MEI stumbles into the chair behind her, her feet giving out, as she nestles her fingers into her shirt. Her facial expression falls; she’s falling: into a pit of uncertainty as she tries to digest the information given to her. Ming Hao, is Tai Yu. Tai Yu is her half-brother. Ming Hao is her brother. The boy who has disliked her since he laid his eyes on her, is her brother. “Mei, what’s wrong?” Min asks as he notices the despair leaking across her face. “Was it something I said?” He continues as he drops his papers and grabs a hold of her hand, his fingers gracing against the back of it. Mei’s lower lip begins to tremble as tears prick the corners of her eyes, her eyes beginning to turn a tinge of red. Ming Hao’s words ring in her ears as she begins to look left and right.

“I mean, you have the same genes, which equals idiocy, I bet all of your siblings are idiots…” How did she go through these past months without figuring out that they were related? More than related, their siblings. They have the same mother. They look similar, and yet she never put two and two together. How crappy is her intuition? “Mei, you’re really freaking me out—tell me what’s going on.” By now Min has his fingers gripping Mei’s shoulder blades, he’s crouched in front of her with his gaze fixated on hers. He’ll hate me, he’ll hate me more than he does now. He can’t know; he can’t know we’re related.

“Min-ah,” Comes her struggling voice as her fingers grip a hold of his leather jacket. “Say that I know where this Ming Hao is, what happens next?” The older boy’s eyebrows clash together in confusion as he slowly let’s go of her and takes a seat on his chair once again. He grabs a hold of some of the papers in his hands and lies them out in front of her. She glances at them for a mere second, but turns her attention back to Min soon after.

“We’d have leverage against Roe, he’d help us as much as he can in order to receive the information about his son. With the help from him, and Mi Ja—the last thing we’d need, is an invitation.” Mei’s eyebrows clash together as she brushes her tears away from her face in an attempt to push away her weary thoughts. Min points down at the papers in front of her. One’s a rather large manila envelope, and the other two papers have small dark colored words incorporated in what could be assumed is a letter—addressed to Zhao-Choi Min. It’s written in Hangul, but she can outline a few of the words: North Korea being one.

“An invitation to what?” Mei continues as her bandaged fingers run across the words on the page. Min clears his throat rather dubiously, leaving Mei to speculate that what he’s about to say: isn’t going to please her. Though, nothing Min’s said has pleased her, yet.

“An invitation to North Korea,” Min points to the words on the page and continues his talking while Mei stares at him with knowing eyes. What’s not to know in this situation? How do you get away from the North Korean government if you don’t at least meet them first? “It would be a private invitation, only important people enter: General Roe, Mi Ja, you, and me—unless, you have other’s you’d like to include…” Min trails off as his eyes meet hers once more. “A significant other?”

Mei shifts her gaze away from his, a tinge of red burning up her neck to a light pink tint rolling on her lower cheeks. Min doesn’t have to know Mei to know there’s someone in her life. And Mei doesn’t have to say anything to communicate that there are indeed a few more people coming on this private journey to North Korea. “Altogether how many people?” As he grabs a hold of a pen from the far side of the metal table.

“Seven,” She murmurs with a cross of her arms; Min quickly scribbles the information down, along with a bit more. His attention stays on the information at hand while Mei’s travels elsewhere. “Do we ever have to tell General Roe who his son is?” Min’s eyebrows furrow as he glances back at Mei. Ming Hao shouldn’t have to go through what I’m going through. He’s my younger brother, I need to protect him—always protect him. There’s no doubt that the only thing on Mei’s mind, is Ming Hao. Knowing that he’s her half-brother, and is the only person that will convince General Roe to work with them—it’s a bit of a nuisance. Ming Hao’s life has already been hard, she’s known that since he told her of his past and all the things he went through—he doesn’t need to be wrapped up in this.

S e p t e m b e r  2 3

2 0 1 5

S e o u l,  S o u t h  K o r e a

JUN left early in the morning, telling Mei something about the need to finish a project before he reaches his class. It was nearing six in the morning, when Mei finally decided to get up—only a few minutes after Jun trampled through the apartment like a wreck, trying to find his favorite red converse and screaming from wall to wall about how late he’s going to be. Then, he came tumbling into her room, promptly waking her up, and saying he had to go to class earlier. He tried to hug her, but she pushed him away by accidentally slapping him. Thus, in cause, leading her to throw her hair into a bun a top her head, before shuffling out to the kitchen where she begins making coffee.

