“I don’t deserve you.” Zelo used his free hand to run it through his hair, frustrated.

“Isn’t that up to me to decide? I choose you so why can’t you just believe in me?”

“I’m scared. What if I lose you, too?”

“You think I would die that easily?”, he gave me a mischievous smile. I smacked his arm with my free hand.

“I’m serious!”

“I am too. You don’t think I’m scared too? But I rather take a chance on us than play it safe but end up regretting it.” He looked at me steadily, all traces

of mischief gone. I didn’t know what to say to that.

“Let me tell you a story. When I was ten, TS killed my parents. Back in the day, they both worked for them. They fell in love and when they found out my

mom was pregnant with me they left TS. We lived our lives running from them, but they found us one day. They hid me in a closet, but I could still hear

everything. They fought until the end to protect me. But TS found me anyway. They decided to use me as their slave. I know you saw the whip marks

on my back when you helped patch me up. They used to whip me for every little thing. Like if they didn’t like the look on my face, if I didn’t move fast

enough, sometimes for fun. Everyday my hatred and anger would grow.”, he stopped here and took a shaky breath. I squeezed his hand and waited

for him to compose himself.

“Then one day, Yongguk and Himchan raided the hideout I was at. It was only a small branch of TS, so it wasn’t long before they found me. I was sure

they would kill me. But Yongguk smiled and said to me ‘I like the look in your eyes. Do you want to come with us?’. And I said yes because it had been a

long time since someone smiled kindly at me and I wanted to believe in him. So I did. I joined BAP so I could get stronger to exact my revenge against

TS, but instead I found another family.” He brought his hand up to my face and wiped my tears.

“Why are you crying?” I hadn’t realized I was crying until he wiped my face.

“I think I’m crying for the Zelo who lost his parents and childhood and I’m crying because I’m so sorry I hurt you when I left. But most of all I’m crying

because I’m grateful that you’re believing in someone like me.”

“No one’s ever cried for me before. Does this mean you’ll believe in me?” I nodded.

“I’m still scared, but I want to believe in us more.”

“Now we’re on the same page, Princess. What happens now?” At that exact moment our stomachs decided to let us know they were hungry. We both

burst out laughing.

“I think we both need some food. What do you want to eat?”

“How about pasta?”

“That sounds good. What kind?”

“Shrimp alfredo?”

“That sounds great. Peel the shrimp for me?”

“Your wish is my command.”

Making lunch took a little longer than expected mainly because Zelo kept messing around and making me laugh. He was too good at making goofy

faces. I was really glad that things were back to normal now. Well, that’s not right. After our talk, I think we became even closer. We sat on the couch

and found something to watch. Mochii eventually wandered into my lap. After four episodes, I felt my eyelids getting heavy and before I knew it I was

asleep.

I woke up to someone carrying me on their back going upstairs. Guess Ba finally made it back from the job. He lowered me into bed and tucked me in.

I felt his lips brush my forehead and I heard him murmur good night in Korean. That’s weird. He hasn’t spoken Korean since Ma died. But I was too

sleepy to think about it too much so instead I just  murmured it back to him and drifted back to sleep.