Tao found it funny, really, how somebody with a Korean family name has an accent while speaking in Korean. Maybe the kid grew up outside of Korea, which might explained why there's an accent to his voice. However, Tao recognised that accent, he used to have that accent when he was new to Korea at the age of thirteen — the kid's accent was Chinese. 

          Interesting, could it be that this kid was of Korean descent but grew up in China? Or maybe the kid's father was Korean and his mother was Chinese? That might explained the Korean last name but Chinese sounding given name. There might also be a possibility that the kid wasn't Korean at all. After all, Tao had met a few people that his father collaborated with who weren't Korean but had the 'Oh' last name. 

          Tao tilted his head to the side with his eyes trained on Oh Lei, a low hum emitting from his throat as he studied the youngster closely. Oh Lei didn't really look Korean, though it could be because he grew up in China — if the theory of Oh Lei being a Korean who grew up in China was true. Or, it could be that Oh Lei resembled more to his Chinese parent than his Korean parent — it's either one of the two theories. 

          Basically saying, Oh Lei was an interesting guy, like a puzzle. 

          "Are you Tao?" Oh Lei suddenly asked, snapping Tao out from his train of thoughts. 

          Tao looked up at the youngster, who had a curious look on his face as he slowly nodded, "Yes, I am Tao." 

          Oh Lei smiled and looked at Chen when the latter introduced, "The name is Chen." 

          Chen held out a hand and Oh Lei didn't hesitate to take it into his hand and shake it. Despite the kid being taller than Chen, the elder's hand was funnily enough slightly bigger than Oh Lei's. Tao could barely see Oh Lei's hand in Chen's own as they shook hands. 

          "If I may ask," the elder asked as he let go of Oh Lei's hand and pulled his hand away, hiding it in his pocket, "You're one of the waiters of the cafe, right?" 

          Oh Lei widened his eyes in surprise before nodding in confirmation, an embarrassed smile etched on his face, "You actually noticed?" 

          Chen laughed lightly, "Observation is something I picked up for quite a while now." 

          "If I am not mistaken," the elder hummed and the younger stared expectantly at the elder, "You also work as the shipping boy. You tend to bring in the carts that were sent to us from our allying gangs, am I right?" 

          "Wow," the younger laughed and clapped his hands together, "I thought nobody would ever notice my existence! Guess that I was wrong." 

          Chen grinned, "Everyone deserves to be noticed. There has to be somebody to remember you, you know?" 

          Tao didn't miss the way Chen's voice went from cheerful and friendly to soft and sad in a matter of second as he spoke. Tao looked at Chen and saw that his gaze had dropped to the floor and his smile was slowly fading. Tao frowned at Chen's expression, worrying over what Chen might be thinking about at that very moment.

          However, as soon as the expression came, it went. Almost instantly — with a snap of fingers or a blink of an eye — the crestfallen look on Chen's face was replaced by the familiar toothy smile and happy filled eyes. It almost seemed as if that the expression from before never appeared on Chen's face to begin with. 

          "Anyway," the elder male said, "Let's talk about you, Oh Lei." 

          Oh Lei looked at Chen with wide eyes, pointing to himself innocently as he said in a bit of confusion, "Talk about myself?" 

          Chen nodded and Oh Lei instantly flustered up, an awkward smile on his face as he let out a nervous chuckle, "Ah, nah, I don't think you guys would be interested in it." 

           "Don't be silly," the elder slapped the younger on the back, almost forcing a cough out of the younger as he convinced, "It doesn't hurt to say a thing or two about yourself and make friends!" 

           Oh Lei looked at Chen and seeing as to how friendly the elder was being — and the rather bright and friendly smile on the elder's face which was very welcoming — he thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to talk a bit about himself. Tao met Oh Lei's eyes when the boy suddenly looked up at him and the exchange in stares only lasted for a bit. Tao quickly looked away, feeling awkwardness creeping inside him. 

          Oh Lei looked back at Chen and hummed, "Well, where should I start?" 

