs. it took a while, bambam thought, with him having to initial far too much.
it all felt way too easy, like they had really lucked out. of course, it wasn't their luck, it was park's uncanny ability to lie and create fake identities. they had really done nothing, and it was beginning to twig in bambam's mind just how much he owed to park. it had never really sunk in before, he was mostly just bitter that jinyoung was gone.
but there he was getting a job, and sure he was totally breaking the law and pretending to have a degree and a different name and all these things that made him uncomfortable, but he was about to start making money. which, in all honesty, was just crazy to him.
yugyeom's face eminated a similar feeling. and the look of scared excitement only got bigger as the headteacher, mrs yoon, said, "you two both seem like great guys, both of you have brilliant educations and a great background."
she shook both of their hands, "i look forward to working with both of you."
and that was it, bambam and yugyeom had jobs.