a Very Special episode of Jerry Springer
Characters: Dominic, Jun-he, Meg and Kyle Setting: The Courtyard Now that Jun-he had successfully cat napped his way out of intoxication, he woke from a dreary state. He felt fresh and in every way ready to put the day to good use. The only thorn in the side of his plan was that there really was nothing to do, not in a bucket list sort or way anyway. With that in mind he figured since most people would undoubtedly be tending the announced pool party, he had plenty of places to just get out of his room and not be forced into the cycle of two dimensional greetings and spouting of the same old questions. He assumed that with things still being new, and him included, that there was a whole brigade of situations of much like washing one's hair... lather, rinse, and repeat, he thought.
Having unloaded the bulk of his clothing from the bag he came with, he wandered to the supplied dresser and opened the second drawer from the top. Within it he pulled out a dark blue tank top, throwing it over his head to cover his half naked state and then moved to the desk chair where he had hung a black zip up sweater. Next to the computer screen he had unloaded his aviator sunglasses and lanyard. Though the white lanyard had been kept with his personal effects this whole time, the keys had been removed and shipped to Korea in no doubt some sort of police investigation on his property. It was bullshit, he thought, that they would bother taking the keys when there was no way anyone would have waited long enough for the post to do its job. At least the lanyard had purpose again, holding his one and only key to the very room he now lived.
Out the door he went, locking the door behind him and then throwing on his shades to combat the white sky’s terrible gaze. Although he rather enjoyed the grey cast, he couldn’t help but be reminded of the blinding fright of a white sky over a fresh layer of snow when he was a child in Busan. Somehow he had been afraid to leave the house as a toddler unless his mother would carry him. Though the fear had vanished by the time he was five, the memory followed him easily.
For now he took refuge back in the courtyard, taking long strides to about half way between the gym and southern border of the courtyard itself. Having made sure to have taken his beaten up pack of cigarettes with him, he settled down on the lush green grass, crossing his legs beneath him and pulled out a smoke. As he lit it with the accompanying lighter in the pack, he reminded himself to get on grabbing his own new pack of smokes that Reece had so kindly informed him were available to everyone. Who would have thought that cigarettes would be free and in obtainable grasp. It practically boggled his mind.
With a sigh of relief, the Korean leaned back gently onto the grass, staring mindlessly at the sky.
Dominic had not slept well. That wasn't surprising, really. He'd spent the night listening to Meg breathe, her small form against his side. He wanted to forget it all. He wanted to pretend he didn't know what he knew now, and that wasn't going to happen. After he'd gotten up, he'd showered, then brought Meg breakfast. After that, however, he'd gone back out.
He wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do, but was heading for the gym when he spotted someone he'd not seen before. He looked down at the guy. "Hi." he greeted.
To Jun-he’s everlasting annoyance, his attempt at relaxing by himself was immediately thwarted. It was as though someone knew exactly what he was up to and wanted to stop it at all costs. It would have been rude of him to make such assumptions however, and replied with a healthy, “Hello,” throwing his right arm back under his head to rest on it. He took a puff of his stale tasting cigarette and barely tossed a glance over to his present company.
Normally he was pretty well mannered, especially after a period of rest, but something about the place he was in threw his whole center of being off balance. Still, he made a conscious effort to blow his smoke out of one side of his mouth so as not to accidentally have it travel up right into the face of his new acquaintance.
Dominic arched a brow at that, waiting a beat before he spoke again. “Okay, so, you don’t have the time or inclination to speak to anyone. I can take a hint.” he said, the whole ‘can’t be bothered to look in my direction’ thing spelling that out loud and clear. He started to walk around the guy, not the most social of creatures to begin with and he was in a poor mood now anyhow. So, maybe it just wasn’t the day to talk to people.
Finding distaste in rudeness, Jun-he turned on to his side, facing the direction of the man who had engaged in him. Propping himself up on his forearm, he found he almost liked the man already. “I would have offered you a fine Korean cigarette, but if you smoke, they are too old for anyone,” he said in the best English he could work with. If however the almost acquaintance had as much of an equal taste for rudeness as Jun-he had himself, then he would not have held it against him to keep on his way. Without dwelling, he ashed his smoke and then took another puff.
Looking back at the guy again, Dominic wasn't sure what to make of him. Or what he said. "I've got my own cigarettes, thanks." he said. He did smoke, though it was more a casual habit of his than anything that was required on a daily basis. It was also tied in with stress for him a whole lot. He smoked a lot more often when he was twitching over things than he did otherwise. "You deciding that you're not too good to give someone the time of day now?"
Knitting his brow immediately, Jun-he found his simple pleasure to be a new complicated matter. He didn’t quite understand what he was trying to say but figured for the most part he had a good grasp on the man’s slight confrontation. “Yeah.. sure,” he replied, shrugging slightly. He figured it was probably the best response.
