"What's your mom like?" asked Han Geng.

"She's... An actress..." Hee Chul answered softly.

"And your father?"

"A... Businessman... Both of then are overseas."

"Do you miss them?"

Hee Chul nodded his head slowly. Han Geng frowned.
He could tell that Hee Chul was lying.

"Hee Chul, you're coming to my place for dinner," Han Geng demanded, pulling the now deep red haired boy towards the parking lot.

"Why?" he asked plainly.

"I can't stay after school today so I'm tutoring you at my house," he said. "I need to finish some extra credit work that's due tomorrow and I left it all at home, so I'm going to finish it while tutoring you."

"I don't need to be tutored..." Hee Chul sulked as Han Geng opened the car door for him, Hee Chul reluctantly climbing inside. Han Geng bent down to put on Hee Chul's seat belt for him, but he slapped his hands away and growled, "I can do it myself. I'm not three."

"Well..." Han Geng answered while climbing into the driver's seat. "Your grades say otherwise, Chullie."

"Don't call me that..." he muttered.

It was a fifteen-minute silent ride to Han Geng's house. Inside it was quite simple, but a bit large for only Han Geng to be living there.

"Where're your parents?" asked Hee Chul as he inspected the small trinkets around the living room.

"In China," he answered. "Are you hungry?"

Hee Chul nodded slightly as he pet a statue of a cat. Han Geng chuckled and began dinner. "Hey, Hannie?" Han Geng froze when he'd heard the nickname. Hee Chul had never called him anything aside from Han Geng, Han Kyung, Hey, You!, Yah!, and Chinaman.

"Is this your family?" Hee Chul asked, coming up to Han Geng from behind.

Han Geng turned off the stove to let the meat simmer for a while and glanced at the picture Hee Chul was referring to.

"Mhmm... That's my mom. My dad. And my dog, Rongrong. He used to wake me up super early in the morning and I'd play with him while getting ready for school. Mom and I would cook breakfast and dinner together. Dad would play sports with me whenever he could," he answered. He then turned back to the stove and dumped rice into the pan, turning the heat on again.

"Do you... Miss them?" Hee Chul asked, sitting down at the dinner table. His voice was full of sadness, loneliness.

"Y-Yeah..." Han Geng said slowly, plating some rice and setting it in front of Hee Chul, taking a plate for himself and sitting beside the other. "They were fully supportive of me coming here to study, but they were also extremely sad. They love me a lot... And I love them, but we had to go our separate ways."

"Love..." Hee Chul choked on the word. Tears began to slide down his cheeks and nearly stood up to run away, but Han Geng pulled him into a hug before his could.

"They didn't love me, Hannie... They never did. Umma hated how pretty I was. She beat me every day, even in front of my friends, but they didn't care either because they didn't like how pretty I was either. Appa always yelled at me because I kept failing my classes. He called me a stupid, uneducated . They hated me. My friends hated me. I was bullied at school--shoved in lockers, pushed into the wrong bathroom, got things thrown at me, got beaten every day, and even ... Three times..." Hee Chul was just barely crying, his sobs soft, but his voice was hoarse and cracked constantly.

"Shh~~ Chullie... Shh~~ don't cry," Han Geng whispered, his heart pounding with sorrow and pity.

After some minutes, Hee Chul stopped crying, but he didn't let go of Han Geng. "Let's eat," Han Geng suggested, but Hee Chul shook his head.

"I don't want to let go of you," he murmured into Han Geng's chest.

Han Geng just pulled Hee Chul to sit down in his lap, hugging him with one arm around his waist. With the other hand, he fed Hee Chul, completely forgetting about his own hunger to satisfy Hee Chul's.

After Hee Chul ate, he remained sitting in Han Geng's lap as he ate his rice. Hee Chul eventually began to fall asleep, and so he did. When Han Geng was finished eating, he carried Hee Chul upstairs to his bedroom, making a mental note to take care of the dishes later.

Han Geng laid Hee Chul on the bed gingerly and tried to pry his fingers out of his shirt, but Hee Chul was actually holding on so tightly that his nails had ripped through the material and were piercing his palms. Han Geng managed to untangle Hee Chul's hands from his shirt for a few minutes, but he was unconsciously constantly whining, yelling, and crying out for Han Geng. Han Geng returned quickly with his laptop and sat beside Hee Chul in bed, an arm curled around his waist with Hee Chul's head on Han Geng's chest.

That's how the rest of the night went. And for once, Hee Chul didn't run away.