Yixing didn't think much of the new kid when he first arrived. He was small, with chubby cheeks and panicked eyes. Minseok reminded the China native of his favorite type of bread. It was weird, but that's what Yixing's mind always went to.

Yixing didn't talk much with the new kid. When the two first met during group, he thought they could be friends. Minseok looked sweet, gentle, much like him. But when the younger told his story, he could see Minseok's eyes change to fear, and Yixing hated that look. He always got that look, the look he hates so much.

Minseok wasn't worth the effort. He's just like everyone else.

As days, and eventually weeks passed, the younger focused on other things. No family visitations were killing him. Yixing had to know how his mother was doing, and being left in the dark meant anything could be happening to her and he wouldn't even know. 

Yixing's mother is in a mental institution. Seeing her own son stabbing her husband, it made her go insane. She couldn't take it anymore. And seeing her son get taken away from her, despite all her efforts, it was the last straw.

The young Chinese boy hasn't been able to see his mother in 11 months. His cousin, Ai, helps Yixing. She visits his mother, and then tells her cousin how his mom is doing. The only time Ai could tell Yixing though, was during visitations. So the boy was slowly going crazy with nerves, waiting for the day Heechul would announce visitations are allowed again.

It was stupid. Just because a kid, a kid who doesn't even live here anymore, did something stupid, they all got punished. That was the worst thing about living in a group home, at least Yixing thought so. If someone did something bad, they all got punished. Apparently it was something Heechul did to teach the boys unity, but it just made them all seem like bad guys.

"Yixing!" The boy looked up from his book, searching around the kitchen to find the owner of the voice that just called out his name. It was Luhan, one of Yixing's best friends. "Yah, get out of those books, it's our turn to cook today." Luhan spoke in his native tongue.

When Yixing first arrived in the group home, 1 year ago to be exact, Luhan was the only other Chinese boy here, so they instantly clicked. And because of that, Yixing and Luhan had begun hanging out at school too. The younger was seen differently when the two became friends. Luhan was intimidating, while Yixing was not. 

The younger became fascinated with the older boy. The first time he told his story during group, when all the other boys looked at Yixing with fear and/or disgust, Luhan didn't. The boy had soft eyes, understanding ones. At the time, Yixing didn't know why, but now that he does, he realized that the two were almost the same in how they grew up. Almost.

Yixing lost a lot of his good friends when he started to hang with Luhan, but he gained many new ones too. The gentle kid didn't appreciate this change, but once the school found out what he had done to his father, word went around. People feared him, his friends hated him. But they didn't understand. They never thought to wonder why Yixing did what he did. Why the kind and sweet boy deliberately took a knife and stabbed his father. No one ever wondered, not even his friends, and Yixing didn't need all those judgmental stares. Luhan and his gang of friends didn't stare like the others. 

Soon, when Yifan and Zitao had joined the group home, the four China natives became close. Their language bonding them together. The boys didn't stare with those hateful eyes. 

"... Yixing..... Yixing!" Luhan yelled again, gaining the boy's attention this time. "Sheesh! What is wrong with you? I told you we have to cook and you just zoned out for like a good five minutes!"

"I'm sorry." The younger apologized, in a way that always made Luhan feel guilty for yelling so loud at him.

"Whatever. Just put your book away so we can begin cooking."

Yixing followed orders, thankful that it was Monday. Typically, Yixing hated Monday's like everyone else, but since he couldn't see his cousin every Saturday anymore, school was a nice distraction.

The two cooks were thanked for their meal, and everyone ate up. The boys would never admit it, but they loved when Yixing cooked. Not only did the kid cook traditional Chinese dishes, but he was also a great chef. 

Once everyone was done, they started group. But today, it was a bit different. Instead of the quick statements and occasionally scolding from the caregiver because nobody really talked, Heechul informed them of some news that pleased Yixing.

The caregiver informed them that family visitations were back after about a whole month without them. 

Yixing felt a slew of emotions overcome him, his stomach turning in happiness. The Chinese boy unconsciously glanced over to Minseok, his smile wide and bright too. 