          "You could start off with where you live and stuff," the elder prompted, "Your origins, your preferences, things like that." 

          Oh Lei nodded and after shifting a bit to get comfortable and breathing in and out a few breaths to calm himself, he started off, "Well, as I already told you guys, my name is Oh Lei." 

          Tao and Chen only nodded, encouraging Oh Lei to continue on with his introduction and ice breaking. 

          "I grew up in China," the younger said and Tao smiled without realising it — so, his thoery of Oh Lei growing in China had been right. 

          "My father is Korean," the younger continued to say and Tao found himself smiling wider, "And my mother is Chinese." 

          Tao was grinning at this point — his theories about Oh Lei and his background were surprisingly correct, from Oh Lei growing up in China to one of his parents being Korean while the other was Chinese. Tao didn't know which one was he more interested now: Oh Lei's introduction or the fact that he's very accurate when it comes to guessing. Tao decided that he should probably pay attention while listening to Oh Lei's introduction — it's rude to not listen when others are talking so passionately, sort of. 

          "My father doesn't really talk to me in Korean when I was younger," the younger smiled and bowed apologetically to Chen, "So I apologise for my terrible Korean." 

          Chen laughed lightly and waved off the apology, "Don't worry, I'm not offended if that's what you're worried about. Plus, I can understand what you're saying anyway." 

          Oh Lei let out a sigh of relief and smiled gratefully, "I'm glad." 

          Chen only laughed and gestured for Oh Lei to continue. 

          "As I was saying," the younger continued on about himself, "I'm seventeen going on eighteen now and I just moved here to Korea last year." 

          Tao widened his eyes in shock — did Oh Lei just say that he's seventeen? 

          Tao looked over at Chen and saw that he wasn't the only one who was surprise to hear about it. A look of shock and disbelief was evident on the elder's face, his eyes wide and filled with disbelief while his mouth was slightly agape in shock. Chen looked over at Tao and the latter nodded his head, like he was trying to tell him that he understood his shock and was sharing that feeling with him. 

          "I'm sorry," the elder stopped the younger from continuing, looking over at Oh Lei who was waiting patiently for what Chen was about to say, "Did you say that you're seventeen?" 

          "Yeah," the younger nodded slowly, "Why? Is there something wrong?" 

          "'Is there something wrong'?" Tao repeated after Oh Lei with a voice laced in incredulity which caused the younger to look over at the male in confusion, "Dude, aren't you a bit too young to be getting yourself involved in these sort of things?" 

          Oh Lei frowned, "I didn't think age matters when it comes to knowing and not knowing about a gang's existence." 

          "I'm not really worried about his age to be honest," the male and the younger looked at the elder who had started speaking, "I mean, a lot of gang leaders have children to take their place once they're old and weak, and these children would know about the gang things before they even start going to kindergartens." 

          Tao looked at Chen with a confused expression, "Kyungsoo didn't know that he's the son of a gang leader." 

          "I'm not talking about Kyungsoo," the elder looked at the male, who looked even more confused, "I'm actually referring to a certain lovely leader called Suho." 

          It took Tao only a milisecond to register what Chen just told him, his eyes almost esaping his sockets as he barely contained his scream of astonishment, "Suho is the son of a gang leader?" 

          "What can I say?" Chen shrugged, "Most of the gangs that are created are actually quite old as you know it. It is rare for a gang to be made, it is usually passed down from their parent." 

          Tao squinted at Chen, "And how did you know all of this?" 

          Chen raised his hand up defensively, "Hey, I know more things than you do, okay?" 

          Tao was about to retort but stilled himself, his shoulders slumping, "You got a point." 

          "Anyway," the elder quickly went back to what he was saying before, "It's not about being too young to join the gang that concerned me. I'm more surprised at how you come to know about this gang and join it." 

          Oh Lei didn't look like he understood what Chen was talking about, "How did you guys knows about this gang and join it then?" 

          "Through Suho," the elder looked up at the younger and all of a sudden, his eyes darkened, "And I'm pretty sure Suho said nothing about you." 

