December set in quickly in Seoul, and the weather had been cloudy and cold for a consistency of two weeks. On the first day of their Christmas school break, Leeteuk and Kangin were taking all eight boys to the mall to buy Christmas gifts for their boyfriends. Well, except for Heechul and Hankyung. They’d elected to stay home, since they already knew what they would be doing on Christmas Eve.

          “Hankyung, will you take me somewhere?” Heechul requested.

          “Sure, where do you wanna go?” Hankyung asked.

          “The correction center,” Heechul stated.

          Hankyung froze. “Isn’t that where your parents are?”

          “Yeah,” Heechul confirmed.

          “Heechul, why would you want to go see them, after all they’ve done to you?” Hankyung wondered.

          “I haven’t seen them in four years, and now I feel like I have the strength to look at them and question whether or not they’re sorry for putting me six years of Hell,” Heechul replied. “And the only way I can do that is if you’re there with me.”

          After a minute of hesitation, Hankyung said “Okay.” The two teens climbed into Hankyung’s car and drove over to the correction center. They were escorted to one of the visitation rooms, and asked to sit in one of the cubicles.

          “Your mother will be out in a few moments; just use this phone to talk to her,” an officer instructed, pointing to the phone on the wall of the cubicle. “And don’t worry, that’s bullet and shatter proof glass, so she can’t harm you if she lashes in any way.”

          Heechul and Hankyung nodded before the man headed off to retrieve Heechul’s mother. “Are you nervous?” Hankyung wondered as he rubbed his boyfriend’s back.

          “Yeah, I don’t know how she’ll respond to seeing me,” Heechul muttered.

          “Just remember we can leave whenever you want, so just let me know when you’re ready,” Hankyung reminded.

          “Alright,” Heechul agreed before the two heard the door open from the other side of the glass.

          Heechul felt his heart pound as he watched a raven haired woman sit down across from him and Hankyung, with only a thick piece of glass separating them. She picked up and her phone and awaited Heechul to pick his up. However, the teen just sat there staring at his mother with wide eyes. Four years, it’d been four years since he’d seen her, and age had not been good to this woman. “Heechul,” Hankyung whispered before pointing to the phone. Slowly, Heechul picked up his phone.

          “Hi,” Heechul nervously said.

          He watched his mother smirk before replying “Well, well, after four years, you’ve finally got the balls to face me.” Hearing her voice caused memories to resurface in Heechul’s mind, as he thought back to his childhood. Seeing her son squirm in his chair brought forth a sadistic smile across the woman’s lips. She turned her head towards Hankyung. “Who’s this fine thing with you; is he your new play toy?”

          “No, he’s my boyfriend,” Heechul muttered as Hankyung placed a hand on his back.

          “Boyfriend, so you ended up turning gay huh? Well no surprise there, I always knew you were a little queer; the way you attracted more men than women,” the woman stated.

          “Hey, do not talk to him like that,” Hankyung demanded as he pulled Heechul closer.

          “Hmm, feisty, I like that,” Heechul’s mother replied with a laugh. “If you two have , you better not tell him about your past Heechul, he won’t love you after that.” Hankyung began to fume, but held his tongue for Heechul’s sake. Her serpent-like eyes scanned over her son before she leaned forward and said quietly “Now tell me what you want.”

          “I want to know why,” Heechul said.

          “Why what?” the woman wondered.

          “Why did you spend six years torturing me instead of being a mother?” Heechul questioned.

          “Simple; your father and I needed the money and we knew it’d be easier to use you than to earn it ourselves,” she explained.

          Heechul felt tears well in his eyes as he replied “You mean you drugged me, beat me, whored me out to your friends, let them me over and over and over for six ing years, all because you didn’t want to work for your money?” The raven haired teen stood up slowly.

          “Yes, what do you want me to say Heechul?” his mother asked.

          “I want to know if you’re at all sorry for what you did to me,” Heechul responded.

          After a minute of silence, Heechul’s mother leaned back in her chair, looked at her son, and stated “Yes I’m sorry; I’m sorry that I got taken in when I did. If I had known you’d grow up to be this attractive, I would’ve found a way to keep you longer; then I’d be making big bucks by now and rolling in all the and your father and I could ask for.”

          Hankyung jumped as Heechul slammed a fist against the glass while tears leaked down his face. “You don’t care about me, you’ve never cared about me. I was just a source of income for you,” he muttered.

          “Pretty much,” the woman replied. Looking over at Hankyung, she grinned and added “We coulda added your boyfriend to the menu and upped the price; a two for one sale.”

          Heechul pounded the glass again as his mother laughed. The raven haired teen hit the glass again and again, hoping to break inside and strangle the woman who had hurt him. Heechul punched the glass so hard and quickly, that his knuckles began to bleed. “Heechul,” Hankyung muttered as he pulled his boyfriend away from the window.

          “I hate you, I ing hate you!” Heechul shouted as two police officers came in and escorted him outside.

          Hankyung narrowed his gaze at Heechul’s mother, who was still sitting behind the glass. “You don’t deserve your son; you don’t even deserve the cell they keep you in. And just so you know, Heechul did tell me about his past, and I saw the scars, and you know what? It didn’t matter to me. I love him just the way he is, and his wounds haven’t stopped us from having a healthy, physical relationship,” Hankyung stated.

          “Well it’s good to see that his past hasn’t stopped him from becoming someone else’s ,” the woman spat.

          Hankyung hit his fist against the glass and gritted his teeth. “He’s not my ; he’s my boyfriend and I love him. I take care of him, and protect him, and if for some insane reason you actually get out of here, do not come after him, because I’m not afraid to beat the out of you,” Hankyung threatened. He turned and walked out of the room, and hurried up to his boyfriend. Placing his hands on both sides of his face, Hankyung asked “Are you okay?”

          Tears continue to fall from Heechul’s eyes as he whispered “Take me home, please take me home.”

          “Okay, let’s go,” Hankyung said as he led his boyfriend outside to the car.

          When they got back to the house, Hankyung took Heechul upstairs to the bathroom and began to gently clean the blood off of his knuckles with a warm washcloth. “I knew this wasn’t a good idea,” Heechul muttered.

          “Then why would you want to go see her?” Hankyung gently asked.

          “I thought jail would make her see how bad she was, and make her realize how much she ed up, but I guess I was wrong,” Heechul replied.

          Hankyung reached forward and kissed Heechul’s lips. Leaning their heads together, he whispered “It’s not your fault; you’re out here, and she’s in there. You’re safe Heechul, she can’t hurt you anymore.”

          Heechul felt his boyfriend wipe his tears away before he said “I never thought I could feel safe again, but then Leeteuk and Kangin adopted me and my brothers, and I met you. You made me remember what love felt like.”

          Smiling, Hankyung took Heechul’s hand and kissed his knuckles. He began to slowly slip his fingers under Heechul’s shirt as he asked quietly “Would you like your Christmas present early?”

          Heechul laughed quietly before kissing his boyfriend’s lips again. “Yeah, but you have to wait til Christmas Eve to get your present,” he responded.

          “What time are the others coming back?” Hankyung asked, as they walked into Heechul’s bedroom and shut the door.

          “Three hours,” Heechul informed as he removed his shirt and lie down on the bed.

          Hankyung took off his shirt and threw it on the ground before climbing on top of Heechul. “Perfect,” he said with a smile as they wrapped their arms around one another and kissed again.