Lu Han held onto the two juice boxes happily while walking back to where Shixun was sitting. Sunny days brought continuous thirst for the both of them, and seeing how Shixun had just saved him, it was only right to treat him on something.

“Here you go,” Lu Han said as he sat beside Shixun on the bench, “some orange juice. You must be thirsty.”

Shixun took it gratefully, eyes gleaming with warmth, “Thank you.”

The sound of chatter swirled together with the songs sung by spring birds and the occasional loudness of the usual busy traffic in this part of the area. Nevertheless, peacefulness was surprisingly easy to find as the both of them held onto their own juice boxes, eagerly gulping down the sweet, cold drink that would give them a much needed boost of energy.

“Do you do this a lot?”

Shixun’s question came quite unexpectedly, cutting through the temporarily haven quite harshly. However, as Lu Han glanced at the other, he suddenly could not feel that regretful for the loss anymore, because Shixun’s eyes shone with a kind of conflicted mess of feelings that only he could give answers to. Without knowing when, Lu Han had unconsciously begun to accept Shixun’s existence and his constant eagerness to ask questions only Lu Han could answer. It might be uncomfortable sometimes, but the thought that Shixun relied so much on his answers made him feel important in some crazy way that Lu Han should not feel. However, for someone like Lu Han, it was important. Having someone rely on him is important.

“Do what?” Lu Han asked before taking another sip from his drink, eyes never leaving Shixun.

Shixun hesitated for a moment before saying, “Selling replica bags or any similar illegal actions.”

“I’ve never stolen anything,” Lu Han tried to defend himself, the juice tasting just the slightest bit bitter all of a sudden.

“But you’re a…”

Shixun looked conflicted, not knowing whether to say the word or not, but Lu Han knew very well what Shixun wanted to say. It reminded him of their first meeting, when mister filthy rich had thrown the hurtful comments at him that were terribly hard to forget.

“Greediness has its limit, you know. I could have you arrested for being a cheat.”

 “Gold-diggers will always be gold-diggers.”

“A cheat?” Lu Han said for Shixun, a small sad smile lingering on his lips, “Or maybe even a gold-digger?”

Shixun’s eyes widened at this, clearly shocked by how easy Lu Han spoke of himself like that. Shixun had no idea how many times Lu Han had heard those words directed to him, and how many times he could not sleep at night while contemplating the correctness of these remarks thrown at him.

“Do you feel ashamed to be with someone like me?” Lu Han asked, the slight shakiness in his voice giving away his pretense that was slowly breaking down.

Embarrassment and shame were not feelings that were foreign to Lu Han. Clearly not, because how Lu Han earned his money required a thick-skinned personality who was able to deal with these feelings appropriately. Lu Han told himself that as long as he stayed true to himself, did not steal or rob or killed or sold himself in order to earn money, he could be proud of himself. Yes, he did sell products for insanely high prices, and he did sell replica bags sometimes, and those were not facts to be particularly proud of, but someone like Lu Han did not really have any other options.

“I just really love money,” Lu Han said, the words more to convince himself than Shixun.

“Nobody loves money,” Shixun said with a frown.

Lu Han chuckled sadly at this, “Those are words only the lucky ones are privileged to say.”

“Why would you want to earn money so badly anyways? Are you that desperately in need of money?” Shixun asked curiously, eyes blinking innocently as he watched Lu Han.

It was not something Lu Han had an answer to. Or more precisely, it was not something Lu Han liked to give an answer to. Because sticking to his argument that he loved money was much easier for him to believe in, and going any deeper would not do him any good. On this world, there were people who lived their whole life for money, earning money and getting money in all ways possible, and Lu Han was merely one of them.

“Who wouldn’t want to earn more money?” Lu Han said while chuckling a little nervously.

Shixun slowly looked away from him, gaze moving downwards until it landed on his juice box. Lu Han noticed that Shixun was thinking, wondering about something. He might be considering what Lu Han had said, or he might be caught into something entirely else – Lu Han would not know. All Lu Han knew was that Shixun looked so refreshingly young as he sit beside him, wearing the same shirt Lu Han had given him after he had woken up. His bangs were slowly covering his eyes while his flawless looking skin lit up with the help of sunlight. He was no perfection, certainly not with the lack of care of his appearance and all, but there was something about Shixun that screamed privilege, luxury… Security only granted to a few.

“You asked me whether I was ashamed…”

Lu Han’s eyes fluttered as he glanced at Shixun’s face again, surprised to hear him talk all of a sudden. There was also the thumping of his heart that was gradually getting louder and louder as he awaited Shixun’s reply to his answer, not very sure whether he wanted to hear it or not.

