Zitao squirmed a little under the three stares that threatened to pin him to his seat. Even the fact that they were meeting in a restaurant wasn’t much comfort—Suzy’s uncle owned the place, and he’d taken them straight to a private back room where it was unlikely anyone would be able to hear Zitao being murdered.

“So,” Minji said after a moment. “His name is Kris?”

“Yes,” Zitao said quickly, “Well, sort of. It’s a nickname that he started going by after he moved to Canada as a kid, and he got so used to answering to it that it’s just how he introduces himself now. His real name is Wu Yifan.”

“And how old is he?” Krystal asked.

“Twenty,” Zitao answered.

“He’s pretty hot,” Suzy giggled, and Krystal fixed her with a murderous look. “What?” Suzy asked. “It’s true.”

Zitao giggled as well, and Krystal went back to glaring at him. “He’s really amazing,” Zitao gushed, trying to keep his eyes on Suzy and Minji. “I wish I could just sit here and tell you about every sweet thing he’s ever done for me—he helps me with my Korean, he cooks for me, helps me clean up the house, he keeps this journal and he writes down the things he loves about me and the moments we share, he’s almost filled one notebook…”

“Sounds like you’ve been together a while,” Krystal cut in.

The smile slipped off of Zitao’s face. “Since February,” he admitted. “What happened was…well, he broke me out of the hotel, that night.” He flinched as the three of them gasped. This was where the lies sort of started—there was some truth to everything Zitao was about to say, but it was overwhelmingly a lie.

“What do you mean he broke you out?” Minji demanded.

“Well,” Zitao sighed, “What I didn’t tell you about that night is that after you left, the boys blocked off a few of the exits by putting wooden blocks through the door handles. Kris was walking by the hotel and saw me sitting at the front door, and he broke me out.” He took a deep breath, steadying himself. “I was terrified, I’d had a panic attack and I was shaking and crying…he wanted to take me to a hospital, but I didn’t want to go.” It wasn’t hard to sound like he was tearing up. “Kris stayed with me, he sat with me in the hotel and talked me down. Even after I’d calmed down I wasn’t quite ready to go home, so he kept sitting with me and we started talking. After that he made sure I got home safely and I asked for his phone number. I wanted to do something for him in return…”

“That is so like you,” Suzy sighed.

“Funny that he just happened to be walking by the hotel,” Krystal sniffed.

Zitao felt a spark of annoyance. “Anyone could have walked by,” he growled. “Probably a lot of people did and he was just the only one to notice me.”

“Yes well Krystal’s being a snob,” Minji said with a wave of her hand. “So what happened next?”

“Well what do you think?” Zitao sputtered. “You know what I’m like—I couldn’t stop thinking about him so I offered to treat him to dinner one day, and things just kind of continued from there.”

“So you’ve been together for six months and you couldn’t tell your best friends about it?” Krystal snapped.

“I wanted to!” Zitao exclaimed. “But then that would mean admitting I’d been locked in the hotel and I knew how you would react to that, and I didn’t want you going after those boys when they’d basically agreed to stop tormenting me! My god Krystal I just wanted to end high school in peace, alright? And the more time passed the harder it got to say it and I was going to tell you soon, I swear, this just wasn’t how I wanted it to go!” He was panting by the time he finished his speech, and the girls were staring at him wide eyed.

“Alright,” Krystal sighed after a moment. “Fine. Fine, I’ll give you that.” She sighed and rubbed her temples. “So where is he now?”

“At my apartment,” Zitao said. “I figured I should come see you without him first.”

“Jeez, does he live at your place or something?” Suzy snorted, nudging Minji with her elbow.

“Um,” Zitao said nervously, “Yes.”

The girls gaped at him.

“WHAT?!” Krystal yelped, “You’re living with him?!”

“Calm down,” Zitao said, holding his hands up.

“I will not!” Krystal yelled, leaping to her feet. “You let him move into your apartment after you’d known him for only six months? What if he’s a criminal? What does he do for a living?”

“Quit yelling at me!” Zitao screamed, getting to his feet. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you but I don’t owe you every detail of my personal life!”

Suzy was pulling on Krystal’s arm. “Krystal, really! You could be handling this better!”

Krystal shoved her off. “Do your parents know?”

“Yes,” Zitao said proudly, lifting his chin. In fact he’d only asked for their permission a week ago, but he wasn’t going to tell Krystal that. “We skyped with them, they love Kris.”

Krystal was seething. “Answer my second question, what does he do for a living?”

“He’s a student,” Zitao answered promptly. “He’s doing an online program for Seoul University.”

Krystal snorted. “So he’s a freeloader.”

“No,” Zitao cried, “He helps with the rent! His aunt and uncle send money every week to help with the rent and they even gave us some extra so we could buy more furniture if we needed it.”

