Stray

five

"Hey shoulder boy," the man flicks Seokjin's head forcefully, "what's taking you so long, huh?"

Jin's lips quiver as the man continues to harass him with words. He doesn't want to get in trouble, so he stays silent instead, continuing to work on the machine with a screwdriver. His palm and body was sweating due to the direct heat of the sun, and this particularly difficult task he was given isn't helping either. It was hard concentrating when a person is straight up bullying you physically and mentally.

"Answer me, you shit."

And again, he keeps silent.

Wrong choice.

The man kicks Jin's back with his thick boots, trampling the weak figure to the ground. Jin hisses, knowing a bruise is gonna form sooner or later. He doesn't dare meet his senior's eyes, his head kept down low. He bites his lip to keep himself from groaning, not wanting to satisfy the man by letting out the pain.

"You disrespectful fuck, you should be grateful you're still on the job and not on the streets," he growls as he picks Jin by the collar with ease, as if he weighs like a feather. "Useless people like you shouldn't have jobs anyway." He pushes Jin again, where his figure meets with the stinging sensation of the metal.

"You better finish fixing this car in half an hour, or you know what's coming," the man threatens, smirking devilishly as his eyes go dark. He slaps his fists together, chuckling devilishly. "You get me?"

Jin nods without hesitance.

"Speak, you mutt."

"Y-yes."

"Yes..?," the man raises a brow.

"Yes, Seojoon."

As you can see, Jin's a mechanic. Or at least he tries to be. Although his lack of engineering skills interferes with his job - not to mention the harassing from his seniors, he doesn't stop, doesn't want to, and most importantly - he can't. The job pays quite well and that's what Jin so desperately needs the most for his family besides love, money.

Yes, he's tried other jobs. But they won't accept him because of his lack of experience, and his quiet and shy demeanour doesn't help either. It's fine, Jin is used to being isolated by a brick wall that he's almost immune to all the rejections and constant degrading. Almost.

It's always about and for his beloved daughter, Jiah. He doesn't want her to end up a failure like him. He wants her to be the brightest star in the night sky, the most beautiful flower in the garden, someone that everyone could admire and be proud of. Yeah, Jin likes the thought of that.

Jin looks at his watch, 2.31 pm. His daughter should be out of school by now, but his shift doesn't end until thirty more minutes. He's tried reasoning with his boss, but work is work. If he wants to get paid, he has to follow rules. In the working world, no one cares outside of it except your own.

Since he doesn't have a car, he has to jog to Jiah's school as fast as possible. Even it's a blessing that he gets to enroll Jiah in school, where she can learn and socialise with other kids who are as bright and open minded as her. Jin believes that his daughter has a bright future, just like Mr Kim states.

Ah, yes, Mr Kim.

Jiah's homeroom teacher. An individual who has been nothing but nice and respectful to him. Then again, it's his job as a teacher so he doesn't expect much from the guy. He's thankful that after a long day from work, he arrives at school to be treated like any other parent without judgment for his dull face or appearance.

Jin groans when oil spurts out from a hole, creating an abstract pointing onto his shirt. He wipes it off of his face with his arms but it smudges into a thick line instead. Pearls of sweat circle around his forehead as well, but he has no time to care or think about himself. He needs to finish fixing this before Seojoon comes back.

Jin has seen his co-workers sympathetic gazes, but none has stood up for him since they were also terrified of the buff muscly man. Having been in the industry for so long, Seojoon has the ability to fix any machinery in the littlest amount of time. The locals love him, not to mention his gorgeous physique and dreamy brown eyes. But his personality's a total façade. He's satan reincarnated, and an awful good one at that.

"Hey, fatass," he comments to another employee as he munches on a burger agressively, "why don't you quickly finish working on this car before you devour it like the gorilla you are, huh?" He laughs at his inconsiderate joke and marches on to the next person, and does the same.

You got this, Seokjin. He exhales. You got this.

5 minutes before his shift ends, he manages to complete his task. A fulfilling smile spreads across his face, he can quickly wash off now and hurry to Jiah's school. If he goes fast, he can arrive in at least in 20 minutes.

As he walks over to the toilet, he's met with Seojoon, who was taking a piss in one of the stalls. Seojoon zips his pants, turning around to see a nervous Jin and plasters on an obnoxious smirk. Messing with his target, Seojoon abruptly sets his large hands on Jin's shoulders. Jin flinches, hoping Seojoon doesn't do anything harmful this time.

"You done, shoulder boy?"

"Yes, Seojoon. May I go now?"

"Why so tense?" Seojoon pinches Jin's cheeks harshly and Jin holds back to not barf. Seojoon, who has touched oil beforehand and his dick while peeing, has pinched Jin's hollow cheeks. Jin wants to throw up.

"Can I go? Please." Jin's body language was nothing but uncomfortable, and he hopes Seojoon notices that.

Hint: he doesn't.

"Why do you wanna go so bad? Does Jinnie has some 'appointments' to attend?" He chuckles, doing a pumping movement with his hand.

Jin, with little courage and strength left, brushes Seojoon's dirty hands off of him. He'll deal with it next time. The muscly man lets out a scowl, but realises he still has other targets to chase so he lets him off this time.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Seokjin-ssi." He bumps his shoulders forcefully on him and exits the toilet.

Jin sighs, repeating to himself that it gets better. He doesn't have time to wash off the grease off of his shirt, or the dust from his knees, but what he can do is hide the misery from his face and replaces it with a twinkling beam instead.

It's okay, because he's gonna see his dearest Jiah again. It's gonna be okay, because maybe just maybe, Jin longs to see the handsome teacher too.