“You’re not too good for it?” he added in question, completely engulfed in curiosity now. Though he still hardly completely understood his own response.
Now Dom felt like he was missing something. He glanced around a moment, almost like he expected someone to be laughing, like it was a joke or something, but no one was really around. He noted the accent there, guessing English wasn't his first language (or he was faking well). He'd heard similar tones before, from housekeepers or nannies in other countries. And, he decided to jump straight to that. "English not your first language?" he asked instead of trying to work out how to answer a question that he didn't think quite made sense. His tone wasn’t cruel, though, it was an honest question.
“Ahh,” Jun-he began, making a small laugh at the situation, “No.” He knew it was inevitable in every conversation eventually. Strangely in state prison it was rarely one of the first questions other inmates asked. Of course with a new setting a sense of civilization had no doubt erupted.
“I am a citizen of South Korean,” he added to inform with a bit of a coy smile. He had heard it countless of times, citizen of South Korea... it was engraved in his mind for all eternity.
"Really?" Dominic said. "Huh. I was through there when I was young. A little too young to remember a whole lot. What're you doing here?" he asked. If he wasn't an american citizen, there was that question. And what he'd done, of course, but he left the wording open, so that the guy could answer however he wanted, taking it however he wanted.
“Aha,” he laughed again, “I’m not big enough in Korea for them to let me go.” He joked at his own situation, but the reality was clear, he had committed a crime on American soil enough to keep him bound until his time was served. The reminder shook his emotion slightly and he looked straight ahead to his feet briefly. “You know how it goes,” he added.
Not entirely positive if he did know how it went, Dom agreed anyhow, shrugging. "I suppose." he said. "So, you got a name, then?"
Jun-he nodded. “Jun. Hae,” he replied, marking both syllables with a very slight pause and sway of his hand from one side to the other. Reece was already calling him Choi, he didn’t need the whole place botching his name. It would have only been a matter of time before Chan came back. Although somehow he was rather fond of Larry’s way of calling him Jackie Chan. The rest of the inmates back in Georgia State seemed to simply follow the leader on that one. Maybe it was the old man part about him. Or maybe it was just his suave, classy attitude he upheld in a place of disorder that made Jun-he respect him more than anyone else he had known there.
He sat back upright, legs crossed once more and removed his sunglasses, propping them on top of his head. “You should visit it again to remember,” he added before a puff of his smoke, “...Korea.”
"Jun Hae," Dominic replied, managing not to totally butcher the pronunciation. "So I take it you're just getting here? Not going to go join in on the party going on?" he asked. He sure as hell wasn't, but that was because his mood really wasn't geared in that direction right now. Not even a little.
The Korean scoffed. “Ahniya- no way,” he answered, “It’s too much.” Getting chummy with the locals just wasn’t Jun-he’s thing at present.
“I got here... maybe ten thirty today?” he added, ashing his smoke once more before bringing it to his mouth. He then thought for a second, “You did not tell me who you are,” he stated in a curious tone through an exhale of smoke.
"Why too much?" Dominic asked curiously. "You realize we're all supposed to be making an effort to make a productive community and all that noise, right?" he added. "As for me, I'm Dominic." he introduced himself.
Jun-he nodded. “Ahh, I don’t...” he was well aware that his English was not tailored to the environment they were now in and he felt even more at a loss in his thoughts. “It’s too much, maybe weird?” his explanation was weak at best. Wrinkling his nose, he shrugged and let go of the thought entirely.
Luck was apparently on Meg’s side as she and Kyle had barely left his room before she spotted Dominic up ahead in the courtyard. Whether it was good or bad luck had yet to be seen but she didn’t slow down in her pace, half tugging Kyle along behind her, half using him to stop herself from tripping over her own feet which were bare having left her boots in Kyle’s room. Arriving in front of Dominic and some guy on the ground she was content to just ignore, she opened her mouth to say something but her mind went blank, all the possible things she’d considered saying having disappeared from her mind.
Kyle really didn’t want to be here, and the way he was hanging back from Meg, only near enough that she still had hold of his hand. He looked between the two guys, figuring he knew which one was Dom from the description, so that was who got his attention, but there was no way in hell he was going to actually say anything right now. His attention was mostly poured into trying to not look like he really, really didn’t want to be here.
Dominic was a little stunned. He saw a colorful trainwreck that was his girl with a guy in tow. Holding his hand no less. And he might have been jealous, if not for the rabbit-in-the-headlights look the guy had going. He focused on Meg, however, who was an absolute wreck. She'd clearly been crying, he could smell the booze on her from there, and...she was barefoot? Right. He had no idea what she'd been up to, but whatever it was, Bad Things had been ensuing. "Baby, what's the matter?" he asked, concerned as he reached out to cup her cheeks, tilting her face up towards his. "What happened?" he asked the both of the newcomers.