          Tao looked over at Oh Lei and saw how the younger set his jaw, like a person would when they're afraid of being caught doing something. Tao glanced down and saw Oh Lei's hand clenching and releasing continuosly without a stop. Tao looked back up at Oh Lei with a frown — the kid was hiding something. 

          Finally, a small smile graced the kid's lip, although anyone could tell that the smile was forced as he said, "There are more than one way to join the gang." 

          Chen nodded though his eyes were still dark, "In our gang, there's only two." 

          A tense silence befell them as Chen and Oh Lei stared at one another — Chen with his darkened eyes and Oh Lei with his unreadable gaze. Both of them were trying to make the other back down — for Chen, he was trying to make Oh Lei say the truth; for Oh Lei, he was trying to make Chen get off his back on the topic. The atmosphere was so heavy that Tao could literally feel himself suffocating from it. 

          Finally, Tao decided that it was best to break these two before he dies from suffocation, "Okay, that's enough, you two." 

          Chen and Oh Lei instantly broke eye contact ti look at Tao who had an uncomfortable and frustrated look on his face, "If you guys continue on like that I might just really die." 

          Oh Lei looked down in embarrassment as he muttered softly, "Sorry."

          Chen on the other hand only gave Tao a sheepish smile, "My bad." 

          Oh Lei and Chen looked back at each other and Tao didn't miss the way they glared at one another. 

          Tao sighed and shook his head — it's hopeless for them now. 

          "So," the male clapped his hands which gained the two's attention, "Back to our topic! Is there anything else about you Oh Lei? Aside from what you just told us." 

          Oh Lei looked thoughtful but before he could say anything, Tao prompted, "When is your birthday? What is your zodiac?" 

          "I was born on December twenty-sixth, year 1999," the boy easily replied, a smile etched on his features, "The year of the rabbit." 

          Tao smiled widely, "Cool." 

          Oh Lei smiled just as Chen asked a question of his own, "Do you have any siblings?" 

          "Yeah," the boy nodded and he held up a finger, "Just one, an older brother." 

          Chen smiled softly, "Must be fun to have an older brother." 

          Oh Lei only grinned, agreeing with what Chen said. 

          "I don't know what else I can tell you about myself, really," the younger said as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I wish I could tell you more about myself." 

          "How about we ask questions and you answer them?" Tao suggested and Oh Lei looked thoughtful for a moment. 

          "That sounds like a good idea," the younger admitted with a smile, crossing his arms like a person would when they're ready, "Alright, hit me!" 

          "How abut we start off with the age difference between you and your brother?" Tao suggested, apparently interested in this brother of his. 

          Oh Lei smiled widely at the question and answered easily, "We're nine years apart, he'll be turning twenty-seven this November." 

          "That's a lot of years," the elder commented in amusement, no hint of surprise in his voice though. 

          Oh Lei chuckled at Chen's comment, nodding his head as he mused back, "I get that a lot." 

          "Where is your brother now?" Chen asked and Oh Lei smiled widely. 

          "In Korea," the younger replied, "I live with him." 

          "You live with him?" Tao repeated in curiosity and Oh Lei nodded, a smile slowly graced Tao's lips at the thought of having an older brother to take care of you, "That's a nice older brother you got there." 

          "He is," the younger chuckled and nodded, agreeing with what Tao said. 

          "Mind me asking," the elder grabbed Oh Lei and Tao's attention as he asked, "But does your brother know about what you do?" 

          "Of course," the answer Oh Lei gave almost caused Tao to have a heart attack, staring bewilderedly at Oh Lei. 

          However, before Tao could say anything about it, Oh Lei knocked out Tao with the remaining part of his apparently not-yet-finished sentence, "He knows that I work as a waiter at a cafeteria." 

          Tao stared at Oh Lei in exasperation while Chen looked at Oh Lei with amusement glinting in his eyes and a small smirk playing on his features. Oh Lei gave Tao and Chen an innocent smile but Tao couldn't tell whether that smile was supposed to be genuine or sarcastic. The little was a bigger troll than Tao had expected someone Oh Lei's age to be. 

