Rewritten: To Forever Love Him

1.4

*first rewrite, unedited*
Chapter Title: Stuck with Him

Hui must have been having a hard time being able to hear with his pounding headache, one that rivaled a bad hangover, because he could have sworn he heard wrong. Blinking and realizing everything was blurry, he reached for his glasses...which were broken now.

Now? Now you break? You didn't break when I got beat up the first time but you break when I get beat up the second time? Why do I have such bad luck? Hui saw that the glasses had been taped before, probably because no one in his family wanted to buy him new ones. In fact, he was long past due. His glasses were beginning to feel a bit tight on him. He must've had them for ages. The first thought that came to mind was he was a far more miserable Harry Potter.

Shuo frowned when he noticed the broken glasses. Even more so when he noticed the tape. Had that always been there? He may have known Hui only for a year since he first attended the high school, but he should've easily observed these things. Had he really been careless? He felt guilt. Maybe if he had paid closer attention, he could have seen that his glasses were old and worse for wear and had come to the conclusion he wasn't treated as well as his sister. But he had been blind and so self-absorbed with the hate that everybody felt around him, that he didn't bother to see much about him. Hui was like that book Shuo had read in his British Literature class, he was like Mr. Hyde from Jekyll and Hyde. One look at him and people are just overcome with disgust and unjustifiable hate. They forget everything they learned about politeness and throw it out the window when it comes to him.

It's the way he dresses and looks, Shuo concluded. He felt even more guilty at that. He looked like a dirty slob who might do creepy, freakish things behind doors—but his hair was only messy and long because his family refused to cut it, and his clothes were dirty and baggy because they were the only pair he had and his family didn't bother to wash them much. Again, something he should have noticed if he wasn't so distracted by his feelings.

He couldn't help but feel pity, even though Hui might not want him too. Shuo vowed from now on, he would try not to see him as a freak and help him get out of his image. Maybe helping him would have him break free of this guilty and pity feeling.

When he heard Hui mutter a curse at his broken glasses, Shuo tilted his head. He never heard Hui curse before. In fact, now that he thought more about it, Hui was usually quiet, tolerant, and submissive in nature. He was beginning to doubt his original reasons for wanting to take care of him. But what other reasons could there be?

When he saw the look of clear frustration on Hui's face, he was mesmerized. He was used to see only one emotion on Hui, never bothering to care about what he even felt. But after seeing his fierce stubbornness and now frustration, he found himself wanting to see more and all the different emotions to Hui. He wanted to learn more about the boy in front of him and see all of his sides.

Shuo wiped away that thought. He shouldn't be so intrigued.

As Hui looked up at his family, he saw the clear warning in his father's gaze and distressed look on his sister's, though annoyance was also present. Looking at the scared mother, he finally figured out the name of the story that perfectly represented this family.

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. His brother always liked to weird him out with the story particularly because he was afraid of bugs. His brother also used it as an example to tell him that he will always support him and will never abandon him no matter what stupid choices he ended up making. It also made Hui hate neglect and abuse.