This was definitely not Jun-he's scene, he thought. What he was now was trapped amongst stranger things and he wanted more than anything to lay back down and chain smoke all day in the grass. It was clearly not happening today. Without a word he simply removed the sunglasses from his head and put them back on his face. At least if he was stuck being there he could seem like just a part of the swelling crowd.
It was fair to say Meg hadn’t exactly been thinking straight since her argument with Dominic the night which, teamed with the amount of bourbon she managed to drink and not just throw down herself, meant that the first thing that came out of her mouth was kind of lacking in coherency. And distinctly lacking in spaces in which to breathe. “I don’t want things to be broken and I know it’s my fault that they are and that I can’t fix it with saying sorry but I am sorry and I don’t want you to hate me. I know you said you still love me but I need to be sure because everyone said I don’t deserve you and I don’t want to not deserve you because I did something stupid.”
Kyle watched what was going on, considering stepping in and explaining that she had been drinking, then thinking the better of it. What would happen, would happen. He’d just duck and cover, if it came to that.
Dominic was left blinking at the outburst. He glanced at Kyle again, then back to Meg. "Could you maybe do the wild confessions without holding onto some other guy's hand?" he asked, though he didn't actually pause to ensure that happened or anything. "First off, I could never hate you, second, fuck everyone who says that, it's my opinion that counts. Now let's go back to the part where you acknowledge that I told you I still love you. Which I do." he said, trying to wade through the crazy as efficiently as possible. Wasn't the first time, really. Just it was much more personal and the focus was different.
“Ay shibal,” Jun-he swore under his breath, looking away from all active members of the conversation. He had thought only school girls in Korea acted in such a way, but evidently he was mistaken. His previous thought about chain smoking seemed like a great idea, and after putting out the butt end of his cigarette, he put it in the half empty pack and lit a new one. Under most circumstances he might have felt slightly awkward but now he just felt plain trapped.
Having not even realised she was still clinging onto Kyle’s hand like a lifeline, Meg was thrown by Dominic’s first comment until she glanced down at their still linked hands, a look of abject confusion on her face. “He’s not some other guy, this is Kyle,” she said hotly, not actually letting go but instead tugging him forward a little. “He helped me make pancakes and found me alcohol and painted me a picture of a boat.” Yes, the bourbon was well and truly working it’s magic on her now.
She might not have been letting go of his hand after Dom’s comment, but once he realised her intentions, Kyle pretty much wrenched his hand from her’s. “Hey - I’m... Yeah. Just... She wanted someone to talk to?” he asked, feeling like he would much rather be anywhere than here right now. He looked towards Jun-he. “Hi,” he added, wondering if the other man felt as much a spare part as him.
Dominic arched a brow and looked unimpressed. "And this is meant to ease my mind?" he posed to her. "Take two seconds to figure out your reaction if I was holding hands with some other girl. We can even ignore the gift giving and drinking buddy thing which never turns out badly, of course." he added. "And unless he's a eunuch, which I'm doubting, he's another guy." He did look towards the guy in question. "Thanks for listening to her."
Jun-he’s attention fixed on the new man who came to their unexpected courtyard party. Bigger and better than that pool party, he thought. His eyes wandered from the general view of him down to the hands that had just came apart. He thought for a moment about the clear awkwardness and nearly felt a pang of sympathy for him. “Hey,” he responded, a sudden childish grin erupting, “It’s finished. I’ll show you it now.”
With that he stood up, maybe entirely unaware if his efforts at getting them both out of the situation would work, or if his intentions were entirely off base. Either way, if this guy went completely oblivious, he would at least have an out himself.
She may have been distinctly under the influence and weathering a barrage of conflicting emotions but Meg was still together enough to give Dominic an equally unimpressed look of her own, trying not to feel hurt by the way Kyle had yanked his hand out of hers. “I’m really not his type Dom,” she said. “In that I am somewhat lacking in the dick department so relax. ‘sides, I’m not the one who does stuff with other people in this relationship.” It was a low blow and criminally unfair of her to bring up but she was hurting and his attitude wasn’t helping matters. “He’s my friend and I kinda need that right now what with the fact my husband is so fucking pissed at me he can’t be around me right now.”
Kyle took a step towards Jun-he, glad that Meg had covered the whole sexuality issue, so he didn’t have to. There was no damn way he wanted to even start the idea that he was getting in between these two. “Sure - so, want to show me what’s what?” he asked, catching onto what he hoped to dear god was a get out of this situation.
Half expecting his efforts to fall short, Jun-he looked slightly surprised for a split second before grinning ear to ear. “Of course, I’ll take you now, ok?” he responded, lifting his sunglasses once more top the top of his head. Without waiting, he moved forward, turning back to Dominic and giving him a slight bow in departure. He was totally not getting into that domestic.
“Yeah, sure,” Kyle agreed, before turning to Meg. “I think you got this one, sweetie - talk to you later, okay?” he told her. And sure, perhaps his tone was just slightly more... obvious than he would usually use, but he figured that would hurt absolutely nothing at all.