Another month flew by, a month in which work seemed to be the only thing that LuHan had to take his mind off of the guilt beginning to weigh down on him. Despite his previous insistence of the accident not being his fault, he knew now that he could no longer run from it nor from the consequences. He hadn't heard anything about hospital bills being paid, but he knew that once his father did so, then LuHan would hear about it. He wasn't wrong.

As he came downstairs for breakfast one early morning, he overheard angry voices rising from the basement apartment below. Pausing inside the stairwell, still hidden from view, he recognized Mrs. Luo's distraught voice and his heart clenched inside of his chest at her words.

"... money? It's an insult!"

So his father had paid, and apparently Mrs. Luo was reacting much how LuHan had feared she would. He could hear Vinson's low voice speaking much more calmly, but he couldn't make out the words from where he stood, hidden up the stairs. He bit his lip to fight back the emotion building inside; he hadn't been meaning to insult her, but trying his best to help right what wrongs he could. If only she would see that!

"I cant accept blood money, Vinson!" Her voice was tinged with tears and bordering on frantic, and LuHan shook his head in resolve. He needed to talk to her, needed to tell her that it wasn't for payment of Jimmy's life, and so he stepped down into the empty kitchen and turned the corner to enter the Luo's apartment.

"Mom, it's not blood money. He's not paying for our loss, he's trying to help how he can." Vinson's voice was calm and steady, and it stopped LuHan in his tracks. He could hardly believe that the handicapped man understood him, and he felt a lump form in his throat as he blinked the tears out of his eyes and the other man continued speaking from below. "He's sorry, Mom. It's his way of helping."

"Sorry doesn't bring your brother back to life." Mrs. Luo's voice was quieter than it had been, but the bitterness that tinged her words surprised LuHan. She always seemed so kind, so accepting, so... forgiving. The fact that it was all a mask was like a slap in the face to LuHan, and he felt a bit of anger begin to rise in his chest before he internally stomped on it. He had no right to feel angry no right to be upset. She had been kinder to him than he deserved and if she truly hated him then she would not have been so. He knew that people have their bad days, and hers must be like something from hell because of LuHan's actions. He could understand her bitterness toward him, and accept it as earned. 

And she was right. Absolutely right. No matter how sorry LuHan found that he was, it would never bring the other man back to life. He turned to head back upstairs, all of the strength going out of his body, but Vinson's next words broke through his inner thoughts.

"I know it doesn't, Mom. But you have always taught me that two wrongs don't make a right, and he is trying. He is sorry. And forgiveness is essential to our own happiness; without it, our anger will just fester inside like an infection. He's trying."

"I know," she replied, and LuHan had to strain to hear her words. "I'm trying, too. He's a good kid underneath it all."

"Yeah," Vinson relied quietly, and LuHan shook his head in disbelief. If he were in their positions, would he be able to forgive? He knew the answer already, knew that he never would, and he wondered how he could deserve such kindness.

"So have you forgiven him?" Mrs. Luo's question caught LuHan off guard, but he found himself listening intently for Vinson's answer. He found that it mattered a lot to him, and so he waited with baited breath.

It was a long wait, the silence deafening as the blood pounded in LuHan's ears, but then Vinson's quiet answer finally came.

"Yes, I think so. I mean, of course I miss Jimmy... he was my best friend, my older brother... everything I wanted to be. But I guess a while back I realized that my anger did nothing to help LuHan, and he is still alive and suffering from this. I've come to see him for who he is and for who he could become, and I can tell that he really is trying to rebuild not only what we lost, but what he lost, too. He's trying. And even though he hasn't apologized in words, he is trying to make right some things that he can. Just accept this money as part of his apology, okay? He's trying."

"You have a good heart, Vinson. You're so much like your father." Mrs. Luo's voice was choked with tears, but LuHan could hear the pride in her voice as she spoke to her son. "You're right about LuHan."

Noises from below signaled that someone began to move up the ramp, so in a state of panic LuHan darted back up and around the corner to take the stairs to his room two at a time. 

After sitting on his bed for the better art of an hour, thinking everything over in his mind, the tall man took a deep breath and decided to head down and face the day. From the noise he must have made coming back up the stairs, he knew that the Luo's knew that he had been listening, but there was nothing he could do about that. He was hungry when he stepped down into the kitchen, but it was nearly service time and he knew that he wasn't going to get the chance to eat anything until maybe lunch. He avoided meeting anyone’s eyes as he tied his apron on and grabbed his ticket book, then pushed a smile onto his face as he entered the dining room to greet customers. He could feel Vinson’s eyes on his back but he ignored them, and so after a m