“Huang Zitao, come with me.”

I gasp, looking up. There’s a tall man in a business suit, rivaled only in his height by Kris. He’s got dark hair, dark eyebrows, and a look of anger plastered on his face.

Everyone in the cafeteria seems both mortified and terrified right now, and they’re all staring at me.

“Er…OK.”

“Hey Dad,” Kris mumbles.

“Son.”



Oh.




Oh!





I give Kris a look. He’s staring down at his meal not even attempting to make eye contact with the owner and principal of this school. His own father. His father doesn’t look at him either; instead, he stares straight ahead, unseeing.

Mr. Wu directs his attention back at me.

“I heard what happened by fax, please come to my office so we can sort out your options.”

“Sure…” I give the group a quick glance as I head out the cafeteria doors.



“I received news this morning of your father’s predicament. Heart attacks come at times you can’t expect, and it is definitely hard,” Mr. Wu says sympathetically, pulling out a chair for me next to his desk. I sit, and he takes his time pacing the room.

“As it stands, you’ve got five days until final exams and graduation, this couldn’t have come at a worse time, and as it is indeed fragile, there are several options I can give you.”

I nod.

“You could, quite frankly, repeat.” I gasp, and Mr. Wu takes this as a no.

“You could take the exams in China, and we’ll take into consideration everything that’s happened. I understand you need to be home with your mother at such a difficult time.” I raise an eyebrow.

“Perhaps this option would be best…” I mumble out loud.

“There is one more option, the option I favour. You stay here for a few more days and finish your exams, however you sit all the exams in the first few days, and you finish before everyone else,” he reasons.

“You’ll be given special exams with different questions from everyone else so there will be no cheating.” Mr. Wu looks at me carefully.

“You know my son cares deeply about you, Tao,” he whispers to the room, his back facing me.

“I’ve never seen him look at a person the way he looks at you. I understand you return the feelings, but my son’s too much of a coward to ask you out. He’s always been a bit of a disappointment to me. Homouality… he’ll never give me a grandchild to continue our family name.”

I scowl at the man, getting up from my seat. Inside, I’m seething, but outside, I’m calm and collected.

“I think I’ll take the test in China, thank you very much.”

Mr. Wu turns to me then, giving me a look of surprise.

“I need to be home,” I explain coldly.

Mr. Wu gives me a wary look, and I can see he wants to say more. I don’t let him. I slip off to the side, about to walk out the door.

“Mr. Wu,” I address him as warmly as I can.

“Did you ever stop to think about the way you treat Kris? Do you think that maybe he’s such a coward because you never acknowledge him? Do you think that him liking guys is such a big deal, when there’s so many ‘homouals’ in this world?” I spit.

Mr. Wu stares at me in both shock and revulsion. He says one word to me.

“Out.”


Soon, I have all my bags packed and I’m standing outside the front gates, waiting for my taxi. Chanyeol, Sehun, Baekhyun, Kai, Kyungsoo, Luhan, even Chen, Xiumin, Lay and Suho are standing around me, giving me hugs and basically fawning over me in the last minutes they’ve got.

“Do you really have to go, Tao?” Luhan repeats over and over again. I nod.

“Dad’s not good, and my mum needs me, all right? I’ll try and be back for the graduation ceremony or I’ll fly over for Christmas, but I can’t promise anything.”

Lay heaves a heavy sigh.

“We understand.”

I give them all a small smile, stepping onto the sidewalk as I spot the taxi. I call out Incheon Airport to the driver and he nods, helping me place my bags in the boot of the car. I take a seat in the back, doing up my seatbelt.




I’m going home.




--


“Kris?” Baekhyun exclaims as a heavy arm is placed on his shoulder.

“Yes?”

The taller blonde boy follows the car with his eyes through the street, sighing. He can feel the tears coming, and he does nothing to stop them. 

He’s tired of pretending to be something he’s not.

“You’re too late.”