Kris found himself waking up on a creaky bed. He sat up slowly and flew his gaze around the room. It was small and old; the walls and ceiling were made of old wooden. There was even a quite big hole on the ceiling, where the sunlight could stream in through. He looked down and found an old blanket covering half of his body. He yawned, stretched his long arms and lazily ruffled his messy curly hair.


"Good morning, gege."


Kris yelped and bounced on his in surprise, eyes wide and hand on his chest. He turned his head and found a young teenage boy smiling at him. Kris was surprised because few seconds before he had found the room empty and the boy hadn't been there.


"H-Hi," Kris croaked. He recognized the boy as one of the two young teens who had dragged him from the street the night before.


The curly-haired boy sat on the edge of the bed and stared at Kris with his curious round eyes, yet somehow Kris could see a glint of concern and worry in those brown orbs.


"Do you feel better now? Does your ankle still hurt?" The boy lifted the blanket and carefully pulled Kris' leg to examine it. He held his ankle and slowly rolled the big foot.


"Ow," Kris winced. "I-It still hurts a little bit."


"Just a little bit?" The boy asked. "Let's clean you first so I can apply some ointment on your ankle again."


The boy stood up and held out his hands, which Kris took as support for him to get up. His jelly legs wobbled and he almost fell back onto the bed, but the boy caught him and held his body firmly.


"You're really tall, aren't you? My head only reaches your armpit," the skinny boy laughed. "Giant gege."


Kris smiled shyly as he encircled his arm around the boy's narrow shoulders and slowly hobbled towards the small bathroom. The boy had put a plastic chair inside, so he could sit Kris on it. He closed the door and proceeded to strip the bigger boy. Kris' face was somewhat flushed out of embarrassment of being exposed, but they had done the same thing the night before anyways, so he let the smaller take care of him. When the boy poured some water on his body, he shivered because of the chill hitting his skin. The younger laughed and patted his back.


While the boy was rubbing Kris' body, he grinned and commented, "You're really big, gege."


Kris chuckled and bowed his head. "You've said that many times."


"That's because you're really big."


"And you're really small." Kris lifted his head again and smiled at the boy. "Say, we don't even know each other's names yet you're treating me like this."


With his hands still working on the other's body, the boy smiled brightly and said, "I'm Wei Bao, but I'm used to be called Bao only. My sister's name is Wei Biyu. What's yours, gege?"


Kris lowered his gaze and sighed quietly. "I'm Wu Yi Fan."


Bao noticed that the other wasn't smiling anymore, so he tried to ask about something else. "How old are you, gege? You still look pretty young."


"Do I? I'm nineteen," Kris smiled again, but Bao thought that smile wasn't real because he couldn't see his pink gum. "How about you and your sister?"


"I'm sixteen, she's fourteen." Bao didn't ask any further until he was done cleaning all parts of the giant. As he poured a big amount of cold water on the other's head, he mumbled, "You seem troubled."


Kris gasped and wiped his face. He felt like shrinking because of the chill. "I guess I am."


Bao dried the other with a clean towel and wrapped it around his shoulders. "Sorry, we don't have hot water."


"It's okay." Kris stood up with Bao's help, but then stopped the other from dragging him out of the bathroom. "I want to pee."


"Pee then. Oh, do you need me to hold you for that?"


Kris bowed his head and covered his flushed face with his hand. "No. I mean, you're still here."


"What's wrong with it? We're both boys." Bao grinned yet still turned around to let the other finish his business. "I don't want you to slip on this wet floor and hurt your ankle more without me knowing about it."


"Thank you for your concern."


Bao gave the taller boy some old clothes he had taken from the other room. As the giant put them on, he asked, "Whose clothes are these? Can't be yours, right? They're far too big for you."


"They're my father's," Bao smiled. "You can wear his clothes since he's not here anymore."


Kris stopped moving abruptly and blinked at the boy. "Is he...?"


"Yeah. He died five years ago," Bao shrugged. "I'm okay now, don't feel bad about it."


"...But still, sorry to hear that." Kris continued dressing up quietly, busy with his own thoughts. How about his own parents? Did he have parents too?


Bao sat down on the bed and patted it, motioning the other to sit there. "Come here, gege. Let me treat your ankle."


Kris walked to the bed slowly and plopped down next to the boy. Bao applied some ointment on him, which felt really cold at first but then slowly turned much warmer. Somehow Kris felt a little bit better, it didn't hurt that much anymore.


