Chapter 61: The Gingerbread Man

I know it's not much but we thought you would like it. It's to honour you turning eighteen and legally being able to drink." Mrs Jiang said as she walked back to the kitchen with a bottle of whiskey. Haru kind of chuckled as he saw it.

Everyone was really making a big deal out of him becoming the legal age to drink. First, his mom wouldn't let him drink and now his girlfriend's mom is encouraging him to drink. They were polar opposites but he still felt like their personalities were similar.

"Thank you. I'm sure it was difficult to convince Mr Jiang to get me anything at all wasn't it?" Haru asked and then reached out to receive the gift from her. She just smiled as she handed him the bottle.

"You should know that he doesn't actually hate you. He just feels like you are stealing his daughter away from him. He has always been super overprotective ever since Suyin was born." She went on to explain more about her husband and how he actually felt.

"Are you serious? I thought he actually wanted me dead or something. The way he treats me is how somebody would treat a cockroach. I thought he despised me." Haru was confused. How could he not have noticed if he actually didn't hate him? Mr Jiang sure had a funny way of showing his feelings.

"Don't worry so much. He was actually the one who picked out the gist. We had gone grocery shopping together and then he saw the bottle and mentioned that it was your birthday soon. He didn't openly say he wanted to get it for you but he hinted at it. I had forgotten all about your birthday until he mentioned it so he can't hate you that much." Haru's opinion of Mr Jiang slowly improved the more she spoke about him.

"Thank you for telling me this. It feels like a weight was just lifted from my shoulders. I didn't expect him to remember my birthday without Suyin drumming it into him every five seconds. Can you thank him for me when he returns too?" He asked. He wanted to make sure that Mr Jiang knew his secret was exposed.

Suyin and Haru sat talked for a few moments before eating their breakfast. Chen was the first one to speak up as he had finished before them. "Mom, I've finished can I go out now? Scotty is probably already waiting for me." He complained to himself.

"Of course you can sweetie. Just make sure you don't get your clothes muddy. I am sick of cleaning all the dirt out of the washing machine." She tried to say to him but he had already put on his shoes and made his way over to the door.

"I swear that boy never listens. Watch him go and find the biggest puddle he can and then roll in it just to spite me." Mrs Jiang sighed. Chen ran outside and slammed the door. He stopped for a second thinking back to what his mom had just warned him about.

"I wish she would stop worrying so much. I'm not a baby anymore." He said as he started to walk down the street. He kicked a pebble into the road. It clanged off a drain and dropped down with a splash.

He then looked up the sky. It was a nice day. The sky was clear and blue. There wasn't a single cloud in sight. His body felt itchy as he walked under the direct sunlight so he decided to take off his sweater and then he tied it around his waist. The park wasn't a long walk but the sun was too much for him.

On his way there he decided to stop at the convenience store to buy a drink. He went inside and picked up a bottle of water from the refrigerator and then walked up to the cashier. "Oh, Well if it isn't little Chen. How is your mother doing? I haven't seen her for a few days." The woman behind the counter tried to make conversation with him.

Chen shrugged his shoulders and then put the money on to the counter and walked away. He got outside and then opened the bottle taking a sip before screwing the cap on and walking directly toward the park this time. "Why does everyone know my parents around here? It's so lame. It's like everyone is constantly babysitting me." He whispered before pushing open the gate to the park.

He looked over to the climbing frame to see Scotty and Fai swinging from the metal bars and hanging upside down whilst talking to each other. Chen walked over and greeted them. "Hey guys, Hey Scotty." He shouted loudly as he approached them.

There were a total of five boys stood together in the group who all looked at each other for a moment before a blonde, tall and scrawny boy spoke up. "Oh great. Who invited the gingerbread man?" They all began to laugh as Scotty mocked Chen for his red hair.

Chen took part and laughed along with them. "Hi, sorry it took me so long to get here. My mom was being stupid and wouldn't find my shoes." Chen bragged about his disrespect to his parents. "Woah that's so cool. I still don't understand how you manage to talk to your parents like that. I know my mom would beat me if I said anything like that to her." A smaller brown hair boy walked out and put his arm around Chen and then took him into the group.

"Fai, What are you doing? We just said that we don't want him here. He always draws the attention of the grown ups. We can't get away with anything when he is here." Scotty said right in front of Chen no longer being subtle with his words.

"Oh, Come on. What is the harm in letting our friend hang out with us? Don't we always manage to have fun when Chen comes along with us?" Fai said to Scotty with a wink. Scotty seemed to catch on to what Fai meant as he reluctantly agreed. "Fine. You can come along with us today. Just try not to get on my nerves okay?" Scotty told Chen as they all got back to swinging on the climbing frame.

"The last one to the top has to do a dare!" Scotty then shouted as all the boys scrambled to the bars and began to climb. Chen put his hand on the bar for it to only be stood on by Scotty as he began to race the others. "Ahh!" Chen shouted as he moved his hand out of the way. He held his hand with his other one and looked up at Scotty who laughed at him.

"Come, On. Hurry up or else you will have to do the forfeit. He said as he climbed higher. Chen's eyes had begun to form tears. He looked up at the boys from his class all mocking him and then decided to race him up to the top.

He jumped up onto the highest bar he could reach and began to climb. It was only about three metres tall in total but the bars were placed far enough apart that they would have to use their whole body strength to climb to the next bar. Fai and the other boys were nearing the top. But Scotty stayed behind to mess with Chen a little more.

Oh, Come on. You will never catch up if you are moving that slow. Why don't you just give up?" He began to taunt him. Chen's fingers had turned purple from where Scotty had stood on them. It made his climb a bit more difficult than it would be. But that didn't stop him. He didn't say anything as he climbed higher. Scotty was now only one platform higher than Chen.

"Oh, You managed to catch up. I didn't think a big cry baby like you could climb so well. I guess I have to get serious now." He mocked him again before starting to climb fo himself.

Chen carried on silently ignoring the taunts of the other boys who had already reached the top. "Scotty. Why don't you give him some extra encouragement?" Fai said to Scotty from the top. Scotty looked down at Chen directly bellow him and then smiled.

He began to put his foot on Chen's head and began to press down. "Wait, Scotty what are you doing!? I could fall!" Chen shouted back at him. "So what you aren't that high up." He said back but now he started kicking the top of Chen's head.

The other boys began to laugh at the scene. They were encouraging Scotty even more. "Go on Scotty, You can win. Just kick him down already." Scotty reached down with his leg and then put it on Chen's shoulder trying him to pry him off the climbing frame.

"Please stop. I don't want to fall. What if I get hurt!?" Chen begged for him to stop but they all just laughed at him. "Are you going to cry again? You will be fine. It won't hurt trust me." Scotty laughed even more as he kicked as hard as he could toward Chen.

Chen grabbed hold of the bar tightly and ducked his head down to avoid the kick. He closed his eyes and braced for impact. "Woah!! Ahh!" Scotty called out for a moment before there was a loud thud on the concreate bellow. Chen looked down at the ground.

Scotty was lay on the concrete motionless. There was a red liquid slowly leaking from his head. "Scotty!" Fai yelled and then climbed down to help his friend. The other boy's including Chen were too scared to do anything.

They all just stayed still and watched as Fai tried to shake Scotty to wake him up. He didn't respond.