"So...what do you like to do outside of work?"

"Me?", Dan said, peeking at his analog watch, hoping the lunch date would be over soon.

"Who else?"

She giggled after her last statement as if it was the funniest thing she had ever heard.

He wasn't being sarcastic though.

Once again, he wondered on why exactly did his parents set him up on a date again?

"Going on walks, reading the daily newspaper, listening to music, watching movies..."

Her eyes had started to glaze over, so he leaned over a bit and proceeded to stop talking about the more common hobbies that he had assumed most people did.

Maybe it was time to proceed with a more truthful response.

"Doing puzzles, breakdancing, Sudoku, researching, hiking, studying..."

She furrowed her eyebrows, pointing to him as she said, "You do Sudoku? The thing that like...old guys do?"

Yeah. This date was not going well.

Groaning internally, he inquired about her work. While she was prattling on about her 'crazy' work schedule, he looked slightly upward towards the window and spotted a familiar face.

Olivia.

Reaching into his pocket, he took out a wad of cash, not that he had much on it on hand, and excused himself, saying, "I got a class to attend to."

"Oh right," she mused.

It was not a complete lie though.

To him, the excuse had presented itself as the only polite way he figured he could end their conversation.

Hopefully, his traditional Korean parents forgave him... eventually.

Waving from inside the glass, she mouthed, "Good luck."

"Thanks," he muttered.

After having last spotted his old acquaintance, he rushed to where he had seen her, near an old payphone in the Short North district, and looked around.

There, there she was.

"Hi."

"Bye," muttered Olivia as she encountered a stranger yet again, a flip phone in hand as she walked away.

She placed it to her ear when the call finally came through.

"Sweetie. How have you been?", a mother's voice crooned through the screen.

Dan turned, shocked that she still failed to greet him after all this time. Weren't they at least acquaintances at this point?

Maybe she really was bad with faces as had been suggested.

Suddenly, his hair stood an end as a gust of wind settled on his back, and a shadow appeared on the ground.

"Don't move."

"Wasn't planning to," he whispered.

The man locked him in a chokehold with ease as Dan went limp in his hands. Was it a robber? What could he want with a broke student like him?

The last bit of cash he had on hand he had thrown away to the Korean girl in the restaurant to pay her bill so...hopefully, they would understand his present money-less situation.

"What do you want with my cousin?", the baritone stranger barked.

"Cousin?" Turning around, Dan came face-to-face with Steven, Olivia's cousin.

Caught in a sticky situation, he did the first thing that came to mind.

Introducing himself, he started, "Hi, my name is Dan..."

"I could care less who you are."

"OK..."

"Stay away from my cousin. You hear me?"

"I wasn't..."

"What are you? Some type of reporter?"

Why would reporters be involved? he thought.

"She's on hiatus. Spell that out. H-I-A-T-U-S. The last thing she needs right now is the spotlight, especially after the incident. And if you're here for me, forget it. Everything that has been said has been said. Leave her alone so she can get some proper rest and leave me alone so you won't wake up with a bloody shiner on your face tomorrow."

At this, Dan got ticked off.

Something he prided himself on never doing, especially in a foreign country when his student visa was at stake.

"Listen here, Steven..."

"No, you listen, Dan or whatever your real name is. If you think you're getting close to her, or that you'll be able to pull the wool over our eyes..."

"Excuse me? I'm not a journalist, a scammer or a criminal. And even if I was, you have no right to treat me this way."

Steven scoffed. "Then why are you so interested in my family member?"

"Interested? You make me sound like a predator! And I, Dan Geum, have been called many things, but that I am not!"

Ripping Dan's wallet off him, Steven tore it apart, looking for a press ID or something equally heinous. Only to find a Student ID card, an expired driver's license, and a used plane ticket to South Korea.

Which reminded Dan that he should renew that driver's license though, even if it was for another foreign country than he was currently in right now.

"You check out. Guess you are a student around here."

Steven easily tossed it aside, the wallet almost falling to the ground if it was not for Dan lunging to the ground and catching it, scuffing his jacket in the process.

It was new too. Now he was even more peeved.

"As long as I'm taking care of her, you shall not be seen in her vicinity. Got it?"

"Why? As far as I know, she hasn't done anything to you. Why should you control her life?"

"Why do you care? It doesn't matter to you..."

"I would think that..."

"Buzz off," he warned, before leaving to try and catch up with Olivia.

Dan Geum pursed his lips and spit his spearmint-flavored gum to the ground.

Lately, he had taken to choosing that flavor over bubblegum, his favorite gum flavor.

However, that unruly jerk, he had even made Dan litter! And he hated littering! If Olivia really had to put up with a killjoy like him...

"Yes, mom. I've been good so far. Steven has been taking really good care of me."

Olivia had tried her best not to stray so far from where Steven had last seen her. Consequently, she was stuck walking the same blocks over-and-over in this trendy neighborhood.

It would be alright if she had brought more money along. Alas, all the custom artisan stores and restaurants in this area were way too pricey for her small wallet.

"You're not talking with your phone while walking sweetie, right? That is mighty dangerous..."

"I wouldn't do that, Mom...", she stated as she entered a crosswalk.

The light suddenly turned red.

"Look out!", yelled Steven while he watched in horror from afar.

Olivia was almost yanked out of existence by a panting twenty-something year old.

"We have got to stop meeting like this," he asserted.

"I'mma have to call you back, Mom."

_______________________________________

Random tidbit: Btw, Steven is not Hispanic/Latino and does not speak/understand Spanish.