The driver raised an eyebrow as his eyes darted from Guang Mei, then to Kai, and finally back at Guang Mei, “You know him?”

                “He saved me.”

                “Did he get hit in the head or something. Why does he seem so slow-minded?”

                Guang Mei her lips, unsure how to say it without giving away Kai’s identity. Her uncle and aunt would flip out if they knew Kai wasn’t human. Maybe it was better to lie than tell the truth. She knew they would figure it out eventually — her aunt and uncle weren’t stupid after all — but she would stay with the lie for now.

                It would be cruel of her if she sent him back to the organ harvesters. He clearly wanted to be with her, even though he didn’t have the ability to tell her so.

                “Can he stay with us?”

                “Absolutely not!” her aunt exclaimed, “We’re not letting a stranger stay with us!” She crossed her arms and snorted loudly, “Doesn’t he have a home?”

                “Not really.” Guang Mei bit her lower lip, “He won’t be a burden. He doesn’t need food or water. And he’s quiet.”

                “What kind of human doesn’t need food or water? Is he a robot?”

                Guang Mei winced. Damn it, she said too much.

                “I don’t care what you do, just get rid of him. I don’t want to see him in my house.” With a huff, the aunt got out of her seat and headed upstairs.

                “Bó fù…” Guang Mei turned to her uncle, thinking he would be more reasonable but the grim expression on his face caused her to be crestfallen once again.

                “I’m sorry but we can’t keep him. Your aunt really dislikes him. If we keep him, she’ll get mad and I really don’t want her to be mad.” The driver wrapped his hand around Kai’s bicep and steered him out of the house, “We’ll take him to the police-”

                “No!” She placed herself in front of Kai and raised her arms in a protective stance. Her lips quivered as she stared at her uncle with pleading eyes, “Don’t take him away, please.”

                The driver clenched his hands, his jaw tightened as he reassessed the situation. If he complied to his wife’s words, he would be hurting Guang Mei’s feelings. If he listened to his niece, his wife would be angry. There was no middle ground.

                “He can’t stay in the house.” The driver stated firmly, hoping he could knock some sense into her.

                “He can stay in the garage.” she added immediately afterwards.

                The garage wasn’t really a garage. It was actually a small wooden cabin behind the house that the previous owners had built and left behind when they sold the land to Guang Mei’s uncle.  It was mainly used as a storage space for things that were too big to fit in the house. Like an outdated television set from 1995, a broken armrest, and various pots and pans.

                “Fine. Just don’t let your aunt see him.” The driver led her to the wooden cabin. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the copper key and inserted it into the keyhole, “I don’t know why you’re so persistent in keeping him around.”

               “He’s my savior. I owed him.”

               Well, he couldn’t argue with that. Giving the door a heavy push, the driver entered the cabin. He coughed as dust particles attacked his nose. A thin layer of dust coated the surface of the floor and every other hard surface.

               “We need to clean this place up.”

               “I can do it. You should get back to work. You have stuff to deliver to the supermarket, remember?” Guang Mei reminded him.

               “You’re right.” The driver unattached the copper key from his ring of keys and handed it to Guang Mei, “Take this. I’ll see you after work.”

               Guang Mei gave her uncle a wave and watched as he rushed back to his van. She didn’t dare to look at Kai until her uncle was out of sight.

               “Stay near the door while I clean up this place. Don’t go anywhere. I don’t want my aunt to see you.”

***

                Guang Mei held her breath as she patted the dust off the old TV. When it was fairly clean, she went over to the bookcase and removed the dust from some of the books. She let out a breath of relief when she spotted a broom in the far corner of the tiny cabin. Grabbing the handle, she began to sweep the floor. Kai watched her carefully, his eyes following her every move. He wanted to help her but he couldn’t make himself move. Dejected, he stood motionlessly by the door as Guang Mei cleaned and tidy up the place.

                She stopped working when the last bit of sunlight let the horizon. Being colorblind, the lack of daylight didn’t affect her that much. The world was basically a black and white canvas to her. Everything was gray-scale…except for Kai. She’d never believe in fate but her multiple meetings with Kai were too coincidental to not be fate. There was a connection between them and it seemed to be growing stronger with each passing day. He was attached to her and in a way she was starting to get attach to him as well.

                Since there was no electricity in the cabin, Guang Mei had to resolve to using candles and a flashlight with a dying battery. With a crooning wave, she motioned Kai to come forward.

                She chuckled as he hurried toward her and sat down across from her.

               “This is your new home.” she told him. Using the flashlight as a pointer, she shone it across the small room, “You won’t be bored here.  There’s a collection of books here and a couple of board games. The TV doesn’t work since the cabin doesn’t have electricity but TV is overrated anyway.” She smiled at him and pointed at the shelf, “Do you want me to read you a book?”

               To her surprise, he nodded. She could see the eagerness in his light brown eyes.

               Standing up, she went over to the bookshelf to look for a book. There was a wide range of books on different topics and genres from great Greek tragedies like The Oresteia to cookbooks on Vietnamese cuisines. They were all interesting but one book in particular caught her eyes. It was an elementary-level book on Korean. Guang Mei quickly flipped through it to see its content. Her uncle must’ve used this book to learn Korean when he first came to Korea. The book was pretty simple and the majority of the pages were pictures.

               Guang Mei looked over at Kai and then at the book. Maybe she could teach Kai some language skills…since he clearly needed it. If she could get him to speak, maybe she could figure out his origin and his intentions. He was an enigma right now but she was determined to uncover his past and learn more about him.

               Sitting down again, she opened the book to the first page, “Kai, we’re going to learn some Korean now, so pay attention.”       

Author's Note: Bó fù is uncle in Chinese (well technically, it is your dad's older brother. The Chinese family tree is very confusing...there's a different name for every person).