The Unexpected Road Trip [Barom//Shinwoo]
Barom stared out the window, a blank expression on his face as his eyes burned holes into the glass. The handcuff, linking him to the car door, burned his skin as if it were a hot poker instead of cool metal. His skin was heated as he thought over everything that had happened. How could he not have seen this coming? As soon as the mechanic had seen the taller male, he knew that something was off about him. That parental instinct in him tingled deep inside him as the stranger made contact repeatedly. There was something unusual about the way he started at Barom and Isabella. By the time that Barom had figured everything out, it was too late.
“Hey, Barom, you got someone coming in.” The mechanic looked up from the desk, numerous papers piled about, simple paperwork that needed to be filed away. A young man was walking up, the expression on his face causing confusion in the other male. He looked as if he was looking for someone. “How may I help you?” Barom asked, leaning his body against the desk, folding his arms. More than once his boss had told him he needed to be more welcoming, but smiling at strangers wasn’t something Barom cared to practice on. His job was to fix cars not have people consider him cuddly.
The man complained that there had been several errors with his car and that he needed to get it fixed as quickly as possible. Right away Barom snorted. People always wandered in wanting everything done “as quickly as possible” like working on cars was something easy and quick. Barom didn’t snicker at the man though. Snickering would lose the join money and Barom didn’t want to hinder the Boss he had come to adore any cash that he could get. “Bring it on in. I’ll take a look.”
Once he was underneath the hood of the truck, Barom noticed a few things. For one the vehicle wasn’t in the best shape and could use a good tune up or even a visit to the junk yard. The second thing he noticed was that some of the issues with the engine looked as if they had been done intentionally. “You got yourself a lot of trouble with this one...It might take me about a week. I’ll give you a write up of repairs so an estimate. I’ll give you a call when I know more.” He did smile this time, trying to lessen the blow. The amount of cash this man would be losing was devastating.
Before Shinwoo, whose name Barom learned as paperwork was being filled out, had been watching the mechanic closely, almost obsessively so. The gaze only grew worse once Isabella ran up, hugging her father around the waist. That is when he had felt it.
Barom pushed his lips together, slowly shifting his gaze towards Shinwoo, staring at him in contempt. After the first time bringing his truck into the shop, Shinwoo continued to come in regularly. Every time there was something new wrong and he needed Barom to fix it. Just Barom and no one else. The heavy feeling on Barom’s chest grew heavier once the saw the beautiful little girl that would some times accompany Shinwoo. It was a treat to get his guard down and it had worked. Isabella giggled happily from the backseat causing Barom to fidget. He would survive this. He would survive this for the sake of his daughter.
