Yifan just stares at Sooyeon's back for the rest of the afternoon, thinking over and over again what she had said to him.

Stop being a burden, Yifan.

She had said it so seriously that it had left Yifan feeling a little down. His eyebrows were knitted as he kept on staring at her, with those words echoing in his head the whole afternoon. 

Yifan was used to getting insults that were much more cruel than those words she spoke, but somehow, that simple phrase had made an impact on him. 

Was he really a burden? Was he that troublesome?

Well, Yifan had never really been an easy kid to handle, and he already knew that he was some sort of burden towards his family, especially to his father. But being a burden for others? Now, that made him think and feel a little self-conscious about himself.

Maybe he really was a burden for Sooyeon too, since he technically was her 'responsibility' when they were in school just because the principal assigned her as some sort of guardian for him here. 

She had kept his word, though, unwillingly, she had still kept a look out for him. 

She had even treated his wounds during their lunch break after that nasty fistfight with Yonggun, or was it.. Yongnam? Yongchan? 

He rolls his eyes. Whatever. 

He tries to pay attention to the lesson and look at the teacher, but his eyes.. they're like magnets and Sooyeon is the metal. 

He couldn't help but just think of everything that had happened. From the very start in where she had appeared out of nowhere and stopped the fight all by herself, to when she treated his cuts and put on ointment on his bruises, up to the end in where she had told him to stop being a burden.

All of it, was so new to him. 

Yifan  his lips before he fixes his gaze on the wall clock in their room, practically tearing his eyes away from Sooyeon's back.

The bell rang as the clock read 3:00 and Yifan was the first one out of the room. 

\/|/\

Sooyeon opens the door to their small house and walks into the dark, quiet area that was the living room, and it was surprisingly clean. The lights were all off and it was eerily silent. The smell of liquor lingers in the air as Sooyeon walks towards her bedroom.

It’s clean and everything is well-organized. Just as she had left it this morning. She changes out of her uniform and into some casual clothes before she heads for the kitchen to cook dinner for herself.

“Solgi,” she calls out when she’s there.

Nobody responds, but she still waits.

Sooyeon sighs. “Solgi!” she yells now, two octaves higher than the last time.

But still, nobody responds.

She just sighs again and continues on making some ramen soup for herself, she knows that Solgi already had dinner without her and her dinner is composed of alcohol, cigarette and junk foods. Sooyeon doesn’t bother with the woman anymore, for years, she had tried to tell her that drinking and smoking so much in one day will kill her for sure in the future.

That day still hadn’t come, but Sooyeon knows it will. Sooner or later.

But Lee Solgi is a stubborn woman just like Sooyeon. She just doesn’t listens.

“Oh, Sooyeon,” her foster mother enters the kitchen, a can of beer in her hand. She wobbles over to Sooyeon, who’s cooking. “You’re home early.”

Sooyeon doesn’t say anything, even though she’s annoyed by how Solgi is patting her shoulder over and over again. She clearly is drunk and this only annoys Sooyeon more.

“How was school?” Solgi asks.

“Go back to bed, Solgi.” Sooyeon says, not answering the question, as she puts the lid over the pot but she still doesn’t faces her foster mother.

Solgi frowns behind her. “I’ve told you many times child to call me ‘mother’.” Her voice changes, it has an edge to it now.

You don’t have the right to be called that, Sooyeon thinks to herself. On the outside, she sighs. “Go back to bed.” she repeats.

“You still didn’t answer my question.” She snaps after taking a sip from her beer.

Sooyeon cringes and shuts her eyes for a second, awaiting a slap or a push. Solgi had a bad temper and she was a monster when she got angry. She had already hit and slapped Sooyeon multiple times before ever since Solgi’s husband, and Sooyeon’s foster father, had died. Both of the women avoided the topic of his death ever since, and when Sooyeon had said his name once, Solgi lost it and almost chucked her into a closet. 

“School was fine.. mother.” Sooyeon spits out the last word unwillingly because she doesn’t feel like Solgi is her mother anymore. But Sooyeon doesn’t want trouble again, it’s already been months since the last time Solgi had hit her.

Behind her, the other woman relaxes. “Good, I’ll be upstairs.” She leaves the kitchen.

Sooyeon only sighs in relief when she knows Solgi is out of earshot.

/\|\/

Yifan doesn’t bother to announce that he’s home. Nobody would care anyways.

Still in his uniform, Yifan walks to the large dining room on the west of their house. He just puts his bag on the floor, knowing that one of the maids will get it soon.

His dinner was already on the table. Only his and no one else’s. He would be eating alone again, as usual. Yifan stares down at the plate full of food in front of him when he sits down.

He sighs sadly. “Lijuang?” he calls out to one of the maids, the oldest maid the Wu’s had. She has been serving them ever since Yifan’s older sister was still a baby, she had been the one who took care of the Wu siblings when their parents wouldn’t. But now Yuan, his older sister, was in America for college, Lijuang only had Yifan to look after now.

“What’s the matter, boy?” the old woman walks to his side only a few seconds after being called. Even though that she was only up to his arm, Lijuang still called Yifan ‘boy’, like before. Because she knows that deep inside, Yifan is still a boy.

She notices the bruise on his face and on his hands, and the cut on his pink lips stands out. So do the cuts in his hands. But the woman doesn't ask. 

“Where’s mom?” he asks.

Lijuang frowns and slumps. “She still hasn’t come back home yet.”

“No news?”

She shakes her head. “I’m sorry boy, but no.”

Yifan sighs and nods. “Alright.”

“Do you want me to prepare hot water for your bath?”

He picks up his chopsticks and nods again.

“Don’t feel so sad, Yifan.” The woman ruffles his hair, and Yifan is okay with it if it’s her. But if it’s other people like her sister, he’d be annoyed. “Your mother will come back.”

Yifan only nod, not even expecting anymore from the old lady other than an empty encouragement. 

Lijuang sighs and walk away, leaving him alone in the dining room. Thoughts of his mother clouded his head as he ate. The memories of that night when he and Yuan had heard their parents fighting came flooding back to him. His parents had fought and argued before, but this was different. It was an ugly fight that took place in the living room. It ended with his mom leaving and his dad crying in anger and regret.

He stops eating and sighs sadly, he had already lost his appetite.

/\|\/

 “Sooyeon,” The teacher calls out for her and almost instantly, Jung Sooyeon looks up and sits straight. “Please distribute these papers.”

Sooyeon stands up and walks over to get the checked papers from the teacher. Her eyes look down and the first score she sees is her’s. She has three mistakes and it makes her think; not bad.

She walks around the room, giving the papers to the students, as the teacher discusses in front while the students listen and take down notes. So far, she has the highest score in class.

Sooyeon’s eyes widen when she sees Yifan scores. Only one mistake. She looks at him. He’s not even listening to the teacher. He seemed to be taking down notes, but in truth he’s just drawing and doodling on his notebook. He looks unfocused, bored even. But even though his face was bruised on the right, and his lip had a cut, he still look pretty attractive.

A fact Sooyeon couldn't deny. 

But still, how could he get a higher score than her? With a handsome face like that? 

Sooyeon held back the urge to crumple his paper. She walks over to him instead, calm and collected. She puts the paper down in front of him before walking away, feeling a little annoyed.