The past few days have actually been quite nice. She’s been wedding shopping with Jing Jing, talking frequently with Bella, working at the coffee shop better, getting closer to Ming Hao, and being more friendly with Jun. Everything seems to be going on track (except for the small incident last week when she made Ming Hao a chicken casserole and he went crying off into his room like a baby.) Other than that, everything is pretty much okay.

“You’re making coffee?” Mei glances over her shoulder, swishing pieces of fallen hair out of her eyes, to see a onesie wearing Ming Hao tirelessly raking a hand over his face in an attempt to wake up. She smiles, and nods her head as the boy stumbles over to the bar stool—almost falling when he trips on his own feet. “He’s such a busy body,” The boy murmurs as his forehead accidentally smacks against the counter with an ‘oomph’—causing her to laugh. “No one’s that energetic in the morning, no one but him.”

She nods her head in agreement as her eyes slide to the fridge; thinking whether or not to make some breakfast for them. He does have a long day at work ahead of him. “Do you want some eggs, or something?” Ming Hao drowsily nods his head as he leans it on his arm which is lying on the counter in front of him. Mei smiles as she swishes toward the fridge and brings out the carton of eggs—setting it on the island before walking over to the stove and switching it on; grabbing a pan and placing it there to heat up.

A few minutes later, the two roommates sit at the kitchen island, shoving their mouths full of fluffy scrambled eggs and steaming hot coffee. They made little to no conversation; until, a seriously tired Ming Hao began stumbling out sentences full of private information he had never told Mei before. “You know those movies, where the kid kind of feels like they were adopted or something; cause, like, they believed their parents aren’t anything like them?” He stammers as he sips a bit of his coffee in which has tons of sugar in it.

Mei glances at him from the corner of her eye; a confused look on her face as she nods. He chuckles and nods his head as well, “I’m not one of those kids,” He sticks another batch of egg in his mouth before he leans his head on his hand and twists to look at Mei. “My biological parents gave me up once I was born, and I was adopted by my lovely parents when I was three months old from a nursery here in South Korea. By the time I was nearing the age of two, we moved to my hometown of Taipei—I don’t remember anything before then. My adopted parents decided they didn’t want to keep anything from me, and on my tenth birthday they gave me a photo of my biological mother and told me the truth. A horrible birthday at its finest, you know?”

The boy stops to chuckle some more and slide his narrowed eyes across Mei, “When I was thirteen my parents and I went on a trip to China, I forget where; but, when there we stumbled upon a small family. A wife, a husband, and a daughter around my age. God must’ve hated me at that time, because the woman was my mother and she couldn’t even figure out that I’m her son. Funny isn’t it?” He pauses, his lips quivering as he runs a hand down his face—Mei watches curiously as slight droplets of water fall from the crescents of his eyes. “I was so pissed, so ing pissed, that I took it out on my parents—I yelled at them for hours on end; I made my mom cry for the first time, and in return my father slapped me. He had never laid a hand on me before then, and I was shocked to the point that I left the hotel we were staying at and found myself just wandering along the streets. When I got back to the hotel it was hours later, and my parents felt guilty rather than upset with me. We don’t talk about that day anymore—we act like it never happened, except, it did.”

He runs a hand down his face again, tears falling down his face a bit more at the prospect of what he’s going to say next. Leaving Mei to stare at him in awe; not quite sure on what she’s supposed to do. Hold his hand? Pat his back? Say she’s sorry for his childhood? “I wouldn’t, I’d never—I never wanted to make my mom cry, I’m not that type of kid. I think I was jealous, and angry. Jealous because that girl got to be with my mom, and angry because my mom couldn’t recognize me.” He twists his view toward Mei once more, and this time she can see the bags underneath his eyes—gray loops below his tiresome, and tear filled eyes. “That girl, who may or may not be my sister: she looked a lot like you, and I don’t know, maybe that’s why I dislike you.”

Finally, Mei makes a move. She reaches her hand up, and drapes it on his back, patting it a few times before letting her hand slip off. “I’m sorry Ming Hao, that must’ve been hard to say.” The boy chuckles and wipes away his falling tears as he grabs a hold of his fork and shoves more eggs into his mouth.

“Don’t get me wrong Mei, I dislike you; but, when you do nice things like this,” He points to the plate of food and the cup of coffee before continuing. “It makes me feel guilty; because, in the end, I’m not entirely sure why I dislike you. Maybe it’s because you look like that girl, or maybe it’s because you somehow wiggled your way into staying in this apartment and began changing everything around me. I just,” He shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know, I thought you should know.” The boy’s expression hardens as he twists to straighten up and stare at Mei. “But, don’t pity me, okay? And don’t start acting nice because you feel bad—just be normal.”

