- Baozhi with an internal Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva emerging as he reaches enlightenment, Heian Period (from 794 to 1185).
- Paprika, Satoshi Kon, 2006.
The Boxer [M] - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, EPILOGUE part 1, part 2, BONUS pointless Smut, What about Baozhi?
It was tucked so tightly in between the picture he kept of his family and the cash he had saved up to pay for his first semester of tuition. The picture he’d snuck from Yixing’s phone when he wasn’t looking, discretely texting the picture to himself so he could get it printed out and keep it with him at all times. The happy little family shot Baozhi had taken at the park one morning with Yixing’s phone showed smiles all around. The two in love, the adorable little bundle of sunshine that came from that love, Mei-Xing who looked so much like her father one moment, and exactly like her mother another, it made his head spin and Baozhi with his arm held out far to hold the phone. The little close knit group who held on to each other tighter than any other family hed ever seen. They were his rock. His reason for each and every morning he woke up well rested and feeling a clarity in his mind that he hadn’t even known was possible before…before. He tried not to think about before.
He woke up feeling especially complete this morning. If only his damn nerves would settle down enough for him to stop the trembling in his hands.
The line moved and Baozhi took one small step forward. Groups of students, obviously friends of each other, mingled around him. Greeting each other as if they’d just seen each other yesterday. So familiar and comfortable with each other that Baozhi watched on in amazement.
Could he really fit in here? Did he belong with these smart kids who had normal families and loving mothers waiting at home for them with hugs and questions about their first day of another semester. Dads who would come home with a bag of take out dinner for everyone, to give mom a break for once from cooking the meal, and sit down with a pat on the back and a sweet smile at the son or daughter that was already making him so proud.
He hadn’t told Yixing about starting his first semester of college yet. Baozhi wanted to make sure he got in and got registered before he told his nagging, worrying brother.
He knew he would get nothing but overwhelming support from his brother. He also knew that the solid years of odd jobs and scrounging up every single cent he could to pay for this would be looked at with a raised eyebrow by his overly generous Hyung.
Yixing would insist on helping to pay. Baozhi needed a receipt before he told Yixing. The man had enough on his plate with the baby, the wedding, and the lawyer bills still coming in the mail. How many more high risk, high paying fights could the man take on before he lost. How long would Yixing’s winning streak last? What if he got hurt just because Baozhi had to buy some books for a class?
Baozhi could pay for this himself and he would do so before he told his brother about it.
The line advanced and Baozhi heard the short woman behind the counter call for the next in line.
His feet moved and his smile was wide. The disinterested woman hardly looked up when she asked for his ID and read him the balance he owed for enrolling in class.
Bills and bills of his hard work slid through the small opening and he watched as her fingers counted out the amount and slipped the money into her register. A loud printing sound and a perforated sheet of paper was ripped and Baozhi bowed his thanks as he retrieved his ID and the valuable little sheet of paper.
The air outside of the financial services building was fresh and crisp. Baozhi reached for his phone and snapped a quick picture of the receipt. The fancy sounding name of the university printed in block letters with a logo of the school’s mascot next to it. His first semester’s class schedule laid out below with promises of hard work, assignments and new friends was spelled out below.
He hit send on his phone and he sat down on a bench as he waited.
“Mei-Xing’s Mommy” was the first to respond. Words of delight and support and overwhelming encouragement flashed across his screen from his soon to be sister-in-law and Baozhi’s heart swelled. His phone was silent after that.
Maybe Yixing was busy. He was probably training or running or talking with scouts and fight recruiters.
As Baozhi made his way across campus he decided to shadow his schedule, following it along as he would soon do daily. His own curiosity getting the best of him as he explored his new school, following the path he would take during his classes.
Something caught his eye off to the side of the quad. A group of students loitered around and some seemed to be watching something. As he made his way closer he could hear music and the sound of a high voice shouting something through speakers set up on the lawn.
When he was close enough he heard what sounded like a play. Lines were being recited and the music that played over the voices was slow and fitting for a dramatic scene that was acted out between a young man and a young woman.
The woman was hunched over herself and she looked overcome with emotion. The man stood with his back to her, arms crossed tightly over his chest, stubborn and obstinate. She was crying and she was begging him and he was an unmoving stone. Stiff and motionless.
She was pregnant. He told her to get rid of it.