"Well, someone's happy." Yixing smiled at Zitao, nodding his head excitedly once they were in their room.

Yixing shared a room with Tao and Yifan, a perfect situation for the three. They were comfortable with each other, and got to speak their native language. Luhan didn't mind either, before Minseok moved in that it. Luhan and his old roommate were the best of friends, but when Minseok took his best friends place, Luhan was bitter. He even tried to ask Yixing to trade rooms with him. Yixing found it hard to say no, and Luhan knew that. Thankfully enough, Yifan would always come to his rescue and shoo the older out of their room. 

"I get to see my cousin, Ai! I've been really worried about my mama." Kris stared at Yixing as he explained with joy. Yifan never saw the dimple smile so bright before. It took his breath away. 

"It's time to turn off the lights." Kris said, his heart beating fast. Before the two others could even respond, the boy already made the room pitch black.

Yixing never understood why Yifan was like this. The boy was ice cold, and he never bothered with talking most of the time. He has a somewhat scary, and frightening person. Yet, Yixing never really saw the taller boy look him in the eyes. It was strange, like Yifan tried to avoid looking the shorter in the eyes. Definitely strange.

As the days went by agonizingly slow, Yixing wrote another letter for his mom. He would always write letters, and then he would give it to Ai so she could deliver them to his mom. This time around, Yixing had about 5 letters saved up, and he was now making the 6th one. Zitao would make fun of this every time he saw Yixing writing, but it's not like Tao would ever understand. He actually got to see both his parents.

"Tao," Yifan called out, entering their room with gloves. The boy who was currently bothering Yixing turned around. "You are cleaning the toilet today." 

"What?! But you always do it for me!" Zitao hated cleaning, especially when it came to the more dirtier things. It's kind of funny, considering how Tao turned into a complete whining baby. The bully had such a hard exterior, but he was truly different when he didn't want to do something, or when he was scared.

"Zitao." Yifan said again, this time menacingly. 

"Okay! Okay. Don't get mad." Tao sighed loudly, pushing pass the older to get out of the room.

"Thanks, Yifan." Yixing smiled, looking up to the taller boy from where he was sitting on his bed. The other didn't respond, giving Yixing a small nod as his eyes faced the floor, and left.

When Saturday came around, for the first time in weeks, Yixing sprang out of bed. The boy wasn't really a morning person, but he just couldn't sleep.

On visitation days, half the boys cleaned while others cooked. This cycle rotated ever so often. Yixing had to clean today.

"Yah! You stepped on my foot!" Baekhyun clutched the foot Yixing accidentally stepped on when he quickly ran to do another chore. "I know you're excited today, but be careful!!" 

Yixing muttered a quick apology, still not stopping. Yifan watched the boy. It made him smile slightly, but still noticeable, because Yifan hardly ever smiled.

The clock inched closer and closer to 3. Yixing rocked back and forth on the couch excitedly, letters in hand. All the boys were sitting, Heechul giving instructions he would always give when they had visitors.

Families began pouring in, Zitao's parent being the first. They were always first to get here, but also the first to leave. They are busy people, so they could only spare an hour or two being with their son.

Sehun's parents showed up next. They looked like they would rather be anywhere else, and this fact didn't go unnoticed by Sehun.

Then, with a twisting heart and bright eyes, Yixing saw Ai walk through the door. He immediately jumped up to go and meet his older cousin. She gave him a hug, her purse still clutched tightly on her arm. She didn't trust any of these boys.

"Sit, sit." Yixing instructed, taking a across next to his cousin. Out of reflex, the first thing he did was give his cousin the 6 letters he wrote for his mother. She took them, carefully storing them in her purse to give later. "So....." the boy trailed out, biting his lip in anticipation.

Ai laughed. "Relax, your mother is okay." The boy smiled, his heart letting go of a huge, painful feeling. "She's just been a little worried about you."

"Is she feeling okay?" Yixing always asked this question, and he always got the same answer.

"She's good." After talking a bit more about Yixing's mom, with him asking a lot of questions about her welfare, they began talking about other things. 

