Luhan collapsed on the sidewalk in the food district, extremely close to where he had landed in the first place. If only he hadn’t left and tried to seek out the entertainment district, everything would have been fine.

                Maybe, by that time, he’d have had a job, or at least somewhere to stay.

                But it was nighttime, probably well past midnight, and he was no closer to finding a job or a home than he had been when he arrived.

               Before he knew it, tears were spilling out of his eyes, and he was sobbing on the street. He didn’t want to be there. He just wanted to be at home.

                He heard the jingle of a bell and looked up, still paranoid that he was being chased, but the thugs were still nowhere in sight. He was relieved that Joowan and Hyun had told him the truth.

                A man, probably not more than ten years older than Luhan, came out of the shop Luhan had collapsed next to, and he looked worried.

                “Are you okay?” he asked. He crouched down next to Luhan, scrutinizing him with worry. “Do you need some help?”

                “I-I’m fine,” Luhan said. He tried to keep his voice steady but he was still shaking with nervousness and homesickness.

                “It’s almost one in the morning,” the man said, “shouldn’t you be at home?”

                “Yeah,” Luhan sniffled.

                “What’s your name?” he asked.

                “Luhan,” Luhan replied, still asking himself why he kept revealing his name to complete strangers.

                “Are you from Diria, Luhan?” the man asked, and Luhan looked at him, nodding. “Your name sounds Dirian. I’m from Diria too! I’m Hangeng.”

                Luhan nodded with a slight sigh. He didn’t know what to say, crouched down on the sidewalk in the middle of the night.

                “Luhan, you really should go home. I’ll walk you there,” Hangeng offered, and Luhan let out a tiny laugh. Oh, if only he had a home to go back to. “You’re laughing,” Hangeng pointed out, and Luhan gave him a miserable look.

                “I can’t,” Luhan replied, tears starting to tickle his eyes again. Hangeng gave him a pitying expression and then stood up.

                “Why don’t you come into the shop and I’ll make you some tea? We can talk for a little while.” Luhan looked at him warily, because the last time someone had invited him in, he’d nearly killed himself getting out.

                Hangeng seemed to notice this concern as it flashed on Luhan’s face, and he smiled.

                “Don’t worry, it’s just a friendly mug of tea between fellow Dirian men,” Hangeng said lightly. “I’m hardly a stranger now.”

                Luhan figured it was better than the alternative of sitting in the road for the entire night, so he nodded and followed Hangeng into the shop.

                It was quaint, Luhan decided, but somehow comforting. The walls were striped light yellow and white, and everything else in the shop followed that color scheme. It seemed to be a dumpling shop, from the looks of the ingredients sitting behind the counter and the menu up on the wall, which Luhan could see after Hangeng had a few lights.

                “Upstairs,” Hangeng said. “The living quarters are upstairs. My assistant Fei lives up here too though, so be a little quiet.”

                “Okay,” Luhan said in a low voice.

                “What kind of tea? Black, green, white, herbal?”

                “Black,” Luhan replied.

                “Cream? Sugar?” Hangeng continued. “Sit down there,” he pointed to a white wooden table and the adjacent matching chairs.

                “Neither, thanks,” Luhan said as Hangeng set a kettle to boil and took out two teacups.

                “So, Luhan,” Hangeng began, sitting down across the table from Luhan as they waited for the water to boil. “You’re wearing colorful scarves and you have a suitcase which is similarly garbed. I’m wondering…do you live in the red-light district?”

                “No!” Luhan cried, and Hangeng turned his head around, presumably hoping that Fei wouldn’t wake up.

                “Do you work there?” Hangeng asked more gingerly. “It’s okay if you do; I’m just wondering.”

                “No,” Luhan sighed, and his brows knit as he remembered the unpleasantness that was the red-light district.

                “Excuse me if I’m prying,” Hangeng said, “but you were sobbing kind of loudly outside. What happened?”

                And suddenly Luhan was spilling the entire story of what had happened. Somehow, Hangeng seemed like someone he could trust and confide in. Hangeng stayed quiet the entire time, nodding as he got up to pour the tea and set it down in front of Luhan.

