MEI doesn’t like confrontations. She’s not good at holding herself together, and keeping herself calm and collected. It’s just the fact of having people in your face, and trying to tell you things that you either don’t care about or already know. Especially when the confrontation involves her plastered against the hallway wall, Jun standing directly in front of her—almost hovering—and Ming Hao beside her, near the kitchen side, and facing her. They want to convince her that talking to that man outside will ultimately lead to something other than an upset of great proportions like she thinks.

The only thing she truly likes about this situation is the fact that she's in the prime position to kick or knee, Jun and Ming Hao in the private sector. Other than that, she feels as if she could swallow herself up and die in a tiny hole—because she hate’s confrontations more so than anything else. Especially when Jun is starring at her the way he is; like he just might swallow her up, himself.

“Mei, this is good. We should hear what he has to say.” Jun mumbles as he dips his head down to her level allowing him to directly stare her in the eye. She seriously wishes, right there and then—that if her hands weren’t so tightly pressed against her sides—that she could sock both him and Ming Hao in the face.

Mei shakes her head, “I can’t.” She lifts one of her weighted arms, and applies it to Jun’s chest. “Please,” Before Jun can say anything else, she pushes on his chest ever so lightly, that it forces him to take a few steps back for her comfort. “This is too much.” Jun almost feels like giving up and pushing that Charlie guy away. Thankfully, Ming Hao steps in for him.

“Look, come ten years from now, you’ll regret never listening to that guy out there. Trust me.” He grips Mei by the shoulder’s, and brings his gaze down to where he’s at eye line with her. “Why don’t Jun and I talk to him, and you stay in the kitchen, hiding? We’ll ask the questions.” Mei didn’t expect Ming Hao to stand up for her as much as he did just now, but it almost forces her to agree and crawl into the kitchen to hide behind the many cabinets. Why go against someone who's trying to help you?

Jun is the one to answer the door; one hand shoved into his jean pocket, the other shaking as it sits on the handle. He’s both interested in what the man may say, and angry for putting Mei in this type of situation. Ming Hao on the other hand is just plain pissed off, for one reason and one reason only: he hates being involved in Mei’s things—including this. He’s not her family, and he’s most definitely not her boyfriend (technically, in his mind, Jun fills that position). So, why should he be involved with something like this?

Charlie Wang is handsome—it’s the first thing that sticks out about him. Perfectly sculpted auburn hair, blazing chocolate brown eyes, thin pink lips, smooth tan skin, and a black and white suit that outlines his muscles. The second thing that sticks out about him, is the police badge clipped onto his thin black belt. He looks nowhere near his age of forty-five. He looks like he could be ten years younger than that. Thirty-seven at the most. “Is Zhao Mei Fen here?” His voice comes out gruff and filled with authority.

“No, who are you?” Ming Hao spits while crossing his arms.

Charlie glances in his direction, away from a nervous Jun, and has to bite his tongue to hold himself from rolling his eyes. He finds the two very immature. “My name is Charlie Wang; I’m a police officer in Taiyuan, China.” He snaps his head back over towards Jun, and lets a small smirk form in the corner of his lips. “Where you’re from, Wen Jun Hui.” Needless to say, Jun’s eyes bulge. He understands he hasn’t changed much—his hair is a bit shorter than before, and his eyes are a bit bigger—but he’s never met this officer in his life. Only that day at school, but they didn’t interact with each other nor did they know each other through connections.

So, how does he know Jun?

“I know Mei’s here, where is she?” He doesn’t give time for either of the two awestruck boys to answer, as he pushes past them and searches the living room. Mei snaps a hand over and plasters herself into the corner as he travels down the hallway into both Jun and Ming Hao’s room—calling for her. After not finding her there, he checks the bathroom before taking a step into her room with Jun and Ming Hao following afterwards.