That too was recent—Kris had only lived with Zitao for three weeks, but it had taken a while for them to settle the issue of money. Kris’ clan had it, but Kris was only allowed limited access until he could prove that he had been mated, seeing as the money was supposed to be used to provide for a family, not just one person individually. They had also agreed to pay for Kris to take the online courses and he had barely made the registration cut for the fall semester, but it would work out.

Krystal was still seething. “I don’t like this. I don’t like this one bit, something’s off here I just know it. what aren’t you telling us?”

“What do you want from me?” Zitao demanded. “Some dark secret? I don’t have one!” It wasn’t a dark secret, it wasn’t even a secret! It was none of their business, that’s what it was. But he was done with them anyway.

“I can see I’ve wasted my breath,” Zitao huffed, glaring at Krystal. “If you’re going to act like this then I don’t want to be around you.”

Krystal looked stunned. “What’s gotten in to you? What has he done to you?”

“Kris has done nothing to me!” Zitao yelled. “What would make you think that it’s his fault? What would make you think that anything is wrong?”

Krystal slammed her hands down on the table. “Why are you putting him on such a high pedestal?”

Tao wanted to scream. “I’m not putting—for god’s sake, I’m in love with him! And he’s in love with me!”

Minji gasped, Suzy almost choked on air. Krystal looked…haughty?

“Oh, I see,” Krystal laughed. “So that’s it.”

Zitao was stunned. “What’s it?”

“You think you’re in love with him,” She sighed, and she smiled in relief. “Oh, okay.”

Zitao felt like his legs had gone numb. “What do you mean I think I’m in love with him?”

Krystal shook her head. “You’re eighteen, you’re too young to be in love. You’ll wake up and realize how wrong you are soon enough.”

It was like the floor had tilted, Zitao had to grab onto the edge of the table for support.

Suzy stood up and hesitantly reached out to him. “Zitao, are you okay? You got really pale…” All three of them actually looked worried.

Zitao managed to find his voice. “You think I’m lying about this? All three of you?”

Suzy and Minji wouldn’t meet his eyes, and Zitao just knew he was right. They thought he was some stupid, lovestruck teenager. But he wasn’t! He did love Kris, he loved Kris with all his heart, but how could he explain that? To blurt out that they were soul mates would seem cliché and childish, because supposedly he was too young to know such things. But they didn’t see the look in Kris’ eyes when he looked at Zitao, they couldn’t fathom all the love that Kris had for him, and all the love that he had for Kris. But Zitao was starting to realize he could never find the words to convince them.

“Oh god, Krystal, you just had to make things worse,” Minji said sharply. She held out a tissue and dabbed at Zitao cheeks, and he realized that he was crying.

“I didn’t mean to make him cry,” Krystal sputtered. “I just—”

Zitao backed away from the table, ducking away from Minji. “I’m going home,” he said, his voice shaking. “Don’t…just give me some space.” And then he darted from the room, nearly running into a shocked looking waiter who had clearly overheard the whole thing.

Zitao didn’t even look at Kris when he got home—he called over his shoulder that he needed time alone and ran right into his room. He dove into bed and burrowed into the blankets, trying as best he could to muffle sobs in his pillow.

It was the unfairness of the situation that really got to him. So he was eighteen years old, so what? He and Kris had known each other for six months, seen each other practically every day during that time. In the last half a year Zitao had seen Kris more than he’d seen his parents in two years. He felt very well qualified in saying that he knew Kris very well—maybe he didn’t know everything about Kris, but he knew Kris’ temperament and his personality. They were so honest and open with each other, they were so perfect together. Was it so hard to believe that someone could love him like that?

Zitao wormed a hand into his pocket and grabbed his phone, dialing his mother. He prayed that she wasn’t working and he wasn’t interrupting anything.

She picked up on the third ring. “Darling, hello! How are you?”

Zitao choked back a sob. “Mom,” he gasped, “I have to ask you something.”

“Sweetheart, are you crying? What’s going on, are you alright?”

“I had a fight with Krystal,” Zitao sniffed. “I told her I’m in love with Kris and she thought I was just being a stupid teenager. But I’m not! Mom I swear, I love Kris so much, I love him more than I’ve ever thought I could love someone, and I know he feels the same way because he’s told me so and I know he’s not lying but…I can’t explain how I know, and I just feel like everything I say is so trivial. I want you to be honest with me, do you think I’m being stupid?”

“Oh Zitao,” his mom sighed, “Don’t cry…”

“But she thought it wasn’t true,” Zitao sobbed. “She looked at me like I was insane, like I had no idea what I was talking about, and it hurt so much…mom, I never want anyone to look at me like that again!”

