Dongho never really liked trying to teach someone something, he was too impatient for it. He didn't want to be rude and begin yelling at her, but he really couldn't take Chunhae's awful pronunciation, it was like she wasn't even trying at all. But, even though her pronunciation was horrific, she got all the verb tenses and sentence structuring correct. So, instead of trying to pay attention, Dongho let his mind wander to other things.

Chunhae seemed to be a part of a very wealthy family, from what he could tell of the size of their house and the furnishing. Everything was very regal and almost sparkling clean, Dongho saw a few maids when he had come in. They were around a coffee table in the living room, from where he was sitting, he could look through an open door and see several of their servants preparing dinner.

If Dongho had been born into this kind of family, if only he could have grown up without any worries like Chunhae, whose only problem seemed to be her English. To have no pain, that would be the life.

Slowly, Dongho's gaze shifted around her family room, glancing at the portraits lining the walls. Altogether, they looked like a happy family. “Is it just you and your parents?” He asked conversationally in English.

“Eh? Uhh...no. I have an older brother.” She answered slowly in English, “But...he...well...” she sighed, placing a hand to where a small silver chain glistened in the light. Chunhae pulled a star charm from her shirt collar and turned it over in her hands, “He's...not headed down a good path right now. And my parents have cut all ties with him.” She explained, but this time using Korean.

Dongho felt he could identify with her brother, he wasn't headed down such a great path himself. Dongho sighed, placing his chin in his hand, “what's his name?”

“Jaeseop.” She answered as he stared at the star she turned over and over in her hand, as if it was something precious.

“Do you miss him?”

“Yes, but I sometimes see him when our parents aren't around.”

“It must be hard.”

Chunhae shrugged one shoulder, placing her necklace back where it rested snugly at the hollow of , “We all have our own problems. We all have secret pains and hidden scars.”

Dongho was taken a back, not by her seemingly perfect English, but by the meaning behind her words. It struck Dongho, right in the chest. It gave him realization, that maybe he wasn't alone after all. He had always figured there was no one who felt like he did inside, like he was useless and a lost cause. Like, he could die right then and no one would care, not even a little. He was a waste of space and air.

Were there others who felt just like him? Was there someone who shared his hurt?

Suddenly, Dongho felt suffocated, like his lungs were closing over, he stood, excusing himself with mumbling of forgotten plans. As soon as his feet hit the sidewalk outside Chunhae's house, he was running. It didn't help his sudden shortness of breath, but he couldn't help it. He hadn't ever run from anything before.

Not his problems, because he always thought it cowardly. He had caused the problems, he should be the one to solve them, right? He didn't want to abandon all of them left unsolved, because what would that do? They'd still be there, he'd still think about them. Running didn't help anything.

But now, he was running. He wanted to keep running forever, never looking back. Because, with each of his pounding footfalls on the pavement, a little bit of the weight chipped off his shoulder. Dongho wasn't paying attention to where he was going, or how long he had been running, or even the fact that tears had begun to stream down his face.

Exhaustion finally took over and Dongho collapsed to his knees. With anguished cries, he pounded the ground hard, feeling the sting of jagged rocks bite his skin, but he didn't even feel it as blood dripped onto the ground, or the pain of the impact on his knees. He coughed and tasted blood, his sobs mixing in with his cries and coughs.

He just kept hitting the ground, shouting in anger, fear, sadness, and exhaustion. Finally, his fist stilled, tears mixing in with the blood on the ground. His heart... his heart wanted to give up so badly, to just end the excruciating pain, and at that moment, it seemed like a good idea.

But his mind wandered back to his helpless and frail mother, dwindling away under addiction and abuse. He had never felt so truly helpless in all of his life.

Dongho stood up on shaky legs, wiping away tears with his shirt sleeves and looking down at his dirt and blood caked hands, which were trembling even worse than his legs. If only washing away his troubles would be as easy as washing the blood from his hands. If only his emotional scars would heal like the wounds he had acquired on his hands. If only it worked that way, there would be no broken people, no lost souls, no hurt, no pain, no loneliness.

No suffering. Everything would be at peace.

Looking around, Dongho examined his surroundings, he was in a parking lot to an abandoned business on the outskirts of town. There was no one. Dragging his feet, he walked back the way he came, trying to empty his mind completely. But, he knew it was useless, for he was perpetually plagued with his worries. Even when he slept, he dreamed of them, never really getting rest, always waking up even more tired than when he drifted off.

He kept looking at the stars, hoping beyond hope that he could spot a shooting star, not that he wanted to actually make a wish, he had made countless wishes, but they never seemed to come true, whoever was up there obviously wasn't paying any kind of attention to him. He just wanted to know that the universe cared enough to at least give him a chance.

Maybe, seeing something as beautiful like a shooting star would give him a bit of hope.

But, the whole way home to his lonely apartment, he couldn't see hardly any stars, the light pollution of the city obscuring his view. Even though he realized that even the most well off people had their own trials, he couldn't help but feel utterly alone as he sat in his house, on the one couch they had. He didn't even bother to clean his hands, he just kept staring at them, blankly.

The door creaked open, and his mother stumbled in, looking worn out. Dongho couldn't bear the fact that he knew exactly what she had been doing then, and why she was like this.

“Dongho, what happened to your hands?” She rushed over, taking his hands into hers. It was the first words they had spoken to each other in a couple weeks, and Dongho looked at his mother. Wrinkles and age lines were covered so carefully by makeup, but Dongho could see through it all. “Dongho, what's wrong, baby?”

Dongho tried to suppress his tears, but a few leaked out at his mother repeated her questioning, and as she pulled him into her arms, his sobbing only got worse. “Dongho, it's all right, it will be all right.” His mother whispered comforts into his ear. Even if Dongho didn't believe her, the fact that it was his mother soothed him. He held her back with all of his strength, not saying anything, just crying.

Even when he thought he had cried enough for the day. “Umma...” Dongho sobbed out finally, “Umma, I love you so much.”

When his mother spoke again, he could tell that she, too, was crying, “I love you, too, Dongho. My precious baby boy.” She choked out.

Confession, I cried while writing this. Gah. I've been in a very melancholic mood lately, and I began writing this and listening to sad songs and then I was suddenly listening to 'When I'm Gone' by Eminem and it was just like....WATERFALL! Argh. Life stresses. TT^TT TT^TT TT^TT TT^TT TT^TT TT^TT TT^TT TT^TT

Ugh. At least I feel a little better now that I've cried. *sigh*

Also, I'm not exactly sure how long I'm going to make Dongho's part, because I have no idea how I'm finishing it...so...I'm just kind of flying from the seat of my pants and typing whatever sounds good. So, please bear with me. >.<

I hope you enjoyed reading this. I think I need a happy story to write...maybe my ElVin? Ugh. I'm really not in the mood for happy right now, maybe I'll just work on the next chapter for this one. *nods* Sounds good. :/