"Thank you," Kris smiled.


A young long-haired girl walked in with a tray in her hands. She placed it on Kris' lap and said, "Sorry, gege. We only have these. Eat well, okay?"


Kris stared down at the tray on his lap. What he saw there were a sandwich and a glass of hot tea, but to him they were food and drink fallen from heaven. He hadn't had the chance to eat the night before, so he was extremely hungry.


He was too happy that he didn't even realize that a droplet of water had escaped the corner of his eyes. The two siblings were taken aback, but then they smiled at each other. Seeing the stranger cry in happiness because of the food that clearly wouldn't be enough to satisfy his hunger, the two young teens had the same thought in their minds.


'Father was right. We aren't the only ones who have hard lives, there's a lot of people out there who are more troubled than us.'


Kris held the sandwich with both hands and stared at it with watery eyes.


"W-Why are you two doing this to me? Why are you helping me? Why do you care so much?" He asked shakily.


Bao patted Kris' back and gave him an understanding smile. "Because our father told us to do so. He said, when we find someone who suffers more than us, we should do what we can do to help them. Being poor people doesn't mean we can't do anything good. He said, by helping people, we would feel better about our own condition and we would be much grateful. Like now, seeing you like this makes us think, 'Although we have very few to eat, at least we're still able to eat twice a day everyday.' So now, we should take care of you until you can live on your own. Our mother has agreed too."


Bao's wise words made Kris feel sad even more. He had been helped by kindhearted poor kids. "Y-Your father must have been a really good man," he stuttered a little bit.


"He was a wise man," Biyu nodded and smiled. "He had made us wise too. Bao gege often talks like him."


"Yeah," Bao chuckled. "Now eat, gege."


Kris gladly brought the food to his mouth, but before he could take a bite he was stopped by a question popping out in his head.


"Have you two had breakfast?" He asked.


Bao and Biyu looked at each other, and then nodded in unison.


"We shared a piece of bread," Bao said. "Don't mind us, just eat it already. Biyu prepared it special for you."


Kris looked hesitant to eat, but then he smiled at the other two and took a bite. "Thank you so much."


After he was done with his breakfast, Bao and Biyu took him out of the house to get some fresh air. At first Kris had some trouble walking properly, but he was slowly getting a hang of it.


"Where are we going?" He asked.


"To the public library," Bao grinned. "Have you ever gone there? Oh right, you've told us that you can't remember anything. We'll show you around then! We can stay there until noon, and then Biyu and I have to work."


"Work?" Kris raised his eyebrows. "You two have got some jobs?"


"We deliver things," Biyu answered cheerfully, "like, anything. Sometimes kind people give us extra tip too. We also get some food or small snacks from them."


Kris was quite surprised, but he quickly said, "Let me help you with your job then."


"Nuh-uh, not until your ankle is perfectly fine again," Bao wagged his index finger and grinned. "At least you have to be able to run."


Kris looked down at his feet and nodded obediently. "Okay. I'll be fine again soon."


At the library, instead of showing Kris some books, Bao and Biyu dragged him towards a row of tables with some identical square things placed on them. They sat Kris down on one of the chairs and also plopped down by his sides.


"Do you not remember what this is too?" Bao asked with a big smile plastered on his face. Kris shook his head doubtfully and blinked at the square thing in front of him.


"This looks like a television but I guess it's a different one," said the eldest of the three.


The two siblings giggled and shook their heads.


"This is a computer, gege," Biyu chuckled. "You can also watch videos here, though. It's connected to the internet."


"Internet?" Kris furrowed his eyebrows. "What's that?"


"It's too complicated to explain. Just watch closely and learn how to use this, okay?"


The two proceeded to teach the older how to use the computer slowly step by step. They even showed him some social networking websites, a video site and many more. Bao taught him how to play online games while Biyu taught him how to make a blog. He liked this one famous blogging platform that even had some famous people as active users on it, he could see their pictures, watch the videos they posted and even read some of the words they shared. Although he didn't know them all, he thought he'd soon know a lot more about people through that site. It didn't take long for him to get addicted to the internet. Sadly they had to stop; beside that they had spent too long there, Bao and Biyu had to go to work.


"What have I done and where have I been all this time, not knowing this magic thing called internet?" Kris shook his head and grinned as they walked back home.


