Neighbours

My name is Akio

JaeYoung Kim's Story:

i was born in Seoul, South Korea but in Tokyo , Japan I was raised living with my wealthy father Kwang-Sun Kim and mother Chun Hei Kim along with my little sister Hee Young Kim. My dad was my hero he was everything to me when I was a kid he would come home from work and play with me in my room. I could go to him for help with my homework. . . . .until he started drinking.

Once he started that new business he changed I never had many friends I wanted to talk to everyone I didn't see class or race but my dad would only let me talk or be friends with other children from wealthy backgrounds. Also he would come home late sometimes drunk and beat my mother one night when I was 7 he was so drunk the beating woke me up I ran downstairs to the living room to try and save my mother i tried to pull him off but he pushed me off I hit my back on the wall.. . . it was so painful! My mother ran over to me and cuddled me I was in so much pain she looked at my back then at that point i have never seen my mother SO ANGRY she reached for the closest thing she could reach which was the stick we always kept by the front door she swung at my dad hitting him on his face.

He fell onto the ground i watched my mother beat him repeatedly until she stopped she dropped the stick and came to comfort me just then my little sister came downstairs and screamed she was only 3.My mother picked us up and put us outside she told us to go to our neighbour's house Mr's Lee she lived next door I carried my sister and went there just then I heard my mother scream it was terrifying i felt it in my bones I looked back and saw my mother crawling on the ground blood covering her mouth as if in slow motion i could read her lips. . . . telling me to go "go. . . go Jae. . . go!" I go to my neighbours house and bang on the door as my sister screams Mrs Lee an old lady opens the door and takes us in "what's wrong? what happened to you!" I cry out "mummy! mummy! she calls the police and ambulance. I stand outside watching my mother go into the ambulance on a stretcher. My father sitting outside our house crying

That night frightened me for the rest of my life I NEVER looked at my father the same way again my sister and I stayed with Mrs Lee until I was 15 I left and went to live with my mother;s sister aunty Kim in Xavier "aunty Kim Kim" I used to call her when I was little my sister stayed with Mrs Lee until she died. My sister grew up and became a successful lawyer dealing with domestic abuse I haven't seen her since I left I heard from my aunt that she has now forgiven our father and is getting closer to him myy aunt also told me that my mother has moved back to Seoul, South Korea where she grew up since I have disowned my father I don't know anything about my family any more my aunt died when I was 21 I went to her funeral and watched from the back knowing that my father would be there I left early and went home I packed up my stuff and left her house my aunt left me some money and a house near my mother's in Seoul but I don't know where it is I haven't been to Korea since I was a baby.

I turned away from my family after Aunty Kim Kim died she was the only one that cared for me and kept me up to date about my mother but my mother didn't want me to know where she was in case my father shows up again so to get rid of the memory and identity of my father i changed my name my identity. I became Akio Kaneshiro.

Here in Xavier no one knows me I can make up so many different identities without people trying to figure out my past . . . . . but Denise. . . . I don't know what it is about her I feel . . . . free with her . . . . like I can let go and pour my heart out to her .