Mei tries hard not to roll her eyes and snort as she takes a sip of her coffee. “I have better things to do than pity a kid like you.” She mumbles but the boy manages to hear her and purse his lips at her as he points a finger down at her coffee.

“Your coffee, it today, don't be pompous!”

P r e s e n t  D a y

MIN reaches over and touches the back of Mei’s palm for a mere second before she maneuvers away from him. Her older brother sighs as he begins tapping his fingers against the table, “General Roe will want proof that his son exists, a picture, DNA test results—something. And in the long run, when he finds out that his son is still alive, he won’t stop until he finds him. From there on, it’s his decision and Tai Yu’s on what happens between them: we can’t intervene.” Mei nibbles at the side of her lip as she traces her fingers along her jeans. Min narrows his eyes at her, as he watches the girl’s mind overload on analyzing everything—something he’s prone to as well. “Do you really know where this ‘Ming Hao’ is?”

Mei keeps shut, and twists her view down to her hands which lie in her lap. It’s not that she doesn’t want to tell Min that she does indeed know where Ming Hao is; it’s just, she wants to keep Ming Hao safe—and she’s not so sure leaking information to Min, will keep him safe. She doesn’t know Min; she doesn’t know what he’ll do if he meets Ming Hao. “I-I, I’m just worried. General Roe isn’t the nicest man in the world, and Ming Hao or whatever his name is, he’s our brother. And he’s younger than us, I want to make sure he’ll be safe.”

Min smiles and reaches over, patting the tops of Mei’s hands in an attempt to reassure her; but, once more she shrugs away from his touch. It doesn’t stop him from smiling at her, “It’s going to be okay, General Roe won’t hurt his son. Ming Hao isn’t in any danger, there’s nothing to worry about.” He goes to say more; but, is quickly interrupted when the both can hear Mei’s name being called through the hallways. Oh God, please don’t be Ming Hao. “Is someone here with you?” Min asks as Mei jumps to her feet and jogs over to the door.

A sigh of relief leaves Mei’s mouth as she spots someone other than Ming Hao. “Mei!” The person calls as she trails back inside of the room, her breath finally slowing down and her heart not beating as crazy. “Jeez, you scared the crap out of me.” Jun enters the room that Mei’s located in, and goes to hug her—but is immediately shoved up against the wall by Min whose fist is wafting in front of Jun’s confused face.

“Who the hell are you?” He barks as he tightens his grip on Jun’s collar.

Mei grips Min’s upper arm and tries to pull him off, as Jun himself struggles against Min’s hold. “Min let go, he’s my friend.” She pleads as her fingers scratch against his arm. Min keeps Jun in place as he glances between Mei and Jun before dropping the hold of Jun’s collar and stalking off back to his chair to cool off. Jun falls down the wall a bit as he tries to steady himself. Mei helps him, by grabbing a hold of his hand and shifting him away from the wall. “Are you okay?” She murmurs, as her face comes increasingly closer to his. Jun nods, and just when she thinks she’ll walk back to Min to discuss what he just did was completely wrong, Jun’s wrapping Mei into a hug.

“Will you please stop scaring me? At least tell me where you go before you leave me. Okay? Just tell me where you go before you leave again, please.” The boy tightens his grip on Mei, and shoves the girl further into his chest. Min, though, doesn’t seem to enjoy the sight of his younger sister being hugged by a man he doesn’t know; because, the man clears his throat and shoots a threatening look toward Jun. Jun doesn’t separate from Mei though, it just ends up making him hold her tighter. He dips his head down, into the crook of her neck. “That’s Min? That’s your brother?” He whispers; his breath hitting the base of her ear.

Mei sighs, and lets her head rest comfortably on his chest. “Yeah, there’s something we need to talk about later,” She pauses and digs her fingers into the tops of her shoulders. Please, please just do what I say, please. “Don’t mention Ming Hao’s name.” Her words come out very soft, to where Min can’t hear her despite the fact that his gaze is pinned directly on Jun.

“Okay.” He replies, and she knows he’ll do exactly what she says—because Jun’s that reliable. Jun pulls away from the hug after a few seconds, and presses a swift kiss to the top of her head before the two of them twist toward Min. Min, who doesn’t seem pleased. Min, who in Mei’s opinion, looks to hate Jun. The Jun whom Min doesn’t know yet already hates. It suddenly reminds her of her relationship with Ming Hao.

