I struggle to lock the door behind me whilst balancing the flask of coffee I have within the crook of my bicep and keeping the box of doughnuts in my other hand. I'm pretty sure Franklin left them on the counter for me with a get well soon sticky note stuck onto the lid of the box. Placing the key in my back pocket instead of underneath the rock in the front garden, I manage to rush up to his sleek car which is parked outside on the pavement without spilling both contents.
When he sees my full hands, he reaches over to open the passenger door for me, and after murmuring a thanks at him I comfortably settle into the black leather seat, shutting the door close behind me. The car smells like it has been washed recently and its freshness makes me smile a bit.
"Good morning," I greet him cheerfully.
When I take a sip of my coffee, the sides of my lips are still tugged up and he frowns in perplex. His gaze is then narrowed suspiciously, and I guess it's because of my optimistic tone and the enlarged smile that I'm tossing in his way… of all people. He's accustomed to the irritated tone I use with him, because he's a brooding son of a biscuit. The only reason I'm acting this nice with him is, because I feel slightly guilty for slamming my window down against his fingers.
"Why are you acting weird," he asks, voicing the question pestering him, "and smiling at me?"
I take a quick look at his still bandaged hands which are resting on the steering wheel and the handbrake. I wonder how badly it hurts, because truthfully speaking, I did slam that window down pretty hard. Thinking back, I realise that I did it with no hesitation at all. Man, it must've hurt like a bitch. And almost falling from the second floor must've been the cherry on top. I'm somewhat glad he wasn't conscious for that.
Before he can catch me staring worriedly, I raise my eyes to connect with his yet again and my dimmed grin widens brightly. "Well, if you must know, Domi, it's a beautiful morning."
He draws his eyebrows together like: elaborate.
"I had two granola bars for breakfast and then I found another one in my bag which was a major score. I mean, it tasted a little funky, but can't let a granola bar go to waste, right?"
He scrunches his face up like: that's disgusting.
"After that I got to watch an episode of Bridgerton, because Franklin finally paid for the internet. Thank fuck, right?"
"Franklin?"
"My dad."
"You call your dad by his name?" he asks me, furrowing his eyebrows curiously.
"Well, he's my stepdad so, yeah sometimes. I don't do it on purpose though. It's just, in the beginning I wasn't ready to call him my dad, because... well, I didn't see him as my dad yet so I called him Franklin a lot. I don't think he minds though."
"So… you have a stepdad?"
"Yes. Everyone knows that."
He looks at me like: I didn't.
I look at him like: how did you not know?
"Are you lying?" he asks me instead, dipping his thick brows down. "This seems like something you would lie about."
"Why would I lie about this?"
He stares at me for a long while to uncover if I'm being honest and I almost burst out laughing at the dubious expression he's wearing. It's like he's waiting for me to turn into an alien that's gonna swallow him whole.
Today is very much as normal of a day as it was yesterday. Well, excluding the fact that I had to lie to my mum to get out of going to church so that Dominic and I can go to the mall to buy him clothes which are neither black nor grey.
Amma was very shocked when I woke up with a high temperature from putting the thermometer under my lamp for a very long time and hoping that the movie tactic works, a runny nose which was water I just dabbed over my upper lip and hoped she wouldn't suspect to be something much more terminal and the most fake, meanest cough ever. You know, being a physician, I thought she'd see right through my act, but nope. I guess my acting skills are better than I thought they were.
When he presses on a button, the car roars to life, the engine releasing a smooth groan and I find myself liking his car more than I should. I'd appreciate it if he became my personal chauffeur. I can just see the newspapers buzzing with headline, "interracial boy working for an Asian, gay boy".
Just before he drives off, he rolls his eyes in exasperation and I wonder what I have done to annoy him now.
All so suddenly, he leans over to my side and I hold my breath when he stares into my eyes deeply. The intensity of his gaze makes a nauseating feeling begin in my stomach and I start regretting the granola bars I engulfed not so long ago. I gulp. So many emotions run through me and the memory of what happened the previous day resurfaces from the pit I buried it.