Jun is the first to answer at the sight of the girl's room, “It’s not what it looks like! It’s his sister.” He flicks his finger toward Ming Hao who nods his head in agreement; even though he doesn’t have a sister. Charlie glances over his shoulder at them—giving them an unconvinced look—before heading out of her room. It’s not hard to figure out what happens next. As he’s making his way down the hallway, he spots her, crouched down in the kitchen. Her head is buried in between her knees, and her arms around her legs which are pulled tightly to her chest. He assumes that she’s done that a lot—especially when she was younger. A sort of protective stance, like an armadillo when it curls into a ball to protect itself from predators.

Before Charlie can take one more step toward Mei, Jun is there. His face contorted into the scariest glare Ming Hao has ever seen on his best friend's face. His arms are spread out wide, blocking any entrance into the kitchen; to Mei. And his stance is more of a warning, with one leg bolstered forward and the other slightly to the right and behind it. “Back off.” The older man puts up his hands as if to say he understands, and takes a few short steps backward.

Ming Hao makes his way between them allowing for Jun to move toward Mei, and crouch down beside her. His hands grip her shoulders, and his breath hits the top of her head—making him known to her. “Mei Fen, let’s talk.” Charlie says after a second of silence enveloping them. Mei looks up at Jun, her eyes pleading and lip quivering—it’s the second time she’s ever shown her vulnerability to him.

Jun glances over his shoulder toward Ming Hao who’s staring back at him. Jun gives him a hardened look, as he tries not to get up and punch the out of Charlie. “Get him out of here.” The younger nods as he twists back to Charlie—this time more serious than before.

“Get out.” The older man goes to reject but Ming Hao is already hauling him out of the apartment with one hand gripping his arm, the other holding tightly onto the side of his black jacket. Once he gets him shoved outside of the apartment he closes the door a little and scowls at the man. “You’re not welcome, so don’t come back.” With that said he slams the door shut and locks it. Of course it doesn’t stop Charlie, from knocking on the door—albeit slightly light—and calling out Mei’s name annoyingly.

Mei’s not quite sure what compels her to do what she does next. Maybe it was the looming thought that her parents might find out where she is, or maybe it’s the pent emotion caught in her chest. But when she finally hears Charlie walk away—far, far away—she falls directly into Jun and wraps her arms around his back. She catches him off guard, to the point that he almost tips over from the added weight, but manages to save them by clamping his hands onto the sides of the counter before letting one of them fall onto her shoulders and wrap around her for comfort.

“Oh, Jesus.” Ming Hao wants to cuss when he walks into the kitchen to see his roommates embracing, only to back out of it to face the other direction. “Next time warn me when you’re going to cuddle on the kitchen floor. It’s disturbing.” Mei moves away from Jun after that, not looking in his direction as she stands up and maneuvers around him. Both boys follow her closely, as she sits down on the couch and lets her head fall into her hands.

The two of them end up taking a seat on the coffee table in front of her, just starring at the top of her blonde head. As if it will magically make her look at them. I doesn't. “I should leave, go back to Italy. I shouldn’t stay here anymore.” She mumbles exasperated. Neither Jun, nor Ming Hao seem bothered by the comment—they were expecting it instead. It’s Mei’s go-to safe comment. 'I should leave.' As if she believes that will make everything better.

“I think it would be better if you stayed.” Ming Hao pipes in with a smug expression.

Mei scoffs, “You thought it would be good to have him come in here, and it wasn’t. So why should I go with anything you say?” Her voice is smooth, like velvet, and sweet—definitely not the tone of voice either were assuming. They presumed her to be mad, and yelling with unjust at the thought of what just happened. She shouldn’t be nice. She should be angry.

“Don’t you understand?” Jun’s voice comes out wavering in anger and stress as he stares at her—beckoning her to look up. “When you’re here, you have us to keep you safe. When you’re anywhere but here, you don’t have us. And we can’t keep you safe if you’re half way across the world.” Honestly, that threw Mei off. Keep her safe? They want to protect her? That somewhat warm, fulfilling feeling that she felt all those months ago, comes back in full swing. It’s odd, she knows people care about her, but to the point that they’ll admit to keeping her safe—that’s different. “Just stay put, and if he shows up again—Ming Hao and I will get rid of him.”

