CHARACTER INFORMATION
face claim: John Cho
full name: Raymond Park
nickname(s): Ray
pronouns & gender: he/him, cis man
sexuality: NA.
birth date: october 28, 1975
birth place: seattle, washington
time in town: one year
housing: the suburbs
occupation: english professor at the community college
family: NA.
personality: Raymond had always been a kind of quiet individual. Oftentimes would rather stay in and read a book rather than venturing off in public and interacting with others. That isn’t to say he doesn’t like other people, though. Despite seeming a bit off in his own world and disinterested, he loves having genuine conversation and connections with others. Not to mention, he’s always is willing to lend an ear if one needs to vent. These days, he tends to look warn out… both in the physical and emotional sense of the word. Between work and running from his own demons, there’s not much time to rest… nevertheless, there’s still a softness in his eyes and compassion in his heart.
BACKGROUND / BIO
Trigger warnings: car accident, death
For as long as he could remember, Raymond was the shoulder to cry on and the ear to lend. A role he’d fill even before he could fully walk as his parents already began to blur the lines and expectations of who was supposed to take care of who. In school and among his peers, his role remained the same. It wasn’t that he minded it, though. Raymond cared about others and wanted to help them… so what if he pushed aside his own needs time and time again, a habit that would eventually become so instinctual that he wouldn’t even be able to voice what he needed or even wanted if posed the question.
It came to no one’s surprise that Raymond decided to peruse a major in education, as he wanted to help and guide other people. Through college, he’d meet Olivia, though had it not been for the fear of appearing too much of a hopeless romantic, he may have admitted that he felt like he’d already known her for years. Whispers around campus spread as fellow students and classmates caught Raymond smiling and actually looking as though he was having fun and enjoying his life - once news got around that the shift in Raymond was attributed to the fact that he was in love, others had no choice but to rethink and evaluate if that feeling really was as magical as the fairytales suggested after all. A few years after they both graduated, Raymond proposed - and although he felt like it was fast, their closest friends all asked the same thing: what took you so long? About a year after the wedding, they had a son named Eric whom the two of them loved with all of their hearts. Even when Raymond was busy with work, Eric was always at the very least in the back of his mind.
Raymond would have loved to say the story ended there. That the two of them had somehow beaten the odds of reality and were among the lucky few to have a happily ever after as they rode off into the sunset. As the years went on, however, the more distance seemed to manifest in between the two of them. Their love for each other hadn’t dwindled or even so much as flickered, but like so many, the two of them fell victim to conflicts and divisions that could have been mended had they just sat down and communicated openly.
On top of the distance naturally growing between then, Eric began to pull away as well. He was far from oblivious to the strain his parents were under, and he put a huge amount of pressure on himself to preform in school, to never get in trouble, and to be the “perfect” son as he hoped it would make his parents happy again… Nothing seemed to help though, and he just started taking out all of his frustrations on himself. As if his inner world wasn’t under enough turmoil, school was becoming more and more difficult as well. Not only academically, but his peers always loved how easily they could get a reaction out of him. A few times, Eric tried to go to either of his parents about all of the pressure he was facing, but quickly retracted as it was clear both of them were much too busy to pay any mind… Everything boiled over, however - when Eric was sixteen. While Raymond was at work, got a call from the hospital, telling him that his son was in a serious accident and sustained fatal injuries… the doctors did all they could, but they couldn’t save him.
The loss completely shattered both Raymond and Olivia, and they both felt the emotionally agony of feeling like they were shouting underwater as loud as they could to one another. Their efforts were fruitless as all of the sound they managed to get out was nothing more than a hollow hum that could only vaguely reach the other’s ears. The only thing they accomplished was letting the water fill their lungs as they sunk down further and further. Within a couple of years, they both separated with all of the weight of their unspoken words sucking out all of the oxygen. Needing a change of scenery, Raymond moved to Merrock Maine.