2

"WHERE ARE WE MOVING TO?!" Tami yelled as she was in total shock, hearing the news that her stepfather had just given her, almost choking on the salad that was handed to her.

It was a late Saturday, and Tami and her family were sitting at the dinner table, its rich walls, filled with sand-colored wallpaper and matching tiles, the walls, having pictures of Tami as a child, Tami's mother, Alyssa, and the late matriarch of the family, Tamon Jin Huo, who was an amazing business owner, who loved his family and his the beach, and seeing that the tension in the dining table grew right now.

Banging her hands on the table, she was completely shocked at what he had just said; their huge, mansion house that Tami grew up in was being sold because her mom lost her job. And the man, who wasn't even close to the great man that was the late father of her at all; her father would never in his life do something so heinous to their family; her grandma, a tall Korean woman, would've beat her son if he did this shit. This motherfucker in front of her, thin bitch man child with a soggy froggy-leap-frog ass face, sweat on his face, and dressed like a crappy fashion model, oh how she missed the father she knew and loved.

"W-w-when- did thi-this happen, I'm so confused, why the hell are we moving to THOSE neighborhoods?!" Tami asked her mom, tears streaming from the woman's face, her pajamas were soaked, and her palms were hard, red, and filled with anger, she was sure this was all a big mistake, when would something like this happen, even?

Alyssa's answer shocked Tami to the core, shaking her head.

"I-I got laid off, and they said I was lacking in my job, and you know of the stress as of recently-"

Tami just lost it.

I DON'T CARE, DO YOU KNOW HOW BAD THIS WOULD RUIN ME?! EMOTIONALLY, MENTALLY, AND ALSO RUIN MY REPUTATION?!" Tami was yelling but before she even continued her sentence, her mom continued.

"Tamara, don't yo-you see, ever since that letter, th-thi- things have been rough. I -can't work anymore, I am stressing out all of the time, and ever since your faith-"

Her mother tried to reason with her, shaking, sweating, her hand going out of control, and crying at the idea of her daughter being so upset and angry, but Tami was so hurt, she was going to lose everything that she worked for; her spot on the cheer team, her friendships with the other rich kids at the school, her grades, and she was to work on a relationship with Lee.

"For you to bring Daddy in this, is disgusting! That man, that amazing, wonderful man, who I am so proud to call my father, unlike someone' Tami glared at the man, who was so much younger, that it gave off the impression that he was her mother's son, the man who sold half of her father's things to make room for his things, that was sitting next to her mother, eating a sales, staring right back at her. "Momma, you know how hard dad worked because of your family, he worked so hard to give us this lifestyle because he knew deep in his heart he knows, he knew that he wasn't going here much longer, and because of grandma and gramp-

She's tearing up.

She can't take it anymore.

so for you to bring that...that.. fucking letter up-"

And then-

"DON'T YOU DARE YELL AT YOUR MOTHER! DO YOU KNOW HOW I COULD SEND YOU TO YOUR GRANDMOTHER, YOU PILE OF SHIT!" Her stepdad screamed at her, causing the dining room to go silent. His voice booming at her, it sounded so loud, he was bigger than her, much bigger, his voice was so authoritarian, and made it feel like she was in a cage and he was the one who put her in the side of it.

She was so, fucking sick of him.

"YOU NEED TO STAY THE FUCK OUT OF THE CONVERSATION, DON'T YOU EVER, EVER GET INTO THE FINANCES OF MY AND MY FUCKING FAMILY YOU BUG-EYED, VACCUMED SUCKED TWINK!" Tami yelled as she looked around the room, seeing as though everyone was staring at her, she had just yelled at someone, and she was so angry and tired she needed to sleep.

"LISTEN HERE, YOUR MOTHER IS GOING THROUGH A ROUGH TIME RIGHT NOW, SHE IS SICK, STOP ACTING LIKE YOU'RE BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE IN THIS GODDAMN ROOM!" The man yelled, causing Tami to feel threatened. BY HIM. Out of all people. Tears flowed down her face, her hair was a mess, and the room became so..unhinged with negative energy, she gave her mom one last look for the night as she ran upstairs.

"UGH?!"

Tami screeched, running upstairs, her footstep becoming more and more softer as she struggled to hold her breath, feeling like she was on the verge of passing out; how could they do this to her? She was going to lose everything she worked for. Her tears streaming down her pale face, her CINNAMON ROLL pajamas wet from the tears that she was no longer going to have the luxury lifestyle that she grew up with; no maids, no giant pool where she could swim all day, talked with her other rich friends, she was going to be a loser, she hated this.

She was crying: She slammed to door shut her bedroom door as she ran to the nearest part of her bed, throwing her body onto it, as she cried, but this was new to her, since she barely cried, only around her friends, people she truly cared about, she couldn't do that in front of that man, she curled herself inside, wondering how could've this happened, why did her mom allow that man to replace her beloved father.

While she took a deep breath, trying to put herself together, she heard knocking on her door. Her teary eyes, now red, blinked, and the tightness around her eyes widened, looking at the door in utter confusion. She wanted to yell, but a soft, brittle, calm voice spoke to the young girl:

"Tamera Anna-Nicole, I am extremely disappointed in your behavior. What you did at that table was unacceptable. You know better that, at the table-"

The room was so dark, so empty when Tami ran inside it, the blankets Tami was using were all over the place, the books were all over the ground, and her clothes were scattered everywhere. She was in such distress that she didn't even have time to see how her perfect room, had created her real-life imperfections. But hearing her mother's voice, caused a shining light a light that was trying to reason with the broken storm a storm that just wanted her mother's love, and Tami's voice of the storm broke the thunderclouds into risen hellfire in ANGER.