Bao and Biyu giggled and gave each other meaningful smiles.


"You might as well find a pretty girl on the internet and date her, gege. You can get a girlfriend too."


"...Girlfriend?"








That morning a confused Lay was strolling along the street, not really sure what to do. He felt hungry though. Then that he thought about it, he shouldn't have given his sweets to those kids. He didn't have anything to eat then.


After walking for some time, he bumped into what seemed like a crime scene. A big guy was aiming a knife towards an old lady, who was clutching her purse tightly in her hands. Because it was still early, the street was pretty much deserted.


"Give me your purse now and you'll live longer, grandma," the masked guy snapped, while the old woman only responded by shaking her head and taking a step back shakily. She had some valuable stuff there inside her purse.


As a kindhearted unicorn, of course Lay couldn't just sit back and watch. He poked the taller guy's back to get his attention. Surprised, the man turned around and swiftly swung his fist, almost striking Lay on the head; if only the unicorn hadn't had a quick reflex. Lay dodged the fist and stood straight again perfectly.


"Annyeonghaseyo," he bowed and smiled politely.


The guy narrowed his eyes at him, as if trying to find a hint of mock on his face. He didn't find any though. Annoyed that he was bothered, he grabbed the boy by the collar, slightly lifting him off the ground.


"Dude, I'm chinese and this is China. Do I look like a Korean to you?? Look, I'm trying to do my business here, so get lost before I cut your head off," he snapped and tossed Lay away harshly, but the boy quickly regained his balance and stopped himself from stumbling further and falling down.


Lay smoothed his dirty clothes and calmly said in mandarin, "You can't cut my head off with that small knife. Well maybe you can, but it will take some time and the police will probably come even before you finish it."


He glanced at the old lady behind the big guy and wondered what she was doing still standing there and not running away instead.


Suddenly the guy swung the knife towards Lay furiously. The boy quickly jumped backwards, but unfortunately the guy still managed to make a small scratch on his arm. Lay winced and clutched his arm by reflex, but then he widened his eyes as he felt a chill sensation on it. When he lifted his hand a little bit to peek, he surprisingly found no scar on his arm. He gaped and slowly retracted his arm, hiding it behind his back.


'W-What happened...?'


The guy furrowed his eyebrows at the weird gesture of the other, but then the confusion on his face was replaced with a mocking smile under his mask, assuming that the boy was scared because of his new wound.


"What's wrong, little guy? Does it hurt? Feeling like crying now?"


BANG!


Lay's eyes bulged out as he took few steps backward and covered his mouth with his hand in shock. He diverted his gaze to the old lady and unexpectedly found a gun in her grip, aimed directly at his chest. Lay glanced down to his own body and shakily touched the red stain on his shirt.


"M-My shirt..."


Seeing Lay shot before his eyes, the guy dropped his weapon to the ground and slowly raised his hands up in defeat. The lady stepped closer and grabbed his wrists, binding them together with a handcuff that she had taken out of her purse. Suddenly the deserted street became crowded when some men dressed in black jumped out of their hiding spots, dragged the guy away and shoved him into a black car parked not far away. In no time they were all gone like the wind and the street was empty again, leaving only the dazed Lay and the expressionless old lady.


"...What was that?" asked the unicorn boy.


The woman only answered him with a smile as she grabbed his elbow and dragged him away.


Moments later Lay found himself sitting at a dining table, smiling brightly and happily patting his full tummy. He was already clean too, wearing some borrowed clean clothes. The kind-looking old lady sitting across to him at the table chuckled and smiled understandingly as she poured some more water into his glass.


"You really are a lost boy, aren't you?" She jokingly asked, so she was pretty taken aback when Lay nodded after downing all the content of his glass in big gulps. Until then, she hadn't asked anything about the boy, as well as answering his curious questions along the way to her house. She hadn't actually thought that the boy had been lost for real.


"I am. I can barely remember anything," he shrugged, "but thank you so much for taking care of me."


Lay could see a hint of confusion and curiosity on the woman's face, but she didn't ask any further and brushed it off with a smile instead. "Consider it as a reward for helping me earlier. Well, actually I could have done it even without you being there, but you've made it much easier for me, so thank you. Oh, and sorry about your stained shirt, I'll get it washed later."