                When Luhan had finally finished telling the horrific tale, he was weeping again, and Hangeng offered him a handkerchief.

                “So you’re saying you have nowhere to stay?” Hangeng asked, and Luhan nodded as he took a sip of his tea, which instantly calmed his heightened nerves. “You should have said so earlier! We have a spare room in the back, you could stay there!”

                “No, I couldn’t!” Luhan sputtered. “Really, you’ve been so nice to me so far, I can’t just take your spare room.”

                “You could work in the shop too. We’d pay you a little, take out some for rent, and you could help out. Doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Better than working at an club.”

                “Are you sure?”

                “Can you cook at all?” Hangeng asked, and Luhan had a feeling that no matter how he answered, the offer would still be good.

                “Yes,” he said anyway, and Hangeng smiled.

                “Then there’s really no reason for you to go anywhere else,” he said. “Finished your tea?”

                “Uh, yes,” Luhan replied. “You’re sure it’s no trouble to you?”

                “I’m positive,” Hangeng said smilingly. “It’s really no trouble at all. We’ve been needing another hand around the shop anyway.”

                “I…okay. Thank you so much, I promise I won’t let you down!”

                “Excellent,” Hangeng said. He took Luhan’s teacup and filled it again before sitting down in front of him. “So, Luhan. Where in Diria are you from?”

                “Astessa,” Luhan replied, his heart aching for his hometown. “It’s near the Cigonese border.”

                “Really?” Hangeng asked. “I lived near there too, in Trus. What brings you to Acelan? And the capital city too. What brings you to Duven?”

                “A new start?” Luhan offered. “I suppose.” He stifled a yawn, and Hangeng smiled at him.

                “Astessa, huh? You wouldn’t happen to be one of those kids with the powers, would you?”

                “You know?” Luhan exclaimed, then quieted down. “I mean, not a lot of people…”

                “Like I said, I used to live near Astessa. There was a kid from Trus who ended up going to the house because of his power of invisibility a few years back.”

                “That was Mi,” Luhan explained. “I remember when he left. At least I don’t have to explain it to you now. My power is telekinesis.” Luhan stifled another yawn.

                “Do you want me to show you your room? Fei just cleaned it yesterday; it was like we were preparing for you to come,” he laughed. “You look like you could use some sleep.”

                “I—thank you,” Luhan breathed. “I’m so tired.” Hangeng stood and allowed Luhan to follow him into the next room, which was a living room, and the bedrooms were off of the living room.

                “The first one is my room,” Hangeng pointed to an open door, “and the second is Fei’s.” Her door was closed. “This one is yours,” he opened the door of the last room, and Luhan’s breath caught in his throat.

                Besides the color scheme of yellow and white, it could have been his room at home. The furniture looked slightly newer and everything looked cleaner, but there was even a vase on top of the dresser holding a sprig of lavender instead of a thistle.

                “Do you like it?” Hangeng asked kindly, and Luhan grinned for the first time in hours.

                “Yes!” he cried. “Thank you so much.” Hangeng smiled graciously.

                “Sleep as long as you want tomorrow. We’ll teach you the ropes when you wake up, and after that, you’ll start.”

                “Thank you,” Luhan yawned. Hangeng backed out of the room and closed the door, leaving Luhan alone and safe, which was just what Luhan needed. He changed his clothes and didn’t even bother to brush his teeth before sleeping, he was so tired.

                He lay in his bed, his eyes closed and his mind full of thoughts. He was happy that he was spending his night here instead of in the club. He thought back to Xue, and Kai, and even Mingming, and he fell asleep at peace, knowing that they wouldn’t have to worry about him that night.

                Luhan awoke, and for a moment he thought the entire previous day had been a dream. He opened the curtains, and knew it wasn’t his room at home when he didn’t see cracks in the window. The sun shone in, and he gasped when he realized he could see the ocean distantly from his bedroom. He turned to his dresser, where he could smell the faint scent of lavender, something he’d never experienced at home.

