章 5: Episode 2: Karma and Me
~~~~~~Start of Lisa's PoV~~~~~~
My mom woke me up early the next day, before my little siblings had even opened their eyes.
"Brush your teeth and come down, your dad and I will be waiting for you," she said before walking out of the room. I did as she told me too, my mind needed time to organize facts a little.
By the time I had splashed water on my face and stepped out of the washroom I remembered I was a homeless unemployed adult. Mentally facepalming, I walked down the stairs and flopped myself on the dinner table.
"Where's dad?" I asked, taking a bite out of a bread roll. I lifted a leg up an put it up on the chair, it was more comfortable sitting that way. Before I could even take in the comfort, a strong hand slapped my leg and it fell down to where it was.
"Ow, Dad!" I yelled, scowling at him and tore another bite from my roll. He walked in with his work shirt on and sat opposite me, "You're a woman, Lisa. Why do you still sit like that?"
"Because it's comfortable! Me being a woman doesn't have anything to do with that," I defended, pulling up my leg again. This time my mom's hand slapped me and the leg fell down again. "Mom!"
"Listen to your father," she said curtly and set the morning breakfast on the table. I should have slept in some common house instead of coming back home, this family reunion was excruciating.
I knew it was coming when Dad switched off the morning radio and tossed the remote on the sofa. Both pairs of eyes landed on me. I guessed Mom was going to speak first.
"Lisa, we want to talk to you about what you're going to do now," Mom said. Ha, I was right, Mom did speak first.
"Do you have any interviews coming up?" she pored.
I nodded, tracing the rim of my milk glass, studying how shiny it was. "Yeah, just one next week."
"Just one?" My Dad asked, slightly exploding, "You studied so hard, acquired a Master in Commerce and now you get fired from your part time job and you have just one company interview to decide your future?"
Mom shifted her eyes to Dad and tried to calm him down with her eyes. But Dad wasn't a person who'll get calmed down just with eyes.
"And how could you not at least save up for you rent? Have I taught you nothing? Lisa, you call in everyday and say you're fine and suddenly you come back saying you don't have a place to live or a job to work. Do you think we're fools?" he continued.
I bit my cheek and stared at him silently. He glared back at me, not saying anything and then asked again, "Answer me."
I didn't. I had nothing to say. What happened happened. It wasn't my fault the company I worked in had a perverted boss. It wasn't my fault the landlady changed the terms of her contract without even giving me time to react.
Triggered by my silence he jumped up, "You won't speak up? Lisa you' re responsible for you are!" he reached for something to throw at me. I saw a glimpse of his and I wanted to curl up and hide.
I made him look that way. That hurt.
A baby started crying and my Dad looked at my little brother who was standing by the wall with his blanket in hand. Dad dropped the remote and it fell on the bed like a dad rat. He cleared his throat and sat back on the table while mom rushed forward to rock him back to sleep.
Dad looked at me and proceeded to something else trying to be more calm but none of us ever heard it come out of his mouth. I let the chair scatter out into the hall and stomped up the stairs and took out the bag I never unpacked.
I emptied my piggy bank for the first time and stuffed it into the bag before going down again.
"Lisa, what are you doing?" Dad asked, seated on the chair.
"You should have just told me if I wasn't welcome here!" I said, tears brimming in my eyes. I re adjusted the bag on my shoulder, "I would have never come!"
"Lisa!"
The only sound that answered him was the bang of the house door. I stopped in front of the gate and looked back. The door didn't open again. Nobody came out and pleaded for me to come back.
Nobody wanted me.
Tears came out in full force and I couldn't stop it from wrecking me from the inside. I had wrecked myself to a point that everybody hated me. I gasped to take in a breath and started crying again. All this is karma. I knew it.
The job, the apartment, the meeting with Tae-hyung, now this...it was all a bloody reminder that there was nothing in the world that could ever love me.
"Where am I going to go now?" I asked to the bloody sky. And walked forward, not even looking at the house opposite the house I just came out of.
~~~~~~End of Lisa's PoV~~~~~~
She walked to the supermarket situated on the edge of MM district. MM was a small place, so by the time she reached the supermarket, the sun had dried her tears and the sadness had evaporated. No one from a distance would even guess that she had been crying her eyes out.
She grabbed a Chilung Cider from the fridge and moved over to the ice cream section. Blue berry, she hated. Vanilla, she hated that too.
"Why isn't there anything good? Where is Mint Chocolate Chip?" she muttered to herself even thought she knew very well that Mint Chocolate Chip in the brand she was looking for was rare.
Her eyes ran over the entire shelf and there, on the topmost rack which was a few feet higher than her head, she saw a box. She stood on her tip toes and moved the box away to reveal a green color Mint Chocolate Chip flavored ice-cream tucked into the very back of the shelf.
Her hands barely skimmed over its bottom as she tried to reach for it. "Oh come on...Mint Chocolate Chip, I need you."
She jumped but it didn't work. There were quite a few people here for shopping and she didn't want to make a fool of herself.
She sighed and took two Vanilla ice creams and made her way to the counter.
"How much is it?" She asked, digging her back for the piggy bank cash. But instead of the store lady's voice she heard another much deeper voice.
"Excuse me" the voice said. And from her side, Lisa saw a box of Mint Chocolate Chip being placed on the counter. She looked up at the hand that was holding it and her head lifted upwards to see his face.
"Can you bill mine first? I have a flight to catch," the voice spoke. Lisa looked back at the queue, it had grown longer. Then she looked back at the face covered with the same mask she saw yesterday. But she was sure it wasn't the same person.
Her ears caught few whispers from the shoppers who were staring at this tall boy. The shop keeper nodded and smiled at Lisa apologetically as she typed in the boy's purchase.
As he waited he turned his head down to look at Lisa and smiled. But Lisa was staring at her Mint Chocolate Chip which was now about to get carried away.
The shopkeeper was about to put into a cover before Lisa placed her hand on the ice cream and looked at the boy, "Can we exchange? I'll give you my vanilla for the mint chip."
The boy looked at for a second and she almost thought he would agree.
"No," he said and shook his head before paying for the purchase and walking out. The customers had started to whisper like snakes now and she just wanted to get out of this hole of embarrassment. She took her cider and vanillas and stepped out into the sun.
Wish I was taller, she thought, I would have gotten that ice cream.
Lisa gasped as a hand stopped her from walking. It was the rude boy who stole her ice cream!
"What do you want?"
The boy lifted his shopping cover and dangled it in front of her face.
Lisa scoffed, "Are you seriously mocking me right now?" She couldn't believe this masked stranger. She seemed to bumping into a lot of them lately. She could see his round cute eyes that would be deceiving if he wasn't dangling the ice cream in front of her right now.
"Do you want it?" he asked.
"I already asked you for it. You didn't want to give it."
He shrugged, "I think I'm suddenly wiser than I was two minutes ago. So do you want it?"
Lisa couldn't help but smile, "Yeah."
"Then follow me." Then he started walking backwards on his lean black jeaned legs, laughing. Lisa raised her eyebrows, "Are you kidding me?"
She started walking towards him and then he turned front and broke into a run. "Oh come on!" Lisa yelled and ran after him.
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