"Don't mind it," Lay waved a hand and grinned, "you've lent me these clothes anyways. But if you don't mind, may I know who you are? You had a gun and a handcuff in your purse, that's pretty... Cool, I guess? And that gun, yes, it's really cool. For a second I thought you shot me for real, but then I realized I didn't feel anything."


The lady laughed lightly seeing the boy's excited sparkling eyes. "I'm no one, really. I was a police officer when I was younger, though. But they called me again because they needed an old woman as a bait to catch that thief guy earlier. He has killed two people lately. That gun was a gift from my son, it only shoots a soft 'bullet' that pops when it hits something. The bullets contain this kind of liquid that looks a lot like blood. The first time I got that gun I thought it was really silly and useless, but now I understand its function completely," she chuckled. "I will most likely not use it anymore, so you can have it if you want."


"Really? I can have it?" Lay's eyes widened and his back straightened up in excitement. The woman nodded, also excitedly, but then her smile vanished away along with the boy's.


"What's wrong, young man?" She asked worriedly.


Lay shook his head and gave the older a small smile. "I guess I shouldn't have it. I might use it for something wrong in the future. It's a gift from your son, so you should keep it, ma'am. Whether you use it or not."


The lady smiled again as she reached out an arm and softly patted the boy's hand on the table. "You really are a good boy. What's your name again?"


Lay bowed his head and smiled shyly. "I'm Zhang Yixing, ma'am."


The older shook her head in disapproval. "No, no. Don't call me that. You should just consider me as your grandma from now on, since you'll stay here for awhile, if you don't mind? At least until you can remember again."


Lay stood up abruptly and unintentionally banged the table with his palms in surprise, yet he realized his mistake right away and sat back down. He still couldn't hide the shock and amazement on his face though.


"S-Stay here? Are you sure, ma'am- I mean, grandma?" He carefully asked.


The woman giggled hearing the adorable unicorn boy call her grandma. She nodded and grinned, showing off her still-perfect set of teeth. "Yes. Stay, please. I'm a little bit lonely here."


Lay stood up again and bowed many times, thanking the older wholeheartedly and not stopping until his new grandma raised a hand to stop him. He sat back down and gave the other his brightest smile.


"Thank you so much, grandma. I promise I'll be really good," he said. "But, do you live alone here?"


"No," she shook her head, "I live with my granddaughter here. We take care of each other, but because of some reasons it's still pretty quiet here. Well, not always, though."


"Oh, is she here? I thought there were only two of us," the boy crinkled his eyebrows, "why is she so quiet?"


"You'll find out by yourself," the grandma smiled, which Lay thought somehow looked more like a sad smile.


Suddenly came a soft light music from a piano, breaking the silence inside the medium-sized house. The smile on the elder's face turned more genuine as she stood up and took Lay's hand, ushering him out of the dining room.


"Is that her, grandma?" Lay asked as they walked upstairs. He hadn't seen the girl yet, but he assumed she was a really talented one, judging from the flawless music flowing in the air around the house.


"Of course," the older giggled happily. "I love it when she makes some music."


They stopped in front of a door and the grandma patted Lay's shoulder. "There, you should go inside by yourself. Get along with her, okay? Like I said, there's a reason why it's really quiet, so don't expect too much from her. I won't bother you two, so I'll go now. Have fun," she winked and waved goodbye, not giving any chances for the boy to say anything.


Lay gulped nervously and smoothed his perfectly neat shirt before knocking the door ever so softly. The music stopped abruptly, but after few seconds he didn't hear any words coming from the person inside, so he quietly pulled down the handle and pushed the door open a little bit, just enough to poke his head in. What greeted his eyes the first thing was a pretty big room painted in grey and white, and then some musical instruments arranged neatly, and finally a long-haired teenage girl in white simple dress, sitting behind a white grand piano. He noticed that the girl's eyes enlarged when she saw him.


"Excuse me, can I come in?" He kindly asked. The girl looked hesitant, even somewhat afraid, but then she nodded a little bit and bowed her head as the unfamiliar boy carefully closed the door and walked towards her.


Lay stood next to the piano and bowed at the girl politely. "Hello, my name is Zhang Yixing. Your grandma took me here. Am I bothering you?"


The girl bowed on her seat and hesitantly smiled at the other, timidly shaking her head. She locked her eyes on her slender fingers as Lay stepped closer and bent down, clumsily tilting his head to see her face clearly. The boy chuckled when the girl only bowed her head deeper to hide her face.


