Smile.

KYLE

Jayden's punches had left Kyle bruised and tired and as he lay back on the passenger seat of Han's jeep, he tried not to think about anything.

"Romeo, couldn't you keep this one guy off you?"

Kyle took a deep breath and closed his eyes, 'So much for relaxing,' he thought.

"He was too tough for me."

"He was not. He was a weakling," the other exclaimed. "You could have taken him, could you not?"

Kyle sighed, inwardly unable to think of an excuse. He didn't want to admit that he had chosen to take a beating for his best friend- even if he tried to, he couldn't. It was not just him, but also many others who were hiding Stey from Han and the list also included Christopher.

It was Christopher who had ordered everyone to keep quiet about Stey. Initially Kyle didn't know why, but once he found out the reason he too made sure never to let Han near Stey.

Han had lived in a rural area in Korea for more than the first half of his life and moved to where they lived, in a small town in the south of Australia. He had come alone for his studies and had played a huge role interfering in their lives.

He didn't study in the same university as Kyle and Stey but had got involved with the former through Christopher.

Yeo Han was Chris's roommate.

Living in a dorm alone and managing university wasn't easy. He needed money for survival and Han's method of 'survival' was...interesting, which made him dangerous.

Kyle never knew how close Chris was to Han but he knew their friendship was unsteady.

That was a solid fact. After all it was Han who was the wrong doer but Christopher was the one who ended up in prison.

"Maybe I could," Kyle said, turning his head towards the closed window, "I wasn't trying."

"Why?" Han inquired.

Kyle frowned but tried not to show it. Every time he had a conversation with Han, he felt like he was being interrogated. He hated it.

"I was tired. I stayed up last night gaming and came directly to school," Kyle explained, staring at the view outside. They were going through roads filled with snow that had been cleared into the sidewalks and patted down. It was a satiny white like the clothes that Han was wearing. It wasn't just his attire but also his skin that always shone bright, unlike his character. The only flaw was a long scar that ran from the corner of his left lip to the edge of his cheek, making his smile sinister. Yet he was kind, funny and good but his ambitions were high and his ways to get there were unpleasant.

"You're lying," Han stated, getting straight to the point.

Kyle gulped, not trusting himself to say a word; Han had a sharp intuition and he read people as if he could read directly into their soul.

"Romeo."

Kyle disliked the nickname but he wasn't going to argue about it.

"Jayden is my girlfriend's brother. I can't fight back or she'll break up with me," Kyle revealed, leaning back further into the seat. "By the way," he continued, hoping he could change the topic, "Your English has gotten a lot better from the last time we met." Finally he turned his head back to Han to confirm his reaction. The Korean's gaze was fixed on the road making it impossible for Kyle to read his mind.

After a few moments of silence, Han's shoulders relaxed as he glanced at Kyle and back at the road. He had a smirk on his face as he spoke, "Six months is a long time, Romeo. I've been getting around, meeting more people."

The way he answered was so nonchalant that it would have sounded like someone relaying a normal day that they had had.

"Well. If you want me to, I could take revenge on the weakling for you?"

Kyle, his face still hurting from Jayden's fist, didn't respond and he didn't want to let Han handle it either. He closed his eyes and said nothing.

They drove in silence afterwards, with no more conversations and Kyle finally found sleep as he leaned back with his arms crossed on his chest, to protect him from the cold.

HAN

Kyle was fast asleep on the floor beside Christopher's bed, a wet cloth covering his right eye. Han sat by the window playing with a gleaming silver pen he had found in the high-schooler's pocket. It had a name engraved on one corner of it: Stey, with a small diamond beside it.

'Stey,' Han thought, repeating the name in his mind until her image entered his mind. She was someone he had run into quite often, but they had shared no conversations before, except for one;

a small and curt one.

He leaned back in his chair, a small smile creeping onto his face.