“I… I can’t accept lying and cheating,” Shixun said softly, “because it just feels wrong,” Shixun looked at him with a careful expression, “Does that hurt your feelings?”

Lu Han smiled softly at this, “You care about my feelings, even when I’m the kind of person you don’t like?”

“Of course!” Shixun said almost immediately, before a soft blush crept on his cheeks as he continued, “You’re my cousin… And we get along well… I… I wouldn’t want to… I…”

Lu Han patted the other comfortably at the shoulder as he spoke, “You’re a good person, Shixun. Someone like you, who is privileged with seeing the world as being more meaningful than merely a place to survive in, is able to have a heart of pure innocence,” He chuckled a little before pointing at himself, “I, on the other hand, will spend my whole life trying to earn as much money as possible, following my calculative mind instead of my heart.”

Shixun looked at him with so much confusion that Lu Han could only laugh a little before patting the other on the head, shaking his head at the other’s innocence.

“It’s better if you don’t understand,” Lu Han merely said, before looking in front of him, “Hey, do you want to walk around for a bit?”

Shixun stopped drinking at this, “What do you want to do?”

Lu Han glanced at him with a smile, “Shopping with the eyes.”

Ever since Lu Han was little, he did not have the privilege to get the things he wanted, no matter how hard he tried and how much his heart longed for it. He could never get the toys he wanted, could never get to taste the candies his eyes were always glued to whenever he walked passed a particular candy shop. He was already a happy child when he was given some sweet, soft bread that certainly was not fresh anymore but tasted like heaven nevertheless in his then small world. When his world was only a neighborhood big, he would always wander around, wishing that one day he would be able to get what he want.

Years later, Lu Han is still hoping for that day to come.

“That looks cute,” Shixun said, pointing at something behind the glass window as they stood in front of a store that seemed to sell all sorts of toys.

Lu Han glanced at it, smiling when he saw it was a beautifully, nearly made plush toy, “It is,” He said, before his gaze landed on a particular toy that reminded him of his childhood.

“Mom, can I get this one?” Lu Han asked as his eyes were glued to the small robot toy on the other side of the mirror.

“It’s way too expensive,” She merely replied before tugging at Lu Han’s arm, “come on, let’s go.”

“But… I want it…” Lu Han said sadly, the bitterness lingering too vividly on his tongue as he spoke.

The skinny woman beside him merely sighed before speaking sternly, “Don’t be such a bad boy, Han. I need to get to work, so let’s go now.”

And with that Lu Han was forcefully pulled away, his eyes glistering with tears as he watched the robot toy getting smaller and smaller on his visual field before it was completely out of sight. And that afternoon and evening Lu Han had spent his time in the foreign small attic above the restaurant his mother worked in, all alone. And in that loneliness, Lu Han could only wonder whether the grey robot toy with the big eyes felt the same.

Neglected and all alone.

“You want that?” Shixun asked curiously as he saw Lu Han’s eyes glued to the light grey robot toy with big, yellow eyes and bright smile.

Lu Han woke up from his memories at this, a little startled at the sound of Shixun’s soothing voice reaching his ears, “Eh?” He said before he was able to compose himself again, forcefully tearing his face from the toy, “Oh, no, I’m too old for toys now, am I not?” He gently tugged at Shixun’s arm, pulling him away from the shop’s window, “Come on, let’s go.”

However, Lu Han could not help but glance once more at the toy, not noticing that Shixun had been glancing at him at the same time.  

»

“Your cousin really knows what he’s doing,” Yixing said as he sat behind the counter, eyes following Shixun’s every movement, “I mean, clearly he must be a genius to be able to deal with Soojung, but look at him. Who would’ve known that putting the flowers on the tables instead of in front of the window would make so much difference?”

Lu Han sighed at this, head leaning against Yixing’s shoulder, “I’ve the feeling you want to exploit my cousin, Yixing.”

“No,” Yixing said before grinning, “I want to fire you and hire him.”

“Yah!” Lu Han yelled loudly, hitting the other on the head, “How dare you?!”

“You can’t disagree with me that your cousin knows what he’s doing, instead of somebody else who just wants to see whether his prince charming is to be found here,” Yixing pointed out, crushing Lu Han’s pride.

Lu Han groaned unhappily at this, “That’s unfair! I’ve been working here for so long, brought this hostel so much happiness!”

Before Yixing could say anything, Shixun was already standing in front of the two, eyes shining with innocent curiosity, “What’s wrong with you two?”

Yixing’s eyes beamed at the sight of an oblivious Shixun, “You’re so cute! I was saying how I should just fire Lu Han and hire you, since you clearly bring more to this hostel than Lu Han has ever done in his entire employee period.”

