It was friday night, and dinner shift was almost over. Yoseob was working at Yong's Flavours, Junhyung's family resturant as a waiter. There weren't a lot of people at tonight's shift, and the room looked even more empty with the room darkly lit, giving off an eerie feel. Yoseob didn't know whether it was his imagination, but it felt as if some people were staring at him, and he swore that he heard his name once or twice in customers' conversations. However, when he looked behind all he could see was the customers busily eating, avoiding his glance.

"How you doing?" a man asked as Yoseob entered the kitchen with empty plates. He was a tall man, or at least to Yoseob he was. He looked even more intimidating today, with his charasmatic sharp eyes hidden behind his side fringe. Yoseob knew though, behind that scary appearance was a soft-hearted, and kind personality.

"I'm good, thank you Junhyung." he replied politely, scrapping the remaining food scraps into the bin. He could feel Junhyung's eyes on him, but he pretended to not notice.

"You know, I think I might close down the resturant early for today. I have to go meet Hyunseung, and my parent's want an early night today." Junhyung stated, as he tided the suit that he was wearing up. Hyungseung was Junhyung's boyfriend of 2 years, and Junhyung was absolutely in love with him. Yoseob had meet him once, and he was a very pretty man, with feminine features unlike Junhyung's masculine ones. They were the complete opposite, but they seemed perfectly happy that way.

"I'll just clean the dishes, and then I'll pack up the resturant, Junhyung hyung." Yoseob said, as he began to start on the dishes. Junhyung frowned at Yoseob's formal speech, but dismissed it. Yoseob rarely spoke, so when he did Junhyung tried not to say anything that would make him silent again. However, he couldn't help feel a little hurt. After knowing Yoseob for 5 years, he thought that Yoseob might have been comfortable enough to be on friendly terms with him but perhaps not yet.

"Okay, you should head home early, it's going to get dark soon." Junhyung told him, and then said in a quieter voice, "So did you find a place to stay?"

Yoseob stopped what he was doing, and looked at Junhyung in the eye. "I told you hyung, I found a place to stay. I'm fine, you don't have to worry."

Junhyung looked uncertain. He looked at Yoseob's tired face, and said slowly, "well... if you need a place to stay, you know to ask me,"

Pang. Yoseob felt that familiar feeling in his stomach again. Guilt.

"Junhyung hyung, your offer is far too generous. You've done so much for me, getting me this job..." before Yoseob could finish, Junhyung interrupted him.

"I did that as a friend. And I'm not saying you have to accept my offer, I'm just saying that it's always there if you want to think about it. I'm glad that you found your own place." Junhyung said softly, putting his hand on Yoseob's shoulder gently. Yoseob flinched, still not used to gentle pats that Junhyung gave out before relaxing a little. He nodded, and then Junhyung squeesed his shoulder before letting go. "Now, I should be going to meet Hyunseung. Get home safetly, okay?" He waved to him, and Yoseob bowed until he could no longer hear his footsteps. Yoseob sighed a little, glad that Junhyung was gone. Persuading Junhyung that he was okay was often hard; Junhyung was very protective and motherly when it came to things like this. Of course, he had a reason to be concerned, but Yoseob pushed those thoughts away. After he finished washing the dishes and cleaned up, he grabbed the bag of rubbish and turned all the lights off, before locking the doors of the resturant shut. He walked to the bins, and was about to open them when he heard a familiar voice.

"Whatever you say mother, I'm not going to do as you say." he heard Junhyung's firm voice. Listening to his voice, he knew that Junhyung was not far off, probably in the carpark. Yoseob ducked, his heart thudding as he reluctantly listened to the conversation.

"I'm not saying this because I want to, it's for the buisness Junhyung." Mrs Yong sighed. "I like the boy as much as you do, but you saw how tonight's shift was like."

"It's not his fault." Junhyung fiercely argued. "He did everything perfect, no mistakes at all."

"Oh Junhyung, don't you see? It's those rumours about him... they've been spreading to our customers. This is a small town, you know. Word gets on quickly. Besides, people were wary about him even before these rumours."

"But I can't fire him just because of that... I promised myself I'd take care of him." Junhyung said softly. Yoseob heard Mrs Yong sigh, in a sad way. She obviously felt the same way as Junhyung.

"I know you want to protect him, Junhyung....but he's not your responsibility. You have until tomorrow to decide what to do. I'll see you here tomorrow morning." Mrs Yong gave a peck on Junhyung's cheek, before she walked away to her car. As soon as she left, Junhyung gave out a frustrated growl and kicked his car. He was confused about what to do, do the right thing as a friend, or the right thing for the buisness. Soon he drove off too, and when Yoseob was sure that he was gone, he shakily got up from the bins.

They had been talking about him. He didn't feel angry towards Mrs Yong, but instead felt sorry for her. Because of him, she was losing customers when their buisness was already hard enough. Mrs Yong had always been nice to Yoseob, even when she had heard the rumours about him. And Junhyung. Yoseob's stomach sank as he thought of how stressed Junhyung was already, managing the buisness, carrying on his relationship with Hyunseung, and taking care of Yoseob. Mrs Yong was right; Yoseob was not Junhyung's responsibilty. He had already done so much, when Yoseob had nothing to repay him with. Junhyung was a good friend, someone that Yoseob didn't deserve. Yoseob only gave him pain and grief. Friends didn't do things like that.

Walking 'home,' Yoseob mind was filled with sorrow for Junhyung and hatred for himself. When he finally got to the library, it was dark and his feet were starting to blister from standing up and walking all day at work. Sneaking into the backdoor, he quietly tiptoed so if anyone was still at the library, they wouldn't see him sneak into the spare room upstairs. He froze when he suddenly caught sight of the librarian walking nearby, but if the librarian saw him he gave no indication that he had. Yoseob had a slight suspicion that the librarian knew that he was living inside the library, but he was letting him. Yoserob sighed inside; even the librarian was trying to help him.

Closing the door behind slowly, Yoseob looked at his home. A small room around the size of a cupboard, with no warmth or colour but it was still a room. The rom was dusty, and had cobwebs hanging in the corners. He had a blanket that he'd brought himself, and the only other thing he had in the room was his schoolbag from high school. Too tired to get changed, Yoseob covered the blanket over him and shivered at the cold.

The more Yoseob lived, the more he realised that everything that they had said about him was right. He was like a rat, sneaking around for shelter and food. An annoyance, worthless, unimportant. If he disappeared one day, nobody would cry for him. In fact, if Yoseob was gone it would probably be better.

It was at times like this, as Yoseob curled up in a small ball and tried falling asleep, that he wondered if him being born was a punishment, not a gift.