"A divorce," I said in a monotone voice, "They're thinking of getting a divorce."

"Well, did they actually say it or are you just assuming that?"

I let out a sigh as I rolled onto my back, feeling my body sink into the mattress. "It's obvious they're thinking that. Why on earth would my parents want to take a break from each other?"

There was a silence on the other line of the phone and I almost thought the person hung up until I heard a sigh. "I don't know."

"I wasn't really expecting you to give me an answer," I mumbled, "It was just a thought."

Baro let out a low chuckle and then a yawn. I glanced at the clock and frowned. It was already passed one in the morning and I knew that the two of us had school in the morning. But instead of sleeping, I was rambling on about the news my mother gave me just a few hours ago.

When she told me about her break with my father, I didn't bother to respond. Instead I stared at her for a couple of seconds before going straight to my bedroom without a word.

I was upset, annoyed, but most of all disappointed. It was obvious that divorce was eventually coming but, despite the many fights my parents have had in the past, I never thought they would actually choose that option. They always managed to one way or another find a way out of going down that road, but this time I don't see it happening.

I didn't know who to blame. Both my parents had their own side to the story and choosing one over the other would just make me a pathetic son. But I wasn't going to be stupid and blame myself for this whole thing either. I know I had nothing to do with their arguments and constant fighting; therefore I shouldn't even have to be involved. I suppose fate is what caused this whole mess to happen and who was I to disagree with fate?

I remained silent for a few minutes, simply staring at the ceiling above me. Nothing was really going through my head at the moment and the only sound I could hear at one in the morning was the late night drivers that were passing by and the sound of Baro's breathing on the other line of the call. It was quite calming if you asked me. Not that I would admit that out loud.

I felt bad, to be honest. Forcing Baro to stay up this late with me on a school night. Only to hear me ranting on about something that shouldn't even matter to him. But the boy insisted that I tell him what had happened after he noticed something was wrong the moment I picked up his call. What was supposed to be a quick 5 minute conversation turned into a 5 hour rant with only one party talking and the other one just asking the occasional questions.

I heard Baro yawn again and I frowned again (which I noticed I've been doing a lot of lately). Any minute now the two of us would need to hang up and go to sleep for school in only a few hours. I didn't want that. I wanted to stay up a little longer and hear Baro's soft breathing.

"It's 1:23," Baro mumbled into the phone, his tiredness evident in his voice.

"Yeah," I mumbled back. I didn't bother to check the time.

"We have school in the morning," he mumbled again.

"Yeah," I repeated.

A couple of more minutes passed by.

My father had came by earlier; a while after my mother announced their little break, only to leave a few minutes later. He only came to retrieve a few of his beer bottles and a large folder that contained all his work documents. He said he was going to come back in a couple of days to pick up his things and then move in with his single brother, who lives in the next town over. Of course, he didn't tell this to me. He told this to my mother and I just happened to overhear.

I think he forgot he had a son.

"Deullie," Baro mumbled again through the phone. Guilt began building up inside me and I hated it. I hated the feeling of guilt and for a moment, I hated Baro for showing me how guilt felt like.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled. But at the same time, I rubbed my free hand into my eyes, which caused my voice to come out in only a small muffle. I'm not sure Baro understood what I said. "Go to sleep."

Baro chuckled through the phone and even without having to look at him, I could sense he had his regular smirk on his face. "Whatever, mom."

"Shut up."

Baro chuckled again and I wondered how Baro could chuckle in a deep but yet a still calming voice. "Good night."

"Yeah. You too. I didn't mean to keep you up all night." I wasn't supposed to say the last part. I was supposed to hang up right after 'you too' and go to sleep without trying to think about Baro's stupid calming chuckle. But the last sentence just came out, almost like word vomit. Anything so that we could stay up a little bit longer.

"I know," Baro said, "It's been a while since we talked this long."

"Yeah."

"Well, good night."

I remained silent for a moment before whispering another "Yeah" and then hearing the other line being disconnected.

I didn't remove the phone from my ear. Instead, I kept it there and continued to stare up at the ceiling.

I was a bit nervous to take the phone from my ear. I was afraid that if I did, it would be another couple of weeks until I can have another one of these long conversations with Baro again.

I was pretty sure I didn't like the kid. He's annoying, loud, too bright, and was too much of a hassle to deal with. I never saw myself being able to call him my friend. Even when I first met him at that party a few months back, just by looking at his oddly bleached hair I had a feeling I wasn't going to be too fond of the kid. Something about a kid nicknamed Baro just sent me a bad vibe.

But that was months ago and even I'm quite surprised of how close Baro and I've gotten in such a short amount of time. It took Jaehyun six years for me to finally open up to him (only to get my back stabbed) but it only took Baro just a few weeks.