“Min, this is Jun, we’ve known each other since we were kids; and, he’s my roommate.” She points her thumb toward Jun before shoving her hands behind her back and standing silently next to him. Min’s eyes narrow at Jun before he takes a seat in his earlier position and starts going through his papers once more. “He’ll be going with us, as well.” She continues as she brings Jun with her, to take a seat adjacent from Min.

“Go with you where?” Jun asks as he looks between Mei and Min.

Min peeks out from behind his papers to look at Mei, “Does he know…everything?” She nods her head to which Min sighs as he sets the papers down and gazes at Jun; still with his harsh gaze. Making Mei wonder if he’s either jealous of Jun because Jun has known Mei her whole life or if he’s doing that thing brother’s do; be overprotective. “We’re traveling to North Korea once we find where our half-brother is.”

Jun’s eyebrows clash together as he crosses his arms over his chest, “Tai Yu?”

Min nods his head as Mei dips hers down on her chest. Oh God, he’s going to say his name. Please Jun, keep it together, and follow what I said. Please try not to look shocked. Before Min says anything, Mei slips her hand over toward Jun and pinches his said—a warning sign that she hopes he understands. “Yes, Tai Yu; but, his named changed when he was adopted. He goes by Ming Hao now.” Mei can visibly see Jun pale as his arms drop from his chest and stay stitched to his sides. Mei grips his hand, and watches as Jun gulps; Min also watching him.

“That’s interesting; I guess his parents didn’t like his original name.” Jun chokes out.

Min doesn’t reply and goes back to what he was doing earlier: reading through his papers. Jun looks over at Mei with widen eyes, “Can we talk? In private?” Mei nods her head as the both stand up; Min doesn’t pay attention to them, but she’s sure that he knows they’re about to go have a conversation in the hall. Jun, immediately starts pacing the minute the door shuts close. “Is he serious? Is Ming Hao seriously your half-brother Tai Yu?”

Mei nods her head, “Yeah, I think so. Everything’s adding up with Tai Yu’s back story and Ming Hao’s—the age, the name, place of birth, foster care, and where they grew up.” Mei pauses to shakily run a hand through her blonde hair. She doesn’t want to believe it; but, every time she thinks it over, everything makes since. Everything aligns correctly. Everything makes perfect since; yet, she can’t help but hate the idea of the truth. “I-I think Ming Hao is my half-brother.”

“What?”

Both Mei and Jun twist on their heels, a confused and worried Ming Hao stands in front of them. He’s shaking his head and digging his fingers into the sides of his pants. “What did you just say?” Neither of them answer as Ming Hao begins to fume in front of them—crying as well. “What the hell did you just say?” The room in which Min is in, opens up, and out walks a worried looking Min who finds himself starring at Mei to make sure she’s alright, before looking over at Ming Hao.

“Ming Hao,” Mei mumbles as she tries to reach out for him; but, the boy stumbles back a little. “Let me just explain things to you.” Ming Hao shakes his head, his defiant personality showing full force.  “Ming Hao, please.”

Once again the boy shakes his head as he swishes away the tears from his eyes, “Stay the hell away from me.” With that said, the boy twists on his heel and leaves the hallway as quick as possible—not allowing Mei to say another word. Mei situates her gaze on Jun, who nods his head at her before running after his best friend who’s in complete and utter turmoil. In cause, leaving Mei behind with Min—Min who’s terribly confused with the situation at hand.

“That was Ming Hao? Ming Hao, Tai Yu—that Ming Hao?” He asks with a deepen his glare and a cross of his arms over his chest. Mei, doesn’t respond, as she begins walking off after her roommates—Min following closely behind, and who is not pleased at all. “Mei, was that ing Ming Hao?” He snaps; and Mei’s beginning to realize that the boy snaps quiet often. Must have anger management problems. Mei doesn’t understand how someone can be so, angry—just like her father, like their father.

Somehow, that peeves her. Sure, he doesn’t know anything about her past; not like Jun, not like Ming Hao. But it bugs her how much he looks and acts like her father—the aggressiveness being the top part of why he resembles her father. She twists on the heel of her foot, facing Min who stops a few feet short of her. “Stop it,” Min’s eyebrows furrow at his sister’s sudden command—even though her voice is calm—she’s definitely commanding. “Stop acting like we’ve known each other for years, stop acting like your my older brother whom I grew up, stop acting like you know me. We don’t know each other. We just met. The only reason I agreed to meet you, is because I thought you could help me; but, I’m not going to put my friend—someone who I care about—in danger. I’d rather die than have his secret leaked to Roe. Do you understand me?”