Is this going to be a daily occurrence now? Are we just going to keep invading each other's personal space and stare longingly into each other's eyes, creating an atmosphere of cumbersome confusion?
For some weird reason, I can feel my chest constricting, but not in a I'm having trouble breathing bad, but in a I'm having trouble breathing, because the person is having this kind of effect on me bad. Wait, is it bad? I don't know. My head is saying yes, pointing out all the obvious reasons why, but the rest of me seems to be having a different opinion on the matter.
Click.
"Do I have to remind you to put your seatbelt on every single time?" he asks.
I break our fervent staring contest and slowly look down to notice that he has put the seatbelt over me. Oh.
Oh! A breath leaves my mouth when I realise that he wasn't leaning into me to do anything out of the ordinary. No, he just wanted to safely tuck me into my seatbelt so that he doesn't get arrested if we unintentionally crash… hopefully. Why the hell did I think that something out of the ordinary would happen? I mean, Dominic leaning in to kiss me? The idea is so farfetched that I can't even envision it.
"Here's an idea," I start when he backs away, steering the car into the road and driving forward. "Why don't you just write it down on a piece of paper and paste it on the glove compartment. That way, I'll immediately see it and you won't have to remind me to put my seatbelt on all the time. Win-win for the both of us."
He sighs in exacerbation, shaking his head at my suggestion. He has to admit though, it's a good suggestion; very likely to help our situation. Besides, I'm the type to forget very quickly. I'm pretty sure the next time we ride around in his car, he'll have to click my seatbelt on again, because I would have forgotten. I'd forget how to breathe if it wasn't an involuntary action.
"I have to quickly drive back home before we head to the mall," he informs me.
"Why?"
"I forgot my credit card and we need it to buy the clothes. I don't have any cash on me either. Unless you want to spoil me today and buy me the clothes."
I shake my head in disagreement at his suggestion. I'm not spoiling the person who's blackmailing me. That is out of the question. He tells me that he figured as much and I furrow my eyebrows at the fact that he even suggested that I spoil him. Did he even have to ask? He must've known the answer the moment he thought of the suggestion what my response was gonna be. He didn't have to voice it.
Taking a quick glance at the box in my lap when he changes gears, he frowns in curiosity, but focuses on the road again.
"What's that you've got?"
"Oh, I come bearing gifts," I exclaim excitedly and place my coffee in the cup holder. Opening the box, I instantly grab the chocolate doughnut and put it aside, because it's reserved for me. "They're some doughnuts from the diner. We have two caramel ones, the Oreo flavoured one, plain ol' vanilla with sprinkles, I just took the only chocolate one and—"
"Do you have strawberry?" he cuts me off, looking over to scan the box for a strawberry doughnut. "Is that strawberry?"
"No, it's raspberry jelly, but they taste the same, don't they?"
"No," he disputes strongly, offended that I even dared to say that. "Strawberry is its own unique, intricate flavour. The sweetness of strawberry is one you can never compare to other flavours. Tasteful and bursting with deliciousness. It's a flavour which stands out and no other flavour will ever surmount to it. Definitely not raspberry."
"Wow. You must really like strawberry. Either that, or you're sponsored by strawberry farming companies."
"I can't believe you just tried to pawn off that junky flavour onto me, Starr. How dare you?" I roll my eyes at his exaggerated reaction to the fact that I just questioned whether they taste the same. "Just give me the caramel one."
"I don't think I heard the magic word in that demand."
"Now?"
"Please," I correct him, scowling at the uncaring look he throws at me through his peripheral vision. "That's the magic word. Not now. Did you not learn your manners?"
"So basically, you want me to beg you for a doughnut? One that I can always just get for myself?"
I grin widely and bob my head up and down vigorously.