Ming Hao, despite not truly listening, ends up nodding his head in agreement. Because, why not? She’s already somehow pushed her way into his life; why not let her stay for a while? “Can we have dinner now?” The tall boy begged in his whiny, over the top voice. Jun almost wants to punch him in the jaw for being like that, when something huge just happened, but instead he heads to the kitchen and begins to whip up a few bowls of fried rice.

After dinner Mei retreated to her room, away from her roommates, to call Jing Jing and update her about everything. “He showed up, didn’t he?” Is the first thing the brunette says when she answers the phone. Mei wishes to laugh, and play it off like ‘no he didn’t. You’re just paranoid’. She doesn’t want to worry her best friend, especially because her wedding is just around the corner. But, she knows that no matter what—she has to tell her. It’s for the best.

“Yeah, but Jun and Ming Hao made him leave. I doubt he’ll come back, so don’t worry about it.” Mei manages to keep her voice calm and steady—not allowing it to waver in fear of the unknown. The unknown where that man comes back and either tells her something she doesn’t want to hear or tells her parents something which she never wants to have happen.

Jing Jing takes in a concentrated deep breath as she watches Soon Young enter their apartment and take a seat on the edge of the bed—which she is sat on. “I think, I need help.” She murmurs, and it catches her fiancé off guard. To the point that he gets up, and sits next to her—reaching across to place a hand on her free one. “Can you come, here, tomorrow?”

“Yeah, you know I will.” Mei reassures as she begins to stuff things into her backpack. “I’ll leave after work tomorrow.” The two didn’t talk much more than that, nor did Mei want to. She didn’t care as to why Jing Jing wanted her there; she honestly doesn’t mind getting away from her routine for awhile. And maybe, that Charlie guy will disappear and never show up again.

It wasn’t until around eleven at night that the three roommates interacted again—and surprisingly, it was because of Mei. She began to get nervous to the point of scarcity. She believed that that Charlie man would climb through her window and kidnap her in her sleep—or something along those lines. She believed that just as much as she believed that he was the shadows on her walls instead of the shadow of her own body.

She crept into the dimly lit hallway—the only light coming from the balcony window which was left uncovered—before making her way past the living room to come to a complete stop in front of Jun’s door. For a second, she debates whether or not to leave without turning back. To just go straight back to her room and pretend like she wasn’t really scared at all. Even though, she knew for a fact she wouldn’t be able to sleep.

“Mei?” Jun’s voice is groggily and deep in octave when he opens the door at the sound of a knock. She doesn’t seem surprised to see he’s only dressed in a wife beater and a dark pair of plaid boxers. Nor does he seem surprised at her coice of a blue top, and a pair of denim jeans. “Is something wrong?” He asks as he tries to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

Mei plays with the hem of her shirt as she tries to think of the best way to explain what exactly she needs from him. Or, in other words, what she needs him to do for her. “Can, we all, uh—” She pauses to dip her head toward her chest in nervousness. Not exactly to the point of embarrassment, but pretty close. “Can we all sleep in the living room?” Jun, obviously, agrees and helps her set up a few places for everyone to lie down. Jun in the very uncomfortable chair he slept on a month ago, Mei on the couch, and Ming Hao on the floor.

Finally, after Jun hauls a batman onesie wearing Ming Hao out of his room (grumbling the whole way) Mei can finally get sleep. She felt at complete ease, the tension that had built up in her stomach dissipated, and the looming shadows had disappeared from her mind. She knows, that without a doubt, Jun and Ming Hao—or just Jun—will protect her from whatever may be out there. And for once, she doesn’t have to take care of herself—and that’s nice.

She’s the first one to wake up in the morning, like always, and smiles at the sight of her roommates. Ming Hao—still dressed in his onesie—has stretched out all his limps diagonally, with a blue blanket semi thrown over his right leg. He sort of, in a way, looks like a star without a point. Jun on the other hand, is curled into a ball on the couch—drooling, and kicking his foot repeatedly like he’s playing soccer in a dream.

By the time she’s done getting changed, and grabbed herself a cup of coffee—she comes face to face with a drowsy Jun, who has still yet to wake up. Tiredness is glistening in the redness of his eyes, his hair is scruffy to the point it looks like a birds nest, and his clothes are slightly wrinkled from tossing around in the chair and falling off multiple times. When his eyes finally find hers, it almost looks like a weight's been lifted off his shoulders. Mainly because of the small smile that blooms on his face, that dopey smile Mei likes.