There's something about Baro that doesn't allow me to push him away like I planned to do in the beginning. Instead, I opened up to him a little too quickly even for my own liking.

I was pretty sure I didn't like Baro. But as I stayed up the rest of the night, reading through our old conversations and trying to keep a stupid grin off my face, I realized: Lying to myself isn't healthy.

-

Two days later my father came to retrieve all his things so that he could move in with his brother. The only time I've seen my father's brother was those rare occasions when my mother agreed to go see some of our family on my father's side. Most of the time, though, she didn't want to go and that meant I couldn't go either. So my father would just go by himself. I didn't mind not going, though. I'm not a fan of meeting new people.

My mother didn't allow me to call him 'uncle' though. Mainly because "He has done nothing to help us so why on earth should we consider him family?" My mother always had an odd way of thinking.

I sat in the living room, watching as my father's brother walked in and out to take my father's luggage out to the car. There was a lot of luggage for only a small break.

My father was in the bedroom with my mother, discussing things that I wasn't allowed to hear.

I was waiting for my father's brother to notice me sitting there. Maybe even say something. Though a part of me hoped he just ignored me like everybody else in this family has been doing lately, another part wanted to at least be acknowledged. But he just acted as though I was just a part of the furniture.

While I continued to watch as the familiar stranger walked in and out of my apartment, the doorbell suddenly rang. I normally would never open the door and just allowed one of my parents to do it, but I had a feeling this time I was the one who should get the door.

When I opened the door, the first thing I did was frown.

"What?" I asked in annoyance.

Shinwoo rolled his eyes and stepped inside my apartment, his shoulder bumping into mine, and went straight to the kitchen. "Thanks for ditching me last time for Jaehyun. That stupid bastard."

"That was a week ago," I muttered. I closed the door but made sure it was unlock so that my father's brother could continue coming in and out. "Besides," I continued and walked over to Shinwoo, "I thought you were too busy with flirting with one of the girls in the store."

"Well, she blew me off." Shinwoo let out an exaggerated sigh before sinking into one of the kitchen chairs.

"Don't they all do?" I muttered under my breath.

At the same time, my father's brother walked out of the apartment door, holding onto, what I hoped, to be the last bag.

Shinwoo raised an eyebrow at him before glancing over at me with a confused look. "Why was Uncle Minwoo here? I thought your mom doesn't like him."

"My mom likes him. Well, after today she probably won't." I sighed before sinking into the seat besides Shinwoo. "My dad is leaving for a while. His brother came to pick up some of his things."

"Why is he leaving?"

"My parents are taking a break from each other." Shinwoo continued to stare at me and I was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable. I didn't like being stared at.

Finally Shinwoo sighed before patting me on the back. "I'm sorry, man."

I raised an eyebrow at him, not quite sure if he was actually being serious or not. But I wasn't going to worry about that. The last thing I needed was sympathy from a guy who enjoyed having the nickname CNU and claimed it to be the source of his so called 'popularity'.

But when I took another glance at his eyes, I realized he was being serious.

It was his own uncle and aunt for crying out loud. So I honestly wasn’t that surprised that Shinwoo was at least a bit concerned about what was going on. He might be annoying as hell and always pisses me off but he's still family.

But he didn’t ask about anything. He remained quiet as my father walked into the kitchen with my mother following right behind him. It was quite obvious that their private discussion involved some harsh screaming here and there because my mother’s face had a bright shade of red to it, something that happens whenever she has to raise her voice. Which she’s been doing a lot more frequently lately.

My father looked over at Shinwoo and then at me. He stared at me for a bit, and I was expecting him to say something. Say a proper goodbye before leaving for God knows how long. Even a pat on the back or a quick smile would be good enough. Instead, he just nodded his head at me. A small acknowledgement that he still remembers me as his son and not just a kid he was forced to take care of for the past 15 years.

I didn’t know how to react to that pathetic nod, so I just continued to stare at him as he exchanged a few more words with my mother and then left the apartment. I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted him to come back.

I knew my father wasn’t a bad person. The way he has been acting these past few weeks was all due to the all the fighting and all the stress. But it still upset me. It upset me that he didn’t bother to say a word to before he left. Like I was nothing to him.

This wasn’t the first time my father had acted this way towards me. There were times that he didn’t pay much attention to anyone in the family. He would use work as an excuse and there was always that one period of time where he would come home and go straight to his bedroom to sleep the rest of the day away. He would ignore me and my mother; he wouldn’t bother to even exchange a word to us.

I supposed that’s what had caused my mother to become upset with him. She probably grew tired of being ignored by her own husband. The man that she loved and the man that she promised to spend the rest of her life with. 

But my father wasn’t a bad person. He worked hard to put food on the table. He worked hard so that my mother and I didn’t have to worry about anything and that we could live a comfortable life. I loved my father and I could never hate him. He was just always so tired.