"Forget it. I'll just stop by at Krispy Kreme and get myself my own doughnuts. Preferably strawberry ones instead of being duped into thinking that raspberry tastes like strawberry."
"Okay, fine. Geez, stop complaining so much, it's not an attractive look."
I take the caramel one and roughly place it in front of his mouth, prompting him to open up and after glaring at me contemptuously, he reluctantly does and takes a huge bite out of the doughnut. I watch him carefully as he chews on the delicacy slowly, testing out the flavour and after scrunching his face with a mild shudder emitting from his body, he painfully swallows the content in his mouth.
"Raspberry will just have to do," he rasps out reluctantly.
I roll my eyes at his indecision and exchange the caramel one for the raspberry one he was just throwing shade at not so long ago. He takes a bite out of that one and chews slowly and hesitantly. I eat my own chocolate doughnut as I wait impatiently for what he has to say about this junky flavour. I definitely don't miss the light which enters his eyes at the taste, but he is quick to shut it off to replace it with dullness.
He opens his mouth indignantly and spits out the words which almost taste sour on his tongue from the way his nose wrinkles, "Good enough."
"You know, it's okay to admit that you like it."
I chuckle softly in amusement at his unwillingness to honestly admit it, opting to downplay its deliciousness and his delight at realising that the junky flavour isn't so junky after all. He's probably angry at the fact that strawberry has been surmounted by raspberry.
"What were you saying about the sweetness of strawberry being one you can never compare to other flavours?"
"Shut up," he mutters irked.
I laugh.
We drive in a comfortable silence for a while until I reach over and switch his radio on. It seems to be connected to his phone after reading his music, before I know it the song by the one of greatest artists of our generation in my eyes, plays. Count Me Out by Kendrick Lamar fills the walls of his car and I instantly perk up, glad that I know the lyrics of the song.
Looking over at Dominic, I can't see him having such great taste in music. I hum along to the song, bobbing my head to the beat which reverberates into the car.
The car slows down until coming to an immediate halt and I look outside his window to see a homely house, as big as my home. I didn't realise that he lives this close by. I can just drop by anytime by foot; that's how close it is. The front garden is very beautiful and pampered into a state of neatness. My father's one is still better. I wonder if they hire a gardener to do it for them or if they just do it themselves. Then again, they are his parent's friends, so you never know.
I frown, realising something. Why are the elegant, pristine, millionaire Lachowski couple associating themselves with people below their standards? Shouldn't they be friends with people within their class and not normal people like us? I can't even imagine them leaving their child to live in such normal confines. I can see them buying him his own apartment and letting him stay there all by himself, but leaving him in a normal house. Maybe they're childhood friends.
"I'll be right back." He leaves the car, closing the door shut behind him. My eyes follow him as he quickly jogs up to the front door, pushing it open without knocking and leaving it ajar.
This gives me the chance to blare the radio full blast and sing my lungs out to the song. When I spot a little boy hesitantly peeking outside at the open doorway at Dominic's car, I press on a button which slides the window open.
"Hi," I exclaim softly, waving at him enthusiastically.
He slowly raises his hand and waves back shyly. I smile at him and notice that he looks adorable. He's very short and looks like he's about five or six. His hair is a mixture of blonde and brown and isn't the same unkempt mess that is Dominic's curls. His falls down neatly and his blue eyes brighten the slightest bit when he stares at me.
He seems to want to approach the car, but before he can step out of the house, which is a thing he shouldn't do, because he does not know me and I could be a person who traffics little boys like him, Dominic picks him up and places him on his hip. A scolding look plays in his eyes and he shakes his head at the boy in exasperation.
"You shouldn't leave the house without an adult to accompany you, Zachary. Go back to your room and watch some cartoons," he tells him and then puts him back on his feet.
Zachary waves over at me again enthusiastically with a cute toothy grin and then runs back into the safe confines of his home. Dominic closes the door shut behind him this time around and comes back into the car with his wallet in his hand. Throwing it on top of the glove compartment, he quickly clicks his seat-belt in place and revs the engine alive yet again.