“You’re up?” She asks as she places her cup on the table.

He nods, and before she can stop him, he hugs her. Arms lazily wrapped around her waist, head placed crookedly on her shoulder, and feet placed between hers. Mei doesn’t understand the feeling she gets from hugging Jun. A warm fulfilling feeling, maybe even that blazingly happy feeling you get from being overjoyed. She imagines his hugs are closer to that of what couples do on the street—that kind of a hug. What she does understand is that Jun’s hugs are addicting. It’s why she always pushes him away in the end. Because they’re addicting, and she doesn’t want to get attached.

“I’m spending the night at Jing Jing’s.” She says after watching him regain his sanity. Jun’s eyes snap back towards her, as if he believes she’s leaving again. Mei understands why, she’s tried to leave…too many times to count. “I called her last night; she wants me to come down for some reason. I’ll be back tomorrow.” She re-grabs her cup of coffee, and moves around him to sit on the couch and kick at Ming Hao’s side—promptly waking him up.

Jun nods his head, though throws her an untrusting look over his shoulder from where he’s stood in the kitchen. “Promise you’ll be back tomorrow?” He asks while pouring himself a cup of coffee to, hopefully, keep him energized today.

“I promise.” She replies as the youngest roommate manages to stand up before falling onto the couch next to her, his head falling onto her shoulder. “Can you pour him a cup too?” Jun does as she says, and brings it to the exhausted tall boy; who takes it without rejection.

After downing a good amount of the contents, he twists toward Mei with what she thinks is a scowl plastered on his face. “Turn the station to channel eleven.” She quickly grabs a hold of the remote and does as he says, only to see what he wanted: to watch re-runs of Death Note—one of his favorite animes after Black Butler, but before Attack on Titan. “God, sometimes L can be such a little .” He mutters through sips of coffee.

Mei glances between Ming Hao and the TV screen, before getting up and walking around the couch—in order to not block his view, and to not get on his nerves. Seeing as though he did get out of bed late at night to pretty much comfort her. “I’m leaving.” She states while grabbing her key from the banister, slipping into her flats, and heading out the door—all the while feeling Jun’s fixed gaze on the back of her head.

Won Woo greets her at the door with worried eyes, and a brotherly wave of feelings rolling off of him. Almost immediately he beckons her, Ming Yu, and Seok Min to take a seat at one of the booths. “I just want to go over what happened yesterday.” Won Woo begins as he glances in the direction of all his staff members. “Mei, was it something a customer did?”

“No.” She answers, albeit short and not exactly what he wants to hear. He wants to hear something more along the lines of ‘oh, no, it was something with my mother—she died.’ Yes, it’s morbid, but at least it gives an explanation as to why she suddenly left looking terrorized.

Ming Yu’s eyebrows clash together, “Than what did happen noona?” Mei glances in the way of the younger who sits across the table from her—next to his older brother, Won Woo—with his head cocked to the side and his eyes trained just on her. Mei doesn’t know to answer that. It’s not like she can say a cop from her past showed up and tried to talk to her, but she freaked out, so her roommates forced him out of the apartment. That would just force her to explain more—and they're nowhere near the level of closeness she has with Ming Hao and Jun.

“I got a distressed call from my friend, her home was being robbed.” The lie just rolls off her tongue, though comes out a bit distressed—and is a blatant lie. As Jun said, she’s not the greatest liar. But, if the boys did notice, they didn’t say anything.

Instead Seok Min claps his hands together and grabs everyone’s attention, trying to deviate from the convresation of mass awkwardness. “It’s fall season, it’s time to begin our fall drinks.” That’s where the conversation really got interesting. The three boys, and even Mei, began to sprout off ideas about different drinks all outlined around the fall season—one hour before opening. Drinks like: Mexican Mocha, Honey Bee Latte, Cider Soda, Candy Corn Latte, Dirty Chai Latte, Autumn Spiced Toddy, and the ever favorite Pumpkin Maple Latte.