Min’s shoulders sag as he takes a step backward, “You didn’t want to be family?”

Mei runs a hand along her hair as she groans out in annoyance. “This is exactly what I mean, you don’t know me. You don’t know what I went through as a child,” She pauses to let out a jagged breath in an attempt show how angered she is. “I don’t do family, okay? So no, I don’t want to be family; because I don’t like family. If I want family, if I actually wanted family: those two men you just met, would be my family—not you. Never you; because, you’re just like him.”

Mei realizes how harsh her words may come across to Min; despite her voice coming out calm. “Him who?” The older man manages to say as he shakily shoves his hands away in the pockets of his jeans.

“Papa,” Mei really struggles to say the word as she slides a hand down her face once again. “I don’t like family; because, as a child, they…they, they abused me.” Her voice comes out as a stammer as she finally says the word she’s never been able to say: abused, she was abused. Min on the other hand, looks like he’s about to fall into a thousand pieces just from the revelation. “I can’t do this right now; I need to go make sure he’s okay. I’ll be back soon.”

She knows that Min wants to talk more about what’s going on; but, Mei ignores it and continues after to find Jun and Ming Hao. Mainly Ming Hao. It’s not hard to figure out where they would be, nearing the sidewalk with Ming Hao heaving his breakfast into the bushes lining the building; Jun patting his back like a good friend, a brother. Charlie must’ve spotted them a while earlier when they were running; he’s leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed: trying not to puke at the rank smell of Ming Hao’s throw up.

Mei slowly approaches Jun, and slips her hand around his arm—gripping it rather tightly. He glances at her for a second, trying to get her to relax and smile by grinning at her and laughing; but, she merely stands there starring at Ming Hao with sympathetic eyes. She knows it’s a lot to take in, and not to mention that he doesn’t even know the full story. She presses a hand against Ming Hao’s back, trying to reassure him. But, when the boy stands up, he shoves her away from him.

“We’re not related okay? I’m not related to your crazy family, I’m not!” He goes to yell more, but ends up throwing up into the planter once more. Mei finally thinks it over when Ming Hao just leans over the planter with his hands on his knees; the boy begins to sob though, one loud sob after another. His body almost falls into the planter but both Jun and Mei grab him; before, the former brings him into a hug. “No, I don’t want to be related to you—we’re not related. We can’t be; we’re not. You’re the crazy one, not me. Not me!”

Mei doesn’t realize how much the past few days had begun to affect her, until later. When the four of them finally found the apartment their staying at, and she got to relax. To relax for the first time in days. Her body, which began to ache, lies across the small red lathered bed. Her eyes focusing on the ceiling fan above her. Her eyes following it around in a circle; before shutting her eyes all together. She’s tired. She’s exhausted. She wants to fall asleep and never wake up. She can, sort of, understand where Ming Hao is coming from—her life is crazy. Her family is crazier. But, she’s not that bad. She’s probably nowhere near as amazing as his adopted parents; but, they’re biologically related—does that not mean anything to him? She means nothing to him—at all.

“Hey, you awake?” Comes a male voice and she doesn’t have to guess who it is.

She lets out a sigh and maneuvers herself into a sitting position; her back hitting the wall behind the bed. “Yeah, and Ming Hao?” Jun shrugs his shoulders as he finds himself taking a seat on the soft plush chair in the corner.

“He took a shower, complained some more, and then slammed the door to his room,” Jun glances around the room before settling his gaze on her once more. “Don’t take what he said to heart; you know he says things when he’s angry. He’s a jerk like that,” The boy smiles tentatively towards her as he rakes a hand through his hair I an attempt to keep himself calm. “That guy—Min—is truly your brother?”

Mei nods her head as she begins gathering her hair and shifting it into a small ponytail. “Yeah, he knows a lot too. A lot about what I need to do, about what can help me in this situation; but, I don’t think I should go through with it.” She tries to keep her voice low—to where the boy won’t hear her—but he does, and he isn’t happy with her decision.

“Why wouldn’t you go through it?” He asks—his voice slowly rising in anger.