"Is that your brother?" I muse with question running through my eyes.
Before he can reply to my enquiry, his phone starts ringing. The song instantly gets cut off, but I recognise that his ringtone is one of Queen's songs.
He takes a look at the caller ID and just like before, he frowns and rejects the call. Pocketing his phone, he looks over at me and ignores the inquisitive glare in my eyes.
Tersely, he muses, "What?"
"Is Zachary your brother?"
"Oh, no. I'd kill myself if he was. He's just my cousin."
"Do you have any siblings?"
"Uh… no. I don't have any siblings."
"Oh," I echo out sadly and nod slowly.
I wouldn't know what it's like to be an only child, because when I was born, Yang Jin was already there and then Chu Hua and Ji Ho came after a few more years.
I guess I've always had a sibling there. At times, I wish to be an only child so that I can get spoiled rotten, but then I think of the bore my life would be without a brother to irritate me, a brother to consider me his favourite siblings and a sister to chew on my lip-balm, and I will that wish to disappear. As much as they annoy me, I would never trade them for anything.
"Does it get lonely sometimes?" I watch him with a look of despair.
He gives me a sideways glance, pinching his eyebrows together and staring at me weirdly. "It's what I'm used to, so I don't mind it. I like being alone."
"So, your cousin's also staying over at your parent's friend's house?" I continue to enquire more about him.
He furrows his eyebrows in confusion. "My parent's friend's house? Who told you that—" Realisation slaps him across the face when he seems to remember the day that I ran him over in my car? He told me that, directly from the horses mouth. "Oh, I did. Uh… yeah. Sure. We'll go with that."
"What happened to his parents?"
"I don't know. What's up with the twenty-one questions?" he retorts, and I don't miss the irritation in his tone. "I'm not obliged to tell you everything about me, you know. Just because you're helping me doesn't mean I need to tell you personal details about me."
"I was just trying to make conversation," I say defensively, shrugging unknowingly at his sudden change in attitude and averting my gaze back to stare out my window. "You seriously need to chill it with your bipolar behaviour."
He frustratingly huffs lowly under his breath from my barely audible words and I watch him weirdly through the corner of my eye. What the hell is his problem? Can't we just go a day without being uncivilised with one another? Does he always have to let his anger get the best of him and insult my efforts to remain as friendly as I can with him? Doesn't he think I'd like to blow a fuse every once in a while, because of him? He's not quite the joyride too, you know.
When he sighs, I'm broken from my train of thoughts and watch an expression of distaste forming on his face. "I-I'm," he pauses for a very long time. "I'm so—"
My eyes slowly widen in realisation. Is he trying to say sorry? To me? Is this really happening or am I merely dreaming?
"I'm regretful," my hopeful expression drops into an agitated frown when he says that instead, "for lashing out on you. I'll try to have a better grasp on my negative emotions."
"I think the proper term you are looking for is sorry. Not regretful."
He purses his lips into a thin line, averting his gaze from mine defiantly and I don't resist the urge to roll my eyes. Of course, he's not going to apologise to me. What was I thinking? Dominic, apologising to me? Hell would freeze over before he even considers doing that. No, more like Amma would allow me to date if he said that he was sorry to me. Besides, he hates me. Why would he apologise to someone that he despises?
"Oh," he exclaims, pulling me out of my train of thoughts, "and before I forget."
I snap my head in his direction curious as to what he wants to do and when he takes something out of his pocket, I squint to see it. He pastes a yellow sticky note on the glove compartment where it says airbag and stares over at me pointedly. After I've read what stands on the note, a little chuckle of amusement leaves my lips and I lean back into my seat.
Put the fucking seatbelt on, Seong Jin or I swear—Hatefully, Dominic.
"Funny," I comment, glancing at his side profile. He chances a look at me through the corner of his eye and I don't fail to see the small grin which is tugging onto his lips.