The dramatics pulled him in and he found himself too drawn to the scene that was acted out before him. Too sympathetic to the weeping woman and too angry at the stubborn man who wouldn’t just listen to her. Her love wasn’t enough for him. He didn’t want this burden. His acting wasn’t much but hers…hers was something special. Even he could see that as he watched. She was on her knees and he wasn’t listening and Baozhi watched as the woman crumbled further, reaching out for the man who twirled and vanished around a backdrop set up behind the scene.
She was alone and she wept as the music faded. The woman rose to her feet with a smile on her face as she wiped tears from her cheeks as the crowd applauded.
Was that it? How could the scene just end there? What about the woman? What about the baby? Baozhi was all questions that needed answers.
How could everyone just be satisfied with this without any answers to their questions?
Baozhi was never the shy type. The crowd was thinning and he marched up to the woman from the play.
“What about the baby? What are you doing about the baby? How can you just end it there. What about the baby’s father” His voice was friendly enough he thought. Although he could tell he was too excited about this whole thing. It was just a silly play right? He knew he had a tendency to bombard people with questions and demand answers when he felt left out of the loop. He honestly meant no harm.
The woman turned to look at him with lifted brows and a surprised look on her pretty face. She looked at Baozhi’s face for a while before he heard her sigh and she grabbed a clipboard that rested on a table nearby. His hands scrambled to hold on when it was thrust against his chest roughly and she turned away from him to pick up the set.
Baozhi looked down at the sheet of paper on the clipboard.
It was a sign up sheet for the drama club of the university.
There were three other names hastily scribbled on the sheet and his fingertips ran over the pen stuck in the clasp of the clip board slowly as he debated.
He took another step in the direction of the woman.
“Do I have to join your club for you to tell me how it ends?” Baozhi asked the woman who wasn’t looking at him anymore and he heard a small laugh erupt from her chest.
“Yeah, we need more men. We only have Hyunsuk and you saw…he’s terrible. He didn’t even want to do it. I had to bribe him with food.” She wrinkled her nose as she whispered her criticism of Hyunsuk’s acting into baozhi ear as if the stiffness he had seen in the man earlier was somehow a secret observation.
“Yeah he was a little…flat wasn’t he? I wouldn’t have been so blank. I mean here’s the woman you supposedly love begging on her knees for you to make a decision that might destroy two people and you stand there like you’re trying to pick out a tie to wear to the office in the morning? I’m not an expert in acting but I’ve seen a lot of movies. I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to do something with your face right? ”
Baozhi was already writing his name and number on the sheet of paper as he quickly handed it back to the girl who watched him with an amused smile on her face.
She grabbed the clipboard from him and extended a hand out for him to shake.
“Its nice to meet you Baozhi, I’m Ari.” Her smile was friendly and inviting now that she’d gotten what she wanted from him and he slowly took her hand inside his own as he took his lip in between his teeth, a new kind of nervousness suddenly filling his chest that didn’t have anything to do with starting his first semester of college.
“So do I get the part Ari?” He asked suddenly as he shook her hand up and down slowly.
She didn’t drop his hand as she seemed to ponder for longer than necessary.
“Do you want it? There are some….kiss scenes in it.” Baozhi watched as Ari’s face changed suddenly and she broke the eye contact she had been so brazenly holding with him. He felt her hand loosen and she dropped his hand quickly as she turned to busy herself with the props and backdrop she had been taking down.
Baozhi moved to help her pick up metal poles that held the background in place into the ground.
“I’m okay with kiss scenes!” He said almost too quickly. He tried to keep his own wince from taking over his face for sounding too eager and he heard another giggle from Ari.
He felt a buzzing in his pocket and quickly pulled out his phone to find three messages from Yixing waiting. From the preview he could see the cheerful, proud messages his brother was sending upon learning of his surprise enrollment in college and he quickly stuffed his phone back inside his pocket as he rolled up the canvas mat around the metal poles.
“Well I guess you got the part then.” She smiled “Welcome to the club.”
The Boxer [M] - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, EPILOGUE part 1, part 2, BONUS pointless Smut, What about Baozhi?
NOTE: It seems I ultimately gave up on the 5 posts in 5 days… but at least I did three in a row! failure
For my first two years of college, Labor Day was simply the last day of summer. This year, Labor Day fell on the 9/7, and Rutgers has already started classes for just about a week. A refreshing three-day-weekend to start off the summer.
Another bonus, my older brother Tim came home this…