"You're pretty shy, aren't you?" He straightened up again and turned his gaze to the music sheets on the piano. "You should continue playing that music again, it was really beautiful."


The girl lifted her head a little bit, but enough for Lay to see her small shy smile. She scooted to the side slightly and patted the seat she was seating on, motioning Lay to sit there next to her. The unicorn didn't waste any time and excitedly plopped down on the seat, intentionally sparing few centimeters of space between them in order not to scare the other. He grinned and quietly clapped his hands when the girl placed her fingers on the blacks and whites again.


Instead of playing the song from the beginning, she continued from where she had stopped, so it didn't last too long. Nonetheless, Lay still clapped his hands and cheered when the song ended, truly amazed by how good she was with the piano.


"Wow, you're really great!" He lightly laughed. "Maybe I should consider learning from you. Oh wait, you haven't even told me your name! May I know that?" He politely asked with a kind smile.


Unexpectedly, the chocolate-brown-haired girl took Lay's hand and opened it to write something on his palm using her index finger. They were three chinese characters, which Lay guessed as her name.


"Zhao Li Lian?" He asked, getting a small nod as the answer. He kept staring at the other's face quietly as he got his mind troubled with one question.


'Why did she write it on my hand instead of saying it directly?'


He shook his head when his mind came up with a suggestion, a bad one. But after he had thought about it again, it could possibly be true, so he quietly thought of the right way to ask about it while the other nervously fidgeted with her fingers.


"Umm, Lilian," he called softly, "can I... hear you say my name?"


The girl bowed her head and bit her bottom lip; that alone was enough to tell the other there was something wrong. Lay carefully placed his hand on the other's shoulder, silently telling her through his gesture that it was okay and she didn't have to hide anything. She raised her head and parted her lips, her pretty orbs locked on the other's as if her strength only depended on them.


Lay held his breath instinctively when the other shakily mouthed his name without making any voice. He didn't have any intention to make her feel bad, but he asked again softly, "Can I hear you say it louder?"


Lilian bowed her head again and touched , her eyes somewhat hot because of the tears threatening to come out. Lay noticed it right away and didn't push any further; instead, he patted her back soothingly and tilted his head to let her see his understanding smile.


To distract her, he opened his hand again and asked, "How old are you?"


At first she was hesitant to take the hand again, but Lay ended up beaming when she wrote on his palm again.


"Seventeen? You're a year younger than me then. You look quite mature though. Oh wait, does that sound wrong? I didn't mean old, really. You look young too. Yes, young and mature at the same time," he stumbled on his own words clumsily. It made the girl smile a little bit. Although it was only a small one, Lay was sure that it wasn't a forced one like what she had given him earlier. He grinned at the thought of that; at the fact that he could make someone sad smile again.


"Now, Lilian, would you be kind enough to teach me how to play this as good as you?" He asked cheerfully. He knew exactly that teaching him to play as good as her meant teaching him to play like a professional pianist, and she must be beyond kind if she wanted to do so. But she did it anyways.


Lay watched in awe as the other took his hands and placed them on the piano keys, using his fingers to play the song in much slower tempo. He relaxed his hands and let the other take control of them while he paid attention to the keys. After playing the first part of the song, Lilian stopped moving Lay's hands and taught him how to read a much simpler music sheet instead, by pointing at the notes on the paper and showing him which keys match them on the piano. She explained by writing short sentences on his palm and let him take his time to digest the words everytime she did so. Since Lay was basically a smart one, he didn't find it too hard to understand.


'Train your ears,' she wrote, 'Play a song by hearing, not only by sight.'


Lay beamed and nodded obediently as soon as he got what she meant. He was getting really fond of learning to play the piano. Lilian told him to close his eyes and guess which keys she played. Everytime he asked "This one?" and pointed at the wrong one, the younger would shake her head and repeat it again. But when Lay guessed it right, she would reward him with her sweet eye smile and a pat on his hand, and he would quietly clap his hands and grin broadly in pride of himself. The simple notes later turned into a set of several different notes, which no doubt were harder for Lay to guess, but he only got more excited and curious everytime he got them wrong. He understood the method Lilian was using to teach him then; by practicing like that, someday he would be able to play a song just by hearing it without having to read the sheets.


