The plane landed. He had left behind Korea, and along with it, he had left behind the brothers with whom he had created precious memories with.

But those memories will only hurt you.

He stayed where he was, waiting for the person his meimei had promised to pick him up.

He was nervous as hell. He barely spoke English, and these people did not speak Chinese. The only person he knew was his meimei, and she was in school at that moment.

Someone walked up to him and offered him a cab, but he politely declined. She'd warned him to be wary of cab drivers. The drivers were not always good people with good intentions. Sometimes, they plotted and stole from unsuspecting passengers.

"Hangeng?" a tall, gangly young man asked in Mandarin as he approached Hangeng. He nodded in response. "Nice to meet you, I'm Jeff, Mei's cousin. She asked me to pick you up."

Hangeng found it curious that her cousin had referred to her as Mei, and not by her given name. He shrugged it off, however, since he saw the similarities between the two of them. With an internal laugh, he noted that he also shared her broken Mandarin.

"Sorry, Hangeng, but you're going to have to wait until after work," he apologized. "Don't worry, I'll send you straight there."

"Thank you," he responded, and quietly tucked himself into a corner of the office and busied himself with a book.

Time passed quickly, and soon, office hours were over. Jeff kindly brought Hangeng home.

"This one," Jeff pointed out. "That's where my cousins live. Well, Hangeng, as odd as it sounds, I hope you feel better soon. Mei's not exactly the best at talking to people, but she's nice. Very timid."

"I like to think she just prefers to keep to herself," he said. "Thank you, Jeff."

"No problem. You're a family friend now, aren't you? Treat me like a cousin if you're treating Mei as a sister, got it? I may not speak Mandarin well, but a friend is a friend," Jeff said before allowing Hangeng out of the car. He waited in the car until someone let him in.

Hangeng met the rest of the family, and he seemed to fit in rather well. At least, he didn't look out of place. Like Jeff, the rest of the family was quite tall, though not as gangly as the man he'd met had been.

The thing that made him stick out like a sore thumb was language. Apparently, they were not completely Mandarin speaking, though they all could understand Mandarin here and there. Oddly, he found that rather comforting. At least he knew no one would be able to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Mei, I'm really glad I'm able to get here," he said. "But I feel like I just betrayed the members. I never got to tell them I was leaving."

"I understand," she said. "I'm sorry, I'm causing you trouble."

"No, you're helping me," he smiled tiredly.

"You're tired," she muttered. "You better get some rest. Traveling is tiring."

"But Mei, I just got here."

"And there's time for us to catch up tomorrow. Today was our last school day. I'm free tomorrow, so no worries. Get some rest. It's not good for you."

Hangeng resigned to that. She left him for the night.

"The calm before the storm," she muttered. "Heaven guide him."