Ai's eyes trailed behind her cousin, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks. Yixing didn't have to look back to know that Yifan was staring at the pair. Staring at Ai, Yixing reminded himself. His cousin is pretty, not resembling Yixing one bit. Ai has light brown hair, while Yixing has jet black. She's loud, while he's quiet. It surprised the boys when they learned she was his cousin.

Of course, a few of the boys flirted with her, but only one caught her eye. Maybe it was because of their shared heritage, or maybe it was the fact that this boy didn't try to get Ai's attention like some other boys, but Yixing found his cousin taking a liking to Kris.

Yixing was typically oblivious to this stuff, not that it was a bad thing. Yet, the boy noticed how his cousin liked his friend. It would never work out though. Yifan lived in a group home, and Ai is a rich princess. It wasn't meant to work out.

Yixing continued talking, like he didn't notice. 

When the younger cousin had had enough, he glanced back, and like he expected, Yifan was staring. The intimidating male's eyes went wide slightly, then he turned away and went into the kitchen.

"Ai, I'll get you some juice." She smiled in response. Yixing got up, entering the kitchen to face Kris. The taller was facing away, getting a glass of water. "Ge," the shorter went to stand next to Yifan, grabbing a cup from the cabinet and filling it up with juice that was in a punch bowl. The older didn't say anything, he just looked down at his cup. "Do you like my cousin?"

Now, the older's head snapped up almost instantly. "What?" He was shocked at the question imposed.

"I'm not mad, if you do like her I mean. Actually, I think she might like you too."

"Why would you think I like her?" Yifan scoffed

"You keep looking at her. You make it very obvious. You always look at her." 

The older rolled his eyes, taking a sip of his drink before answering. "I'm not looking at her." 

Yixing furred his eyebrows together, confused. "But your always staring over at her, and yo--"

"She's not the one I'm staring at." Yifan cut the younger off calmly. For once, in a long time, Yifan looked down at the shorter, holding eye contact. Yixing grew nervous. He was never looked at this.... intensely before. The older's eyes were different this time. His eyes weren't hateful, like the stares Yixing so often got, but they weren't friendly either, like Tao or Luhan would give him. It was like the taller was looking through him.

"Oh." Gulp. Yixing found it hard to control his breathing, suddenly feeling like the space in the kitchen was so much smaller. Now, he found it hard to look into Yifan's eyes, but he couldn't find the strength in him to look away. "I... I should go." The younger didn't wait for the other to respond, grabbing the cup of juice and scurrying out. 

Yixing had to take a second to catch his breath when he exited the kitchen. He stared at his cousin from across the room. She was on her phone. He just stared, still not entirely sure what Yifan meant when he said he wasn't staring at Ai. Actually, Yixing did know what he meant, but he didn't want to admit it. Maybe he was just confused, reading the situation wrong. No, not even Yixing could believe that. 

When the clock hit 8, and Kyungsoo's mom was the last to leave, they all got ready for bed after cleaning up. Yixing grabbed the book he had been reading all week, sitting on his bed and not taking his eyes off it. It was only him and Yifan in the room, Zitao showering. 

"Yixing." The boy froze when he heard his name. He looked up from his book, not that he was reading, his mind was distracted with the other's presence. "What I said earlier," the boy trembled, glad that Yifan was on the other side of the room. "Just- just forget it, okay? I was high." This was believable. Despite being in a group home, Heechul wasn't paying much attention on visiting days. He went off, trusting that the families would look after the boys. This made it easier for those who didn't have anyone visiting to do whatever they wanted. 

That, no matter how hard Yixing wanted to believe, was not true though. The younger knew how his hyung got when he was high, how red his eyes were and how he reeked of the drug he took. This was different. Yifan, was absolutely not high.  

"Already forgotten." A lie that gave Yixing a bit of reassurance. Yifan nodded, not saying anything else as Tao walked in.

"Goodnight." Yixing whispered when the lights went off.

*****
I hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter! It focused Yixing, and it went into detail about him. Also, a bit of KrisxLay ;) <<33