He had heard that name a few times when Christopher had spoken to Kyle. It was when they thought he wasn't listening- but he didn't know how they knew her.

At first he had assumed she was a class mate but now he thought different. Kyle couldn't have the name of, simply, a class mate on his pen- or was it her pen?

He opened the drawer of a cabinet that was next to him and pulled a string that was connected to the edge of the flat surface that revealed a hidden compartment and slipped the silver pen inside.

"I'll return it to her myself," he told himself, as he closed the drawer, before taking his wallet out. He dropped it into his pocket and walked out the door, making sure to lock it behind him, leaving Kyle, snoring loud, alone in his room.

KYLE

He was not certain how he had got there but when Kyle opened his eyes, he found himself lying face down, stretched on a soft, warm blanket on the floor. The pain he had felt earlier had died down to a dull ache and the dizziness in his head had become the sound of a light monotonous buzz.

He lifted his arm achingly slow and touched a cloth that covered his eye. It was warm and recently replaced. On his arms were bandages tainted a dark green- a sort of herbal remedy, he assumed because Han was studying in the medical field. He had, ofcourse, been shocked, along with others when he had found out that detail.

Looking around in the dull evening light, the outline of the bedroom he was in, took shape and very slowly with a sense of excruciating agony, Kyle recognized the room; the two beds pushed up against opposite sides of the pale blue painted walls, one side, unmade but clean with a pile of neatly folded clothes. The first side of the room showed life while the other was empty and abandoned. Kyle's head buzzed louder as he saw a lonesome item on the cabinet above his head; a lamp, unlit. There was also a wardrobe fixed beside the bed, open with nothing but dust inside.

It was like a huge mirror placed inbetween the room but with the latter half having no owner to tend to it. The mirror had been shattered and broken, revealing bare memories that only time could heal.

Kyle lay on the lonely side- on Christopher's side.

Leaning against the wardrobe on the happier side of the room, was the Korean who had got him out of the warehouse. In contrast to his cold demeanor Kyle had seen plenty of times, in the quiet of the room, Han looked a bit lost.

It was what Kyle could tell from his posture or maybe it was the atmosphere that hung above them. Han's better half was Christopher and when one or the other was missing it was weird, for the two boys were always together, whether they wanted it to be that way or not.

"Is everything alright?" Kyle wondered aloud, trying to sit up.

Han moved so fast that Kyle didn't register him until his hand was on his shoulder, helping him sit straight and move behind so that his back could rest on the wall. The cold surface stung him, allowing him to wake up more, chasing away the drowsiness.

"Why didn't you let me sleep on the bed?"

"Well," Han started, walking backwards and picking up a black plastic bag from his bed, "As you can see mine is messy," he reminded, sitting beside Kyle, making him flinch. He wanted to move away and put more distance between them but he was afraid of getting on Han's bad side.

"Christopher's bed is available but I figured, you wouldn't want to, you know," he gestured to the empty bed and said nothing more.

"I wouldn't want to sleep on the bed of a criminal who was once my friend." The words hung in the air, unspoken but very much true. The buzz in Kyle's head became a loud ringing that tore painfully at his ear.

He wanted to forget but it wasn't easy.

"Anyway, I prefer no one using his bed, for Chris's sake," Han announced, pulling out three packs of sandwich, wrapping in plastic sheets. "You know how Chris hates it when someone touches his things. He'll kill me when he comes back if he found out I let you sleep on his bed. Ey, I wouldn't want that, ofcourse."

"Now," Han whispered, cocking his head. He stood up biting on the sandwich. He didnt offer the other to Kyle but waited until he had swallowed to go on. He gestured at Kyle to get up and sit on the chair. A shiver of fear ran down his spine as Kyle did as he was ordered to. Han stood still watching Kyle walk to the opposite side of the room.

"I hope you feel better because we have a LOT of things to discuss."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Stey," Han stated. Kyle froze all his senses on full alert. "Tell me all you know about Stey."