"How do you raise a house full of psychopaths, Dr. Choi?" she asked, looking back through the glass at the small boy.
"Very carefully, Dr. Min. Very carefully."
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It was impolite to stare. It was something Hansol's mother had drilled into his head from the time he was little. Don't stare. Don't obsess. Don't let people see who—no, not who, but what—you really are. Normal people didn't like that, didn't find his stalkerish tendencies romantic or flattering.
The thing was, Hansol had never obsessed over anybody but Seungkwan, had seen nobody but Seungkwan from the moment he'd dragged his mat next to Hansol's in Mrs. Kims's preschool class and confessed he was afraid of the dark. Hansol had assured him that he was afraid of nothing and that had reassured Seungkwan enough to fall asleep.
Seungkwan didn't remember that, and he didn't remember Hansol. After Hansol had set Seungkwan's parents' bed on fire, his mother had moved them away, away from prying eyes and away from Seungkwan. But Hansol had found his way back. The moment he'd gotten his license, he'd learned where Seungkwan was, what he was doing, and had found a way to make their paths meet again.
Not that Seungkwan knew any of that. As far as he knew, he and Hansol were just friends due to circumstance. They both needed money, so they both worked at the campus coffee shop, which was where Hansol now sat, taking his thirty minute break with a group of people he called friends. Well, who called him a friend. Truthfully, he wouldn't care if a hole opened up and swallowed them up right in the middle of Hallowed Grounds.
"You're going, right, Vern?"
Perfectly manicured fingers appeared, snapping an inch from his face. Hansol dragged his gaze from the boy behind the counter to stare blankly at the blonde-haired girl before him. "What?"
Jiwoo rolled her eyes. "You never listen to me."
"To be fair, you never stop talking," Sanha said. "It's hard to keep up."
Jiwoo gave him the finger and a pissy look, which only made Sanha more bold. Jiwoo liked the attention, though. She liked any and all attention. But Sanha was right, she never stopped talking. And never about anything that interested Hansol. She talked about frat parties, and football games, and, well, 'Vern'. She'd been trying to get with him since the start of senior year, and not even his sexual orientation seemed to stop her constant attempts to trick him into a date.
But Hansol only had eyes for Seungkwan. Sweet, soft, dangerously pretty Seungkwan. As if he could hear his thoughts, the boy looked up from behind the counter and gave him a timid smile. It didn't meet his eyes. Seungkwan hadn't given him a genuine smile since that piece of shit, Minseo, had shown up in his life.
"I can't. I have to work," Hansol said. "I'm closing tonight. Remember?"
Jiwoo pouted, her bottom lip pooching out in a look that wasn't nearly as cute as she thought it was. "Can't you get somebody to cover for you? Like that kid with all the acne."
The kid in question was Mingi, and he would have laughed if he'd heard Jiwoo's assessment of his looks. Mingi's skin wasn't clear but that didn't stop the girls from throwing themselves at him. He was smart, funny, and his family was filthy rich. And, somehow, he was still a nice guy.
