Hyukjae doesn't know how he's supposed to feel at the moment. He received a call from his father two days ago, something he would have never expected.

They are not exactly on bad terms, but it's been months since the two talked. Hyukjae loves his father a lot, he respects and admires him. But some choices made them distant.

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His mother had succumbed to cancer when Hyukjae was 8. Their family had been devastated, the little boy he was felt powerless when it came to helping his father. He had made all his best to be a good boy, he brought good grades home, he tried to help with the house chores, he hugged his dad to show his support when the man came home late and tired.

The disruption happened two years later, when his dad brought a new woman home. Hyukjae was not ready, every night he would still stare at the picture on the nightstand, and some nights he even dreamt that his mum was here with him, hugging him during the night.

The woman, Nara, tried to be nice and replace his mum, she really tried to, Hyukjae had to admit. But she would never been enough. He was a lone boy that had protected his heart with fortified walls, and only his mum and dad belonged in there.

As he grew up, as a teenager, the tension between his step-mother and himself skyrocketed. She would never say anything when Hyukjae's father was there. But in the late afternoon or evening when Hyukjae was back home from middle and high school and that his father was still at work, Nara made his life a nightmare. She had never raised a finger on him, hopefully, it wasn't necessary. She destroyed the little love Hyukjae had for himself. He couldn't recall the number of times he was called useless, the number of time she called him a good-for-nothing, the hours he spent redoing the different house chores because it was never perfect enough for Nara.

But he bared with it, because every night his father would smile like he had not during the two years they were alone. He would laugh, he would not stay locked in his office or at home. They even traveled around the country. Something Hyukjae had not done since he was 6, before they knew his mum was sick.

These were the reasons why he always had had mixed feelings about his step-mother. She would make his life miserable, bus his dad's life a marvel.

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Now Hyukjae is 30, he has moved away from the family's home 7 years ago. And when he told his dad he was moving away, the latter would have never believed he would move at the other side of the country from Incheon to Gwangju actually.

During his teenage years as a lonesome Hyukjae had fell in love with books, to the point that he actually thought that they saved his life. As the grateful person he was, he decided he would become a teacher so he could share his love for books. His students thought he was a bit of a weird man, but they could not deny his passion was really transmissible. None of them would have believed they would read English nor French literature in their life before having Hyukjae as their teacher.

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His passion was clearly endearing. As a student at Seoul National University, his perfect results amused his teachers and got him attention from his classmates but he had always refused to give them attention.

During the whole first year of his bachelor's degree he was known as the quiet genius from Incheon, where he would head on a weekly basis to see his dad, and most of the time visit his mother's grave. He tended to believe that his dad had completely forgotten her and that the entire responsability of taking care of it was on his shoulders.

During the second year, people were surprised to see Hyukjae smiling more and more. Little did they know that someone was making his way to Hyukjae's heart. Hyukjae's new roommate, a cheeful boy with a Southern accent : Donghae.

The younger one had learnt during the first weeks of sharing a room at the dorm with Hyukjae that the latter seemed a bit tough on the outside, quiet, cold or whatever people would judge in the first seconds of meeting him. But Donghae knew better. He had had the chance to see Hyukjae's smile reaching his eyes when he was reading, laughing quietly at some points and at these times, Donghae knew he wanted to befriend the other.

He began to read the same books as Hyukjae, because, yes Donghae also studied literature, but he prefered philosophical works. He started to ask Hyukjae for advices on what to read and soon their room was almost as full as a library. Their passionate talks about books became more and more personal, they shared information about their lives, their family, their friends.

As the time passed, Donghae noticed Hyukjae would not talk a lot about other people, he noticed Hyukjae would never go out nor meet other people. He would always be in their room giggling or sometimes crying at some books.

He started to feel guilty when he was going out, but Hyukjae never seemed shaken by the fact of being alone.

Donghae was not impressed, he decided to ask his friends if Hyukjae could join them.

« But isn't he a bit of an hermit ? » one said.

« Why are you asking, at first I thought he was one mysterious boy, but he's just a recluse for sure ! » another replied.

That night Donghae did not talk even once, and returned to the dorm with a huge frown on his face.

Hyukjae had also learnt to read Donghae, even though even a stranger would have known something was wrong with the young man.

He still was very surprised when Hyukjae asked him :

« Are you okay ? »

It did not take long for Donghae to sense the tears that were filling his eyes.

« Hey what happened Donghae ? » Hyukjae asked with a soft voice as he stood up to reach the younger.

It didn't take long for Donghae to wrap his arms around Hyukjae.

« Everything is wrong, I ju-, he sobbed, I just wanted people to accept you the way I do, I wanted you t