          "Good answer," the elder mused but very soon after that, his eyes darkened and his voice dropped an octave lower as he questioned, "But, does your brother know that you're also a member of a gang?" 

          The sudden look on Chen's face had Tao shrinking back instinctively in fear while the sudden change in Chen's voice sent an uncomfortable shudder down Tao's spine. When Tao looked over at Oh Lei to see the kid's reaction, he saw that said kid was clenching his fists and he was wetting his lips without a pause. As Tao looked over at Chen, he could see that the elder was anticipating for what the answer might be. 

          Tao couldn't understand why Chen was so interested in knowing whether Oh Lei's brother know about gang related businesses. When Tao's own father got himself meddled in these sort of business, Tao didn't know about it either. Most people who meddles with crimes never let their loved ones know about it, since who the Hell would be crazy enough to go up front and tell them that they had been doing terrible things behind their backs? 

          'Unless,' the male slowly widened his eyes as a thought suddenly dawned on him, 'Chen doesn't trust Oh Lei?' 

          When Oh Lei told them his age, Chen started to act weirdly and said something to Oh Lei about how most people his age comes around into knowing about the gang and joining it. Could it be that Chen was suspecting Oh Lei of lying about how the latter joined the gang? Tao didn't see any reason why Chen should suspect Oh Lei of doing such a thing since — let's face it — why would a kid lie about how they join? 

          But then, another thing that Chen said also caught Tao's attention, which was how people join Suho's gang. There were two ways at joining Suho's gang — as Chen told them — and one of them was to be noticed and recognised by Suho or be taken in by somebody Suho knew personally — like Kai's case — basically, it had to involve Suho in one way or another. Chen didn't say the second way of joining and Tao guessed that it was because the elder wanted to see whether Oh Lei could answer that question. 

          That suddenly got Tao wondering: What was the other way of joining the gang anyway? Now that Tao realised, just how the Hell do people in movies actually join in Mafia businesses if they don't even know their existence beforehand? Was there some sort of test that people usually have to go through in order to join a gang? 

          Dread suddenly filled Tao's senses as the thought of Oh Lei lying about how he joined the gang swam in his mind. Tao could feel himself sweating a bucket as he looked at Oh Lei worriedly, his mind running a thousand miles per millisecond on the different ways Oh Lei could be punished if found lying. Tao was questioning to himself about how Oh Lei joined the gang. 

          While Tao was busy with his thoughts, he didn't realise that Oh Lei had already answered Chen's question until the elder said, "You're lying." 

          Tao snapped back to the present and watched Oh Lei biting his bottom lip. 

          "Believe whatever you want to believe," the younger told the elder, "But I can assure you, my brother really doesn't know anything about me getting involved in gang businesses." 

          Tao could see that Chen wasn't convinced about what Oh Lei said and looked like he was about to voice out his thoughts, but Tao was one step faster than him and quickly changed the topic, "You said that you moved from China, right?" 

          Chen shot Tao a look but the male was too occupied looking at Oh Lei to bother about the elder's stare — plus, he was slightly scared of what he might find in the older's gaze if he did look at him. Oh Lei meanwhile visibly relaxed when the topic was averted, glancing over at Tao and giving the male a grateful smile. Tao only smiled back in return and shrugged his shoulders. 

          "Yes, I did," the younger nodded, "Why did you ask?" 

          Tao smiled as he asked, "Where did you grow up in? I grew up in Qingdao before I moved to Korea at thirteen." 

          Oh Lei had a look of surprise on his face, "You're Chinese too?" 

          Tao laughed as he nodded, "Yeah, I am. But we're talking about you now." 

          "Right," the younger grimaced and Tao laughed lightly again at the younger's reaction, spotting a small smile on Oh Lei's face when Tao laughed before the younger answered, "I grew up in Shanghai." 

          Tao perked up a little at that, "You grew up in Shanghai, huh?" 