Business went as usual, Mei still begging to be trained while she manages serving drinks and bussing tables; Seok Min with his happy attitude, and punny jokes; Ming Yu flirting up a storm with one of the older patrons; and Won Woo being as calm as ever. Mei didn’t catch a break until around noon, where she finally got to sit at the bar and watch Seok Min annoy the out of Won Woo with all of his corny jokes. One of his favorite jokes being, "If Chemists die, we Barium." Can he barely even say it without giggling throughout the whole sentence.

“So, how’s your relationship with your roommate going?” Ming Yu pipes in as he leans across the counter toward her. Mei trails her eyes over toward him to see a mischievous smirk on his face—as if he’s going to love what he’s going to hear. “Does is he still like you?” He taunts with a chuckle.

She rolls her eyes, “As far as I know, yes.”

“And,” He drags the word out in a whiny voice as he taps his fingers against the tops of the counter. “Do you like him, or what?” Mei watches as he continues to taunt her with his facial expressions.

She rolls her eyes and stands up to stretch her legs out. The minute she stands back up, the chime to the door rings and catches her attention. “What can I get you sir?” Seok Min’s bright smile, and sooth voice rolls throughout the café, and if it wasn’t for the man he was serving—Mei would’ve been fine. There, dressed in a dark shirt, black jeans, and a brown jacket—is none other than Charlie Wang. The sudden fear of seeing him rushes over Mei’s body as she stumbles away from the counter and into the kitchen.

“Something wrong noona?” Ming Yu asks with confused eyes as she grabs for her phone and squats down behind the cabinets. “Mei?” He goes to stand directly in front of her, but she pulls him down before he can do anything else. “What’s wrong?” He questions as she quickly dials Jun.

Mei tries to control her breathing as she waits for him to pick up. It’s almost like she never gets a break. One minute her life is calm, and fine then the next it’s like a hurricane bashed its way in—tearing down all of her protective walls, and the only way to save herself. Not to mention, she still doesn’t understand the real reason behind Charlie wanting to speak. It can’t all possibly be about back then, it’s not plausible. What was his reason for investigating in the first place? What benefited him out of it all? She didn’t know him; he didn’t know her; so why investigate?

Why?

“Hey, what’s up?” Jun answers as he shuts the door to his classroom right after walking out. When Mei doesn’t immediately answer, Jun knows something is wrong; from the heavy breathing on the phone, to the emptiness of where her voice is supposed to be. “Mei, what’s wrong?” Jun knows—he always knows. At least, that’s what Mei thinks. It’s either that, or he’s a psychic, because how does he know something’s wrong with her if she hasn’t said anything. She just doesn’t realize that when nothing is spoken—there’s usually something wrong.

“That man—Charlie—he’s here, at the café.” Her voice comes out mumbled due to the fact her hand is around —it’s a way for her to keep herself quiet. “You said you’d come, Jun.” Mei always seemed strong to Jun. The way she got away from her abusive parents shows that. But, after everything they’ve been through together, specifically all the times she’s tried to run away—he’s beginning to realize, she isn’t as strong as he thought. With this man popping out of nowhere, like a bad habit you try to push away, it’s getting to her; he knows that. And as much as he wants her to become strong—because he knows she’ll leave at some point—he’ll be there for her no matter what.

“Hand the phone to one of your co-workers.” His voice comes out breathy; due to the fact he’s running from his classroom to the parking structure where he’s parked on the third level because all the jackasses of the school parked up the first and second.

Mei fumbles with the phone but shoves it into the hands of a confused Ming Yu who is closely crouched beside her. He stares at the phone in confusion, as if to ask what she wants him to do with it, but when she pushes the phone towards his ear, he sort of understands. “H-hello, this is Ming Yu?” His voice stumbles and shifts an octave higher towards the last word, almost forcing his statement to come out as a question rather than a statement.

“There’s someone in your shop that’s been stalking Mei,” Jun begins; to say the least it catches Ming Yu off guard, but explains why she’s in the state she is. “I know you can’t kick the man out, but until I get there; do you mind watching over her? Making sure that man doesn’t come near?”

