"Jongdae, are you okay?" his soft lips mesmerized me and I felt my heart pounding a little too hard. He touched a cut on my cheek and I winced.

"I'm okay," I smiled confidently. "Hey, Myunnie. How about you nurse me back to health?" I saw his eyes soften as he sighed in relief. He nodded and smiled. I could tell he wanted to know what happened. I can't tell him what really happened. He'll definitely leave me. I can't have him leave me. Not now... not ever. He pulled out some tissues and a first aid kit. "Not--"

"Who is the doctor here?" he cut me off.

"You," I grumbled. "B-bu--"

"No, you do what doctor says," he smiled.

"Ah, fine," I gave in.

"He got you good. What happened? I've never seen Yixing so upset."

"It was a fight over an old issue," I shrugged.

"Did you bring up--"

"No, no. It's between us two. Don't worry about it."

"I'm your boyfriend," he began to protest. He's so cute. "I get to--" I pressed my lips against his to cut him off. He fought at first, but gave in quickly and returned with equal force. He pulled away and his face wore a light pink. Aw, I made him blush. How cute. His gentle hands went back to working on my damaged face. "Jongdae, are you going to tell your parents about us?"

"Yeah, but not yet," I smiled reassuringly.

"Our Jongdae will marry the most beautiful woman in the world," My mother motioned to me as if I was a beautiful piece of art while she spoke. My relatives nodded and complimented my looks and young charm.

"But, Mommy, what if I like boys?" I smiled curiously.

"You can't," my mom retorted curtly and motioned for me to keep quiet, so that my father couldn't hear.

"Mommy, what if I end up with the most beautiful man in the world?" I whined loudly.

My father turned and stormed towards me, "My son will be no homoual. He will not lower himself to dirt. My son will not be a filthy disgusting boy toy. Do you hear me?!"

"Y-Yes, d-daddy..." my eyes filled with tears.

"Honey, he's only eight. He doesn't know what he's talking about," my mother tried to reason for the sake of reputation in front of our shocked relatives. "Jongdae, why don't you go play with the other kids?" I nodded, wiping a few tears as I walked out of the room.

The other children were screaming and playing happily. I stepped past them towards my friend, Chanyeol, who was sitting with some rocks and organizing them for something. "Y-Yeol-ah."

"Yo," he smiled at me, then his smile dropped and his eyebrows furrowed. "Have you been crying, Dae?"

"My dad yelled at me," I frowned and grabbed a rock.

"Oh, about what?" he blinked.

"I asked if it's cool for guys to like each other and he said it was dirty and bad."

Yeol's eyes widened at my summary of my father's outburst. "My mom and dad told me that as long as you love them and you both smile, that's all that matters-- wait, Dae, do you actually like like boys?"

I shook my head. "I was just curious. He didn't need to be so mean about it. He better say sorry or I'll... I'll... I'll put butter in his toothpaste and glue on his pillow."

"Oh, replace his favorite cereal with flour!" Yeol added.

"And I'll switch his shampoo with mouthwash!" I cheered.

"Let's go do it," Yeol sprang up and motioned for me to follow him.

I stood up and smiled, "Yeah!" We ran into the house through the garage.

"Jongdae, I remember when we first met," Joonmyun smmiled softly as he looked up at me. "Ah, sophomore year of high school. You were such a ."

"Nuh uh, I was super cool and nice!" I whined.

"In your dreams," he laughed his sweet light laughter that made my heart flutter. I smiled and poked his cheek. "I bet you were a bad kid." He poked my side.

A hard slap echoed loudly as I stood there with my head down. "You disrespecyful, ungrateful... . I have had it with your , Jongdae. First you get poor grades, next you disrespect your teachers, next you start to ditch school. Are you going to just drop the hell out? Huh? Answer me, Jongdae." There was another hit. And another. And another. The blows didn't phase me. This was normal. Father would always hit me where my skin was covered, so the school wouldn't find out. He took off his belt and began to savagely beat me. He didn't say a word as he did, either. I held back my tears, but kepy my face grim. "I work my off to send to that damn school--"

"No one said you had to," I blurted out with no control. Might as well keep going while I'm at it. "We don't have to have luxury cars and a house we can't afford. I don't have to go to a stupid private school that is extremely overpriced. You don't have to pretend that we are well off. You hit me because you want to get your stress and anger out. There's other things you can do before you beat your only son to death." My father began to sob heavily; it was the first time I ever saw  him cry, especially like this. He embraced me and began to apologize for his wrongdoings. I refused to hug him back. "Father, stop trying to impress everyone. It's disgusting. It makes me wish I was never concieved. If you want me to love you, you'll be the man that mom fell in love with. She didn't go for you because of your title nor your money, especially since you came from nothing. Mom told me that right now she's most likely going to leave you. Do you want that? The only person that loves you to leave you? I sure wouldn't. Think about your actions, father. You're killing me and pushing mom away."

He simply froze, then looked at me in awe as he pulled back. I finally broke and my life had two outcomes for being disrespectful: I come out barely alive or I die ten times over. "Son... I'm sorry. You jus--"

"I don't understand?" I cut him off. "That's funny because I perfectly understand. You met mom in middle school. You were broke because grandpa was inbetween jobs and grandma was a street food vendor. You were too embarassed let her know, so you started working to make sure that when you got the courage to confess to mom that you could pay for all your dates like a gentleman should. You confessed to mom after a year and took her shopping. Mom was very appreciative of your efforts to make her happy and she began to love your hard-working charm. When you were 3rd year students in high school, you met her family. Grandma loved you because of your humor and charisma; Grandpa was just protective of mom, but he liked you too. It wasn't until you met Grand Auntie and Uncle in your junior year of college that you changed. You wanted to prove that you loved and treasured Mom and could give her the best in an unrealistic way. Mom saw the change and she tried her best to steer you back on the right path before you became the selfish prick that you are now. You changed for a little bit, but then I was born and you fell that I need to form me into the perfect man. I love being imperfect. I love pulling stupid pranks. I love hanging out with my friends and being stupid and getting in trouble. I'm a kid, Father. I will up and I will learn from my mistakes. You can discipline me for having bad grades and being a bad student, but beating me to death doesn't teach me anything, but the fact that you hate me. Let me be who I am."

"I get my humor and charm from my father and my dashing good looks from my mother," I chuckled.

"Oh, so that's why you look like a girl," Joonmyun laughed at his own lame joke.

"Wow, Myun. That's not even funny," I tried not to smile, but eventually cracked. "Fine, it was a good one."

"You're such a bad influence on me. Teaching me all these jokes, witty comebacks, and nasty pranks."

"I didn't teach you anything. You just enjoy being a bad boy," I smiled and hugged him tightly.

"I love your hugs, Jongdae," he smiled as his eyes closed and he melted against my body.

"You mean you love me?" I smiled hopefully.

"No, I hate you." I pouted and began to whine while nudging him with my cheek. "Oh, not the aegyo. Stop, Jongdae, please stop!"