          Oh Lei nodded, "Yeah." 

          Tao smiled softly, "Nice." 

          Oh Lei only laughed sheepishly before Tao asked another question, fearing that if he let Chen ask a question the elder would ask another question that might make the kid uncomfortable, "Where are your parents now, Oh Lei?" 

           Tao didn't miss the way Oh Lei reacted to the question. Oh Lei had his breath hitched and his eyes were wide like a deer caught in headlights, his lips were suddenly dry and his skin was abnormally pale. It almost seemed as if Oh Lei had seen a ghost and it was worrying Tao very much. 

          "Oh Lei?" Tao softly called for the younger, "You okay?" 

          Oh Lei slowly looked up at Tao and seeing the male's worries written all over his face, the younger forced himself to calm down. Oh Lei wetted his lips and wipe his palms against his khaki shorts, trying to dry off the cold sweat that broke out when he heard the question. Oh Lei looked up at Tao, meeting the older's gaze as a small smile slowly appeared on his features. 

          "I'm fine," the younger replied shakily and he could see the look of doubt on Tao's face. 

          "Of course you're fine," the male quickly glanced at Oh Lei from head to toe before meeting the younger's gaze again, "If your pale face is any indication of it." 

          Oh Lei bit his bottom lip and as much as Tao wanted to push the younger to say more, he decided that he probably shouldn't push the kid into telling him things that he wasn't comfortable with. Plus, with Oh Lei's reaction towards the question, Tao could already tell that something must have happened to the kid's parents. Tao felt slightly bad for waking any bad memories that Oh Lei might have of his parents. 

          Maybe it was an abuse? That could be the reason behind why Oh Lei left China with his brother. Even though there was a possibility for such a thing, he highly doubted it though. Oh Lei didn't look like the kind of kid who had gotten hurt by his parents before. But then again, Tao knew nothing of Oh Lei's life since he didn't walk in the kid's shoes, so he can't assume. 

          Or it could be that his parents were divorced and were living separately. Oh Lei probably grew up with one of the parents along with his brother, or he grew up being apart from his brother. Maybe Oh Lei's brother moved to Korea once he came of age and since Oh Lei was turning eighteen this year, he also moved to Korea in hopes of finding a college here and being with his older brother. 

          Tao frowned and shook the thought out of his head — the possibility didn't seem right. Didn't Oh Lei just told Tao and Chen that he moved to Korea with his brother? Which meant that Oh Lei didn't move here alone and in fact had his brother to accompany him here to Korea. 

          Then, Tao's brain took a turn for the worst as he thought of a much darker and twisted possibility. What if, the reason Oh Lei came to Korea with his brother had something to do with why he's not comfortable talking about his parents? Usually, young people need to be under the supervision of an adult in order to be able to aboard a plane. Oh Lei may have an elder brother who's over eighteen, but how often do parents actually allow their elder child to bring their younger child overseas? Never, that's for sure. 

          Maybe, the reason why Oh Lei didn't want to talk about his parents was because they're dead. 

          As harsh as it seemed, it could be the answer to his question. After all, nobody likes talking about those who have passed, so maybe Oh Lei didn't want to talk about his parents because of his respect for them. Also, it's a bad omen for a person to be talking about dead people — like they said, if they have anything they're not satisfied with, they should say that into the person's face instead of saying it behind their backs. 

          "Can we talk about something else instead?" Oh Lei suddenly said, snapping Tao back to reality, "I rather not talk about my parents." 

          "Why not?" Chen asked with a raised brow. 

          Tao could sense a storm about to form if he doesn't cut off the conversation anytime soon. So, before Oh Lei could say anything to Chen — be them witty or spiteful or whatever the Hell they might be — Tao quickly barged into the talk. Tao directed a question to Oh Lei, not giving the younger anytime to process Chen's question and also earning a look of disapproval from the elder. 

          "What's your favourite Chinese food?" Tao asked and the question earned a huge and excited smile from Oh Lei. 