My mother let out a long sigh once my father left the apartment. She ran her fingers through her thick hair before turning over to me and Shinwoo. “Hello,” she said to Shinwoo, her voice a little raspy. Probably from all the yelling.

“Hi, Auntie,” Shinwoo said with a nervous smile, “Sorry for coming at a bad time. I didn’t know-“

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” she said, interrupting Shinwoo and flashing us a bright, but fake, smile. “Why don’t you two go out for a bit? I need to settle some things here and it’d be best if I were alone.”

I frowned at my mother. By ‘settling some things’ she must mean crying over a man who had just left the door less than five minutes ago.

I wanted to go against my mother’s wishes. I didn’t want her to be alone by herself, crying over someone that she probably shouldn’t cry for.

So I did.

My mother wanted me to leave, but I stayed home instead. Shinwoo stayed as well, claiming that his mother wanted him to be at my house anyways and that he wasn’t in the mood to go out. So the two of us stayed in my room, watching a boring movie on my laptop and keeping the door slightly cracked, in case I heard any sobbing.

-

The rest of the weekend was quite depressing. I didn’t go out, afraid that something could happen to my mother while I was gone and that no one would be able to help her. She avoided going to her bedroom, using cooking as an excuse not to go. It seemed as though the bedroom was the only thing that probably reminded her of my father the most and that was the last thing she probably wanted.

She spent all day cooking in the kitchen, to the point that the neighbors even came knocking to wonder why our apartment smelt like variety of different foods.

And even though she cooked so much, none of the food was eaten. It was all piled onto the kitchen table and counter until there was no room and I had to throw it all out while she was taking a shower (the only time she actually left the kitchen). She looked crushed when she found out that all her food was gone.

I was wondering why she choose cooking as a way of comfort. She wasn't all that good of a cook in the first place and we didn't really didn't have much in the fridge to begin with. She would cook all throughout the night, not having one ounce of sleep. And I stayed up with her as well. Just to make sure she didn't end up burning the whole apartment down (she almost did, twice).

-

School that Monday was nothing but hell. I was tired both physically and mentally to the point that even the loud ringing from the school's bell sounded like a soft gentle lullaby to me.

And to top it all off, I had the worst teacher to deal with first period.

“Okay class,” Mr. Park said, with a huge grin. He was too bright and awake at 7:30 in the damn morning. “Today I have an exercise for you guys to learn the effects of alcohol and how it can control your body.”

We needed to work in partners for the assignment, something I always dreaded. I hated to be forced into working with a person I didn’t want to work with.

I didn’t exactly pay attention to what the assignment was. I wasn’t planning on doing it anyways. I was too tired and all I wanted to do was sleep. So instead of looking for a partner like everybody else, I decided to get ready for a nap.

I was lucky that there was an odd number of students, so at the end, I had no choice but to work alone.

“Junghwan,” Mr. Park called out to me once the rest of the class went to work.

I mentally glared at the teacher before going over to him by his front desk.

He handed me a folded piece of paper. I gave him a look before unfolding it (which annoyed me because he should have just given it to me unfolded in the first place). On it was my name, the time and date and scribbled in red ink was a messy, but quite familiar, signature underneath.

“Your guidance counselor would like to see you right now,” Mr. Park said with that bright stupid smile of his. He must have been glad that I was leaving his class and he didn’t have to deal with me for the rest of the period. I was glad too. I hate his class.

Without a word, I left Mr. Park’s classroom and headed to the other side of the school to where the guidance office was.

This wasn’t the first time I’ve had to sit down with my guidance teacher. On the first month of freshmen year, I had been sent to the guidance office at least a dozen times because my teachers were afraid something was wrong with me due to my unemotional attitude. When my guidance teacher realized there was nothing wrong with me, both mentally or emotionally, he spent the rest of the school year trying to help me express my emotions.

He would call in random meetings at any time of the day and we would sit in his office and chat for almost an hour or so. We didn’t talk about anything in particular, just random mindless chattering. His meetings never did help with anything and the only thing good that came out of it was that I managed to miss class.

This year, I’ve only been sent down to his office a couple times, but it’s been a few weeks since I’ve last been there.

I entered the guidance office and walked up to the female secretary that was typing away on her computer. Other than the cafeteria ladies, I think she’s the only other female that works in this school.

She looked up at me. “And you are?” I didn’t know whether she had some sort of short term memory loss or if she was just stupid because I find it unbelievable that she still doesn’t remember me after all the times I’ve been sent here.

I didn’t say a word as I handed her the paper Mr. Park gave me. She took a quick glance at it before putting it on top of a pile of other folded papers and nodding her head to one of the open doors behind her desk. I knew it was her signal that I was allowed to go in the office.

Mr. Chae was a skinny, young man. He’s quite handsome and could surprise anyone when he tells them that he was still single and didn’t plan on dating anytime soon. He was a little weird too.