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT BEING DISAPPOINTED? MOTHER I AM ABOUT TO LOSE THE ONE PLACE WHERE I CAN FEEL MY FATHER'S, HEART, WHERE I CAN FEEL HIS PRESENCE WHEN I GO TO BED AT NIGHT, I CAN FEEL HIS LOVE, AND YOU WANT ME, YOU WANT M E, TO THROW THAT LOVE AWAY?

"TAMI IT WAS MY CHOICE IN THE MAKING"

Tami felt her eyebrows bury into her eyes and she stood up.

"WASN'T YOUR CHOICE, WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?"

Tami's voice rose in the thunderstorm of the hell that was being created and she brushed her hair away from her in a fit of frustration, as she sat up, throwing things onto the floor, walking towards the door where her mother, shaking in her slik nightwear, and her bunny slippers, hair in curls, walked inside, turning on a light in her daughter's room, creating a shining bliss, in a discussion between the two women.

"THIS IS YOUR HOME, YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN ANY OTHER WOMAN THAN ALLOWING, YES ALLOWING, THAT MAN TO CONTROL YOU!"

Silence filled the gap between them.

Then,

"This wasn't the easiest decision for me, and moving out of this house was something he and I agreed upon, Tamera," Alyssa said with a deep, cold sigh. Tami looked at her, with a look of shock anger, and dumbfoundedness, but her voice was still raised with the hell of anger.

"Not an easy decision, THIS IS YOUR HOUSE? THE HOUSE YOU RAISED ME IN? THE HOUSE YOUR HUSBAND BOUGHT FOR YOU." Tami's t-shirt was ruffled with wet tears, she

was walking somewhat close to her mother, being in utter fuck as to why she could've just said the word no.

"Why was the first thing to do was to get rid of the last memories your late husband gave you..."

Tami couldn't hold her tears any longer.

"WHY DO YOU LET THAT MAN CONTROL US?" Tami screamed in her mother's arms, as her mother guided her to the bed.

"How about I tell you a story, about your father?"

Tami, her anger dying down to a few minutes, her heart showing through her eyes, as her mother said those little words.

"Sure, that sounds nice"

Alyssa guided her daughter to the bed, wiping her tears away, and tucking her in.

"When me and your father first met, he was so nervous speaking to me, he spoke very little English, at this little coffee shop that he worked at, it took me a very long time to get his phone number, and, um, every time we would go out, at the end of our dates he would write me these little notes to me in Korean, and I would save them, I would put them on my boarded wall that I had when I was still living in Beverly Hills. On the day you were born, while I was holding you, I asked him to write a poem for me, it would be about you, but to not write it in English, because I knew he would teach you Korean, Knowing that his mother would not be able to see him due to his illness, I ask that he also draw her on the back of that poem. Every time I think of you, that poem, that he gave me, is what pops up, Tamera. And every time his mother calls, she reminds me so much of you. Please, don't ever think that I am letting him go."

Tami's eyes were filled with sadness, but they were also filled with a bit of comfort, as her mother gave her a look of comfort in her eyes, petting her hair, as Alyssa walked away out of her daughter's room.

Tami thought back to that poem, after listening to that story lying on her bed, dry tears and puffy eyes engraved on her face: She heard about when she went to Korea, wearing her hanbok, smelling the candles that her mother brought with her, the smell of old books, freshly wiped windows and the spring flowers blooming outside, seeing the people outside taking about their daily lives, smelling of Bulgogi, her favorite, while also smelling some old cologne and perfume merged together while the grandmas and grandpas were laughing, but the best part?

Seeing her father and her grandmother not be at each other's throats.

It felt nice, seeing that she may never talk to them again and her father having problems with him, seeing them talk and drink made her feel…like a kiss of fresh air.

Tami slid into her bed, the angry storm that had once entered the room was now silent and now evaporating in a warm but still cloudy area.

She feel into a deep sleep, refusing to apologize to that man.

Instead, she thought of being Lee's hot new neighbor, getting to see him next to her all day was the best gift ever.

A few weeks later, Tami and her family were putting boxes into their new home.

Tami was pouting the whole time, sitting in her denim skirt, her blonde hair curled, sporting a white headband, matching her lace button-up top, and her Mary Jane kitten heels as she carried boxes to her soon-to-be-new room. The room was a color of vomit sheer white, the room had some stains on it, there were a couple of bugs here and there, the pool was dirty, the kitchen was small, everything in this house was…well..something!

But to be fair the grass wasn't greener, it's the color of mold and it looked a bit yellow as well, and the neighbors seemed loud as hell, and she's gonna have to befriend Megan out of all people, but it had a weird sense of…comfort Tami reminded her of her dad, since he was poor, so she decided to create a small box of her dad's memories.

But then her smile faded.

She hated this.

She already missed her big pool, her maids, which had to be let go of due to her mom not affording them, missed her walk-in closest, missed being next to her best friend, Sheena, she missed trash talking with Sheena about the Clarks and telling her all about Lee. She missed everything.

But that all became a little better when she saw a certain shirtless, someone across her window, talking to her rival, as he was rubbing her hair and running upstairs, she knew she had to put on a fake smile and be as fake as possible of her future husband.