          "Oh, there's plenty," the younger said excitedly as he started to list out the bunch of Chinese food that he liked. 

          Sadly for Tao, the male could barely catch up with everything Oh Lei was saying, much less the list of food that the younger likes. Tao was only able to catch the names 'dumpling', 'braised eggplant' and 'bullfrog' in the midst of the list before he lost the rest of it in the younger's blabbers. Tao couldn't help but to stare dumbly at Oh Lei, his eyes wide as he tried to catch some more of the food in the list — which he of course failed in trying to do. 

          Oh Lei finished the list with a 'grilled oysters' — thankfully, Tao was able to catch that last dish — before breathing in long and deep to catch his breath. Tao blinked a few times after listening to the list of Oh Lei's favourite Chinese dishes, trying his hardest to register the very little dishes that he managed to catch from the younger's list. Chen was also staring at Oh Lei with an equal amount of shock, his face the epitome of a dumbfounded look. 

          Tao wanted to laugh at Chen's reaction — he really did, very tempted to in fact — but he knew he would be a hypocrite to say that he wasn't also staring at Oh Lei with wide eyes. Oh Lei turned to look at his two seniors when he didn't hear them say anything after he listed out his favourite Chinese food, looking back and forth between Tao and Chen's faces. A frown slowly formed on Oh Lei's face as he tilted his head to the side, a thoughtful look on his features. 

          "What's wrong?" Oh Lei asked and successfully brought Tao and Chen back from their daze. 

          "Nothing is wrong," the male quickly blurted out without giving a second thought, only to have Oh Lei frowning even more. 

          "We didn't catch even a quarter of the things you said," the elder decided to break it to Oh Lei, his voice cool and his hands in his pockets. 

          Oh Lei turned his head to look at Chen while Tao whipped his head at the elder. Tao glared at Chen, as if trying to tell Chen telepathically that the elder shouldn't have said what he just said. Chen — in return of Tao's heated gaze — only raised his hands up defensively with an unimpressed expression on his face, his lips thinned and his jaw set. 

          Before Tao could say anything, he heard an 'ah' coming from Oh Lei and turned to the younger. Oh Lei was rubbing the back of his neck with his eyes cast to the side, his smile only quirked upwards on one side and creating a lopsided grin with it. There was a nervous laugh that accompanied the small exclamation and Tao watched Oh Lei in confusion. 

          "I guess I did speak a little too fast just now," the younger commented as he brought his hand that had been rubbing the back of his neck to scratch his cheek which was flushing from possible embarrassment, "Sorry, I always speak faster than normal when I'm excited about something." 

          Tao flashed Oh Lei an understanding look, a gentle smile on his face as he assured the younger, "It's okay. I caught a few of the dishes you have listed anyway." 

          Oh Lei perked up at that, his eyes shining brightly and for a moment Tao thought the younger looked like a happy puppy, "What dishes did you hear?" 

          Tao told Oh Lei the few dishes that he heard, watching the smile on the kid's face slowly widening and eventually breaking off into a large grin. Tao couldn't help but to chuckle at Oh Lei's excited reaction, shaking his head to try and shake away his amusement. Tao looked back up at Oh Lei who looked like he was ready to ask something. 

          "Have you eaten these dishes before?" Oh Lei asked with the tilt of his head, earning a smile from Tao. 

          "I heard of them before," the male shook his head and sighed in disappointment, "Sadly, I don't eat them a lot. Either that, or I haven't eaten them yet. The only one I ate before is dumpling." 

          Tao flashed Oh Lei an apologetic smile, "Sorry, I seldom really get a chance to eat food from other states." 

          There was an understanding smile on Oh Lei's face as the younger shrugged, "It's okay, I understand." 

          Tao only smiled before he asked Oh Lei another question, "How long have you been in Korea already?" 

          Oh Lei held up a hand with four of his fingers outstretched and only his thumb folded, smiling widely as he answered, "Only been here for four months." 

          Tao hummed in amusement and asked, "Have you been here to Korea before this one?" 

          Oh Lei looked at Tao qu