“Yeah, I can do that.” Ming Yu ends the phone call, and hands it back to Mei soon after. His gaze stays on her, worrying eyes that give Mei the chills, before he stands up and heads over to Won Woo. “Hyung,” Won Woo doesn’t turn toward him, but beckons him to talk with a slight flick of his hand and a nod of his head. “Mei has to leave soon; I just wanted you to know.”

Once again Won Woo doesn’t turn toward his brother, but only nods his head in understanding. Afterwards he heads back toward Mei, who is now standing in the corner of the kitchen—near the back room—starring at Charlie, who is simply drinking his latte. Almost as if he came here unknowing that Mei works here; but, that's not plausible. “Come on noona.” He takes her by the hand, and leads her directly into the back room of the shop. Once forcing her to sit on the bench in front of the lockers, he takes a deep breath and smiles shyly. “Just stay here, when you’re friend comes—I’ll lead him here, okay?”

“Thank you Ming Yu.” He nods his head at her before leaving the back room and shutting the door tightly. Mei’s not quite sure how long she was sat in there for. More than fifteen minutes, less than thirty. And what she was waiting for, for Jun to enter through that door after forcing Charlie to leave, it never came. Jun wasn’t there to be that knight and shining armor for her, he wasn’t there when she needed him. Instead, her nightmare appeared in front of her—locking the door, and blocking it with a cabinet that was sat up against the wall. She doesn’t do anything, as much as she wants to slug him in the face, she doesn’t. She just sits there, frozen, unprepared for what’s about to happen to her.

Mei notes that he doesn’t have an expression on his face; rather he’s neutral as he takes a seat on the other side of the brown wooden bench. His hair, rather than flat like yesterday, is pushed up with gel—allowing for her to see his slightly wrinkled forehead. He wears dark black shades, covering up his eyes, and partially the bridge of his nose. The right corner of his lip has a small cut—fairly new—and his left ear has a knick on it. Other than that, he looks the same as yesterday: still scary, still overpowering.

“Hello Mei Fen.”

Mei doesn’t like his voice, it’s gruff and a bit honeyed—if she didn’t know who he was, she’s sure that just those words would make her like him—but those aspects of his voice, just proves that she cannot trust him. In a taut voice—Mei replies, “Just say what you want; I’m tired of running.”

“Good, because I’m tired of trying to catch you.” He sniggers as the tips of his lips curve into a sardonic smile. “A man wasn’t trying to steal Jing Hua’s bag four years ago, was he?” Mei keeps quiet; though it’s not like he really needs an answer when he already knows what’s going on. “He wasn’t there for Jing Hua at all, was he?”

She didn’t want to cry, she doesn’t like crying. But when those memories of back then arose in her mind, that stupid garish feeling in the pit of her stomach stormed in, and silly tears formed. In the end, she doesn’t stop him. Hell, she couldn’t stop him even if she wanted to. He would just keep going on, and on. “He was there for you, specifically for your father. I’m right aren’t I?” His humorless smile broadens as he digs his fingers into the sides of the bench. He pauses to watch her: really watch her. To watch as she curls her fingers into the bottom of her cream colored sweater. To watch as she gnaws at her bottom lip. To watch as one tear slips down her cheek to the bottom of her chin. The memory always gets her.

Always.

“Your mom and dad defected to China, did you know that?” Mei stops curling her fingers into her shirt, to stare right at Charlie. Her parents defected to China? They’re defectors? Charlie’s eyes light up when he sees the blatant confusion on Mei’s face. “Oh, you don’t know?” She doesn’t try to clear up the confusion on her face, nor does she try to deny; instead, she lets him continue. “Should I give you the run down?” She doesn’t respond, but he continues anyways. Even if she told him not to, he’d probably continue. “You’re parents were both born in China; Dunhuang, China to be specific. A lot different from where you grew up, hunh? Your parents met when they were seventeen, and moved to Korea when they were eighteen. From there, they traveled to Pyongyang; you know where that is, right?”