                Although, he supposed this was his home now.

                He crept out the door, looking around so as not to disturb anyone. He darted into the bathroom and cleaned himself up before darting back into his room, hoping he hadn’t been spotted in his pajamas. He changed clothes quickly, into proper attire, before going down the stairs.

                With each step he took, the scent of cooking dumplings grew stronger, and Luhan realized he hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast the previous day. He reached the last step and nearly bumped into a woman walking to the back room.

                “Oh! You must be Luhan,” she smiled. “I’m Fei. Geng’s in the front. It’s nice to meet you!”

                “You too,” Luhan said quietly as she continued to the back room. He turned the way she’d come and walked into the shop, which smelled delicious. Hangeng was in the shop, bent over a box of meat dumplings. Luhan cleared his throat, and Hangeng looked up.

                “Luhan! I thought for sure you’d sleep longer than this. The store hasn’t even opened yet!”

                “It’s fine, I’m awake,” Luhan replied. “Uh, so…”

                “Okay. Let’s show you around. We have a lot of different types of food here, but our most famous and most popular are the meat buns. Not to brag, but we’re the best dumpling shop in Duven. Recently, we’ve been getting more popular, so it’s a good thing you came along.”

                “So what am I going to do?” Luhan asked, and Hangeng smiled at him.

                “For now you’ll be handling customers. Oh, don’t look so worried, it’s a lot easier than it sounds. They’ll come in, pick up their dumplings, pay you, and be off. We only have a few tables here so most people don’t eat in the shop. We’ll teach you to make the dumplings once you’ve had enough experience here. Does that sound okay?”

                “Sounds fine,” Luhan replied, looking around.

                “Alright, Luhan, so these are our most popular dumplings: meat buns. We sell probably hundreds of these every day. Then the paste-filled buns we keep here, over there are the sweet buns, the pot-stickers are here, and everything else goes here. Special orders are in the back.” Hangeng pointed to each of the different types of buns, of which there weren’t many yet, since the cooking was still going on.

                “Smells good,” Luhan said, inhaling, and Hangeng nodded with a smile.

                “Thanks. We try, Fei and I. Anyway, when a customer comes, you should introduce yourself, because many of our customers are regulars and will want to know you. They’ll ask for a certain number of whatever type of bun or dumpling. You put them in one of these bags, tell them how much it is—it’s easy to ring up the price on the cash register—and then give them their change, smile, and let them on their way.”

                “Sounds easy enough,” Luhan said. He looked up as the phone rang, and Hangeng grinned.

                “Answer it, Luhan,” he instructed, and Luhan blanched.

                “What do I say?”

                “Galata Dumpling Shop, this is Luhan. How can I help you?” Hangeng said. “Pick it up!”

                Luhan raced to the phone and picked it up, looking hesitantly at Hangeng.

                “G-Galata Dumpling Shop, this is Luhan. H-how can I help you?” he said slowly into the phone.

                “Oh, yes, I’d like to put in a special order of forty pot stickers and five meat buns, please,” the voice on the other end said.

                “J-just a moment,” he said. He covered the phone’s speaker and looked up at Hangeng. “Forty pot stickers and five meat buns!”

                “Ask them what time they’d like to pick them up, and their first name,” Hangeng directs. “And don’t forget to thank them.”

                “What time will you be in to pick them up?” Luhan asked.

                “Is four o’clock okay?” the person asked, and Luhan put up four fingers to which Hangeng nodded.

                “Four o’clock is fine,” Luhan said. “May I ask for your first name?”

                “Minji, but my son Minseok will be coming to pick them up,” she informed him.

                “Alright, thank you very much, ma’am!” Luhan said before hanging up. He looked up at Hangeng questioningly. “Was that okay?”

                “That was great,” Hangeng smiled. “You’re a natural. Okay, so, write down that order just as you received it on that piece of paper. You might notice that we already have a few written down. You’ll be in charge of wrapping those up before the customer comes. Sound good?”