He was sitting on top, not behind, but on top of his desk, probably waiting for me to arrive. When he noticed me stepping inside a wide grin grew on his face as he motioned me to sit down anywhere I wanted. And by anywhere, I mean anywhere. Mr. Chae always wanted his students to feel comfortable, so I could sit outside facing his office window and he wouldn’t care. As long as I was comfortable.

I sat down at the usual seat, right in front of his desk, and looked up at his smiling face.

“Hello, Sandeul,” Mr. Chae said in a cheery voice. It was too early for this.

“Hi,” I tried holding in my yawn, but it forced its way out on its own free will.

“What’s the matter? Didn’t get enough sleep?”

“You can say that.”

“Well, come on,” he grinned as he reached over and ruffled my hair, “You can tell your old buddy Chae what’s going on.”

Mr. Chae has this strange power that can make you open up to him in only a heartbeat. Even the most closed and unapproachable people would soon find themselves sobbing out their life story the second they walk into Mr. Chae’s office. He was the only guidance teacher the every student liked and he knew everything and everyone in the school.

So it wasn’t a surprise that I found myself explaining everything to him about what was going on about my parents during these past few weeks. I went on about their little break and how my mother suddenly became an obsessive cooker in only two days.

Mr. Chae only listened. He occasionally nodded his head, but other than that, he kept his eyes locked on the chair besides me. He knew about my hatred of being stared at and he knew not to look at me for so long.

“Your mother is just trying to find a distraction from all the stress that has piled onto her shoulders these past few weeks,” Mr. Chae finally said a minute after I had finished telling him my story. “It’s understandable and quite common.”

“It’s common to cook 42 different dishes in only 48 hours?” I muttered under my breath, quite not seeing the normal side to it.

“It’s common for your mother to want to look for a distraction.” Mr. Chae smiled before reaching over and ruffling my hair again. Normally I hated when people touched me, but I got used to Mr. Chae. “Did I ever tell you my story?”

I rolled my eyes but shook my head. The only thing I really didn’t like about Mr. Chae was when he gets ready to tell one of his life stories. He always starts out with “Did I tell you my story?” and since he doesn’t specify which story he’s talking about, you really have no choice but have him tell it to you. And once he starts telling you a story, he won’t shut up until he finishes it.

“You see, before I became a counselor, I was studying to become a graphic designer. But then I realized I knew nothing about computers or technology in general.” Mr. Chae sighed while slightly shaking his head. I raised an eyebrow, not seeing how his lack of technology knowledge had to do with what my mother was going through.

“Anyways,” Mr. Chae continued, “Since I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, I dropped out of college and spent a few months working in a night bar. Since I had so much free time during the day, do you know what I did?”

“I’m not quite sure,” I mumbled.

“I collected Hello Kitty.”

I blinked at him for a few seconds before frowning. “What?”

Mr. Chae laughed as he jumped off his desk and stood right in front of me. “You heard right. I collected Hello Kitty. If ever go into my attic, you’ll see nothing but Hello Kitty merchandise.” He grinned at me as my face formed into a look of confusion.

“Why are you telling me this?” I finally asked.

“To be honest, I’m not quite sure.” Mr. Chae cocked his head to the side and then shrugged his shoulder. “Anyways, the lesson of the day is that your mother is going through some stuff and as a son, what you need to do is show her some support.”

I nodded my head in understanding before standing up. “Well, now that we announced the lesson of the day, I’ll be taking my leave.”

I was getting ready to turn around and head back to class, but Mr. Chae grabbed onto my wrist and pulled me back into my chair. “Oh no,” he said, that stupid grin back on his face, “There’s a reason as to why I called you in this early in the morning.”

“I was worried that there was a reason.” I sighed before getting myself comfortable in my seat and looked up at the older male.

“I’m sure that there’s a rumor going around about a new student, am I correct?” I nodded my head and Mr. Chae continued, “Well, seeing that the boys are new, I want you to show them around. This is a perfect opportunity for you to open up to new people and the best thing is that since you don’t know them, you don’t have a reason to hate them automatically like you do with everybody else in this school.”

I frowned at Mr. Chae and began to consider my options. The last thing I wanted to do was show a complete stranger around a school that I completely hated. But I knowing Mr. Chae, I didn’t have the option to say no. Once he decided on something, you can’t convince him to change his mind. Besides, I was going to meet the kid anyways because of Gongchan, so I supposed I might as well do it.

I let out a long sigh. “Fine.”

“Great!” Mr. Chae clapped his hands together, “Let’s go meet them. They’re waiting in the main office.”

“Alright- wait, did you just say ‘they’?”

Mr.Chae looked at me in confusion and cocked his head to the side. “Yes. They.”

“There’s two of them?”

“There’s three of them.”