She slips off the bed and walks over to the connected bathroom, grabbing some lotion off the counter before leaning against the wall and facing Jun once more. “I’d have to inform General Roe who Ming Hao is to him. That Ming Hao is his son; and, I don’t want to do that. Not now, not ever,” What she says seems to annoy Jun as he stands up and begins his pacing once again—trying to figure out what to do to get around everything. “He doesn’t deserve to go through stuff like that. He wasn’t raised like me—you weren’t raised like me.”

“Everyone goes through a hard time Mei,” Jun yells as he stops in front of her with a scowl. Mei’s eyes widen, why is it that I’m the one that always makes him angry? “Ming Hao’s life was tough—he learned at a young age that his biological parents didn’t love him and instead gave him up, he learned at a young age that life is hard, and life isn’t easy. That’s why he’s such an all the time; because, he’s afraid of what could happen. Of the mistakes that could happen; because, in his eyes, he’s his parents mistake.”

Mei hates being childish; but at the same time, she feels like Jun’s not understanding where she’s coming from. Ming Hao had a tough life, true, but Mei’s had it way harder—there’s no way that Ming Hao could survive half the things she went through. “My life was harder, Ming Hao doesn’t deserve it.”

“For God’s sake’s Mei, other people have ty lives. I’ve had a ty life; we all have ty lives. Yes, yours may top the list of ty lives; but, it’s not your decision on who gets to be a part of it. I never got to decide that you’d be a part of my life, I never got to decide who I fell in love with, it just happened. You happened. And now Ming Hao has happened to you, and you need to let him choose—not you, you don’t get to decide for him.”

Mei practically falls onto the floor at Jun’s words. Is he insane? He has to be insane—completely and utterly insane. She watches as the boy in front of her begins to pace again—only making her angry because he’s so annoying. “You’re in love with me?” Jun finally stops, and looks back at her—now only a few feet in front of her, not too far away, and not too close either. He lets out a groan and runs a hand through his strands of hair once more before nodding.

“Yes, Mei, I love you. I don’t just like you, I love you,” He sounds bashful, yet full of fear—like she’s going to strike him down right there and then. She doesn’t really, but she, herself, is afraid. How is she supposed to be in a relationship with someone if she’s going through the epitome of hell? She can’t, it’s not possible. Not at all. He’ll be in danger. She’ll hurt him; and he doesn’t deserve that. “That night, last night, I kissed you because I love you. I get scared when you disappear on me, because I love you. I hug you every chance I get, because I love you.” With every sentence, the boy takes a step closer to her, until he’s directly in front of her—only a few inches away.

She could sense the fear hiding underneath the hazel of his irises, nestled behind his always showing confidence. He reaches toward her, and brushes his fingers against her cheek. His eyes connect with hers once more, a chilling sensation running down her spine because of it. “Tell me if I’m making a mistake.” One hand places against her cheek as it circles against her neck. He slowly inches his way toward her, waiting for any sign of hesitation from Mei—but despite what her mind is telling her, she shows none. He swallows his nerves, for the most part; before, he dips down and presses his lips against hers for the second time. His lips barely touching hers for the fear that he’ll break her, hurt her, scare her.

Mei’s not one for reacting quickly; but, her fingers nestle into his shirt as he deepens the kiss as his free hands lifts up to hold onto her waist, his fingers digging slightly into her side, causing her to jump, and slide further into his chest, her hands now circling his neck. The kiss becomes passionate, urgent even—most of all, it becomes comfort. That’s what they both needed, comfort. After everything they’ve gone through together, they needed comfort. Maybe it’s not the best kind of comfort, and maybe it’s not the kind they need; but, for both of them, it seemed to be the kind they need at that moment. Wrapped in each other’s arms; showing their passion for one another without her needing to voice it. Because she’s scared of saying it, and he’s scared of hearing it.

At some point the two separate, and end up falling asleep on the corner chair. Him sitting with his legs propped up on the table in front of her, and she’s curled on his lap—his arms circling her waist, and her hands holding tightly on his shirt, worried that he’ll disappear if she doesn’t. Neither of them are sure of what the future of their relationship holds; they’re not sure what their supposed to do if something bad happens—something worse than what already happened. Things will also be too much for them, their life is too complicated to not be messy and horrible. But, he’s always stuck around, and she’s always tried to improve on herself. There will always be obstacles in their relationship—more so than the norm—but as long as they try; there’s nothing they really can’t do.

“I can’t believe it, you two finally hooked up.”

They also need to learn how to lock the door, no matter where they are; because, Ming Hao is a pesky roommate—and also super annoying.