Shixun’s eyes widened at this, “Don’t fire Lu Han.”

The immediate reply made Lu Han’s heart swell a little. Because Lu Han had known Yixing for so long, he knew that the other was just fooling around. So many times Yixing had said he wanted to fire Lu Han, but in the end Yixing would still embrace Lu Han with all his love and keep him in the hostel. However, Shixun did not know this. And it was cute to see how an oblivious Shixun would react to their inside jokes.

“Calm down, I won’t,” Yixing said, a chuckle escaping his mouth, “he still has a slave contract going on for at least five more years,” Laughter escaped his mouth when he saw the widening of Shixun’s surprised eyes, “Oh gosh you’re too funny. I can’t take this,” Yixing turned to Lu Han, trying his best to keep the tears of joy in as he spoke, “you two just stick around until dinner time. Minseok wants you two to try out the cook’s new dish.”

Lu Han nodded, “Alright.”

The both of them watched Yixing walk away before Shixun turned to look at Lu Han, “I need to go somewhere tomorrow.”

“What?” This shocked Lu Han, “Where do you need to go?”

It might have been only a short period of time, but it was crazily easy to get used to someone’s presence. It was as if you will automatically perceive a presence as something granted. Even Lu Han, who should know better than to take anything for granted, would have his moments of falling into something that is called a routine. A habit. Something that had turned into a part of your life.

“I need to go somewhere in the morning but I’ll be back before lunch time,” Shixun said before scratching his head a little.

Lu Han had gotten used to Shixun sticking to him as glue, being wherever he was, because Shixun had nowhere else to go. It never even crossed Lu Han’s mind that Shixun would eventually get his own plans, his own things to do. It was as if it never occurred to Lu Han that Shixun was a human being too, although with no knowledge of his past, and could build a new life while he was here. He would meet people, and eventually he would not need to stick to Lu Han all the time.

Lu Han felt a lump growing in his throat as he said softly, “S-Sure.”

Shixun smiled brightly at this, eyes turning into beautiful crescent moons, “Great,” And with that he was about to walk away, if not for Lu Han’s quick reflexes, hastily grabbing onto the hem of Shixun’s shirt.

“W-Wait,” Lu Han said as he looked at the fabric of Shixun’s black t-shirt, the realization all of a sudden hitting him that he should buy Shixun a new one because this one was getting worn out and stretched, “where will you be going?”

“That uh…” Shixun said, a little nervously as his hand once again moved to his head, playing with some strands, “I…”

“I’m sorry, I mean, I- No, it’s okay,” Lu Han quickly said, rambling, “I mean, you can do what you want. I just… I was just wondering. Don’t mind it. It’s okay. Just come back to the hostel around lunch time, okay?”

Shixun’s eyes were filled with gratefulness as he spoke, “I will, I promise.”

And while Lu Han watched how Shixun went back to doing some arrangements of the interior design of the hostel, he could not help but feel sadness being overcome by happiness. Because it has been a long time since someone has promised him anything, and although most promises were meant to be broken, Lu Han wanted to believe that Shixun would not.

After all, Shixun had no other place to go.

»

“They’ve successfully executed their mission, Mister Lee,” The older male said as he stood in front of the handsome young man, “and it’ll only be a matter of time before ROYELL will be in turmoil because of the sudden disappearance of their General Manager.”

“Well done,” The awfully young male said with a nod, fingers playing around with the expensive ball point as he continued, “let’s see what kind of show they will come up with. Knowing Do Kyungsoo, he’ll try to hide their General Manager’s disappearance. And probably Park Chanyeol will make some official announcements very soon.”

The slightly grey-haired male nodded at this, “They won’t be able to keep this silent for long.”

“Of course not, because the only person that has the ability to keep ROYELL the top hotel chain of South Korea is Oh Sehun. Park Chanyeol is only good at talking and making connections, but not good enough to make the final decisions,” He spoke while smirking.

“And how about Byun Baekhyun, then?” The older male asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

The confident male clothed in a flawless, dark suit grinned at this, “It’s good that you ask,” He said before pressing a button and pushing the phone against his ear, “Bring him in.”

Moments later Byun Baekhyun stepped inside the room, arrogantly confident but nevertheless showing some respect to the person in front of him, “It’s a pleasure meeting you, Mister Lee.”

Mister Lee grinned, continuing to play with the ball point as he leaned back against his chair, “Well, Byun Baekhyun, it seems the situation you wanted so badly has been created. Now it’s up to you to show us what you’re capable of.”

“Of course, Mister Lee,” Baekhyun said before grinning, “I promise I won’t disappoint.”