“Baby, just calm down, please…”

“Do you believe me?”

“Yes, I do.”

Zitao sat up and wiped his eyes. “Why? Why do you believe me? Do you think I’m being dumb?”

She hesitated. “I won’t lie, at first I was skeptical. But darling even over a crappy laptop camera, I had only to see you look at each other and hear you talk to one another to realize that you weren’t lying.”

Zitao hiccupped. “How did you know?”

“How did you know?” She fired back. “Tell me.”

Zitao took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “It’s amazing, being with him. It’s like, every cell in my body feels lighter when I’m with him. I feel like we could do anything together. I feel like, we could do the most mundane things and it would be a precious memory, because even when we do things that seem boring, like when we watch TV or even when we’re sitting around doing homework, we’re learning more about each other and we get to see each other shine in new ways every day. I never want that feeling to end. And I see the way he looks at me…I know he loves me, even when I don’t see that look in his eyes I can feel how much he loves me. And I feel the same way—it feels like…like love isn’t just in my heart anymore. Like you know how when you love someone, sometimes you feel this tug in your chest whenever you think about them? I feel it in my whole body. It’s amazing—”

“It’s like you feel it in your soul?” His mom offered.

Zitao jumped and opened his eyes—he’d actually forgotten where he was for a moment. “Yes,” he said sheepishly, “Sorry, I think I got a little carried away.”

“Not at all,” she sighed. “He’s your soul mate.”

Zitao grinned. “I know,” He said happily, but the happy feeling quickly evaporated. “But to say it out loud…it sounds weird. Nobody believes in that sort of thing anymore.”

“Which is a real shame,” mom said heavily, “Because soul mates do exist.”

Zitao grabbed his pillow and hugged it close to his chest. “How do I convince my friends that I know what I’m doing?” He asked.

“Well dear, I’m not sure you can,” mom admitted. “I would think they’d need to see you and Kris together, like I did, to realize how serious you are. But I think if your friends care about you the way you say they do, they’ll come around on their own. You just need to hang in there.”

“But I want them to like him,” Zitao protested. “Kris is a great guy, and it’s like they’re letting their bias about teenage romance get in the way.”

“Did you tell them that?” Mom asked shrewdly.

“No,” Zitao mumbled. “I was upset so I…I ran out crying.” His face burned in shame. “It probably wasn’t the most mature thing to do…I probably just hurt my case.”

“Honestly I don’t blame for reacting that way,” mom said, “I know how emotional you get, and I’m sure the realization was a big shock to you. My dear, I want nothing more than to hug you and pet your hair and tell you that everything is going to be okay, but alas I can’t do that. So I’m leaving it up to Kris to make you feel better. You go snuggle with him until you feel better, okay?”

It was like she knew what was really going on—it had been a while since Zitao and Kris had felt their Qi combine, maybe doing so would help Zitao feel better.

“That’s a good idea,” Zitao said. “I think I’ll go do that now. Thanks, mom. I’m glad I talked to you.”

“So am I, darling. I love you.”

“I love you too. Tell dad I said hello.” And with that Zitao ended the call. He ran to the door and flung it open, not too surprised to find Kris waiting on the other side, a sheepish smile on his face and tears in his eyes. He didn’t seem sad, though.

“How much of that did you overhear?” Zitao asked, a small smile on his face. Kris had stopped wearing the earmuffs, but he still kept cotton stuffed in his ears to muffle the sounds of the busy apartment. Even so, he could hear pretty well.

“Well, I tried not to listen,” Kris began, “But you know…sometimes I can’t help it. I finally started paying attention when you started talking about how you know you love me.” His smile grew and a tear slipped down his cheek.

Zitao wiped the tear away with his thumb, laying his hand on Kris’ cheek. “You’re so expressive,” he sighed. “I love that about you, how open you are.”

Kris turned his head to press a kiss to Zitao’s palm. “Sometimes I forget how young you are,” he whispered, resting his hands on Zitao’s hips and tugging him closer. “You must be under so much pressure. I wish you would tell me if I’m causing you any trouble.”

Zitao knew he should be exasperated, but he couldn’t find it in himself to feel so. “You’re really not,” he insisted. “I keep telling you, I love having you with me, and I love being with you. If Krystal has a problem with it, well she just needs to deal with it. It’s not my job to make her approve of my choices.”

“But I never meant for you to fight with your friends about me,” Kris mumbled against Zitao’s palm.

“It’s not your fault,” Zitao insisted. “Look, we’ll talk about it later, okay? Can we just snuggle for a little while?”

Kris smiled and nodded. “That sounds like a good idea.”

With that Zitao took Kris’ hands, lacing their fingers together and tugging him into their room.

The next part picks up where this one leaves off.

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