When he finally saw the taller boy, Kyong smiled happily and waved at him to get his attention.

Just like him, Joo-Won smiled back and walked up to him. "Hey! I hope I'm not too late. Did I keep you waiting?"

Kyong shrugged, his smile glued to his face. "Not really. I kinda just got here anyway." He then looked behind from Joo-Won's shoulders. "Where's Xander?"

"Oh... About that..."

Kyong's smile instantly dropped. "What? Did something happen? Is he okay??"

Joo-Won quickly shook his head and held the worried boy's shoulders to calm him. "No no. He said he had an urgent thing that he needed to take care of now, so he couldn't make it."

Kyong felt relieved that he was okay, but at the same time, he felt sad that he was not there with him. "Oh..."

When he noticed the sad expression on Kyong's face, Joo-Won pulled his hands to himself. "I'm sorry that he is not here. If you want, we can do this another time when he is here as well."

Kyong quickly shook his head as no and squeezed his arms. "No need to! I wanted to spend time with both of you, not only him. We can totally hang out, if you want, of course."

Joo-Won smiled happily and nodded. "I would love that."

(...)

After they entered several shops and bought plenty of decorations and household appliances, the two decided to eat something. They went to the food court and sat down after ordering food.

While waiting, Joo-Won decided to get to know the puppy-faced boy. "So, are you doing okay on your own?"

Kyong nodded before taking another sip of his coffee. "It was a little bit lonely at first, but it's okay now. Thanks to you guys, I don't feel that lonely anymore. Also, Xander brought me many kitchen items and foods, so I eat very well!" He showed his gummy smile and patted his tummy.

Joo-Won chuckled. "I was not very surprised when he told me his plan."

Kyong's eyes widened a little. "His plan? You knew he bought me those things?"

Joo-Won nodded and took a bite of his sandwich. "Yeah. It was actually me who bought the majority of those things because Xander doesn't know this area very much either. He doesn't like to shop, but he told me he wanted to get the best things for you." He laughed. "That day, we walked so much that I thought Xander was going to faint if we went to another store, but he just continued."

It was a funny story for Joo-Won, but when he realized he was not getting the response he thought he would get from Kyong, he stopped.

Kyong's face dropped when he heard how much Xander did for him. And to think he accused him of such a thing... "I... How could I do something like that..."

Joo-Won frowned. "Something like what?" His body tensed a bit as he leaned forward to look at the boy sitting in front of him. "Did you do something to hurt him?"

Kyong quickly shook his head as no. "No, of course not! Well... Not physically, but probably emotionally." He sighed. "I told him I was doing fine on my own and was not charity work. I am not used to things like this, so I thought he was pitying me because, you know, I live in a small place and wear cheap things and all..." He could feel his eyes burning as he dropped his head. "I feel so ashamed..."

Joo-Won sighed, then a small smile formed on his face as he placed his hand on his shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. I know it might be a lot at first, but this is what friends are for."

Kyong lifted his head and looked at Joo-Won with teary eyes. "Do you really mean that? By being friends, I mean."

Joo-Won chuckled and patted on his shoulder. "Of course I am! Did you really think we were not friends? After spending nearly every day together? For weeks?"

Kyong chuckled while shrugging. "I don't know, I guess I just needed to hear it."

Joo-Won sighed. "And you did, so no need to worry anymore. Xander really cares about you."

When he heard the last sentence, Kyong suddenly felt shy and had a strange feeling in his stomach. "H-he does?"

"Of course he-" Joo-Won stopped when he saw Kyong's face, which was not looking very normal. "Kyong? Are you okay? You look like you are going to throw up."

Kyong shook his head and quickly pulled himself together. He needed to change the topic if he didn't want to die from shyness. "So, um... You and Hwan?"

When he heard the question, Joo-Won stopped drinking his iced coffee and put it back on the table. "It's... Not very good, actually."

Now, it was Kyong's turn to tense up. "What? How is it not good? And why?"

"I just... We were chatting the other day and, let's just say he got into a sensitive topic and then got ashamed. Since then, he is not acting the way he used to."

"Like how is he acting?"

"He just let himself go and to be honest, it is stressing me out. Like, really. I am scared that something going to happen to him because of me. I really don't know what I would do if... if-"

"Joo-Won."

When he felt Kyong's hand on top of his, Joo-Won stopped and looked down, only to realize that he was scratching his own skin this whole time. He quickly pulled his hand away and looked at his arm, which was covered in red marks now, but nothing more.

Kyong opened the water bottle he had in his bag and poured a small amount of it on a napkin. After he gave it to Joo-Won, who silently wiped the cold water to his skin, Kyong looked at him worriedly. "Are you okay? Does this happen frequently?"

Joo-Won just nodded and sighed. "Sorry. It's nothing, I promise. It just happens when I'm stressed. Nothing to worry about."

"If you say so..." Of course it made Kyong worry, but he didn't want to make him feel more stressed by asking more. So he just decided to change the topic. "You know, Xander talks so much about you."

Joo-Won was surprised by the sudden confession. "He does? What does he say? Good things, I hope."

Kyong chuckled. "Yeah, no need to worry. He talks about how much you care about him and how it feels to have an older brother." He then took out his wallet and showed Joo-Won a photo of him and his younger brother and two baby sisters. "I only have younger siblings, so I don't know what it feels like to have an older one."

Joo-Won took a closer look at the photo. "I didn't even know you had siblings!"

Kyong chuckled and pointed at the smiling boy beside him in the photo. "He is my younger brother, Yi Ming. He is now 10 years old." He then pointed at the two babies he was holding in both of his arms. "And these are my little angels, Ai and Lei. They are nearly 1 year old." Kyong smiled brightly as he looked at their photo once again. It made him feel like he was at home, beside them. "Their birthday is in a couple months, I hope I can save enough to visit them."

"They are so cute! I hope we can get to meet them sometime."

"I really hope so too." Kyong closed his wallet and put it back in his pocket before looking at the time. "It is starting to get late, how about we go back?"

Joo-Won nodded and got up. "I will walk you home then. Thank you for this day."

Kyong smiled and hugged him. "Thank you as well."

(...)

After he finally reached home, Joo-Won sat on his bed while talking on the phone.

"Hey man, thank you again for spending time with me today."

"No problem, but I still cannot understand why Xander couldn't come. He was also really silent when he got home, he went straight up to his room and locked the door. Did you guys fight or something that you didn't mention?"

Kyong, who was on the other end of the phone, quickly shook his head no, even though he knew he couldn't see it. "No, I don't think so."

"Strange... It might be beca-"

What cut his sentence off was the scream that echoed in the whole house, followed by the sound of breaking objects.

Joo-Won quickly got up from his bed, eyes widened. "Xan...?"

When he heard Joo-Won, Kyong widened his eyes. He could feel his heart suddenly getting faster. "Joo-Won? What was that? Did something happen? Was that Xander??"

As the crying got louder, Joo-Won quickly ran out of his room, nearly breaking the door while opening it. "Xander!" He was not even aware of the phone that was still in his hand, banging on Xander's door with his other hand.

"Joo-Won? What happened?!"

Joo-Won looked at his shocked mother with his widened eyes. "I-I don't.." He threw his phone to the floor and forced the door open with both of his hands when suddenly, the screams just stopped. There was no sound from inside. As his mother started to panic even more, Joo-Won slammed his body to the door multiple times in horror.

After he finally managed to open it, actually breaking the lock of it, both he and his mother gasped in fear when they found Xander crying on his bed, hands in blood and surrounded by pieces of broken glass.