Lu Han was running, running as fast and far as his legs would take him, away from Se Hun's house. Se Hun... his words were piercing, they had hurt, the kind of pain that wasn't even comparable to the physical pain he received at home sometimes, it was so much worse. Why though? The two of them have only met twice, but Lu Han knew that he was falling for him, and falling hard, that’s why the younger boy’s words had hurt so much... If it had been anyone else, he probably wouldn’t even have cared.

He was still running, no destination in mind, he just wanted to keep moving, to distract himself from a certain extremely handsome boy. When he knew that he couldn't go on anymore, he made his way to the nearest wall and just leaned against it, trying to catch his breath.

He could still hear Se Hun's voice in his head, telling him that he hoped to never see him again... Those words, alone, had cut the deepest wounds in his heart. Lu Han had spent the last month thinking about Se Hun, wondering if it had really been okay for him to just leave like that. There had also been this incredibly nagging guilt that refused to go away. Several times that month he had gone to Se Hun's house only to find it to be empty. He had hoped that, perhaps, Se Hun wanted to see him too...

Finally, that day, Lu Han had decided that he was not going to leave until he finally saw Se Hun. When Se Hun got back that day, Lu Han had already been sitting in front of his door for hours; he was cold, and his patience had worn quite thin. Upon seeing Se Hun, he stood up and smiled at the younger boy, clutching Se Hun's clothes to his chest. He had just been about to say something when he was met with Se Hun angry gaze and harsh words.

Se Hun had then grabbed him and tossed him aside like he was nothing, and this had hurt, but the words hurt more. When Se Hun closed the door in his face, Lu Han had begun to cry. The tears had been slow and silent at first, so when he finally spoke his voice had still been fairly steady. Se Hun's last words and cold voice broke him and the rest, as they say, was history.

He was still leaning against the wall and was panting heavily. He was no longer crying, because well, he simply had no more tears left. Deciding that he had nowhere else to go, he decided it was time to head back to his parents' house, his adoptive parents, that is. He tried to stay away as much as possible; his parents didn't care about him anyway. Just not to the point that made them angry.

Lu Han had been orphaned at a very young age; he didn't even remember how old he had been anymore. His current parents had adopted him quite soon after that. At first, life had been wonderful, they had loved him, given him, almost, anything he had wanted, but they never spoiled him. He had honestly felt like the luckiest child in the world. Everything, however, had changed quite suddenly just a little less than two years ago when he was twenty...

Flashback

Lu Han was returning home after his classes that day to find his parents both sitting at the kitchen table. His adoptive mother was crying and his father was trying to comfort her. Worried, Lu Han immediately rushed over and placed a comforting hand on her back.

"Mother?" He asked gently. "Is everything okay?"

At first his mother gave no response and his father just shot him a warning look. And then his mother was on her feet, with a finger pointed directly at him. Her eyes were red from the crying, there were streaks of smudged makeup running down her face, her hair was disheveled and she looked a lot older than she actually was.

"You!" She screamed at him. "This is all your fault!"

Lu Han took a step back, startled by his mother's outburst.

"You..." She was almost snarling at him now. "If we hadn't adopted you... We wouldn't be in this situation! All that money spent on you! Now we're in debt and it's all your fault!"

Lu Han's eyes had grown wider with every accusation thrown at him. He had had no idea that his mother felt that way. Next thing he knew, there was a throbbing pain on his right cheek and he realized his mother had just slapped him.

"Mother..." He gasped out loud; betrayal was like a knife that had just pierced his heart, twisting deeper with each word from his mother’s mouth. He could feel the tears beginning to slide down his face.

"Don't call me that!" She screamed. “Just get out of my sight!”

Lu Han stayed frozen where he was, his body refusing to move.

“What are you waiting for?” His mother looked like she was about ready to kill him. “I hate you! You hear me? Leave!”

And then he ran, ran out the door of the house, not wanting to look back…

End Flashback

Lu Han had realized, after that day, that money changed people, and most of the time, for the worse. His ‘parents’ had forced him to drop out of university, and then tried to sell anything, that had any value, that they had bought for him before. Soon enough he had been forced to go live in the basement on an old, rusted, and small bed that was extremely uncomfortable, where he still lived to this day. All he was left with, of his previous possessions, was some clothes and a photo, a photo reminding him of happier times. Although he was surprised that his adoptive parents still let him live there, it proved that they didn’t hate him completely, or so he thought. This had saved his parents some money, sure, but it wasn’t enough to settle all their debt, and soon enough his parents turned to alcohol. And then he became their punching bag; they always took their frustrations out on him. Lu Han had tried to find work, but no one wanted a skinny, twenty-year-old with no work experience. Eventually he just decided to stay out of the house as much as possible, but not enough to make them angry because that would just make things worse for him.

Lu Han entered the house to see a very familiar scene: his adoptive parents sitting at the kitchen table, his ‘mother’ crying and his ‘father’ trying to comfort her… Deciding to be cautious, Lu Han tried to sneak past and just be invisible. Unfortunately he was noticed. And then they both got up and began walking towards him. He knew what was coming, and his brain was telling him to run away but he stayed there; he had been running away too much, it was time to stand his ground.

Se Hun…He thought sadly. I’m so sorry…

End of chapter 4

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Another chapter for my wonderful subscribers! ^_^ We get to learn more about Lu Han, and his very depressing past... longest chapter so far! lol Next chapter will be happier! I promise OTL Thank you for all your wonderful comments! They make my day ^_^ Also, I realized, after I wrote this chapter, that I forgot to account for a few things, so I may change the summary a little, but still basically the same story!