He waits for her to answer, she doesn’t. He tilts his head to the right, and narrows his eyes at her before chuckling at the seriousness on her face. “Ah, that’s right; you didn’t get to graduate middle school—and didn’t get to take that geography class you probably needed.” He takes a minute to laugh about it, as if it’s the funniest thing in the world to him. That she didn’t get to finish her schooling. She finds it cruel. She finds him cruel. “Anyways, Pyongyang is the capital of North Korea. Apparently your father’s father—your grandfather—was a factory worker during World War two for the North Korean's. Because of that, your father was treated at the highest status when it came to the songbun system, and so was his soon to be wife—your mother.”

“Your father, right before his nineteenth birthday, joined the Korean People’s Army. By his twenty-forth birthday, he joined the North Korean Special Operations Force. Your mother, on the other hand, became somewhat of a delegate. You see, in the songbun system, there are people referred to as the ‘hostile class’, your mother was the one to deal with all of them. She was one of the ones that decided whether or not a person would betray them, or would become like them. Last I checked she caused two hundred and thirty two deaths of innocent people.”

“When your parents were about twenty-six, they defected back to China.” He pauses to in a breath and lean back slightly to see her face better and more clearly. Now he can see the tears streaming down her face to a cluster directly below her chin. “It doesn’t make since does it? Your parents had everything in North Korea. They were treated like royalty, and your father was in a high military position. So, why would they leave?”

Mei processes it. Her mother was twenty-seven when she was born; maybe they left to have her? That makes since. “Your parents never ‘defected’ from North Korea. They pretended to: it’s called fake defection. Your parents were sent back to China, in order to figure out where China’s loyalty lies: North Korea or South Korea. Of course, the government never knew that your parents ever went to North Korea, they could only track them to the time they spent here: in Seoul. So, they never knew. Technically, they still don’t.”

“Then how do you know everything?”

Charlie grins, as if he’s ecstatic at the fact Mei began to talk. “Because, I tracked down that man who attacked Jing Hua, and you. With a push and a shove, he spilled everything and told me where I could find you. Apparently, he’s been keeping tabs on you and Jing Hua—or, I guess you could say North Korea itself is keeping tabs on you.” Mei’s eyes widen; they’ve been watching her? They’ve been watching Jing Jing? How? Why? She has nothing to do with her parents, not anymore.

“Did that man find out who I am?” She asks hesitantly.

Charlie chuckles and nods his head. “It was very confusing at first, he kept calling Jing Hua—you. But, I set him straight. They have no reason to investigate Jing Hua now, so don’t worry about her. I’d be more worried about myself if I were you. Now, let’s talk about what your father did to you.” Mei shakes her head. If there’s one thing she knows, it’s that she can’t verbally talk about what happened all those years ago. What her parents did to her. What her father did to her. “He abused you, right? I mean, it makes since. He was high up in special ops, and needed someone to crush physically, to make himself feel better. He chose you. And your mother, having had a crucial role in the psychological downfall of many; she chose you to mentally scar as well. You were their punching bag.”

Mei couldn’t stop it then.

The tears flew down her face in such precision, it made her cry harder.  She was their punching bag. She just never realized it. To her, the abuse she received—mentally and physically—was normal. She thought every kid her age was abused by their parents. She thought, society was like that. No matter what you did, it was never good enough. No matter how hard you tried, you didn’t try hard enough. In the end, you deserved the all the pain and sorrow you got. Hell, she thought that behind closed doors that Jing Jing’s parents beat the crap out of her. As a child, that’s what she thought. It wasn’t until she left that she figured everything out—she was exposed to the real world. Where parents loved their children, and praised them for no matter what they did—and rarely yelled or scarred their kids when they did something bad.

“Your father and your mother: are very bad people. Don’t you think they deserve to be thrown in jail? Don’t you think that all the people they killed, and caused harm to; don’t you think they deserve justice? That you deserve justice?”

Jun arrives at the shop thirty minutes after Charlie and Mei’s conversation ends. She’s sat at one of the corner booths, calm and collected. The tears from earlier have disappeared, and her nervousness from before dispersed. Jun firsts looks around the café, trying to find that man; but, he’s nowhere to be found. He goes to Mei immediately after, leaning down in front of her and starring holes into her profile. “Mei, are you okay?”