They were too preoccupied with their little practice that they didn't notice a pair of eyes peeking through the small opening of the door. Their grandma had quietly opened it a little bit to see if her new grandson could make it to get along with the ice princess, and it seemed like everything was going much better than she had expected. She walked away from the door giggling happily to herself, knowing that their house wouldn't be so quiet anymore.








Unlike his usual morning cuddling ritual with Kris, the first thing Tao did that morning was screaming and running around chasing a bald little shaolin boy. The little devil was the cause why he had woken up so early; Tao had been forced to crack his eyes open by the constant nudging of the tip of a wushu stick on his cheek. The first thing he had seen was a scary monkey mask worn by the little boy, and then his shirt and shoes that had moved to the boy's body. The naughty boy had shoved his hands into the huge shoes and he kept waving them at Tao mockingly as he swiftly ran around the front yard.


"Stop running away, baldy!" Tao shouted and huffed as he picked a random small stone and threw it at the boy, almost striking him on the head if only the little one hadn't been fast enough to shield the back of his bald head with the shoes. The boy cackled and bit the laces of the shoes before quickly climbing a tree like a little monkey. Tao managed to grab the hem of his shirt though. With an evil smirk on his face, he tugged the shirt down with all his might, but unfortunately the boy had managed to encircle his arms around a big branch tightly, so what Tao got was only his ripped shirt. As if it wasn't enough, the boy threw the shoes at him and managed to hit him square on the forehead.


Growling angrily, Tao climbed up the tree and cornered the boy at the end of the branch. The little bald one was screaming and laughing at the same time because of Tao's threatening look, yet he was anything but scared. Tao squinted at the boy before pouncing on him in a sudden move, yet the boy was faster to jump off the tree and land smoothly on the ground in a pretty cool monkey pose. Tao almost slipped off the branch, but luckily he managed to hook his legs on the branch right on time before he could fall down, in result hanging himself upside down on the branch stretching his toned abs. His blood boiled seeing the little boy laugh and mockingly point a finger at him, so he let go of the branch and landed on his palms before doing a smooth flip to get back to a perfect standing position on his feet. He grabbed the oblivious laughing boy and hooked his collar on the tree branch yet not letting go completely, knowing that the boy would be choked to death if he did so. He only smiled in victory after he had gotten the cries of apologies.


And then he heard some applause. He turned his head and found a group of kids standing near the entrance of the building watching him in awe.


"He has defeated Douya!" Some of the little ones whispered loudly.


A wise-looking old man with long beard came out and calmly approached the very confused Tao.


"Congratulations, young man. You've passed the test. You can join us for free now," the old man said while his white beard.


Tao furrowed his eyebrows at the much shorter man. "What test? I was only giving this little devil a lesson for disturbing my sleep and stealing my properties," he said as he put the bald boy back down on his feet. "Who are you anyways?"


The man squinted at Tao as he kept rubbing his beard. Tao was starting to wonder if that man kept some stuff in there, like maybe some pet fleas or a hidden wushu stick.


"I'm the principal of this school, obviously. Aren't you here to learn some martial arts? Last night you slept out here so we thought you were one of those poor people who wanted to learn martial arts here but didn't have any money, so we gave you a test to join for free," the man said, still maintaining his calm and wise voice. "You can even stay at the dorm for free. Consider yourself lucky, we rarely do this to help people. Nonetheless, since you have a nice trained body and lots of potentials, you can be a student here."


Tao nodded slowly and eyed the building in front of him. "School of martial arts, huh? Sounds cool. But the test was really strange, you know."


"Handling Douya isn't always that easy. He's like a naughty little monkey," the principal chuckled and patted the small boy's bald head.


Tao glanced at the boy, who stuck out his tongue at him and gave him his mockingly. The panda boy narrowed his eyes as he tried hard to hold the strong urge to kick the .


"Is it his real name? Why do you call him that?" Tao asked to distract himself.


"No. He was an orphan, we found him when he was a baby. He was small and white like a bean sprout so we named him Douya. He's six years old now, but he's still the same bean sprout," the man chuckled again. "What about you? What's your name, young man? Is it Xiongmao?"


"Xiongmao?" Tao raised an eyebrow. "No, my name is Huang Zi Tao, but you can call me Tao. Why did you guess it that? I'm not fat at all, you can't call me panda."


"You're not fat but you have dark circles like pandas," Douya grinned, using his index fingers to draw imaginary circles around his eyes. "You look a little bit green though. Maybe you've eaten too many leafs?"


