Tao's house was my second home. It's somewhere I always loved to be. It's quite possible I had spent more of my life in his house than I ever had my own. His home was a small compartment on the side of a building, miniscule compared to that of mine and Minseok's. Tao was proud of his home however. His mother worked her entire life for this small home, and now that she was gone, Tao spent most of his time working to keep it himself. Tao's roommate however payed the majority of the rent, until Tao could finish high school and work full-time. 

Tao's roomate also happens to be his cousin and only family, other than his mother, that I ever remember him having. I never liked him, however. Kris was bitter, bossy, and mysterious. I had to admit though, he looked nice in a uniform. Kris was a new recruit in the Cloud. The Cloud is the government involved in everything to do with Up. They hold the keys to the Uppercraft (government issued vehicles that flew at extreme speeds, and were used to collect things such as water, crops, etc. that were unavailible to us 3 miles under. They were white, and slightly resembeled giant water-rafts.), Monitor Up's current conditions, and study ruins of what life used to be like there. Minseok and I's parents had both been in the Cloud. The last day I saw them, I was waving to my father as he acsended up the Tube into the bright world above. He never came back down. But that's what happens when you die right? You go up into heaven, infinity, paradise? That's what Up's always been for me. A place I could never reach until the day I died. 

"Wu Fan?" Tao asked the darkness of his apartment. 

"Has he already left?" 

"Must have." As tao enterd, the lights flipped on automatically. I squinted my eyes at the sudden light.

"Can we turn those off?" I asked, shielding my eyes with my hand.

"You always do that. Why do you hate light so much?" Tao questioned as he sauntered over to the glowing panel on his wall. In a few swipes, the lights of the room were turned off. 

I walked over to the large window which covered an entire wall of his living space. 

"Don't you ever get paranoid that the entire city could see you at any given time through this window?"

Tao walked behind me and placed his arms around my neck, hugging me from behind. We always did this. Touched each other. It's not because we had feelings for each other, but because it was comforting. Truthfully a lot of people thought we were lovers. I, however, never saw it that way. 

"I think the city should be more afraid of me looking at them." 

"I think they already are. Everyone avoids looking at you. You are sort of intimidating."

The lights returned and I grabbed the dark fabric of Tao's sleeve to cover my eyes from the sudden change. 

"Oh.. uhh. sorry to inturrupt." I recognized the deep voice of Tao's cousin. 

Tao released me from his hug and slid his hands immediately into his pockets. 

"Wait.. Why aren't you guys in school?" Kris stood in the doorway, his white uniform temporarily blinding me.

Tao looked at the ground. I spoke for him. 

"What's the point of school. I don't think either of us is going to be contributing much to this world anyway."

Kris chuckled. "Hah, you got that one right. This kid's gonna be mooching off my money for his entire life."

That is why I despised Kris. He was so arrogant about being an officer. I stomped toward him, about to give him a piece of my mind, but Tao's arm flung in front of me stopping me in my tracks. 

"You got a feisty one there Tao, she's a real charmer." Kris smirked and threw a white disc at Tao who looked at it in suprise. "Maybe you should go cool her off." 

"What do you mean cool me off you dic-" 

"Sun Ni, don't worry about it." Tao said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me back to his side.

"Have fun." Kris winked at me before grabbing another white disc, identical to the one which he threw to Tao. "I'm off to work. Don't let me catch you out of the house tonight, Zitao." 

Tao looked down at the disc, and when he turned his face back to mine, he had the biggest smile that I had ever seen, grace his lips.