Prejudice and Desire (Niah & AtypicalTyrant)

Chae Eun-ju moved to the United States when she was just ten years old. It was a decision made by her father, who wanted to live out his golden age of retirement in the US. He had, had a very successful career as a boxer in South Korea, but his chosen lifestyle never seemed to leave him with a lot of spare time. All the training, promotional events and matches, a lot of people wondered how his wife managed to put up with it all. However she loved him and was just as passionate about his career as he was. With such a hectic schedule, the couple put off having children until the time was ready. Which is why her father was forty-five by the time that Chae was born.

Having aging parents meant that Chae often found that she was living for them instead of herself. Six months ago she moved in order to be closer to them, as they had settled down in a town located in another state. Now in their seventies and with her father suffering with the early onset of Alzheimer's, the couple desperately needed their daughter around. When it came to looking for a job in this new town, she needed one that would fit around looking after her parents. She instantly found that a lot of employers just couldn't handle her sometimes erratic timetable and a feeling of hopelessness was beginning to creep in. Then one day she met Rose Callaghan, owner of the local Red Rose Diner. The elderly woman was generous enough to offer Chae a job as a waitress and completely understood about her need to sometimes take sudden time off.

Likewise, Chae was always willing to work a little overtime when Rose needed to go somewhere. Which turned out; was going to be the case tonight. "Are you sure it's ok to close up for me tonight? I know it's a little short notice, but we've had this evening planned for ages and Tommy can't do it because he's going to see Romeo's match." Rose asked Chae, as the Korean woman was wiping down a table inside the diner. "Honestly it's fine" Chae replied with a soft smile. Tommy was Rose's son and Romeo was something of a local celebrity. The boxing scene was quite big in this town, which was probably one of the reasons why her father had decided to move here. A lot of people attended the matches and Romeo was one of the more popular boxers. He seemed like a decent man, in fact Chae had first met him because he had been helping Rose carry her bags back to the cafe one day. He was quite nice to everyone... except for Chae. At first she had thought that Romeo's attitude and rudeness might be due to her being new around here. Some people were suspicious of strangers and all that. However as the months went by, his behavior didn't improve. Nothing Chae did was good enough and no matter how pleasant she tried to be towards him, it made no difference.

Once in a while he would treat her half decently, then instantly seemed to regret it and countered it with his signature bad attitude. Chae really didn't know what his problem was and the situation was even more confusing due to her attraction to the male. It had been an instant thing, the moment she saw him coming into the diner with Rose's bags in his muscular arms. Chae couldn't help but notice how good looking was, plus he was so kind and friendly to the elderly woman. Too bad that kindness didn't extend to Chae. Every time Chae was about to write him off as a lost cause, he would do something considerate and confuse her all over again. Like the time that he gave her ill father his autograph. It had been such a lovely thing to do for an old man who was quite the fan of his. Of course Romeo was soon back to his same old self afterwards and this back and forth was really beginning to give Chae whiplash. Trying her best to shake Romeo out of her thoughts, Chae gave Rose an affectionate squeeze on the arm. "You have a lovely time tonight and don't worry about a thing, I'll make sure everything gets closed up." Chae told the older woman, before going to greet a couple who had just walked in to grab some breakfast.

Romeo Alfieri was tired. It had been a long night, one where he just hadn't been able to sleep like he normally would have. Normally, that wouldn't be much of a problem. But normally, he didn't have a big match that night. Micky Rowan, or Big Mic as everyone called him, was a nasty piece of work. A big guy that had been beating up people his whole life, turning to boxing when he realized he could make money off of his favorite pastime. Romeo was good, easily the more skilled of the two, but Mic was gifted with a pair of naturally long arms and about three more inches in height. It wouldn't seem like much to most people, but in the ring, it was more than enough. It also didn't help that there was something of a beef between the two sportsmen. Mic had fought Romeo in his debut fight, losing by TKO in the first round. There second bout went better, but still left Romeo as the unquestioned victor. It had been two years since then, and now Mic had actually learned how to fight like a pro and put his gifts to work. This left the usually confident Romeo unsure if he was going to be able to pull out a win. All he did know was that he'd likely be sore for the next few days.

With this sense of tension and tiredness, he walked into the place that always seemed to relax him: the Red Rose Diner. Born and raised in this town, Romeo had become familiar with this place from the countless trips taken here as a child with his parents, with his mother after his father had passed away, and by himself when she had followed in her husband's footsteps. Romeo even lived on the same street Rose, often helping her and her husband out when they needed it. All that meant that even though a Starbucks had come to town recently, Romeo refused to get his coffee anywhere else. A lot could be said about the man, but his loyalty was never called into question.

That said, he found himself dreading going into the place more and more lately. It all started half a year ago when Rose had hired a new girl to work as a waitress at the place. When Romeo was told this, of course his red blooded male instincts kicked in. But when he saw her, he was incredibly disappointed with Rose. With all the good white gorls that had been born in this town, why would she hire some yellow-skinned foreigner who probably barely spoke English. Of course he quickly learned she could speak quite fluently, but that didn't change his mind. She was just stealing that job from someone more deserving and qualified. Of course he was a gentleman, or at least tried to be, so he minded his manners as best as he could. On the rare occasion that he did need to address, he even called her Chae, not Chink as his instinctual reaction demanded. Still, he didn't like seeing her. Every time he saw her, he just felt angry. It was so bad that he had even not come on several occasions because he knew she was working there. But today, he needed coffee. So he walked in the front door, hoping it was Johanna working there today. He was wrong.

Chae had just finished jotting down an order and handing it over to Matt, the cook, when the door to the Red Rose swung open. She looked up instinctively with a smile, but it faltered somewhat when she saw who it was, Romeo. The man looked tense and seeing her face clearly didn't improve his mood. Chae found herself grimacing internally, it looked like it was going to be one of those days. Surprise, surprise the male wasn't happy to see her. She swore the look of disappointment stemmed from him hoping that every time he came by; she would have been fired since his last visit. Alas, she was still here and still doing something apparently abhorrent just by existing.

The young woman wasn't the type to see racism in everything. The fact that the only difference between her and the people that Romeo treated nicely was her race, almost seemed to go over her head. Maybe she was naive, always wanting to see the best in people. Perhaps she just preferred to believe that Romeo had an issue with her as a person and not as a Korean. Or it could very likely be that she just couldn't understand how someone could be a good person and a racist. The two just didn't seem compatible to her. Yet without her knowing, that's exactly what Romeo was. Gentleman to all and friend to everyone... as long as you're white.

Chae had to press down the urge to turn around and run, hoping that Rose would take his order instead. Luckily the older woman did indeed greet Romeo instantly. "Well hey there hun, good look for your big match tonight." Rose said with a warm smile and gave Romeo a hug. Rose was very much like a mother to all of the regulars that came in and out of the diner. The town had a very neighborly feel to it, another reason why her parents had probably moved here. Chae went to turn away, but unfortunately that's when her good luck ran out. "Chae sweetheart, get Romeo anything he wants, on the house." Rose called to her, before looking back to Romeo like a proud mama bear. "You do so much for us hun, it's the least I can do!" She insisted in a loving manner, before showing Romeo to his table. Chae walked on over, pulling at her uniform slightly, the male always made her feel uncomfortable. "What can I get you?" She asked sheepishly.