"Aish, this boy," Tao hissed and balled his fists. "I'm not green, I don't eat leafs! Even if I did I wouldn't turn green because of the chlorophyll, I'm not a plant!"


"You look like Piccolo from Dragon Ball."


"Piccolo?" Tao furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't know what Piccolo was, but he assumed it must be something bad or ugly, because it was the little devil who said that.


"He's a green demon king."


"Aish-"


"He's nice though."


"But, green?? I-"


"Now, now," the principal cut, "let's just get inside instead of arguing about this young man being a green panda. You'll get a uniform so don't walk around like this, okay, Taozi? Oh, and you should go have breakfast with the others too. Later we'll start our lessons."


Tao's annoyed face perked up when his ears caught the word "breakfast".


"Wait, so that means I can live here properly and get everything free? Like, food, clothes, everything?" He asked excitedly.


The principal his beard again and thought about the boy's words. "Yes, but you'll have to share a room. And maybe," he stretched out an arm to touch the tall boy's black hair, "this needs to be cut just a little bit. It's too long. You have to look neat here."


Tao bowed deeply and shook the man's hand with a big smile plastered on his face. "That's not a problem! Thank you so much, sir!"


The principal patted Tao's arm proudly before turning his head towards the group of kids. "Give him a warm welcome, kids."


The kids' nervous faces broke into happy ones as they ran to the new boy and ushered him inside excitedly. They let him shower first and change into his new uniform before dragging him to the cafeteria. Before going there he had thought that the big school on the mountain only had little kids, turned out there were many teenagers like him eating there in small groups. The news of the principal accepting yet another new student for free had spread rapidly, so most of them recognized his unfamiliar face as the said new student. When he entered the cafeteria, he got many curious eyes and even some admiring ones. Everyone there had nice bodies, he noticed. Even the girls looked tough. He secretly thought if he could join one of the groups and eat together, but apparently the little kids wouldn't let him go that easily. He grabbed his food and sat with them while they talked to him about stuff noisily. Despite being hated at the first meet, Douya sat next to Tao and kept staring at him quietly as he ate his food. Everytime the other kids came too close to Tao, the little bald one would lightly push them away to let Tao have his own space.


While he was eating, Tao's eyes unintentionally fell on someone sitting alone in the corner of the cafeteria. It was a teenage boy. Noticing the pair of eyes staring at him, the boy lifted his gaze from his food and looked back at Tao, only for a second before bowing his head again shyly. Tao spent the rest of his time in the cafeteria stealing curious glances at the boy.


It was then the time for the panda boy to choose a room for himself to stay in, and of course, the little boys were arguing about who deserved to have the cool gege as their new roomate better. Douya was the one to shout the loudest among them all.


"No! He will stay with Chen gege and I, and that's final!"


Tao raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar name. "Chen gege? Who is that?"


And so, with a smile of victory plastered on his face, Douya pulled Tao's hand and dragged him to his room. Tao found three beds inside; one covered with toys, one empty, and one occupied by a short-haired boy sitting on it with his back facing the door. He didn't seem to realize that they had entered the room until Douya poked his back, making him bounced on his and swiftly turned around in surprise. Tao recognized his face immediately; he was the boy he had seen earlier in the cafeteria, sitting alone in the corner. Tao flashed him a warm smile, causing him to bow his head and rub his own arm shyly. Douya plopped down in front of the boy and began to communicate with him by moving his hands in gestures that Tao couldn't understand, but then the shy boy lifted his head again and gave him a small smile. He got up from his bed and bowed at Tao politely before moving his hands again at the youngest of the three. Douya jumped off the bed and pulled Tao closer to the other teen.


"Tao gege, this is Chen gege. He is the same age as you. I've already introduced you to him. He can't hear and speak though, so you have to move your hands to talk to him. If you really stay here, I'll teach you how to talk to him! He said he was happy to see you again, you look kind and nice, and he asked if you would stay with us here. You will, right?" The little boy asked with sparkling wide eyes filled with hope and anticipation, which Tao couldn't say no to. The answer to the question was then obvious; not because of the begging puppy eyes, but because of the quiet boy fidgeting nervously next to his bed.


"Tell him I will stay here, definitely. I would love to be his friend."

A/N: next chapter is Sehun and Luhan's part. Don't be hesitant to leave comments here :D Thank you so much for reading and subscribing ^^