                “How do I do that?” Luhan asked. Hangeng smiled and showed him how to properly wrap the dumplings.

                “See? Not too hard. Okay, Luhan, I’m going to help Fei with cooking, you can start familiarizing yourself with the shop. We open in,” he looked at the clock, which had a face of a happy dumpling on it, “half an hour. I hope you’re ready.”

                “We’ll see,” Luhan chuckled, but he was nervous. Hangeng seemed to sense that and smiled kindly at Luhan before returning to the kitchen.

                Before he knew it, the store was open, and it was harder work than he expected it to be.

                “Excuse me, I asked for pork buns, not beef buns,” a woman said in irritation after Luhan had fixed her order twice already.

                They’re just buns, Luhan thought angrily as he replaced the buns once again.

                “Really,” she said disdainfully, “Hangeng and Fei didn’t need any more help, and obviously you’re not doing a very good job.”

                “I’m really sorry,” Luhan said, trying his best not to make a sharp comment back at her. “I’m new, I just started today and I’m getting used to it.”

                “Well, they should have trained you better before,” she muttered, and Luhan frowned.

                “Here are your buns, ma’am. I think they should be correct this time. That’ll be twenty-five fifty, please.”

                “Here you go, but you don’t deserve half that much,” she spat before rudely taking her buns and departing. Luhan grimaced as he noticed the long line of customers after her, all looking equally annoyed.

                He didn’t see why everyone made such a fuss over meat buns, of all things. Sure, they smelled good, but they were just buns. Meat wrapped in dough. How much more boring can you get?

                And Luhan, of course, hated boredom, but it’s not like he had much time to think about being bored, because the line of customers seemed never to end.

                Finally, after at least eight hours, all the customers were gone, and Luhan sighed. He’d never expected working at a dumpling shop to be such a hard job. He leaned over the counter to exhale, and suddenly he noticed a boy he hadn’t seen before sitting in the corner of the shop.

                The boy smiled brightly and bounded over to Luhan, who really wasn’t in the mood to talk.

                “So you’re new here?” the boy asked. Luhan noteed that his face slightly resembled one of the types of buns they sold in the shop. He looked soft. And therefore, in Luhan’s opinion, very boring.

                “Yes,” Luhan replied in annoyance.

                “I’m Minseok,” the boy continued, obviously not realizing that Luhan really did not want to talk. “What’s your name?”

                Luhan glared at him. He just smiled back.

                How troublesome.

                “Look, I have to lock up the shop now,” Luhan lied, “so you’re going to have to leave.”

                “Oh, well,” the boy said, “I’m actually here to pick up an order.” Luhan sighed again.

                “Name?”

                “Ah, I just told you. My name is Minseok.”

                “Right, okay. Here you go. Fifty-eight even.” Minseok handed Luhan the money, and looked up at him, his chubby cheeks especially evident when he smiled.

                “Before I go, can I get your name?” Minseok asked, and Luhan frowned.

                “I really have to lock up.”

                “Alright, that’s fine,” he said. “I’ll be back tomorrow anyway. We can start over then.”

                Minseok waved as he left, and Luhan came to a horrific realization: his terrible first day was just the beginning. 

A/N: Finally Minseok appears! Yay :) And Hangeng and Fei too! Partay in Acelan. 

Also, I'm moving to college next week, so I may not update quite on time. It won't be more than two weeks though, I hope. 

@chigire: Good reaction kekeke.

@sorrowlicher: You have good instincts :D

@smileyJ04: I'm glad you like it so far! Thanks for reading!

@kitten83: In this Luhan can't read minds hehehe. And he can't control his gift right now, so it's lucky that he even managed to do that much!

@Minnietvxq17: You better run, run, run, run, run :)

@angelsmiles: Kai has never been of strong convictions, it seems.

@bambino: Ahh thank you so much!

@Teeheehaha-ara: He did lol. I love your username btw.

@jodimae28: Yeahhhhhhhhhhhh not one of my best sentences, I must say kekeke.

@PrincessLuLu: Thank you! I hope you continue to read.

♥ Exie