Lu Han wasn't sure what had possessed him to accept the invitation to this stranger’s, Se Hun's, house, but he didn't regret it, at least not entirely. There was, however, this nagging fear in his heart, fear that this was the wrong thing to do. Se Hun's house was quite large, with white walls and a white marble floor that shone. The furniture was quite sparse, no more than necessary; in fact the whole house was the epitome of simplicity. Lu Han felt more at home here than his actual 'home,' no, that place was just a hellhole.

Lu Han instinctively shrunk away when he felt a hand on his shoulder and then silently cursed himself for acting like that, knowing that it was Se Hun. When he turned to look at Se Hun afterwards he saw that the other boy was looking at him with a confused expression on his face.

"Why don't you go shower, Lu Han? I'll go find some clothes for you..." Se Hun tried to smile at him, but it seemed that Lu Han's small instinctual movement must have hurt him at least a little.

"Oh okay, thank you," He responded, trying to smile back. "May I ask where the bathroom is?"

Se Hun pointed wordlessly down the hall before turning and going in a different direction. Lu Han watched him until he disappeared upstairs before heading to the bathroom.

Shrugging off his wet clothes Lu Han stepped into the shower and let the hot water pour over his thin and bruised body, wincing when the water hit a sensitive spot. Lu Han found himself thinking about the other boy. He still wondered why he had saved him in the first place, him, a complete stranger with nothing to live for... And then, on top of that, invited him back to his house... So he owed him, and owed him big time. He closed his eyes, just enjoying the feeling of the hot water hitting him for a moment before sighing heavily and turning the water off.

And all of a sudden everything was too quiet except for the annoying ticking of clocks, reminding him where he was, that he wasn’t at home, that his parents would be angry, if they actually cared about him, and mostly of his meaningless existence. He felt like he was just about to scream when he heard a knock on the door.

“Lu Han?” Se Hun's voice had this immediate calming effect. “I brought you clothes.”

Lu Han took deep breaths, not trusting himself to respond at the moment.

“Is everything okay, Lu Han?” He sounded worried now, for him, a complete stranger. “I’ll just leave them here then…” And there was a moment of silence before Lu Han heard his footsteps walk away.

He could feel something different in the air after he had gotten dressed and then entered the living room carrying his wet clothes, unsure what to do with them. Se Hun’s clothes were slightly too big for him, but not by much, he’d just always been too thin.

“Oh, you’re out,” Lu Han was so surprised to suddenly hear Se Hun’s voice that he dropped his wet clothes on to the white floor. “I’m glad my clothes fit you.” There was something like relief in his voice. After a moment Se Hun appeared in front of him and picked Lu Han’s clothes up from the floor.

“I’ll go wash these for you then,” Se Hun smiled at him, in that way that made Lu Han feel so comfortable, but he knew that he couldn’t stay here, he knew that he needed to get back to his house; as much as he knew that his parents simply did not care about him, he was still afraid.

“No!” Lu Han suddenly cried out, surprising both of them. He saw Se Hun’s eyes widen and then narrow in confusion. “I… um… it’s okay… I… uh, need to go…” He was stuttering, he was unsure; he just knew that he couldn’t stay there. “Th-thank you very much for helping me and saving me, hopefully I’ll repay you some day…” He gave Se Hun a clumsy bow before grabbing his clothes from Se Hun’s arms and beginning to move towards the door when he felt Se Hun grab his wrist.

“Wait!” He looked confused and hurt, like he did not want Lu Han to leave.

Lu Han roughly pulled his wrist out of his grasp. “Don’t touch me!” He snapped. And then his eyes widened, realizing what he’d just done out of habit and instinct.

“I-I’m so sorry… p-please just forget about me…” And with that he ran out the door, not looking back once, knowing that he would most likely change his mind if he did. As he ran back outside where the rain had stopped, and he wondered, slightly panicked, whether or not Se Hun had seen the bruises and cuts on his arms…

End of chapter 2

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Another short chapter... um, I'm sorry if you're disappointed with this chapter... ; A ; I promise everything will work out eventually, it'll just take a few chapters... I'm sorry if it's confusing or inconsistent... I promise everything will be explained! Thank you everyone for your kind comments and new subscribers ; A ; I really hope you continue to like it...