Confessions of a Korean-American Man in New York City

Around midnight on Friday evening, I stopped by my young coworker's birthday party at La Caverna. A lot of twentysomethings have their parties in the Lower East Side because it's simply a younger crowd. I used to hang there a lot when I lived in the East Village and when I first arrived in NYC. I like getting back to that area on occasion. It was mostly coworkers at this girl's party and I like hanging with this crew because they're young and fun. La Caverna is kinda cool because it's downstairs and is in the shape of a cave, complete with wall to wall rock formations. Think of lounging in a bar in a Flintstone's show.

One of my coworkers introduced me to her boyfriend, but introduced me to as the "boyfriend at work." It was initially funny but it became apparent he's the insecure jealous type. Throughout the night, he kept buying me drinks and forcing me to take the drinks. He even forced me to smoke that large lantern looking thing that a lot of old middle eastern men smoke. He asked me questions about my relationship with Nic and I told him that it was purely professional and that I had no idea why she would introduce me to her own boyfriend in that manner. Then he started to get a little rough with a few fake punches that landed pretty hard on my chin and stomach. He was trying to play around pretending we were faux boxing, but the faint punches hurt. I didn't react, and went along with the fun. I was sitting with my coworker who was also experiencing the same thing and he said he got punched in the stomach a few times as well. While he and I were talking, the jealous bf of Nic came over and grabbed the back of our necks, leaned in between us and asked if we liked Nic. Of course we said there's nothing going on and that we respect her as a coworker. A few minutes later, he came over to me and pointed to Nic and said to me, "Go ahead, go home with her. Go ahead and fuck her if you want!" Then he began to leave and Nic followed, but it was obvious she was drunk as she scrambled to grab her stuff and chase after him. I just sat there thinking, "WTF!"

I feel bad for Nic because when she does break up with him, it could get ugly because he's a whack job. Then again, she may be to scared to leave him. Ugh. There are to many crazy and insecure boyfriends out there.