“He was here, and we talked.” She mumbles, not even daring to look at him.

He stares at her, his face hardening as he reaches over to grab her hand—she lets him hold it. “Why? I told that Ming guy to watch you. He shouldn’t have been able to talk to you. Mei, what happened? What did he want? What did he say? Did he hurt you?” Questions spawned, one after another, with Jun never shutting up. From where Mei was sat she could see Ming Yu, Won Woo, and Seok Min watching them with curiosity. Ming Yu was watching them scared, because he didn’t even notice that Charlie and she had talked until they walked out of the backroom. Charlie disappeared, and Mei sat down unmoving from that booth.

To make Jun stop talking, she stands up—forcing him to as well—and hugs him. Her hands wrapped around his torso, and her head leaning on his chest. She needed for him to shut-up, and it seems that the only way he ever did was when she would do something that was out of the norm: hugging him.

“Mei?”

“I’m just really tired, Jun.” She whispers as he reaches around to pat her on the back. Before he could even dare to hug her back, she pulls away from the hug and stares up at him, “I have to leave for Jing Jing’s.” She doesn’t let him say anything else as she goes over to deal with Won Woo, and her co-workers. Informing them about her needing to go visit a friend, and that she’ll be back as soon as she can. They don’t seem to be mad, or upset—not even indifferent, just understanding.

Ming Hao is stretched out on the couch when they get back to the apartment.  A red blanket stretched over his body, a bag of chips next to him, and anime on the TV. He doesn’t even glance in the way of the two who walk through the apartment door. Nor does he pay attention as Jun follows after Mei who runs into her room to grab her bags.

“Are you sure you want to leave. I mean, don’t you want to talk about it?” He asks as she hauls her bags over her shoulders and grabs her wallet off her side table. “Mei, don't you think you should talk about it?” He tries to grab her arm to stop her—but she bypasses him and leaves for the kitchen with him still calling after her.

Now Ming Hao's paying attention. Forcing hisself to sit up and watch as Jun tries to stop Mei from doing whatever she’s trying to do. “Look, I had a conversation with him, and that’s it.” Mei states as she grabs a granola bar out of the closet and shoves it into her bed. “Now, can you drive me to the bus station—I need to leave.” Jun decides then, that it’s probably better not to mess with her at this moment, and to deal with it when she comes back from Jing Jing’s. It’s probably better that way.

“Okay, I’ll drive you.”

“Is somebody going to tell me what happened?” Ming Hao voices from where he’s sat on the couch. Both Jun and Mei ignore him, as Jun leads her out of the apartment with a slam of the door behind him. “Alright, nobody tell me then; I don’t care anyways.” With a grunt he shifts down on the couch to continue watching his show; not caring what the other two are doing.

d i c t i o n a r y:

• Noona: Meaning older sister/female said only by a younger brother/male.
• Defection: person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty. This term is also applied, often pejoratively, to anyone who switches loyalty to another religion, sports team, political party, or other rival faction. In that sense, the defector is often considered a traitor by their original side
• Dunhuang vs. Taiyuan: Dunhuang is a city like Taiyuan, but Taiyuan is a modern city (think of Los Angeles or Seoul) where as Dunhuang holds values of the old China, being a stop on the silk road way back when, and is not modern at all. It’s also located in a desert filled with sand.
• Songbun System: is the system of ascribed status used in North Korea. Based on political, social, and economic background for direct ancestors as well as behavior by relatives, songbun is used to determine whether an individual is trusted with responsibility, is given opportunities within North Korea, or even receives adequate food. Songbun affects access to educational and employment opportunities and particularly whether a person is eligible to join North Korea's ruling party, the Workers' Party of Korea
• Fake Defection: Often referred to as a "provocation" or "dangle"—in intelligence circles, is a defection by an intelligence agent made on false pretenses. Fake defectors (who may be referred to as "plants”) may spread disinformation or aid in uncovering moles. The risk that a defection may be fake is often a concern by intelligence agencies debriefing defectors.