w  a  r  r  i  o  r | {10} 

Zitao stood outside Miyeon’s bedroom for a few minutes after he put her down. “Happiness…is equal to Zitao plus Miyeon.” He repeated several times. He felt his cheeks get hot as he put his hands on them. “She…likes me too?”

He walked down the hall with a happy smile on his face, that smile disappeared when he noticed the mess in the kitchen.

Miyeon left in a hurry this morning…I couldn’t clean because I couldn’t reach it. Her father signed.

Zitao nodded and chuckled. It’s fine, I’ll clean it. He signed back.

In the midst of doing the dishes, her father rolled his wheelchair up to him and grabbed a towel. He helped Zitao dry the dishes, the two worked together silently.

I think my daughter likes you.

Zitao looked up. M-Miyeon?

Aigoo! Who else?

How do you know?

Her father smiled. She did her hair and makeup today…it’s something she normally wouldn’t do. And she smiled very hard when someone called her this morning, I think it was you.

Zitao nodded. It was.

Her father pointed to a door that was down the hall. Storage closet. He signed. There are a bunch of photo albums of Miyeon from when she was little. I was supposed to clean it out years ago but…this wheelchair wouldn’t let me go anywhere. There are a few things left of Jongin’s belongings, I don’t know if Miyeon would want them but…I think it’s best to dust it off so we can put it in a safe place.

Zitao nodded. I got it.

He stepped into the storage closet and pulled out all the photo albums. He dusted them off one by one and flipped through them, making sure he had a picture of baby Miyeon crying on his phone before putting it away.

When Zitao found a box of Jongin’s things, he turned around and held it up. What do I do with this?

Dust it off and put it outside of Miyeon’s room…I think she would want to take a look at it before we put it away for good.

He nodded and did as he was told. Zitao pulled out a worn out pair of sneakers. “He danced.” Zitao remembered.

Amongst all the things Zitao cleaned out, one item in particular stood out to him; Jongin’s keys.

He held it up. Do we…need this?

Oh my…those are the keys to his old house. Her father signed. That house got taken down and rebuilt again. I doubt anyone would need those now…you’re welcome to keep it if you’d like. There’s no use for it really.

It wasn’t the keys that stood out, but the flash drive attached to one of the chains.

Zitao sat on the counter and took his laptop out of his bag. “No wonder I took this with me today.” He whispered. “I was wondering why I even took this out this morning.” He mumbled as he unlocked his laptop. He plugged in the flash drive. It was just a bunch of Jongin’s old school work; every single assignment he ever did was typed up. “Wow…he was a neat freak.” He said softly.

He shut the laptop when her father sat in front of him.

Can you tell me about Jongin? And her…mother?

Her father sighed as if he knew this question was coming. I was scared that this would come up someday.

You don’t have to tell me anything if you’re uncomfortable.

Her father shook her head. I might as well…you’re so close to Miyeon, it’ll hurt you if this information comes out of her. She’ll cry.

Zitao watched intently as her father told him about Jongin and her mother.

Her brother…well, step brother’s name was Jongin. He liked to dance, loved pizza and the color blue. He was very neat. Her biological mother died one week after she gave birth of Miyeon. Until Miyeon was about four years old, she asked about her mother constantly. I got remarried and that’s how Jongin and Miyeon met. Jongin loved his little sister a lot and went out of his way to protect her.

Miyeon doesn’t like to talk about her step mother… Zitao signed.

I can’t tell you much, but Miyeon’s step mother was extremely abusive. I don’t know why, maybe it was because of the stress at work but she was always abusive. There was nothing I could do; the kids were so helpless… Jongin’s mother took control of the household. She didn’t let me parent my old kid and after Jongin passed…I became like this. Miyeon was a helpless child growing up and…she grew up by herself. The rest, I’ll leave to Miyeon. It’d be best if Miyeon told you about it herself…

A couple days later, Miyeon brought herself to ask Zitao about what happened after the dinner.

“Minseok said…I got drunk.” Miyeon said softly. “Did I…did I say anything weird?”

Zitao shook his head. “Well, no.”

“Are you sure?”

“You said something about Pluto and helium being the first element on the periodic table.”

Miyeon gulped. “Did…I…bring up physics?”

“You talked about Romeo and Juliet and how it was a ed up story…Then you said that we should make up our own love story.” Zitao chuckled. “Then you named a couple of formulas…but one in particular stuck to me.”

“Was it the momentum formula?” Miyeon asked. “I say that a lot when I’m tipsy.”

“Nope.”

“The…Kinetic energy formula?”

“Nope.”

“The…gravitational potential energy formula?”

Zitao shook his head. “Nope.”

“Then?”

“You said….Let’s see…”

Miyeon tapped her fingers on the counter impatiently. “Velocity?”

“Nothing about distance and time so…nope.”

“So what’d I say?”

“Happiness…is equal to Zitao plus Miyeon.”

She flushed red. “Did I really?”

Zitao nodded. “Y-Yeah, I mean, I guess out of all the formulas you were blurting out, this was the only one that made sense.”

Miyeon smacked his shoulder. “Don’t tell anyone.”

“Why not?” Zitao teased. “You also kissed me.”

She turned around. “Really?”

“Four times.”

“What?!”

Zitao laughed. “I’m kidding.”

“O-Oh.”

“Once, you kissed me once.”

Miyeon put her hands on her head as she walked out of her apartment. “Oh my gosh.” She whispered.

They stood by the bus stop, Zitao only smiled next to Miyeon who was reevaluating her life choices.

“How come I don’t remember?” She asked.

Zitao glanced at her. “You don’t remember kissing me?”

“No…The formulas and the planet talk…is a bit blurry but a kiss?”

“It went a little like this.”

“Huh?”

He leaned down and gave her kiss.

Chanyeol sat across the street in his car and watched in silence.

When they got to the gym, none of the boys were there just yet. Zitao put his bag down and grabbed Miyeon’s arm. “Let’s wrestle.” He said.

“Why?”

“You talk about a lot of things when we wrestle.” Zitao said.

Miyeon pushed him down and placed her hands on his shoulders. “Is there something you wanted to talk about?”

Zitao flipped her over. “Yes.”

Miyeon pushed him back down again and pinned one of his arms down. “What?”

“Kim Jongin…and your abusive mother.” 

                                                                                                                                          [a/n]: Miyeon's cold hard ice shell about to crack in like...3 ...2....1

comments are much appreciated! :)